The Education of Cindy Sheehan
May 29th, 2007Sadly, bottom up political activists tend to figure it out the hard way.
If you know someone who’s tumbling down the rabbit hole/honey pot of political activism, I strongly suggest, Endgame Volume 1 by Derrick Jensen. Even though Jensen’s anti civilization ramblings are silly, his level of hypocrisy is unbelievable and half of the book is about psychoanalyzing his personal trauma within the context of the wider collapse, his critique of political and environmental activism is right on target.
As an analyst, I make a point of not shooting the messenger; that’s how I managed to complete both Endgame tomes. (A while ago, I accepted paid advertising for the books and was sent copies for review.) Endgame contains a lot of excellent information. I found that about 10% of the books covered fascinating stuff that I’d never heard about. The desire to find those nuggets among the other 90% of, well, Jensen’s convoluted, dysfunctional meditations, kept me going. The more casual reader, or the reader expecting coherent and relevant support of a point or points, over roughly 1000 pages of material (both volumes), won’t stick with it.
Activists, though, should force themselves to read it, at least volume 1.
If you’re an activist—or you know an activist—who’s having “second thoughts” about allocating time, money and effort to accomplish-nothing-go-nowhere activities, Endgame is essential reading.
If you want a very short summary of the nature of political activism, here’s a section from a piece I wrote about militant piracy as a form of asymmetric warfare. ACS is short for American Corporate State:
Whether or not political activists know it, even with very mundane levels of political activity, they are engaging in low intensity conflict with the ACS.
The U.S. military classifies political activism as “low intensity conflict.†The scale of warfare (in terms of intensity) begins with individuals distributing anti-government handbills and public gatherings with anti-government/anti-corporate themes. In the middle of the conflict intensity scale are what the military refers to as Operations Other than War; an example would be the situation the U.S. is facing in Iraq. At the upper right hand side of the graph is global thermonuclear war. What is important to remember is that the military is concerned with ALL points along this scale because they represent different types of threats to the ACS.
Making distinctions between civilian law enforcement and military forces, and foreign and domestic intelligence services is no longer necessary. After September 11, 2001, all national security assets would be brought to bare against any U.S. insurgency movement. Additionally, the U.S. military established NORTHCOM which designated the U.S. as an active military operational area. Crimes involving the loss of corporate profits will increasingly be treated as acts of terrorism and could garner anything from a local law enforcement response to activation of regular military forces.
Most of what is commonly referred to as “political activism†is viewed by the corporate state’s counterinsurgency apparatus as a useful and necessary component of political control.
Letters-to-the-editor…
Calls-to-elected-representatives…
Waving banners…
“Third†party political activities…
Taking beatings, rubber bullets and tear gas from riot police in free speech zones…Political activism amounts to an utterly useless waste of time, in terms of tangible power, which is all the ACS understands. Political activism is a cruel guise that is sold to people who are dissatisfied, but who have no concept of the nature of tangible power. Counterinsurgency teams routinely monitor these activities, attend the meetings, join the groups and take on leadership roles in the organizations.
It’s only a matter of time before some individuals determine that political activism is a honeypot that accomplishes nothing and wastes their time. The corporate state knows that some small percentage of the peaceful, idealistic, political activists will eventually figure out the game. At this point, the clued-in activists will probably do one of two things; drop out or move to escalate the struggle in other ways.
If the clued-in activist drops his or her political activities, the ACS wins.
But what if the clued-in activist refuses to give up the struggle? Feeling powerless, desperation could set in and these individuals might become increasingly radicalized. Because the corporate state’s counterinsurgency operatives have infiltrated most political activism groups, the radicalized members will be easily identified, monitored and eventually compromised/turned, arrested or executed. The ACS wins again.
Sheehan finally figured it out.
(To see how the corporate state deals with leaderless resistance cells who refuse to stand down, click through to continue reading my essay from which the passage above is taken.)
Believe me, the point of all of this isn’t to depress you, and no, I’m not going to tell you go blow up a dam like Jensen. HAHA! (I know way too much about traditional insurgency tactics—from spending years in the basement of this place—and the climate in the U.S. couldn’t be any less conducive to it, regardless of how bad things seem to people like you and me. Besides, if you want insurgency training, you’d be better off with the Keystone cops than with Jensen.)
So if waving signs doesn’t work, and shooting the bastards won’t work (because of corporate state PSYOP), what should we do?
For now, I’ll just say, “Devise innovative tactics with the tools before you.” Also, read about Aikido. You don’t have to get your ass kicked by a one hundred pound girl—like I did when I took Aikido classes. Just think about the underlying principles. Keep a notepad handy to write down ideas that come to you.
One answer lies in the efficient and innovative allocation of resources to values. (Sorry, that essay isn’t ready yet.) I don’t remember the name of the tiny girl who wiped the mat with my 6 foot 2 inch, 180 pound carcass, but I’d like to thank her for teaching me an invaluable lesson. Smart activists will learn from ass kickings. The best lessons cause us to think differently about the situation we’re facing, the nature of the threat and better responses.
