It is paradoxical that during this time when I've been working on concepts for a just future, this country has been increasingly expanding its toxic politics and military might both around the world, and within our domestic society. There is a pervasive sense that it is all falling apart.
Category: authoritarianism
What does an active testimony for peace truly require today?
As our economic and political systems, and our environment collapse before our eyes, many are being forced, finally, to realize that we need a plan for survival. And that help will not be coming from the government.
Minneapolis Active Objection and Renewal
The powerful and peaceful witness shown by the people of Minneapolis is a template for other communities that will likely be confronted with similar tactics by ICE.
Take away the occasion of all wars
To "live in that power which takes away the occasion of all wars" is to actively dismantle the Economic Draft and return stolen land. The state is already obsolete; our task is to build the better world that is already here in the hands of the organized community.
Minneapolis as an example of mutual aid
Opposite the dystopian images of thousands of heavily armed masked men killing civilians and imprisoning five year old children, the people of Minneapolis have responded remarkably in numerous ways by employing mutual aid.
Protecting your data during a public witness
It is heartening to see the massive protests in response to ICE actions. But I'm concerned that many people, especially those who are new to protesting in public, may not aware of how their cell phones can provide information about them to policing agencies. And how they are putting others at risk if their photos include other people's faces.
It is time
Many among us — people of good will and faithful conscience — are wondering: is now the time? Are we at the time when our most fundamental rights as human beings and as citizens are being existentially threatened? No one will announce that it is that time. There will be no proclamation. We must listen to our conscience and, with our brothers and sisters, decide to suspend the normal order of things and step into the breach to declare the truth we see with our eyes, hear from our neighbors and know in our hearts.
War at Home
I've watched in horror as militarized police and National Guardsmen are being deployed to our cities and communities. This is the latest episode of advancing authoritarianism under the current administration. We now have a war at home.
Who is colonized now?
Today, the "Economic Draft" expands the definition of the colonized to include those trapped by manufactured scarcity: the poor funneled into the military through the Poverty Draft, the working class captured by Job Lock through employer-sponsored healthcare, and the educated class held in Indentured Servitude by student debt.
NewCO Response to Fascism
The White House release of the new National Security Strategy is a chance to better explain the concept of the NewCO (new conscientious objector).