OMNI
NEWSLETTER OF H O P E ESPERANZA #4, November 22, 2014.
BUILDING A CULTURE OF
PEACE, JUSTICE,
and ECOLOGY. Compiled by Dick
Bennett
(#1 March 26, 2008; #2 2009; #3 Jan. 7,
2013).
Contents: Hope Newsletters 1-3 at end
Contents Transformational Hope
Newsletter #4
Abel Tomlinson,
Viral Love
Dick, Peace and Justice Movement, National and International
DAYS, Memory
Whole
Whole
Cahill, Heretics and Heroes: BONHOEFFER, POPE JOHN XXIII, MURIEL MOORE
Beauchamp, 2013
Best Year in Human History
Rev. by Chapple
of McDaniel’s Gandhi’s Hope, Respect for
All Faiths
Amy Goodman,
Nelson Mandela
Yes! Magazine
The Progressive Dec/Jan. 2014
Solnit, “Kindness
Trumped Chaos in New Orleans
Solnit, Hope in the Dark
Sanjay Khanna, “Stories
That Light Up the Dark” as Planet Warms
Raymond, Writing Visions of Hope
Publication
Data for #4
VIRAL LOVE: From Bombs to Gardening Tools by Abel
Tomlinson
"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us, "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
~ Albert Einstein
"Illusion
works impenetrable
Weaving
webs innumerable,
Her
gay pictures never fail,
Crowds
each other, veil on veil,
Charmer
who will be believed,
By
man who thirsts to be deceived."
~
Maya by Ralph Waldo Emerson
While gardening recently, a recurrent theme kept tugging at my
mind. If it is wise for us to love everything, even our
"enemies", how do we love destructive invasive species like the Amur
honeysuckle that is sucking the light and life from Fayetteville
A new report from the humanitarian relief organization Oxfam
titled "Working For The Few" analyzed data from Credit Suisse and
Forbes, and concluded that half of the world's wealth is controlled by 1
percent. Additionally, it was found that the 85 richest people owned as
much as the poorer half of the entire human species.
The report states that the consequences of this inequality are
troubling:
" This massive concentration of economic resources in
the hands of fewer people presents a significant threat to inclusive political
and economic systems...people are increasingly separated by economic and
political power, inevitably heightening social tensions and increasing the risk
of societal breakdown."
Due to this immensely detrimental wealth imbalance, the richest
few seemingly control the world. Not only do we have perpetual war for
corporate profit and exploitation of people, but we are also facing a wholesale
destruction of Nature. We are causing the first self inflicted mass
extinction event, and apparently committing collective suicide by destroying
the real sustainable economy in pursuit of unsustainable cancerous "growth."
Under relentless assault, over half the world's rainforests are
razed and impoverished of biodiversity largely for the mere taste of cow
flesh. Vast regions of our oceans are filled with collections of plastic
particles from our cheap, disposable culture of mindless consumption. Our
ability to feed ourselves is being diminished by ignorant, unsustainable
factory farming of plants and animals. Millions of tons of soils are
eroded and salinized while waters are polluted and made hypoxic with immense
volumes of unwelcome chemical fertilizer and animal feces. Thanks to Fukushima , the Pacific Ocean
is increasingly antibiotic with large volumes of radioactive waste. This
list goes on ad infinitum without even mentioning global warming.
In addition to Fukushima West Virginia
It is safe to say something is very wrong with our current
economic and social order when we have near biweekly oil spills and shootings
at schools and other public places. Our society is very sick and needs
medicine. What is the cause of our viral pandemic of violence and
destruction? What is the cure?
Individual humans are not the disease. The sickness is
caused by specific infectious ideas and institutions. We can point to the
most fundamental political pathogens of democracy corruption by wealth and
corporations, and solutions exist to remove the corrupting influence of money
from our elections.
We can also isolate the economic vectors of suffering in
neoliberal corporate capitalism, free trade, the International Monetary Fund,
and a corrupt banking system. Additionally, measuring wealth and
societal well being by looking at GDP, growth and stocks instead of happiness,
health, education and environmental beauty is simply dumb.
Many alternative models exist for curing our economic disease,
including democratizing corporations into worker cooperatives operated in the
public interest, and not for profit to a minuscule minority of millionaire
capital investors. These investors from foreign countries turn their eyes
and hearts from the slave-like conditions and pollution in poorer countries
where manufacturing was outsourced to dictatorships with no labor or environmental
laws. Effective unions help.
These types of evolutionary measures must be contemplated, but
on a deeper level what is the virus within all of us? The primary root
cause is our egocentric feeling of separation from others and nature. In
Eastern Wisdom, this is known as Maya. We have a culture of violence,
fear, hate and greed because we so intensely identify with our apparently
separate physical bodies only, and not the deeper unified Self (or
Consciousness or G-d) that exists within all. We fail to see our Self in
other people and creatures, and consequently fail to have empathy.
Ultimately, the deepest cure for our deadly disease is to
realize humans, plants and animals are interconnected not only as one family,
but even more fundamentally as one organism. We must start focusing on
the positive and similarities in others, while also learning from dark
behaviors and events.
We need not imprison the corporate rulers and waterboard them
with toxic slime from Fukushima , West Virginia
We must all learn that we
are all connected and true wealth is happiness, and the current system
causes incredible unhappiness, even for the ultra-wealthy. We must all
work to purify fear, greed and violence from all economic and political laws and
institutions with increasingly universal
Love. Internally, Love has always been the one eternal law that truly
matters. It is time to fully externalize it.
I have hope for drastic political and economic progress for
peace and environmental sanity, but there is something more powerful than
hope. It is faith, and I do not mean a dogmatic religious faith in
ancient words, but in the most powerful force in the universe. It is Love
here and now, nonjudgmental and unconditional. This is the cure, and when
Love goes viral all the prison bars, bombs, bullets and bulldozers will rapidly
melt into gardening tools.
Informed
Citizens
All of OMNI’s
newsletters build hope, because the search
for knowledge, for reality, and the truth discovered and achieved is
positive, while absolutes, arrogance, concealment, denial, evasion, covering
up, ignorance, illusion, and wishful thinking leave us where we were or
worse. In our HOPE and ACTIVISM and
other newsletters we focus on some people, organizations, actions, and plans
directly reconstituting the present for or imagining a better world.
Informed
Citizens in Action
The Bottom-Up
Approach: ”Were citizens around the
world armed with shared and reliable information, their pressure,
country-by-country, could be as effective as a top-down inter-government
agreement.” (PAUL COLLIER, The Plundered Planet,
239).
Breaking
the Frozen Darkness
"Dark
and cold we may be, but this
Is no winter now. The frozen misery
Of centuries breaks, cracks, begins to move;
The thunder is the thunder of the floes,
The thaw, the flood, the upstart Spring.
Thank God our time is now when wrong
Comes up to face us everywhere,
Never to leave us till we take
The longest stride of soul we ever took.
Affairs are now soul size."
-Christopher Fry, A Sleep of Prisoners
Is no winter now. The frozen misery
Of centuries breaks, cracks, begins to move;
The thunder is the thunder of the floes,
The thaw, the flood, the upstart Spring.
Thank God our time is now when wrong
Comes up to face us everywhere,
Never to leave us till we take
The longest stride of soul we ever took.
Affairs are now soul size."
-Christopher Fry, A Sleep of Prisoners
--Dick
MEMORY
FOR THE FUTURE
OMNI’s MEMORY
WHOLE
October
18, 2015
Written
and Compiled by Dick Bennett for Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology
What’s at stake:
Defending the Importance of Memory in the Struggle for Peace, Justice,
and the Environment: OMNI’s activities to resist Orwell’s “memory
hole” in the US (information control by the corporate/military
state), to question the doctrine of US “Exceptionalism,” and to restore reality
to US history and policy.
Contents
Orwell’s Memory Hole
US Examples
Memory Hole Google Search
OMNI’S MEMORY WHOLE Part I
OMNI’s National and International
DAYS Project: Examples
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki Remembrance
Indigenous
Peoples of the Americas DAY
National/International DAYS
Re-Visioned, Revised, Renamed
“Building a Culture of
Peace: Reinforcing and Transforming National Days.” Address September 21, 2010,
Montgomery College.
OMNI’s Memory Whole Part II
Dick’s Books and
Articles
Orwell’s Memory Hole
A memory hole is
any mechanism for INFORMATION CONTROL by censorship, particularly the
alteration or disappearance of documents, photographs, transcripts, or other
records, such as from a website or other archive, that contradict official doctrines, statements, or
news, particularly as part of an attempt to give the impression that something
never happened. The concept was first popularized by George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, where the Party's Ministry of Truth systematically re-created historical
documents; in effect, re-writing history to match the often-changing state
propaganda. Physically, the censorship begins in the Ministry in offices
where documents are rewritten and with chutes leading to enormous furnaces
hidden somewhere in the bowels of the building to destroy subversive materials.