Via: Dailykos:
I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.
The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a “tool” of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our “two-party” system?
However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the “left” started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of “right or left”, but “right and wrong.”
…
Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t find alternatives to this corrupt “two” party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland.
Related: Democrats in Oblivion
It was the title slug on the Daily Kos that pissed me off more than anything. And the sad thing is that even after losing her son, like so many others, out rat bastard of a president continues to smirk and carry on all the while making plans to send more people to their graves. It would be best to keep yourself or your children out of the military at all costs. I’ve been there… its not worth it.
On the subject of tyranny and Aikido: there is a novel you might find interesting; Anvil of the Heart, by Bruce T. Holmes.
As an Aikido practitioner I have reflected many times that Aikido is very effective against exactly the kind of grips and attacks you would expect from police and other government enforcement personnel. And it’s very fun to take down a 100 kilo gorilla without breaking a sweat 🙂
Most people are clueless to the fact that “they” do not play “the game” fairly. Targeted assassinations of successful progressive leaders (Paul Wellstone etc. – – a tactic perfected by Hitler’s group coming to power w/unsolved murders and numerous “accidents” of opponents occurring throughout the ’30s before the mass arrests, is clearly a tactic continued and perfected by our own “intelligence” agencies who were, after all, taught by the head Nazi Intelligence Chief Gehlen – Right?)- – are easy when you control all top law enforcement “officials” – – I believe the facts in the Wellstone case showed the FBI reaching the “crash” scene before it was factually possible under the circumstances if they did not know that the “crash” was going to occur (correct me if I’m wrong) – – the mainstream media never even looked at the possibility of foul play, strange, when one of the only effective opposition leaders in a country is killed at such an historically crucial time . . . John Lennon’s murder also was another well timed removal as he would have been one of the few loud and effective voices against the Bush I war against Nicaragua and El Salvador, w/I believe the facts later showing that the doorman at the Dakota who was present at the time of the murder was part of an anti-Castro Cuban group, who have been used for so much mayhem since the Bay Of Pigs, and just happened to be on the scene as the robot Chapman appeared . . . (If you want to see the true nature of these people, check out how they terrorized the people in El Salvador, cutting off young children’s heads and spiking them around the dinner table for what was left of their families to find – – this is what you are dealing with, do you think these types care if you wave a sign at them, plenty of signs were waved at Bush when he was at the first inauguration, he just drove by in the armored limo – – it didn’t even get on the evening news which portrayed it all as a wonderful occasion for the Bush family . . .).
Further, the CIA spent decades working on murder tools to make same look like heart attacks, illness, etc. (I always found the timing of Lawton Chiles exit quite strange . . .). If you don’t believe they use these tools you are extremely naive. You are free to keep your mouth shut, watch television, drink a beer, and vote for whatever of the two candidates they choose to “represent” you and when the whole thing starts to implode you will be free to go to a Haliburton detention camp and catch the Bird Flu or whatever . . . . Anyone who believes that things are just randomly occuring is watching too much tv . . . .
When you factor human nature into democratic republicanism you get corporate fascism sooner or later. If any individual human could achieve perfection, then it might be worth hoping that a human society could achieve perfection, but, alas, just the opposite is true. Individuals typically get old, disgruntled, apathetic, and oblivious. Given that natural proclivity, it is only natural that the same thing happens to a human society. But take heart. What we’re seeing here is the last days of nationalism. The rear guard has taken control in America–essentially putting the cart before the horse–and they are trying to revive nationalism, a hopeless task in the face of the natural evolution towards globalism. That doesn’t mean that globalism won’t experience its own decline eventually, but before it does there will be a globalist spring when wars are a thing of the past, for example. The existing power elite will find itself holding an empty bag, and a whole new power structure will form, with the attendant good will and exhilaration that typically attends these transitions. Eventually a new power elite will form and over generations go through another power elite life cycle, etc., etc., blah, blah, blah. But the key point for now is that we are experiencing the end of nationalism, with all its attendant fear and loathing, and good riddance. Yes, the fear and loathing is unpleasant. That’s why the wise person always falls back on personal virtue. It’s the only way to guarantee rewarding experience, because even while breathing poison and eating sludge one can feel good about oneself if one practices the classic virtues. If there is one thing that doesn’t change it is the value of courage, generosity, humility, etc. It’s sad when the community does not support virtue, like now, but it will again, when it renews itself with the coming global identity. Of course, that will fall apart some day, but every individual falls apart after 70, 80, 90 years or so. You can’t expect the collective personality to do much better.
Why fight the ACS when it’s just as much fun watching it implode?
kev,
as far as Jensen: I totally agree. First off, anybody and I mean ANYBODY who think enough of himself that he’s going to write two 1,000 page volumes needs to have a check up with Dr. Reality. Nobody has that much stuff to say that’s worth saying. You really have to have quite an ego to think you have that much to talk about.
on a side note, do you happen to still have that girl’s phone number or email addy?
