---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Paul R. Bottis Sr. <•••@••.•••> Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 18:41:53 EST Subject: (no subject) To: •••@••.••• The world has never seen a movement of the magnitude of the protests around the world in opposition to the preemptive attack on a sovereign nation. The movement has made alliances of those who have divergent philosophies with long histories of Contending with each other. I would submit there are logical reasons for this phenomenon. The most basic instinct in all of nature is that of survival, the most basic dynamic of this is the survival of self. An individual when faced with danger will take whatever steps are necessary for their survival. There is a second dynamic and that entails the survival of ones family, when one finds that his beloved family is in danger the individual will risk or even lay down their life in deference to their own survival. There is a third dynamic one that supersedes family. An individual who perceives that his country is in danger of extinction will leave their family take up arms and be willing to lay down their life for the love of country. A fourth dynamic rises above all the others this dynamic is that there is the survival of the species, if one perceives that their species is in danger they will give it priority in all their actions to preserve their species. I believe that the people of the world have moved into this fourth dynamic. They now have the perception built upon logic, personal experiences and observations, that there is a real impending danger to the existence of our species. I believe that this is a movement that cannot be stopped or stymied by those whose motives are contrary to nature. The world does not exist for any single nation, group, philosophical or political persuasion. A new age of enlightenment that has no comparison in history. Paul R. Bottis Sr http://www.madashellclub.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Paul, Thanks for your heartfelt expression. It serves as an excellent introduction to a topic I would like to focus our attention on -- Transformation. We cannot ignore updates on the illegal invasion of Iraq, and I'll tend to send those to newslog. On our discussion lists, I'd like to continue the thread you have so eloquently begun. Yes the magnitude of the protests is unprecedented, and that is one measure of the movement's significance. The magnitude tells us that there is a lot of outrage out there, generating a lot of potential energy to carry the movement further. But it doesn't tell us much about the direction the movement might take, or what objectives it might seek to accomplish. Another way to measure the movement's significance is to look at the kind of ideas that are being expressed. Ideas such as yours, for example. I've gotten other messages which also share that intuition. And I've also been receiving some very interesting analytical pieces of an unusually radical nature. These analyses, which are themselves part of the movement, tell us something about the direction the movement might take, and the scope of objectives that might emerge. I'll be sharing some of those pieces, but I wanted to first prepare some context with this introductory posting. --- Let's consider for a moment the nature of the regime's provocation, which has given rise to the movement. What is unique about this provocation? The US has been invading sovereign nations for two centuries, and has implemented regime changes hundreds of times. Economic gain has always been the reason, oil or otherwise, and lying propaganda has always been part of the operations. Innocent people have always been killed in the process. None of that is new. One thing that IS new is the number of people around the world who are not fooled by the propaganda this time. Instead of just the 'usual suspects' (activists, peaceniks, etc.), nearly EVERYONE I talk to on the street thinks Bush is lying through his teeth. This provides a nutritious 'culture' for the movement to develop in. It provides public sympathy, and it encourages new activists to emerge and participate. Even more important, it introduces -- to a limited degree -- the sense that the movement is the People As A Whole, rather than being just another pressure group at work. By contrast, recall that with the Anti-Vietnam-War protests, the movement was always weakened by the split between the generations, between young and old. If this sense of more universal inclusion can be nurtured and developed, the potential for the movement will be greatly enhanced. But why are fewer people fooled by the propaganda this time? I think that comes down to how blatant Washinton is being. They're building their fire right on Main Street, and they're pointing all the cameras at it. They're lying with impunity to the UN and they're changing their story time and again right in front of our eyes. After making a big deal about how important the UN was, they then proceeded to ignore its decision and launch an aggressive war with no credible pretense of international support. In my gut, I believe they are intentionally saying to us all, people