Nineteen Eighty-Four's protagonist Winston Smith, who
works in the Ministry of Truth, is
routinely assigned the task of revising old newspaper articles in order to
serve the propaganda interests of the government. For example,
Smith may be called to retroactively change a statement about the endless wars
to reflect new policies and new cover-ups by the Party. The Party is
represented by O’Brien, whose job is not only to destroy the evidence of the
past but to erase even the memory of it.
However, INFORMATION
CONTROL is more complicated and operates through the countless instances of
censorship and of propaganda and their relationships. Here are a few
examples of the countless capillaries of transmission regarding population
growth, Israelis and US media blaming Palestinians, political prisoners, the
Vietnam War, and bombing a hospital in Afghanistan. A memory hole
is any and all mechanisms of censorship .
Repeated Omission to Obscure Two Realities
John Kerry, Secretary of State, in his “Press Statement: World
Population Day July 11, 2015” omitted the agency of the DAY—the United
Nations. It was not accidental; deletion of reference to the UN by
US officials is systematic, because positive reporting of the UN calls into
question US history of anti-UN obstruction via underfunding, Security Council
vetoes, and other actions. Also in the Statement, no mention is
made of the most important device for the “more sustainable and just future” he
advocates—contraception. We must urgently ”educate girls and empower
women,” “we must strengthen our partnerships.., shield the innocent, care for
refugees, and confront… common threats,” but “we” must also suppress the chief
global institution and technology to accomplish these goals. Kerry
so euphemizes and generalizes the catastrophe that a reader could easily forget
both the subject and the remedy of population growth in an
unsustainable world, while vaguely identifying the US with the
accomplishments of the UN.
Omitting Context, Bully Blames Victim
Look at these articles
from two days of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: “Israeli
Attacked after Restrictions in Jerusalem Eased” (10-8-15). “Cycle
of Violence”: “An 18-year old Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli
man who then shot and wounded her….” (10-8-15). “Kerry to Meet on
Mideast Attacks: Arab Kills Israeli at Bus Station; 10 Others Hurt” (10-9-15).
I haven’t found an authoritative tabulation, but my informal observation finds
overwhelming blame of Palestinians for starting each episode of
violence. But why the attack? What motivated the
attacks? Imagine the articles written from a Palestinian point of
view: “Palestinian Woman Seriously Shot after Slightly Stabbing an
Israeli Man Amid Hundreds of Palestinians Hurt in Clashes over the Apartheid
Occupation.” The Israelis and their US allies have reason to
be defensive after the 1967 Arab invasion with tanks and planes, but now the
situation is reversed, the Palestinians have screwdrivers and homemade rockets
against one of the world’s best armed countries, and they are the victims not
the Israelis, but you would never know that from the memory hole reporting in
US mainstream newspapers. See the close analysis of an article from The
Washington Post by Jim Naureckas for FAIR entitled “Washington Post Reduces Palestinian
Victims to a Word Problem.” Naureckas points out that while 8 Israelis
have been slain in the past few weeks, 28 Palestinians were killed, some of
those and many more wounded or injured in “clashes” with the police. That
word is the WP’s “word problem,” for the conflict is no mere
“clash.” “The Israeli military–thanks in
large part to US military aid–is one of the best-armed in the world;
Palestinians whom they ‘clash’ with are typically unarmed or equipped with
homemade weapons.” Here is Naureckas’ conclusion: “The violence in
the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is horrific, and overwhelmingly the victims of
it have been Palestinian. To focus on the violence done to Israelis by
Palestinians to the near exclusion of Israeli violence against Palestinians is
a grotesque distortion of journalism,” and we can add: by the US mainstream
media memory hole. To read Naureckas’ essay go to: http://fair.org/home/washington-post-reduces-palestinian-victims-to-a-word-problem/
Omission and Cover-up to Preserve National Myth
If you ask the average U.S. citizen if the country has or
had political prisoners, the reply is likely to be no, or yes but few:
Most would be astonished to discover the US record is exceeded only by the
Soviet Union.
This is an exceptional country, our hyper-patriots declare--a
free country, a Bill of Rights, a country of laws. But in realty this
country has imprisoned hundreds of thousands of its citizens for their
beliefs—trade unionists, suffragettes, communists and socialists, conscientious
objectors, anti-war demonstrators, civil rights protesters, and many
more. Hundreds of books and articles have been written about the US
police state: the 110,000 Japanese-Americans in WWII concentration camps; some
20,000 prosecuted WWII COs imprisoned, given noncombat roles in the services,
and assigned to civilian service (12,000); the FBI’s anti-democratic
history—break-ins, wire-tapping, etc.; thousands in the American Indian
Movement and Central American Sanctuary Movement; over 4,000 nuclear bomb
protesters arrested in 1982 alone; the High Security Unit at Lexington built to
contain primarily women political prisoners. My Political
Prisoners and Trials pp. 267-305 cites some of the evidence, lets in a
little light.
Rewrite and Whitewash, Sanitize and Mythologize a War
The year 2014 marked the 50th anniversary of the landing
of U.S. ground troops in Da Nang, Vietnam. Many consider this to be the
beginning of the American War in Vietnam. To mark the anniversary of the war
the Pentagon is undertaking a ten-year, $65-million campaign to rewrite and
whitewash the history of the war in Southeast Asia.
In response, Veterans for Peace has announced the Vietnam War Full Disclosure project to offer a more truthful history of the war (http://vietnamfulldisclosure.org/ ). The Full Disclosure campaign is a Veterans for Peace effort to speak truth to power and keep alive the antiwar perspective on the American war in Viet Nam. It represents a clear alternative to the Pentagon's current efforts to sanitize and mythologize the Vietnam war and to thereby legitimize further unnecessary and destructive wars. See Nick Turse, Kill Anything That Moves.
In response, Veterans for Peace has announced the Vietnam War Full Disclosure project to offer a more truthful history of the war (http://vietnamfulldisclosure.org/ ). The Full Disclosure campaign is a Veterans for Peace effort to speak truth to power and keep alive the antiwar perspective on the American war in Viet Nam. It represents a clear alternative to the Pentagon's current efforts to sanitize and mythologize the Vietnam war and to thereby legitimize further unnecessary and destructive wars. See Nick Turse, Kill Anything That Moves.
And the Passive Voice
“Janine
Jackson: If you ever need evidence that the US elite press are willing
to distort journalism in order to carry water for the government, the New
York Times gave it to you on a plate with this instantly infamous
headline for an early report on
the US bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan: “US Is Blamed After Bombs Hit
Afghan Hospital.” (Avoiding passive voice constructions that obscure the chain
of action is Journalism 101.) Days later, the paper was still soft pedaling US
responsibility for the October 3 attack that killed at least 22 people at a
Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Kunduz (including patients who burned to
death in their beds), reciting credulously the administration’s shifting
explanations and justifications for what some say may
constitute a war crime.” From Counterspin October
9, 2015 (and FAIR Oct. 21, 2015).
References to
Memory Hole in Wikipedia
1. Murphy, Kirk, Memorial Day
Memory Hole: After Israel Forgets “Exodus”, White House Forgets “Shores of
Tripoli”. Will Obama Remember NATO? 31 May 2010 Firedoglake.com
3. Pittis, Don (13 May 2014). "Google's memory hole a bottomless pit: Don
Pittis". cbc.ca. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
4. Stone, Brad (19 July 2009). "Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
5. Orwell (1954) pp. 34–35.
6. Bhabha, Homi K. (2010). "Doublespeak and Minority of
One". On "Nineteen Eighty-Four": Orwell and Our
Future. Princeton University Press. pp. 32–33.
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, first published by Martin Secker & Warburg, London,
1949. This reference, Penguin Bookspocket edition, 1954.
ORWELL’S MEMORY
HOLE IN 1984, Google Search, October 15, 2015
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_hole
Wikipedia
A memory hole is any mechanism for
the alteration or disappearance of inconvenient or ... The concept was first
popularized by George Orwell's dystopian novel ...
Information
Clearing House
How Truth Slips Down
The Memory
Hole John
Pilger, applies to current eventsOrwell's description in '1984' of how the Ministry of Truth
consigned ...
Sep 13, 2014 - Uploaded by
Dean Noble
The Orwellian Memory Hole ... 1984 by George Orwell
Book Movie on BBC TV from 1956, Peter Cushing Glenn ...
Sep 20, 2014 - Uploaded by
Jonathan Lippe
Brief discussion on
The Memory
Hole in
order to bring the concept to awareness. This is a term in the book ...
www.globalresearch.ca/1984-was-an...to-the-memory-hole/5360175
Dec 4, 2013 - 1984 Was an Instruction
Manual: Welcome to the Memory Hole. ... InOrwell's pre-digital world, the memory hole was a vacuum tube
into which ...
Many of the predictions
made by George Orwell in his book 1984 in relation to ... The Ministry writes
people out of history -- they go "down the memory hole" as ...
OMNI’S MEMORY WHOLE Part I
Many of OMNI’s activities are
restorations of US “Memory Holes.”
