Yes it's up to each one of us to "do our part" and you have posted exactly how to do this on previous posts. I have a friend in St Paul MN. He's right in the middle of it. He says "ordinary people who never thought they would have to act this way" are following the ICE convoys and filming every single movement, bearing witness. It reduces ICE's ability to lie outright.
Here, as Carney put it, paraphrasing Havel, we have "taken the sign out of the window" and must turn our hands to building the new paths he spoke of.
Yes. Well said. These times are so dangerous. Like you, I'm running out of words. And it's time for people to stop assuming there'll be elections. The Democratic establishment, as you say, is borderline useless anyway. May the resistance continue to wake up and grow.
Thank you for this. You address a dynamic that routinely turns opponents of the American administration into something like street signs trying to stop tanks. The thinking seems to be that the administration is so murderous and unlawful that surely we'll return to fair elections and the rule of law. Maybe we'd even elect the likes of Jimmy Carter or Barack Obama again.
But it's not working out that way. It may be in part because economic, social, and political forces that long predate the current administration have never been addressed. The administration thinks authoritarianism is the answer. Of course, it's not. These crises give us an opportunity to think in new and more fundamental ways about systemic problems in our economy, society, and politics.
But the administration is dividing us by states, regions, and class. Of course, those divisions--red vs. blue states, suburbs vs. inner cities, and middle-class vs. the poor (including immigrants)--predate the administration. If we don't step over these self-made boundaries and help and stand up for our neighbors (as Jesus might define them), we're self-complacent suckers.
This is not to say that all of us that oppose what the administration is doing must be on the same page in other respects or see things at the same "depth." There's a certain intersectionality in a common foe that makes working together easier in a crisis. But I think we have to practice democracy. That is the opportunity the administration's terror is giving to several American cities, including Chicago and Charlotte, and those cities have taken advantage of it. Hopefully, they'll never, never leave the streets, even if and when this regime falls.
Ukraine's Orange Revolution concluded with the removal of a president. The people thought that they had won, but after they went home, the corruption and pro-Russian influence returned to Ukraine. It took a second entire revolution, the Maidan Revolution, for people to understand that democracy wasn't just about voting for a president. It was about a continuing revolution, what Arendt calls "the spirit of revolution" that works in people coming together in face-to-face groups, associating with other groups in consociational practice. Democracy is work. Anyway, that's one part of the puzzle.
It is definitely work, and work that has to be done by the people as well as those we elect to represent us. There have been a number of decades where people could be complacent, and unfortunately that makes it harder for them to wake up to reality. I think this is why many of the people at demonstrations have been elders -- those of us who grew up during the Vietnam War and saw what has to be done, and what effective resistance can do.
The power of the less powerful begins with honesty.
-- Prime Minister Mark Carney
The middle powers within the U.S. will continue to act together, each person doing what can be done, in this time of rupture. Prime Minister Mark Carney's rigorous honesty is much needed now. Thank you for this post and your prayers, Beth.
Much love, Beth, in these frightening times. Mark Carney isn't a progressive politician, is he? He's a banker! But his intellect and honesty are pretty remarkable. Great contrast with our despicable British prime minister.
Thanks, Jean. He's a centrist, in my book, and a pragmatist. I don't like his environmental policies and he's caved in to pressure on oil pipelines and other issues. But he is a leader, and so far as rallying and steadying Canada goes, he's been fabulous -- now it looks like he's taking a strong stand on the world stage as well, and good for him.
I just reread Mark Carney's Davos speech and was even more impressed. Our brave, just a little bit hope-inducing Zack Polanski has said that under his leadership the growing Green Party could not consider working with Labour under Starmer, but perhaps under a different leader. Perhaps under someone more like Carney?
Of course it's difficult not to despair. I do, we all do, because it's a natural reaction to a sense of helplessness in the face of horrific events. The question is how long we stay there. Despair can't help anyone, least of all ourselves. I was listening to a trauma therapist from Minneapolis, and she said that witnessing trauma and not doing anything, or not being able to do anything, is one of the worst things for our nervous systems. The antidote to that is to take some action to help. It can be very small. But it's the way out. We may not be able to go out on the streets to protest, but we can console a child, write our representatives, send a check, pick up an instrument and make some music that lifts someone's spirit as well as our own. (I hope you're still doing some music yourself!)
Synchronicity. Just heard an honest man say that his despair led to prayer that led to action. His prayer: Thank You for the strength to take action coming from love. The beloved community in action coming from love is present here.
Thank you for that story, Amanda. My prayer is often "help me to know what to do." I address this not to some bearded man in the sky, but to the positive force that I believe is in the universe, helping us when we come together, helping us when we have right intention. We can call it Love but I think it is even bigger than that. In any case, the right first thing to do is sometimes finding someone to talk to when we feel despair. It doesn't need to be a therapist. It can just be a friend who knows what despair feels like and isn't consumed with it at that particular time. We are all suffering, but not all suffering in the same ways at the same time -- therefore we should be able to help each other.
Yes it's up to each one of us to "do our part" and you have posted exactly how to do this on previous posts. I have a friend in St Paul MN. He's right in the middle of it. He says "ordinary people who never thought they would have to act this way" are following the ICE convoys and filming every single movement, bearing witness. It reduces ICE's ability to lie outright.