I was shaken to read Cindy Sheehan’s denouncement of the Democrats as just another set of suits enslaved to the war machine. In a good way. My sister was killed in a car accident in 1968 – she died with a black armband on her arm, as she and the man from Hawaii that we never met had just been to a Vietnam war protest. During her short “career” as a political activist, my sister also went to Georgia in the 1960’s to help register black voters. Sometimes I think my sister’s death was an “intentional” accident and that there is a force in the American underbelly that says that ALL LIGHTS THAT SHINE INTO THIS DARKNESS (political) MUST BE PUT OUT. My family was crushed from within by our loss. I experienced firsthand my mother’s descent into a space that I believe only a mother who loses their child can go to. My mother was, I thought, when I was 13, quite insane. If I knew then what I know now about losing a loved one (I lost another sister since then) I might have been more forgiving of Mom and her ways. I have always liked Cindy Sheehan because she did not go quietly into the night after the loss of her son. I like her even more now that she has found the strength to admit her feelings of betrayal by the (snort) Democrats, who are (snort like a pig) supposed to be “antiwar.” I agree with Kevin. There is no political solution to our problems when the “supposedly” opposition party is also married to the military industrial, energy hog complex. And you won’t find me next to you at a “protest.” I don’t know what the solution is, but its not political. Perhaps the dollar and/or stock market crashing into oblivion making the can’t have enough politicians becoming the having less than anyone. I dunno. My thought is that Cindy Sheehan just yelled FIRE REALLY LOUD in a dark theatre, and all the pretty people are now running for the exits. One can only hope.
I agree that most activism is wasting time (but would add a lot of people do it because of internal needs rather than the stated aim of changing the external world).
I don’t see it in such a black and white way though, A point was made to me recently that the anti-GE movement has been a success in New Zealand despite the fact that the goverment isn’t listening to the people (75% opposed at last count). So far no one has planted any GE crops because they know how opposed the public is. Basically it’s a battle between the public and the corporations with the government desperately trying to convince everyone it’s in control.
I agree a lot of activism is a waste of time but I don’t think the stuff I’ve done with GE is (yes I’m active so I must be biased…). In our town we made a presentation to council about the issue during district plan hearings. We were pretty sure they wouldn’t listen to us since one of the country’s major ag-research facilities is in our area but since there were pro GE people in the audience they will have gone back home knowing that the opposition on their door step is strong and “surprisingly well-organised”.
The PTB put a lot of effort into convincing us that we are powerless so to find such a 100% agreement on this side of the fence is kind of dissapointing. I know it won’t happen in the current climate but if the majority of the population got active the government and corporations wouldn’t stand a chance. The PTB are well aware of this otherwise why would they go to such an effort to make us feel so helpless?
@ Aaron,
I agree that activism is slowing down the GE steamroller in NZ, but as I’m sure you’re aware, the maniacs here are juggling with hand grenades as well, and they won’t stop:
ERMA Decision Is A Sad Day For NZ
Monday, 28 May 2007, 4:10 pm
Press Release: Green Party
28 May 2007
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0705/S00730.htm
“ERMA received 959 submissions on this application – of which 941 were opposed to the trials. What part of “No” don’t they understand?
“Risks include the transfer of the changed genes to wild plants. For example, plants engineered to be resistant to pesticides may transfer their resistance to weeds. It has already been proven that this can happen, and that new resistant weeds can survive in the wild. And almost all GE plants use antibiotic resistant genes – another area of grave concern in agriculture and wider society.
“The announcement of 10 years worth of funding for a trial with no safety testing when even the project leader has admitted there can be no guarantees of containing the trial to the site is tantamount to a publicly funded hand out for scientific folly.
I agree that political is activism i usually ineffective but I do have hopes for collective sovereignty as evidenced by the animated video at http://www.upworldgov.org. This has been developed to give one person one vote, platform a sitei in order to propose statements and propositions, and to develop non-corporate, legally binding contracts with politicians for them to act in accordance to the will of the people, in effect the first example of a collective democracy since 415 BC Greece.
I agree that political activism is usually ineffective but I do have hopes for collective sovereignty as evidenced by the 30 minute animated video at http://www.upworldgov.org. This has been developed in to give one person one vote, platform a site in order to propose statements and propositions, and to develop non-corporate, legally binding contracts with politicians for them to act in accordance to the will of the people, in effect the first example of a collective democracy since 415 BC Greece. This concept will be spreading worldwide as fast as facilitators come forward, in safety, to carry forward the message.
Kevin wrote:
“As an analyst, I make a point of not shooting the messenger; that’s how I managed to complete both Endgame tomes.”
I’m gald you mentioned this – too many times that sort of attitude stops people from learning something new, or causes them to dismiss something of potential importance. It frustrates me to no end, and I’m probably (most definitely!) guilty of it, too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem
“An ad hominem argument, also known as argumentum ad hominem (Latin: “argument to the person”, “argument against the man”) consists of replying to an argument or factual claim by attacking or appealing to the person making the argument or claim, rather than by addressing the substance of the argument or producing evidence against the claim.”