and governments alike, "OK, this is how it's going to be. I'm the boss now and what I say goes. Give me any shit and I'll blow your head off. You turkeys can either do something about it or you can shut up and do what your told.". It's like a scene from a gangster film. Not everyone feels it in their gut the same way, but I think some kind of gut feeling is there for most of us. I think perhaps we are seeing a loss of innocence of historical proportions. Consider the image Uncle Sam has tried to maintain since the end of World War II, and with some considerable success. You know what I mean -- Truth, Justice, and the American Way... Defeater of fascism, Champion of democracy, Beacon of economic hope, Trusted mediator of trouble spots, etc. Many of us saw through this illusion a long time ago, but for many of the world's people the illusion was real right up until 9/11, and in fact the illusion was temporarily enhanced by that event, due to all the sympathy for the victims. But now, as the Iraq episode develops, Uncle Sam is revealed to all as the Naked Emperor, as the wolf who has shed his sheep's clothing. The world has lost it's Champion of Justice... it has lost its illusion, part of its innocence. It's a bit like the the effect on devout Catholics when all the pedophile priests were uncovered. That which was The Good is revealed as The Evil. We all know that the US has been guiding the course of world events since 1945, and we kind of hoped they knew what they were doing. Now we find that our global leadership is not to be trusted. We have lost our anchor. We are lost. Where shall we turn? As a consequence, more and more people are beginning to realize that an anti-war movement is the wrong focus, even though the war is the immediate provocation. The war is not really a new thing, but the blatant arrogance of the wanna be New World Empire is new, and is a dire threat to us all. Doing something about that goes beyond the scope of earlier movements. The World Empire can only be undone by a major Transformation of Society. And that can only happen by some kind of Transformation of Movement Effectiveness. Hence the name, Transformation, for this thread. Let me close this initial posting by sharing a message I received from Jan Slakov. I know many of you appreciate hearing from her. Her very personal, emotional, activist perspective on the movement is refreshing after all my theoretical stuff. Jan is one of those people who earnestly strives to Be The Change in order bring about the change. When transformation happens, it will be spirits like hers that bring it to pass. best regards, rkm ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 21:23:13 -0800 To: •••@••.••• From: Jan Slakov <•••@••.•••> Subject: a couple comments Dear Richard, I just read over your piece in reply to the guy who doubts your conspiracy theory and I think your reply is convincing. It's good to have on hand, for if ever I feel a need for getting into that kind of argument with someone. And it's good for me to read this kind of stuff, because it is so mind-boggling for almost everyone, me included, to see what debate there is, which is obviously "real" feeling for those engaged in it, as part of "missing the boat". I guess I feel grateful for you to spell all this "conspiracy" stuff out partly because I want to free my mind up to focus on something slightly different. Maybe I put more of my energy into dealing with my huge emotions, and I know many other people are dealing with powerful emotions these days too and so I think I we can help each other, by sharing our work. ...I guess it's like Bruna was talking about at our retreat/workshop: how if we feel we have to do everything needed to change the world, we soon feel overwhelmed and burnt out. But when we network with others, then we can be aware of all the different things being done towards our goal and feel part of their work too and see our own work as contributing to it and so we all feel stronger. These days I find I really go up and down emotionally. Today happens to have been really good. A good vigil (and I felt I contributed usefully to it) and then I talked to a lot of people in the little town of Ganges here; some really good discussion and I felt that I was helping to bolster the spirits of others and they were helping to bolster mine. I also spoke on the phone with Sophie and James (who were into vigil stuff there, organized by friends of mine) and it was very good to feel connected to that too. all the best (love and all other good wishes too!) Jan -- ============================================================================ cyberjournal home page: http://cyberjournal.org "Zen of Global Transformation" home page: http://www.QuayLargo.com/Transformation/ QuayLargo discussion forum: http://www.QuayLargo.com/Transformation/ShowChat/?ScreenName=ShowThreads cj list archives: http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?lists=cj newslog list archives: http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?lists=newslog subscribe addresses for cj list: •••@••.••• •••@••.••• ============================================================================