Here, as Carney put it, paraphrasing Havel, we have "taken the sign out of the window" and must turn our hands to building the new paths he spoke of.
Yes. Well said. These times are so dangerous. Like you, I'm running out of words. And it's time for people to stop assuming there'll be elections. The Democratic establishment, as you say, is borderline useless anyway. May the resistance continue to wake up and grow.
Thanks, Edward. May it be so.
Thank you for this. You address a dynamic that routinely turns opponents of the American administration into something like street signs trying to stop tanks. The thinking seems to be that the administration is so murderous and unlawful that surely we'll return to fair elections and the rule of law. Maybe we'd even elect the likes of Jimmy Carter or Barack Obama again.
But it's not working out that way. It may be in part because economic, social, and political forces that long predate the current administration have never been addressed. The administration thinks authoritarianism is the answer. Of course, it's not. These crises give us an opportunity to think in new and more fundamental ways about systemic problems in our economy, society, and politics.
But the administration is dividing us by states, regions, and class. Of course, those divisions--red vs. blue states, suburbs vs. inner cities, and middle-class vs. the poor (including immigrants)--predate the administration. If we don't step over these self-made boundaries and help and stand up for our neighbors (as Jesus might define them), we're self-complacent suckers.
This is not to say that all of us that oppose what the administration is doing must be on the same page in other respects or see things at the same "depth." There's a certain intersectionality in a common foe that makes working together easier in a crisis. But I think we have to practice democracy. That is the opportunity the administration's terror is giving to several American cities, including Chicago and Charlotte, and those cities have taken advantage of it. Hopefully, they'll never, never leave the streets, even if and when this regime falls.
Ukraine's Orange Revolution concluded with the removal of a president. The people thought that they had won, but after they went home, the corruption and pro-Russian influence returned to Ukraine. It took a second entire revolution, the Maidan Revolution, for people to understand that democracy wasn't just about voting for a president. It was about a continuing revolution, what Arendt calls "the spirit of revolution" that works in people coming together in face-to-face groups, associating with other groups in consociational practice. Democracy is work. Anyway, that's one part of the puzzle.
It is definitely work, and work that has to be done by the people as well as those we elect to represent us. There have been a number of decades where people could be complacent, and unfortunately that makes it harder for them to wake up to reality. I think this is why many of the people at demonstrations have been elders -- those of us who grew up during the Vietnam War and saw what has to be done, and what effective resistance can do.
That's true. I've seen a number of updated, aging hippies there . . .
The power of the less powerful begins with honesty.
-- Prime Minister Mark Carney
The middle powers within the U.S. will continue to act together, each person doing what can be done, in this time of rupture. Prime Minister Mark Carney's rigorous honesty is much needed now. Thank you for this post and your prayers, Beth.
Thank you, Amanda. Prayers alone are not going to get us out of this nightmare, as I'm sure you agree.
Much love, Beth, in these frightening times. Mark Carney isn't a progressive politician, is he? He's a banker! But his intellect and honesty are pretty remarkable. Great contrast with our despicable British prime minister.
Calling Mark Carney a banker is like calling Winston Churchill a military officer ;)
Thanks, Jean. He's a centrist, in my book, and a pragmatist. I don't like his environmental policies and he's caved in to pressure on oil pipelines and other issues. But he is a leader, and so far as rallying and steadying Canada goes, he's been fabulous -- now it looks like he's taking a strong stand on the world stage as well, and good for him.
I just reread Mark Carney's Davos speech and was even more impressed. Our brave, just a little bit hope-inducing Zack Polanski has said that under his leadership the growing Green Party could not consider working with Labour under Starmer, but perhaps under a different leader. Perhaps under someone more like Carney?
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1LJvkDafXP/?mibextid=wwXIfr
I can't see the link, since I'm not on FB , but maybe others can...
It was a video of maybe 30 people in winter jackets standing in a Target store singing many verses of @We shall not be moved”
It is difficult not to give in to despair. That's no excuse, but it is still true.
Of course it's difficult not to despair. I do, we all do, because it's a natural reaction to a sense of helplessness in the face of horrific events. The question is how long we stay there. Despair can't help anyone, least of all ourselves. I was listening to a trauma therapist from Minneapolis, and she said that witnessing trauma and not doing anything, or not being able to do anything, is one of the worst things for our nervous systems. The antidote to that is to take some action to help. It can be very small. But it's the way out. We may not be able to go out on the streets to protest, but we can console a child, write our representatives, send a check, pick up an instrument and make some music that lifts someone's spirit as well as our own. (I hope you're still doing some music yourself!)
Synchronicity. Just heard an honest man say that his despair led to prayer that led to action. His prayer: Thank You for the strength to take action coming from love. The beloved community in action coming from love is present here.
Thank you for that story, Amanda. My prayer is often "help me to know what to do." I address this not to some bearded man in the sky, but to the positive force that I believe is in the universe, helping us when we come together, helping us when we have right intention. We can call it Love but I think it is even bigger than that. In any case, the right first thing to do is sometimes finding someone to talk to when we feel despair. It doesn't need to be a therapist. It can just be a friend who knows what despair feels like and isn't consumed with it at that particular time. We are all suffering, but not all suffering in the same ways at the same time -- therefore we should be able to help each other.