OMNI’s National and International
DAYS Project
Two of the several DAYS OMNI
accentuates: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Indigenous Peoples of the Americas
DAY
Nuclear Bomb Destruction of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945
Hiroshima-Nagasaki Remembrance
Days, August 6 and August 9
During the 1960s and ‘70s,
Fayetteville, AR, supported the “Peace Organizing Committee” against the
Vietnam War. With the end of the war and the beginning of the Reagan
presidency, this group gradually dissolved, except for one of its
activities—the annual Remembrance of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, which continues today under OMNI’s sponsorship. The
dangers of nuclear war continue and in the opinion of many are today increased
with the proliferation of the bombs from one to nine countries. Now
OMNI reminds people of these dangers and advocates for the Nuclear Abolition
Movement, including the Marshall Islands suits against the nuclear nations
(Nuclear Zero).
Genocidal Destruction of Natives
of the Americas from Columbus through the Nineteenth Century
Indigenous Peoples of the
Americas Day (IPAD), 2nd Monday of October
In 2008, the Native American
Symposium at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, in coalition with OMNI,
began a campaign to replace Columbus Day with a Day to commemorate the victims
of the European invasion. Our format has become mainly two
activities: 1) Readings about or by native Americans, and 2) a Walk from
the campus to the Trail of Tears marker and park nearby. The
importance of this event is immense for many reasons. For example, the
false and arrogant doctrine of US exceptionalism, by which all and future US
depredations abroad were and are considered benign, partly motivated the
near-extermination of the North American Indians from some twelve million
people to less than one million in 1900. The event in 2015 was enhanced
significantly by the presence of Nobel Peace Prize winner, Rigoberta Menchu of
Guatemala, who walked with us and spoke at the memorial to a group of some 100
people. Following the Walk, we enjoyed a lunch at the University, where
Ms. Menchu spoke again.
RE-VISIONED, REVISED, RENAMED
DAYS,
Feb. 14 Standing on the Side of
Love Day (formerly Valentine’s Day) (from UUSC, turning VD into a Day for
social justice)
May, 2nd Sunday:
Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day for Peace (formerly Mother’s Day)
May 21, 2011: Peace Movement
Day (Armed Forces Day) (3rd Sat. in May)
May, last Monday: Day of
Mourning for Victims of Wars (Memorial Day)
June 14: Liberty and
Justice for All Day (Flag Day)
June, 3rd Sunday:
Father’s Day for Peace (Father’s Day)
September 11 (9-11):
Peaceful Tomorrows Day (Patriot Day)
Oct. 2nd Monday:
Indigenous Peoples Day (Columbus Day):
Nov. 11: Unity Day:
(Veterans Day)
November: Fourth Thursday:
National Day of Gratitude and Atonement (Thanksgiving)
December 7: Colonial
Pacific World War II Day (Pearl Harbor Day)
December 25: Love and
Peacemaking Day (Christmas)
EXPLANATION OF OMNI’S
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL DAYS PROJECT
“BUILDING A CULTURE OF
PEACE: REINFORCING AND TRANSFORMING NATIONAL DAYS” by Dick
Bennett,
September 21, 2010, Montgomery
College.
Introduction
I. National Security
State Indoctrination
II. Birthdays
III. National
Days
A. Reinforcing
B. Transforming
Conclusion
I. National Security State Indoctrination
If President Eisenhower were saying Farewell today,
he would have to say: Corporate-Pentagon-White
House-Congress-Secrecy-Surveillance-Exceptionalism-Mainstream Media-National
Security Complex.
Senator J. William Fulbright is a traitor to
my hometown. Everything was settled and clear in my Arkansas home-town
puddle, until even our own people like Fulbright (Halfbright to President
Johnson) came along to muddy the water with books deploring US militarism and
imperialism: The Arrogance of Powerand The Pentagon
Propaganda Machine.
The clarity of my hometown certitudes
was further disturbed when I undertook a few years of study in the College of
Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas (now named after Fulbright),
and then additional years of reading about Control of Information and Control of
the Media in the U.S., the titles of two of my book-length bibliographies.
And now the recent barrage of books on
US imperial dysfunctions and derangements blurs completely my smiling
recollection of faithful birddog, shotgun, covey of quail, and mother’s quail
gravy.
I don’t smile so much now, but who would like to be
forced by some big fellows, who don’t seem very bright and sometimes seem
deranged, to participate in digging our own graves?
One of the big bullies is
called exceptionalism. Since the graves are not
finished, and despite the difficulties in talking with such a fellow, let me
pose two questions.
Does the US stand
within the order of international law or outside it? Does the US still
play by the rules it helped create?
But he is busy
digging. I must go elsewhere for a
reply.
The essays in American
Exceptionalism and Human Rights , ed. Michael Ignatieff (2005) reply
to these questions as they apply to human rights. And their answer is NO
more than Yes. The U.S. approach to human rights differs negatively
from that of most other Western nations. Three types of
exceptionalism separate the US from the others: 1) exemptionalism
(supporting treaties as long as Americans are exempt from them); 2) double
standards (criticizing others for not heeding the finding of international
human rights bodies, but ignoring what these bodies say about the US); and 3)
legal isolationism (the tendency of US judges to ignore international
jurisdictions and rulings).
Andrew Bacevich
in The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism (2008)
expresses an aversion to claims of US exceptionalism and calls for a realism
that respects the limits of power, that expects informed leaders who can
avoid unintended consequences, and is skeptical of easy solutions, especially
those involving the use of armed force. Only a return to such principles
can deal with our many crises: our economy in disarray, our presidency
recklessly imperial; our nation infatuated with military power and
engaged in endless wars
A part of
the doctrine of US exceptionalism is the belief in the US as WORLD
TRANSFORMER. Another book by Bacevich hammers on this myth in
Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent
War. He identifies (quotingTime Magazine founder Henry
Luce) “the American Credo””: as summoning the United States—“and the
United States alone—to lead, save, liberate, and ultimately transform the
world….for such purposes as we see fit and by such means as we see
fit.’” Alas, and the origin of Bacevich’s repugnance to
it, from this Credo arises mass killing, torture, assassination, preemptive and
other illegal interventions and invasions, massive surveillance, arrest
without warrant, and on and on.
One author, Chalmers
Johnson, has taken four volumes to report the arrogance of US power; some the
titles you will recognize: Blowback: The Costs and Consequences
of American Empire; The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of
the Republic; Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic; and
just published, Dismantling the Empire: America’s Last Best
Hope.
These books provide
an alternative narrative to the seventy-year-old official, National Security
State fiction of a benign nation compelled for the good of the world to invade
and conquer and spread its power through some hundred military bases around the
world. But how could this have happened?
Noam Chomsky
has been trying to explain it for thirty years. It goes like
this. The power of the security obsessed over most of the populace
these seventy years was not accidental, but was induced by an elaborate,
well-financed propaganda system. Chomsky and Edward Herman
explained it in their 1988 book, Manufacturing Consent: The Political
Economy of the Mass Media. They describe filters or
control mechanisms through which propaganda messages are created by the
mainstream media in support of the Corporate Security State, including: 1.
concentrated business ownership; 2. advertising as the primary income source of
the mass media; 3. heavy reliance by the media on information provided by the
government, business, and “experts” approved and often funded by these agents
of power; 4. use of “flak” as a means of disciplining media; and 5.
anti-communism, as a national religion. While anti-communist and
anti-socialist rhetoric continue to enforce the status quo, it has been largely
displaced by the rhetoric of anti-terrorism.
Manufacturing
Consent has provided a model for analysis of a diversity of
subjects. For example, Anthony DiMaggio in When Media Go to War:
Hegemonic Discourse, Public Opinion, and the Limits of Power (2009)
demonstrates indoctrination in US and UK media coverage of the Iraq withdrawal
debate, especially how media frame the antiwar movement to limit their effect;
the ways human rights violations are highlighted in US media coverage of enemy
states and played down in allied coverage; in journalistic values and
practices; in US and UK coverage of Iran; in public response to the wars; and
in the issue of controlling information to create consent.
These books are only a few of the
critiques of National Security (that is, USA today) myths, dogmas, and
indoctrination. One might think that enough had been shown to scuttle
them. But the doctrines have been successfully infused into our
society. They circulate through body politic so seemingly naturally
that most people can’t see them. That explains the
silence of most people; why the public is so passive. And why some peace
proponents of alternative practices—nonviolence, compassion, diplomacy,
material assistance—losing their sense of humor, feel hopeless at times.
II. Alternatives to Militarism
and Empire: Birthdays
But personally I
learned eventually to separate myself from the bullies. I have
dropped my shovel, though the thing still seems attached to my ankle.
I learned a lot from the
British socialist and literary critic, Raymond Williams. He urged all to
step outside power systems and inspect them; they’re always
contradictory. He taught also aggressive insertion of alternatives to
official folly and violence into every available niche
possible. Facts: The Pentagon has placed contractors in
almost every county in the country. The Pentagon has millions of
dollars annually to propagandize the US populace to believe our wars are
permanent because always in defense of our threatened liberty.
Consequently, high ranking officers and military heroes are always high in
popularity. They’re consistently more successful than civilian
candidates for the presidency. More facts: Dozens
of official days for national glory, empire, wars and war heroes, and victory,
countless monuments, and yes cemeteries. (But cemeteries are not
about the dead; certainly not about the horribly wounded; since all live in
national glory.) So, Williams would think, let us find
ways to promote peace and justice by countering that popularity.
BirthDAYS and National
DAYS? Surely they are too obvious for Williams to overlook.
Little attention to peace and justice heroes, compassion, diplomacy? Yes,
of course. The forces of persuasion and conditioning
are vastly unequal financially. But the people have numbers.
A counter-conditioning campaign is called for, I imagine him
thinking. In every way find niches for
persuasion.
Birthdays. When I looked at
birthday celebrations local, state, and nation, active or passive
supporters of the Security State.Complex seemed to dominate. I
scanned the Nobel Peace Prize winners, and only King was honored by a national
Day. So I began to gather birthdays of peacemakers, write brief
biographies, and send to OMNI’s mailing list.
The idea actually was not
new. Several years ago a close friend wrote a biographical
series on peacemakers, called “Dove Tales,” in our alternative newspaper,
until the newspaper folded. But the idea was not forgotten.
The new venture
turned out to be heuristic. I wanted to reinforce knowledge of well-known
peacemakers, as in the “Dove Tales,” but also to introduce stellar but
little known peacemakers. I knew some nonviolence history, of
Thoreau, Gandhi, and King, but I had never heard of Anderson Sa, the Brazilian
musician who teaches young people alternatives to violence. Of the many
peacemakers who teach diversity and toleration—Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama--,
how many had heard of Bruno Hussar, promoter of interfaith harmony in his
“Oasis of Peace” village, or Riane Eisler, who taught the partnership over the
dominator model in human affairs, as explained in her book The Chalice
and the Blade? The list grew (and is growing), as we affirm not
military heroes but Thich Nhat Hanh, Colman McCarthy, Oscar Arias, Henry Salt,
Albert Schweitzer, Astrid Lindgren, Jane Goodall, and on and on.
Of course, my subject is US peace and
justice heroes. US military men and women are lauded for their
“service.” Let us concentrate on service to humanity without violence
in preventing violence and wars (and now warming). A fine source is
Michael True’s two volumes, Justice Seekers, Justice Makers(1985)
and To Construct Peace: 30 More Justice Seekers, Peace Makers(1992),
both international in scope but mainly about stellar US peacemakers—Dorothy
Day, Joan Baez, Jim Corbett, Penny Lernoux, Maura Clarke, Noam Chomsky, Dolores
Huerta, Denise Levertov, and more. But his total is only about
sixty, when US peace heroes number in the thousands. So here’s our
niche. We can replace the self-aggrandizing National
Security State magnifying glass with one that can see another kind of
SERVICE. At our events, our work, our
homes. I even have a sculpture in my back yard with the names
of thirty of Michael’s portraits, 15 women and 15 men.
III. National Days
But the project to enlarge
awareness of these heroes in the consciousness of the peace movement and the
public at large is simple compared to the project to reinforce some DAYS and to
change or even erase others
A. Reinforcing
For whereas the birthdays
at least right now require merely the writing and dissemination of a brief bio
(though potentially much more could be performed), the national days involve
necessarily the preparation of a more elaborate writing or event and
commensurate publicity. Here is a partial list of DAYS TO CELEBRATE
or COMMEMMORATE, in bold indicating OMNI’s active participation, with notes
regarding OMNI observance.
February, Black History MONTH
March, Women’s History MONTH
March 1, Nuclear Victims DAY
March 8, International Women’s DAY: In simple
ceremonies by women and men, we have focused on celebrating peace, justice,
ecology women heroes, locally, nationally, internationally.
March 15-21 Sunshine WEEK
March 22, World Water DAY
Earth DAY, April 22: for three years we had out of town
distinguished speakers. Then we merged with Fayetteville’s
SpringFest: Donna and Kelly, Jamie and others organized displays and
music at Fayetteville’ Walton Art Center’s Rose Garden.
Earth DAY at World Peace Wetland Prairie: OMNI is
part-owner with the city of 2 acres of wetland prairie and a half-acre
peace-sign rock garden celebrating world peace. At WPWP on the Saturday
preceding SpringFest we celebrate world peace with music, gardening, and
children’s events..
Martin Luther King, Jr., Assassinated, April 4,
1968.
May 1, May DAY, the international workers holiday. (Woody
Guthrie and Pete Seeger, among many others, were Wobblies, members of the
International Workers of the World, IWW. An opportunity for great
music.)
May 3, World Press Freedom Day. We have organized
several events and newsletters to examine freedom of information in the US, and
to read the names of news people killed in the line of duty.
May 15, International Conscientious Objectors’ DAY.
This DAY should be observed; maybe next year.
Last Friday in April, Arbor DAY (different dates by states)
June 4, UN International DAY of Innocent Children, Victims of
Aggression
June 5, UN World Environment DAY
June 15, International Peace Prayer DAY.
June 15-23, Human Costs of Military Toxics WEEK.
June 19, Juneteenth. A day to celebrate not only
freedom from slavery for U.S. African-Americans, but for all people. In
Fayetteville the Day has the attention of several groups on and off campus.
June, Gay Pride WEEK. A strong lgbtq org. exists in
Fayetteville.
September 1, Labor DAY, for jobs, fair wages,
health benefits, right to organize. Newsletter. Unions
are very week in Arkansas.
September 12, Interdependence DAY (www.civworld.org)
September 17, Constitution DAY. For the past 3
years OMNI has celebrated this DAY with a special newsletter.
September 21, International DAY of Peace, Celebration
of Peacemakers. We have paid special attention to this DAY, marking it in
diverse ways over the years: a press conference at City Center next to
the city’s Peace Prayer Fountain with church leaders speaking; international
flags around the Fayetteville Square; sidewalk silent vigil with placards; and
more.
September 25-October 2, Banned Books/Freedom to Read WEEK
: OMNI has initiated activities and participated in others for a decade; e.g.
roundtables on banned books at public library..
Sept. 25-Oct. 2, Keep Space for Peace WEEK: For almost a
decade OMNI has sponsored a variety of programs during this week, including
bringing Bruce Gagnon to Fayetteville.
October, Domestic Violence Awareness MONTH.
Several organizations in NW Ark. Focus on this subject.
October 1, International/World Vegetarian DAY
October 1-7, International Vegetarian WEEK: Many in
peace movement consider Vegetarianism fundamental to peace, justice and
ecology, for its positive effects in ethics, nutrition, and checking global
warming. Vegetarianism is at the heart of resistance to both wars
and warming.
October 2, International DAY of Nonviolence (Gandhi’s
BirthDAY). We have shown Attenborough’s film “Gandhi.” This
is one of the DAYS we need to accentuate more.
Universal Children’s DAY, Oct. 4
World Hunger Day, Oct. 12.
World Food DAY, Oct. 16 These two DAYs we have affirmed
once by a newsletter and generally by supporting local food and community
gardens. OMNI also has a Home Peace Places Network many of which are
vegetable gardens.
United Nations DAY, October 24 (UN Charter became
binding treaty): OMNI has celebrated this day for seven years by
sponsoring notable speakers, including the president of the Central Ark.
Chapter of UN/USA.
October 28, National Immigrants’ DAY
November, American Indian Heritage MONTH
International DAY for Tolerance, Nov. 16
International DAY to End Violence Against Women, Nov. 25
Buy Nothing DAY, Nov. 26
International DAY of Solidarity with the Palestinian
People, Nov. 29
Human Rights DAY, Dec. 10: Ever since OMNI’s
beginning we have celebrated this DAY, with events of various kinds,
including music/readings at the local bookstore.
Bill of Rights DAY, Dec. 15: OMNI has cooperated with the local
chapter of the ACLU to celebrate this DAY, sometimes at the home of
a member for a talk and dinner. Occasionally we have combined the
two DAYS.
If we listed all the
possibilities for reinforcing peace, justice, and environmental values, we
would be commemorating, that is reinforcing, at least one DAY in every month.
B. Transforming
A more complex initiative
directly challenges the conditioning of the public to accept violence and wars
through the many patriotic days. The UN initiative called the
International Culture of Peace Decade (2000-2010) attempted to define the
Culture of War and the Culture of Peace and move away from a war culture to a
peace culture.
But we cannot make this change so long
as we celebrate the myths represented by the US official ceremonial Days, many
of which directly support wars and preparations for wars.
George Orwell wrote in 1984: "Everything
faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became
the truth”—for example, that wars are inevitable, that our species is
inherently violent, that the US makes mistakes but is mainly
benign. Much of the peace movement’s work in building a
Culture of Peace involves the struggle to reinforce peaceful values despite the
pervasive repetition of numerous nationalistic myths. In behavioral
psychology, we are what we do. Most of the public accepts the
messages of special Days (Daze?) and holidays that promote the US Security State,
because they don’t see it (we’re not Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union),
and anyway overwhelming military force is necessary for our security, never
mind it was we who have attacked other nations, and since the War of 1812
have been attacked by another nation only one more time at Pearl Harbor
1941.
Here are some of the Days we must
transform, if we are to counter the myths that enable such military expenditure
and worldwide intervention.
Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14
President’s Day, Feb. 15. The rise of presidential
and decline of congressional power reached it apex under President George
W. Bush, who is guilty of war crimes and is impeachable by a dozen articles,
and President Obama has not repudiated most of those powers.
May 1, Law DAY. The purchase of Congress by
corporations to make laws favorable to corporations has become another great
catastrophe endangering our democracy.
First Thursday of May, National DAY of Prayer. Our
alternative should be DAY of Prayer by People of All Faiths.
2nd Sunday of May, Mother’s DAY for
Peace: The present Mother’s Day is another national day commodified
for business profit. For six years we have celebrated the
anniversary of Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day for Peace, by a luncheon or
newsletter..
Memorial DAY, last Monday in May, formerly Decoration Day, a US
holiday in remembrance of members of US armed forces killed in wars. It
is time we offered an alternative—the most obvious possibility being all people
killed in war. .
June 14, Flag DAY. Traditionally a day of patriotic
emotion. We can offer alternatives for world peace.
June 15, Father’s DAY. Nothing yet. Like
we are doing with Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day regarding the role of women in
the world, we could help redefine masculinity on this day for peace and
justice.
July 4, Independence DAY. We have
published an occasional newsletter suggesting alternative ways to celebrate
Independence DAY: What should we celebrate? Declaration of
Independence and empire? Or declaration of Interdependence?
Earth Charter? Resistance and Liberation today? Patriotism.?
Nationalism.? Democracy? Wars? Pacifism? Etc. The DAY
is especially n opportunity each year to promote the value of freedom from oppression,
for the people of the US, and for all people.
August 6 and 9, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Remembrance of
Victims/Celebration of Peace Heroes: OMNI’s oldest activity, begun in the 1970s
by our predecessor Peace Organizing Committee. Each year we encourage
people to think about the bombs and about air war: Were the bombs
justified? What were the consequences globally up to today and projected
into the future? For many years the event (walk, speakers, music)
occurred at the Greek Amphitheater on campus of U of Arkansas; now it is held
at the Fulbright Peace Fountain at the center of the campus.
2nd Monday in October, Indigenous People of the
Americas DAY (Columbus Day): As of 2010 OMNI will have sponsored this
event for six years in conjunction with UofA’s Native American Symposium
Committee. Our annual event has grown significantly into a half-day
remembrance: a film at UA, readings from accounts of the Trail of Tears
and talk also at UA, Walk to Trail of Tears Monument, Ceremony. Read the
opening chapter on Columbus in Zinn’s A People’s History of the United
States.
9-11/Patriot Day/Peaceful
Tomorrows DAY. Following 9-11, another kind of immense explosion
instantly occurred, characterized by xenophobia, patriotism, ethnocentrism,
nationalism, chauvinism, and exceptionalism. Because
9-11 was employed by the Bush Administration to so horrendously escalate the
so-called “War on Terrorism” as part of the 70-year-old US permanent war,
asserting an alternative is particularly important. President
Bush named 9-11 “Patriot Day.” In search of the criminals
behind 9-11 he invaded the entire country of Afghanistan, and then invaded
Iraq, began bombing Pakistan, and the cowed Congress passed the
“Patriot Act” ostensibly to apprehend terrorists but in effect to restrict dissent.
But we have living alternatives. Following 9-11, the September 11th Families
for Peaceful Tomorrows asked our leaders not to order our troops to engage in
retaliatory war, but to consider the consequences both to our troops and
to the civilian “enemies.” They cried out for international law,
negotiation, and reconciliation. (See OMNI’s 2009 Newsletter on
9-11/Patriot Day/Peaceful Tomorrows for an extended statement.) In 2009
OMNI commenced its alternative to Patriot Day with Peaceful Tomorrows DAY. November 11, Veterans’ Day/Peaceful Tomorrows
DAY. Our 2008 Newsletter is a large compilation of articles
and bibliographies about illegal and ruinous US wars. Since
then we have published less, but our intention to counter Veterans’ Day as a
traditional day to reinforce patriotism remains the same. And other mythical days into Memory DAYS:
November
25 (Thanksgiving), International DAY to End Violence.
December 7, Pearl
Harbor Day/Colonial War in the Pacific Confronts Japan and US.
Increasingly, historians have questioned the simple explanation of the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor as a dastardly attack by Japanese imperialists; for
example, Roland Worth, Jr.,’s No Choice But War. December
7 offers the peace movement a time to discuss the causes of the war in the
Pacific and the causes of other wars, toward understanding better how to
prevent them. OMNI issued a newsletter in 2008 elaborating these
arguments. During the past two decades, the official, patriotic,
illusory enthusiasm for US wars that has led to permanent war has received
significant deflation.
Conclusion
When people ask, Aren’t they still digging our
grave? We can reply: Nobody promised a quick fix after 70 years of threat,
fear, and hatred. When people ask, What can I do, what can one person do, to
change the world from war to peace? We have one answer at
least: We can reinforce a peaceful DAY or Change a warfare
Day! Instead of digging graves, build a DAY.
When scoffers ask, what
difference can we make? We can answer: we are engaged in a
struggle with bullies over the meanings of our ceremonies and myths, and there
is something we can accomplish. If it is true that the US
warfare state—Corporation-Pentagon-Secrecy-Surveillance-Violence-White
House-Congress-Mass Media-Permanent War—is a dominant system that filters
through a thousand political and social capillaries of repetitive transmission,
yet is not finished, not complete, we can counter it, point by point, place by
place, day by day, niche by niche by concrete actions building a Culture of
Peace inside the Culture of War.
We will
be offering a model to the world, and sometimes models grab the world’s
imagination.
And remember the subtitle
of Gandhi’s autobiography: My Life of Experiments.
References:
Bennett, James R. Control of Information in the
United States: An Annotated Bibliography. Meckler, 1987.
2943 entries.
_____. Control of the Media in the United
States: An Annotated Bibliography. Garland, 1992. 4749
entries.
_____. Political Prisoners and Trials: A Worldwide
Annotated Bibliography, 1900 through 1993. McFarland,
1995. 475 entries on the US.
OMNI’S MEMORY WHOLE Part II
CONTROL OF INFORMATION IN THE
UNITED STATES
Publications by Dick (James R.) Bennett (not including
book reviews), in Chronological Order.
Books
Control of Information in the United
States: An Annotated Bibliography. Meckler,
1987. 2943 entries.
Only
by deliberate effort can we separate ourselves from our culture in order to
examine it.
Control of the Media in the United States: An Annotated Bibliography. Garland, 1992. 4749 entries.
Domination filters through thousands
of capillaries of transmission.
Political Prisoners and Trials: A Worldwide
Annotated Bibliography, 1900-1993. McFarland, 1995.
475 entries on the USA.
Articles
“”An Analysis of Corporate Ideology
Advertising: the Chromalloy ‘Dear Mr. and Mrs.
America’ Ad.” Journal of Applied Communication Research, 7
(April 1979) 23-29.
“A Lesson on Doublespeak.” Focus
Midwest, 13 (August 1979) 14-16.
“Free Film Guides Are Propaganda
Tools.” Educational Leadership, 37 (Dec. 1979) 196-99.
“Reporting the Iranian Embassy Hostage
Crisis.” Islamic Revolution, 2 (May 1980) 208-16.
“Free Speech, Reality, and the
News.” Free Speech Newsletter, No. 49 (June 1980) 3-7.
“A Comparison of Press Coverage of
Communist and Pro-Western Dictatorships.” Freedom of Speech
Newsletter, 6 (June 1980) 3-11.
“Mobil Oil in the Land of King Sam the
Avuncular.” Et Cetera 37 (Fall 1980) 6-16.
“Newspaper Reporting of U.S. Business Crime
in 1980.” Newspaper Research Journal, 3 (Fall 1981) 45-53.
“Reporting the CIA: National Security or
Civil Liberties?” Freedom of Speech Newsletter, 7 (June 1981)
3-12.
“The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company’s
‘Corita’ Advertising Campaign.” Free Speech, 51 (June
1981) 3-12.
“Reporting the El Salvador Civil
War.” Freedom of Speech Newsletter, 8 (Dec. 1981) 11-15.
“Media Credibility at Stake in Publishing
Unsubstantiated—though ‘Official’—News.” The St. Louis Journalism
Review,8 (May 1982) 1 & 13.
“Reporting Poverty and Hunger in
1980.” Free Speech Newsletter, 54 (Oct. 1982) 2-6.
“TV Guide Bozzles America.” Quarterly
Review of Doublespeak, 9 (Oct. 1982) 3-4.
“Nicaragua in Our
Back Yard and on Our Doorstep.” Free Speech, 55 (Dec.
1982) 6-15.
“Reporting Tio Sam’s ‘Free
World’ Dictatorships in the Caribbean Basin.” Current Research on
Peace and Violence, 5.4 (1982) 218-39.
“Page One Sensationalism and the Libyan
‘Hit Team.’” Newspaper Research Journal, 4 (Fall 1982) 34-38.
“Corporate-Sponsored Image
Films.” Journal of Business Ethics, 2.1 (Feb. 1983)
35-41.
“Saturday Review’s Annual
Advertising Awards.” Journal of Business Ethics, 2.2 (1983)
73-78.
“Oceania and the United States in 1984: The
Selling of the Soviet Threat.” Social Theory and Practice, 10
(Fall 1984) 301-318.
“Out of Disaster a Pep Talk.” Quarterly
Review of Doublespeak, 12.1 (Oct. 1985) 10-12.
“Doublethink and the Rhetoric of Crisis:
President Reagan’s October 22, 1983, Speech on Arms ‘Reduction.’” Oldspeak/Newspeak:
Rhetorical Transformations. 1985. 54-66.
“Corporate and Government Control of
Education in the United States.” Transforming the Present for the
Future. 1986. 121-27.
“McCarran Goodthinkful.” Free
Speech, 60 (Fall 1986) 8-11.
“Soviet Scholars Look at U.S.
Media.” Journal of Communication, 36 (Winter 1986)
126-32.
“Terrorism: The Politics of
Definition.” St. Louis Journalism Review, 13.84 (1986) 2, 10.
“President Reagan’s Panegyric for the
Marines Killed in Lebanon.” North Dakota Quarterly, 55
(Spring 1987) 35-48.
“The Public Broadcasting
System.” Freedom of Speech Newsletter, 13.1 (1987) 3-5.
“Censorship by the Reagan
Administration.” Index on Censorship, 17.7 (1988) 28-32.
“Newspapers Neglect Car
Safety.” St. Louis Journalism Review, 18 (Oct. 1988) 14.
“Managing Consensus: The Presidential
Commission as an Indictment of Bureaucratic Policy Control.” New
Political Science, 16/17 (Fall/Winter 1989) 155-78.
“National Power and Objectivity in the
Classroom.” College English, 51.8 (Dec. 1989) 805-824.
“Grassroots Militarism…Washington County,
Arkansas.” Center on War and the Child, 1989. 30pp.
“There.” (Media Coverage of
Mine Disaster.) St. Louis Journalism Review, 19 (June
1989) 2.
“One Classroom against
Propaganda.” Propaganda Review, 6 (Winter 1990) 27-29,
46.
“The Future of Media Hegemony in the United
States.” Human Energy Shaping the Future. College of
Education, U. of Arkansas, 1991. 287-296.
“Media Critics Survive ‘active and
unafraid.’” St. Louis Journalism Review, 21 (Oct. 1991).
12.
“Questioning the Supreme Obsession: Novels
about Anti-Communism in the United States Since World War II.” Works
and Days, 10.2 (Fall 1992). 89-118.
“The U.S. Media Submit to Censorship in the
Grenada, Panama, and Iraq Invasions.” St. Louis Journalism Review(Dec.
1992-Jan. 1993). 16-17.
“Control of the Media and the First
Amendment.” The Quarterly Journal of Ideology, 17.1-2
(June 1994).
THREE
CHRISTIANS
THREE CHRISTIAN FIGURES OF HOPE: DIETRICH BONHOEFFER, POPE JOHN XXIII, MURIEL
MOORE
Thomas Cahill ends Heretics
and Heroes with three Christians—a German Lutheran Protestant, an Italian
Catholic, and a U.S. Episcopalian--who represent some of the best in
Christianity.
“Christians
must not only ‘bandage the victims under the wheel, but jam the spoke in the
wheel itself.’” Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
qtd. By Thomas Cahill, Heretics and
Heroes (307, referring to Hitler’s Nazis).
Pope
John XXIII believed that “Jesus cam to break down barriers [between people]; he
died to proclaim universal brotherhood; the central point of his teaching is
charity—that is, the love that binds all human beings to him. . . .” (308).
Muriel
Moore organized free meals for the poor and treated all the same. “’We are all the same.’ That was Muriel’s credo.” (310). -- Dick
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This
book by prominent Protestant theologian Jay McDaniel suggests that Mahatma
Gandhi challenged the modern world by publicly revealing that which he learned
from other faith traditions and advocating this path as a way for intercultural
understanding. The wisdom of Gandhi holds special poignancy today, when the
processes of globalization and migration have placed followers of different
faiths in closer proximity than can be remembered in the past five hundred
years.
Jay
McDaniel writes with crisp clarity and organizes his insights into bite-sized
pieces. He lays out five challenges that face all the world's faiths:
compassion, self-criticism, simple living, ecological awareness, and welcoming
religious diversity. In approaching this decidedly postmodern list of issues,
McDaniel draws from two primary resources: the experiences shared by his
students at Hendrix
College
Continuing
with a style developed in his earlier books, McDaniel latches onto
a metaphor and extends it to illustrate his central point—in this case,
the value of diversity. In past books, he has used the image of the hunter and
the hunted to underscore the need to respect animals. In Gandhi's Hope, the
metaphor he employs is that of a jazz concert, with all different manner of
instruments pooling their resources to create a tapestry of diverse yet
harmonious music.
Although
the title of the book may seem to indicate that Gandhi will serve as the focus,
in fact, Whitehead anchors McDaniel's approach. Through an updated approach to
Whitehead, McDaniel seeks to answer the questions regarding diversity and
compassion that he has posed. He suggests that an experience of concrescence
will result in the sort of heightened awareness needed to increase one's
conscience and to make the ethical changes needed to respond to the current
state of the world. McDaniel identifies twelve "planks" that will
usher Whitehead's vision into the contemporary world. These twelve aspects seem
also to be heavily influenced by McDaniel's own encounter with Buddhism:
interdependence, impermanence, indeterminism, mind/matter, deep listening,
value, God, creativity, persuasive power, divine empathy, many forms of
salvation, and life after death. These broad categories embrace key notions
found in all religious traditions. .
Amy Goodman |
Mandela: The Man and the Movement
|
|
 Amy Goodman, Op-Ed,
NationofChange, Dec. 12, 2013: Nelson
Mandela’s passing last week at the age of ninety-five has been met with a
global outpouring of remembrance and reflection. A giant of modern human
history has died. Mandela is rightly remembered for his remarkable ability to
reconcile with his oppressors and the political prescription his forgiveness
entailed for the new |
YES! MAGAZINE SUPPORTS
BUILDING A JUST AND SUSTAINABLE WORLD.
Each issue focuses on a different theme.
The Fall 2010 theme was:
A Resilient Community
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Table
of Contents
Issue
55
Fall 2010 |
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New
content will be added periodically.
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EDITOR’S
INTRODUCTION: Seeds of Resilience
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New
Visions
Solving today’s big problems will take more
than a quick fix. These authors offer clarity about the roots of our problems
and visions of a better way.
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With the economy still
shaking and peak oil and climate change on the horizon, it’s hard to plan for
the future. Here’s a no-regrets strategy for building resilience into your life.
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How
to have honest conversations about climate change, the future, and our hopes
and fears.
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World
& Community
New models that foster justice and real
prosperity, and sustain the Earth’s living systems. How can we bring these
models to life and put them to work?
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Transition
Towns celebrate, get skilled, go green, and kick the oil habit.
We’re here. We’re
growing food in the city. And we’re not going away.
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Care for and celebrate
the places we share, and value what’s free.
Lessons of dedication,
solidarity, love, and recovery, five years after Katrina.
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The
Power of One
Stories of people who find their courage,
open their hearts, and discover what it means to be human in today’s world .
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Invest
in the sock exchange, share a bike, swap your skills, and reduce your environmental
footprint.
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Your grandparents knew
how to do these things. 5 handy skills.
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Breaking
Open
Humor, story-telling, and the arts—taking
you into unexpected spaces where business-as-usual breaks open into new
possibilities.
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What
your ancestors knew can help you navigate today’s uncertainties.
Ten
ideas for building resilience from communities across the country: a house
made of cob, low-impact urban living, bike as you are, the general store,
process food locally, bees on city roofs, scrappy rebuilding, making fruit
public.
Take
this quiz to find out.
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Ecovillages, fallen fruit, and how to build
a cob house: It's all on our Multimedia Page.
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Inventor Paul Stamets
says mushrooms can eat oil, help clean up the BP mess, and rid the world of
toxics—and he’s got proof.
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How to avoid the
finance industry’s games and create real wealth.
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Departments
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FROM THE PUBLISHER
 10 Ways to Solve the Jobs Problem Imagine a no-holds-barred “summit” that comes up with ideas to solve both our job and environmental problems. What might it come up with?
COMMENTARY:
Clear Act: A Climate Bill That Can Pass |
RESISTANCE AND HOPE
Home ›
The Progressive Magazine: December
2013 / January 2014
Volume 77, Number 12
IN THIS ISSUE
Editor's Note
No Comment
Letters
Comment Public Banking Is the Answer
No Comment
Letters
Comment Public Banking Is the Answer
On the Line
Terry Tempest Williams goes to the banks of the Colorado
When Government Was Neighborly Wendell
Berry
Saluting a New Deal program that helpedKentucky
Saluting a New Deal program that helped
How I Took the Leap to Cooperative Life Rebecca Kemble
Stepping off the career path for something better.
Stepping off the career path for something better.
Rescuing Atlantis Rick
Bass
Why I’m left with no choice but to put my body on the line.
Why I’m left with no choice but to put my body on the line.
The Bravest Woman I Know Kathy
Kelly
How an eighty-two-year-old librarian bravedBaghdad
How an eighty-two-year-old librarian braved
Taking Abortions Home Julia
Burke
Midwives offer women a new option.
Midwives offer women a new option.
Sister Cities Success Story Elizabeth
DiNovella
What Madison, Wisconsin, andArcatao ,
El Salvador
What Madison, Wisconsin, and
They provided a lifeline in the aftermath of the superstorm—and transformed a union.
A Victory for Public Schools Jonathan
Pelto
In Bridgeport, Connecticut, activists won a huge fight.
In Bridgeport, Connecticut, activists won a huge fight.
How to Build a New World Naomi Klein
Why I was wrong in The Shock Doctrine—and what we must do now.
Why I was wrong in The Shock Doctrine—and what we must do now.
Vets Turn to Gardening Stephen
C. Webster
Growing herbs and vegetables heals the soul.
Growing herbs and vegetables heals the soul.
A Letter to a Young Doctor Dan
Murphy
Find work that will capture your heart.
Find work that will capture your heart.
Community Activists Save the Sea David
Helvarg
How they restore both ecosystems and livelihoods.
How they restore both ecosystems and livelihoods.
Practicing Nonviolence in Syria
Even here, against great odds, it can be done.
Even here, against great odds, it can be done.
A
Cemetery Desecrated by Mining
Interview Tawakkol Karman by Amitabh Pal
“The United States should know that the only people who can defeat the terrorists are the people themselves,” says the first Arab woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
“The United States should know that the only people who can defeat the terrorists are the people themselves,” says the first Arab woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Dave Zirin prepares athletes who take a
stand.
Will Durst examines Ted Cruz
(R-Crazyville).
Poem Sandra Cisneros
Our Favorite Books of 2013 (some about hope)
Jim Hightower spotlights a Texas
In New Orleans
Lessons of dedication, solidarity, love, and recovery, five
years after Katrina.
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The
taxi driver called me “girlfriend” and “sweetheart” with the familiar sweetness
of New Orleanians, so I figured I could ask a few personal questions. He was
from the Lower Ninth Ward, one of the neighborhoods inundated by Katrina—a
mostly poor, mostly black edge of the city isolated and imperiled by two
manmade canals—and it had taken him three and a half years to return to New
Orleans. He still wasn’t in his neighborhood, but he was back in the city, and
his family was back, and they were determined to come back all the way.
What
happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is more remarkable than almost
anyone has told. More than a million volunteers came to New Orleans to gut
houses, rebuild, and stand in solidarity with the people who endured not just a
hurricane but a deluge of Bush Administration incompetence and
institutionalized racism at all levels of government, which temporarily turned
the drowned city into a prison. Supplies were not allowed in by a panicky
government; people were not allowed out, and a wholly unnatural crisis ensued.
Even
so, an astounding wave of solidarity and empathy arose. At Hurricanehousing.org more than 200,000 people volunteered
to shelter evacuees, often in their own homes. And then there were those
legions of volunteers, many of them white, working in a city that had been
two-thirds black.
A disaster is actually threatening to elites, not because the
response is selfish but because it often unfolds like a revolution, in which
the status quo has evaporated.
I
have again and again met passionate young activists who intended to come for a
week or a month and never left. In the Lower Ninth, my taxi driver’s
neighborhood, things looked better than even six months before. Brad Pitt’s
Make It Right Foundation now has dozens of solar-powered homes, built on stilts
for the next inundation, scattered across the lowlands of the neighborhood. New
businesses have opened on St.
Claude Avenue
It’s
hard to say that there is a recipe for solidarity across race and class lines.
During crises, the official reaction from government and media is often
widespread fear—based on a belief that in the absence of institutional
authority people revert to Hobbesian selfishness and violence, or just feckless
conduct. Scholars Lee Clarke and Karon Chess call this fear of the public,
particularly the poor and nonwhite public, “elite panic.” Because these
“elites” shape reaction as well as opinion, their beliefs can be deadly.
But the truth is that most
people are altruistic, resourceful, and constructive during crisis. A disaster
is actually threatening to elites, not because the response is selfish but
because it often unfolds like a revolution, in which the status quo has evaporated.
Civil
society improvises its own systems of survival—community kitchens, clinics,
neighborhood councils, and networks of volunteers and survivors—often
decentralized and deeply empowering for the individuals involved. What gets
called recovery can constitute the counter-revolution—the taking back of power.
Perhaps
the biggest question for a disaster like Katrina is to what extent this
transformed sense of self and society lasts and matters: Can it be a foundation
for a stronger civil society, more solidarity, and grassroots power? It has
been so in many ways in New Orleans
One
important tool for future disasters, and social change in the absence of
disaster, is simply knowledge of what really happened: how many people in the
hours, days, weeks and months after Katrina behaved with courage, love, and
creativity, and how much they constituted the majority response. Such human
capacities can be an extraordinary resource not just in crisis but in realizing
our dearest hopes for a stronger society and more meaningful lives.
What gets called recovery can constitute the
counter-revolution—the taking back of power.
Katrina
is hardly a happy story. More than 1,600 people died. The racism on the part of
the media, the authorities ready to believe any rumor, and the vigilantes who
took it upon themselves to regard any black man as a looter and to administer
the death penalty for these imagined minor property crimes were a reminder of
how ugly this country can be and how much remains to be done. The city used the
disaster as an excuse to shut down most of the public housing even though much
of it was undamaged and intact housing was desperately needed.
Poverty
continues, and so does racism; the South did not stop being the South or
America America. And the BP spill menaces
the region in a way that is even more ominous than Katrina. The hurricane was
after all a kind of event that has come ashore for tens of thousands of years,
and when it was over people could rebuild. What can be done to ameliorate the
spill is still a mystery, and the coastal edge of Louisiana
Read an
excerpt from Rebecca Solnit's latest book: A Paradise Built in
Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster.
The
taxi driver took us to the New
Orleans Convention Center
Traveling
through a vibrant New Orleans Haiti
and Chile , the volcano in Iceland
{The book Shock Doctrine
offers a contrasting picture of corporate exploitation of catastrophes. –Dick)
Rebecca Solnit wrote this
article for A Resilient Community,
the Fall 2010 issue of YES! Magazine. Rebecca is the author of twelve books,
including A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities
That Arise in Disaster and Hope in the Dark.
Header photo by N. Krebill
.
.
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Rebecca
Solnit, 'Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities'
More Reviews
Review by Theresa Wolfwood
Nation Books, 2004; ISBN 1
5602 5828 4; £8; 182pp
“It's always too soon to go home. And it's always too soon to
calculate effect.” Activists who feel
despondent and or just plain tired will read this book and take heart in our
work and find purpose in the creative search for a better world. Solnit
believes we've had many successes; we can and should rejoice - and then carry
on. [See Solnit’s A Paradise Built in Hell in Hope Newsletter #3. –Dick]
“I
once read an anecdote by someone in Women Strike for Peace, the first great
antinuclear movement in the United
States
This
is one of Solnit's many stories of the
unforeseen effect of activism - the work for peace and justice - and it sets
the tone for her passionate commitment to a life of social action.
Her social history of the
successes of social movements and their unpredictability give great hope to us
all. She
uses many well-known and some obscure examples to make her point: the
possibilities of sustained social action, the results we dream of are what make
it possible for us to find joy, purpose and creativity in our lives, and that
by recognising our successes we don't quit, but find strength to continue.
I
looked a bit askance at the chapter heading “A Dream Three Times the Size of
Texas”, and then found it was about indigenous peoples, including the formation
of Nunavut , the Inuit homeland, formerly part
of the North-West Territories of Canada Canada Canada Texas
She
details the progress of the resistance to the World Trade Organisation since
1999, as social movements give information and encouragement to many
governments to stand up against the bullies of the world. The resistance to the
Multilateral Agreement on Investment in 1996-1998 and the failure of that
agreement formed the basis of wild possibility in Seattle ,
Cancun and now Hong Kong - the latest WTO
fiasco.
In
Solnit's hometown of San Francisco ,
USA Market
Square
Read this book, take
heart, take comfort and stand together in all social action. We make history
and change history as we stand; the results are for future historians to
record. We will have to make sure they are not untold; we need more activist
historians everywhere like Solnit to illuminate our activism.
Stories That Light Up The Dark by Sanjay Khanna. Yes!
Magazine, Fall 2010. Posted
Sep 17, 2010.
The experiences of our ancestors offer us wisdom for surviving
today's crises.
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Beginning
in 2004, the Norwegian government and a group of international agricultural
research organizations decided to invest in an idea they hoped would help
humanity endure big future unknowns. It’s called the Svalbard Global Seed
Vault. Nicknamed the Doomsday Vault, it sits inside a mountain on an Arctic
archipelago and contains the seeds of more than half a million of the world’s
crop varieties—in case civil strife, natural disasters, climate change, or
other calamities destroy local and regional seed stocks.
The vault’s contents represent a fraction of the results of one of humanity’s greatest endeavors, thousands of years of agriculture, but key ingredients are missing—the values, knowledge, creativity, tenacity, and endurance that motivated people to maintain and propagate millions of plant varieties. It’s that kind of wisdom that has, as importantly as the actual seeds, allowed cultures to endure and innovate over the course of millennia.
Much of that knowledge is disappearing, either because of the spread of consumer culture or because of the increasing loss of cultural and linguistic diversity. But a wealth of life-affirming knowledge and wisdom can still be found in stories—that is, in the cultural and family stories we may have learned as children or that were shared across generations. These stories can provide lessons to help us weather the unknown with our kindness and benevolence intact.
Stories, I’d argue, can help us to become resilient people.
The vault’s contents represent a fraction of the results of one of humanity’s greatest endeavors, thousands of years of agriculture, but key ingredients are missing—the values, knowledge, creativity, tenacity, and endurance that motivated people to maintain and propagate millions of plant varieties. It’s that kind of wisdom that has, as importantly as the actual seeds, allowed cultures to endure and innovate over the course of millennia.
Much of that knowledge is disappearing, either because of the spread of consumer culture or because of the increasing loss of cultural and linguistic diversity. But a wealth of life-affirming knowledge and wisdom can still be found in stories—that is, in the cultural and family stories we may have learned as children or that were shared across generations. These stories can provide lessons to help us weather the unknown with our kindness and benevolence intact.
Stories, I’d argue, can help us to become resilient people.
"Our stories tell us that we didn’t become real human
beings until we became communities, until the welfare of the whole became more
important than the welfare of the individual."
When I realized, through my work as a futurist, that the global economy and climate were on an unpredictable path, I began searching for stories, personal and cultural, that can encourage all of us to band together and work in service of the common good as the civilized world runs up against ecological limits.
Through this process, I had the good fortune to meet some remarkable people whose oral histories go back thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of years.
Adapting
to the Changing Climate
Today,
we’re already witnessing major shifts in our climate, and greenhouse gases that
industrial nations have pumped into the atmosphere guarantee that we’ll see
more change in our lifetimes, even if the world makes a transition away from
fossil fuels. It’s hard to imagine what such a massive upheaval of our weather
patterns will look like.
But
some cultures have stories about change that occurred long ago. According to
George Edwardson, 63, president and elder of the Iñupiat Community of the
Arctic Slope in Alaska, elders in his community retain an oral history across a
period of “seven ice ages” (up to 350,000 years), when the regional landscape
underwent dramatic climate changes that, in turn, affected the human
experience.
Iñupiat stories explain how communities got through this hardship and change. Victoria Hykes Steere, an Iñupiaq human rights advocate, recounts:
Iñupiat stories explain how communities got through this hardship and change. Victoria Hykes Steere, an Iñupiaq human rights advocate, recounts:
Our world was green and then it snowed. It
was warm and then it got cold. The few who didn’t die worked together. Snow and
ice taught us to be human and think beyond our individual selves. In our
legends and our history, snow and ice made us better people and led us to use
our minds.
Our
stories tell us that we didn’t become real human beings until we became
communities, until the welfare of the whole became more important than the
welfare of the individual.
We learned from the animals, such as the wolves, to see how they took care of each other.
We learned from the animals, such as the wolves, to see how they took care of each other.
Hykes
Steere’s people are already suffering as warming temperatures break up the
permafrost and literally melt the ground beneath their homes. The cost of
relocating Alaska Native communities, according to Hykes Steere, has been
estimated at between $100 million and $300 million per village.
Furthermore,
spikes in the cost of electricity are forcing many Alaskan Natives to go without
light or heat during winter evenings, so they can use the little money they
have to procure enough food.
“We’re
being hit hard now with climate impacts,” says Hykes Steere. “Now with the Bering Strait opening up because of melting Arctic ice,
industrial shipping and fishing are additional threats to our food sources.”
Though the situation is grave, Hykes Steere’s family stories remind her how to find strength:
Though the situation is grave, Hykes Steere’s family stories remind her how to find strength:
We
do not control the environment, but we do control how we respond. … My
grandmother said that when you lose hope, you lose everything.
My grandfather used to tell me I could keep certain sunrise moments alive in my memory. My grandfather trained me to look for moments when I was seeing something that would some day help me to remember the goodness.
He taught me to keep them vivid—smell them, taste them, and see them—so that when things got really bad, I could go back there. I remember the first time I did that, there were a bunch of moments that meant nothing to anyone else where the world was filled with beauty.
When things get really bad, I go into those moments … and I’m okay.
My grandfather used to tell me I could keep certain sunrise moments alive in my memory. My grandfather trained me to look for moments when I was seeing something that would some day help me to remember the goodness.
He taught me to keep them vivid—smell them, taste them, and see them—so that when things got really bad, I could go back there. I remember the first time I did that, there were a bunch of moments that meant nothing to anyone else where the world was filled with beauty.
When things get really bad, I go into those moments … and I’m okay.
To
help us carry on as economic and ecological conditions continue to deteriorate,
more of us may need to draw on vivid memories of unspeakable beauty.
Next
page »[1] 2
Writing Visions of
Hope: Teaching Twentieth-Century
American Literature and Research
Richard C. Raymond .
Information Age Publishers,
2013.
Paperback 9781623962623 $45.99.
Hardcover 9781623962630 $85.99. eBook 9781623962647 $50
This
nine-chapter book narrates a writing-centered approach to the teaching of
literature and literary research. As the title suggests, the book also embraces
a
thematic
approach to reading and writing about twentieth-century American literature,
focusing on the grounds for hope in an age of despair.
The
first five chapters explore in detail the teaching of the twentieth-century
American literature course at the University
of Pristina
author
served as Fulbright Professor of American Literature in the spring semester of
2012. Throughout, these chapters narrate
students’
in-class interactions to illustrate writing-to-learn strategies for teaching
the literature. Chapter six then
follows the same cohort of 22 students as they
learned
to ground their literary research in their own questions about American and
Balkans narratives of oppression and liberty, of despair and hope.
The
last three chapters document the responses of students and their professors to
this American theme of liberty and hope as seen through the Balkans lenses
of
ethnic violence and emerging republican government. Specifically, chapter seven
focuses on students’ participation in a blog featuring Balkans literature
that
explores the same issues of liberty and justice examined in the American literature
they have read. Chapter eight then celebrates student writing, the fruit
of
the writing-to-learn strategies narrated in earlier chapters. Finally, chapter
nine narrates professors’ and students’ responses, gathered through surveys and
interviewing,
to questions about their country’s violent past and the value of literary study
in preparing citizens to shape a new republic.
Contents #1
Heroes
Violence Not
Inevitable
Power of Hope
Peace Symbol
William
Faulkner
Contents
#2
December and
January PEOPLE for peace, justice, and ecology.
Mice (yes)
Planetary
UN
Organization
Body
Children
New President
Equality
Truth-telling
Forgiveness
Compassion
Kindness
Service
Contents of #3
Dick, the United Nations: Hope for Peace in the World
O’Brien, Our
Friend the Owl (see Newsletter on Cross-Species Friendships)
Chomsky on
Power vs. Grassroots
Solnit,
Disaster Altruism, A Paradise Built in
Hell
Wolff, Workers’
Enterprises
Goldstein,
Declining Armed Conflict
Rifkin,
Humanist Hope
Macy and
Johnstone, Active Hope Via Reality
Lehrer,
Creativity
Jacob George, A
Ride Till the End (ARTTE)
Poem by Marge
Piercy
Publication
Data
For research purposes, specific
subjects can be located in the following alphabetized index, and searched on
the blog using the search box. The search box is located in the upper
left corner of the webpage.
Newsletter Index: http://omnicenter.org/dick-bennetts-peace-justice-and-ecology-newsletters/dicks-newsletter-index/
Newsletter Index: http://omnicenter.org/dick-bennetts-peace-justice-and-ecology-newsletters/dicks-newsletter-index/
See Index to
OMNI Newsletters: activism, compassion, cooperation, ecology heroes, Gandhi, justice,
King, liberalism, Nobel Peace Prize, nonviolence, peace heroes, progressivism, resistance….
Facebook: www.facebook.com/OMNIPeaceDept
(479) 442-4600
2582 Jimmie Ave.
Fayetteville, AR 72703
2582 Jimmie Ave.
Fayetteville, AR 72703
END HOPE NEWSLETTER #4
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