Fascism and Resistance in Wisconsin

Given the current social climate of the dominant culture, it shouldn't be a big surprise that Wisconsin's Governor, Scott Walker, has been re-elected in the recent recall elections and, further, continues to rapidly gain power despite his overtly fascist practices.

This individual example of social destruction—Walker's attacks on the natural world, deconstruction of labor unions, reversal of civil rights, and widening of the gap between poor and rich—is consistent with the actions of those in power, globally. In fact, these actions are systematic and necessary in order to maintain industrial capitalism. Their system is now in the midst of collapse, and corporate hands are grasping for whatever power remains in their reach.

A "Left" movement, as I define it, entails the understanding that capitalism is inherently unjust and unsustainable, maintaining the goal of it's elimination. Mainstreams Leftists, however, act most often as a "loyal opposition," if not in direct collusion with fascism.

As long as the channels for social change are limited to electing politicians and marching with signs, no significant challenges to power are made and the powerful will not concede or change in any meaningful sense. Frederick Douglass makes the point with this well-known and powerful quote:

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.

Until we demand and end to Scott Walker's reign of control and destruction, and until we are prepared to use force to back up this demand, we can't even begin to stop the acceleration of these terrible circumstances. We certainly can't make change for the better. Look around. This is happening now.

What will it take?

What might it take? We know the problem. We know it is a crisis. We know we want it to stop. But, what will it take?

It will take asking this question again and again. It will take letting it shape our strategies and tactics. It will take listening to and learning from communities who have been fighting this battle for so long. It will take learning from past resistance movements what what has worked, what hasn't worked, and how we can be most effective in our situation. It will take challenging systems of oppression; especially in the culture as a whole, but also in our communities. It will take our time and energy; the time and energy we might have otherwise spent seeking a One True Love, staring at a glowing screen, getting drunk or doing drugs, trying to get rich. It will take every day and every breath, a commitment to resistance and affirmation of loyalty to life.

It will take starting now. It will take so much more. The world is at stake. Whatever it takes, it must be done. By you. By me. Let's see what it takes, now.

Resistance in Madison

Below is an inspiring speech by Rev. Jesse Jackson i got a chance to see at the rally in Madison on Friday, February 18th.

I don't necessarily agree with everything said in this speech. I don't necessarily think this struggle is the most important one. But this labor-hating bill is inspiring and mobilizing tens of thousands of people in Madison and is promising continual resistance to the union-busting Governor and corporations. We need it all, so best to the resistance in Madison.

Deep Green Resistance conference in Colorado, May 2011

from http://derrickjensen.org/dgr.html

Deep Green Resistance conference in Colorado, May 2011

A Weekend Workshop with Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, and Aric McBay.

Friday, May 27- Sunday, May 29, 2011
Sedalia, CO (30 miles southwest of Denver)

We live in the most destructive culture to ever exist. In Derrick’s talks around the country he repeatedly asks his audiences, “Does anyone think this culture will voluntarily transform to a sustainable way of living?” No one ever says yes. If we really accept the seriousness of the situation, what would that mean for our strategy and tactics? This is the urgent question we will be exploring over the weekend.

Topics to include:
Organizing the Resistance
Bringing It Down: Bottlenecks and Levers
Building It Up: A Culture of Resistance
Liberal vs Radical: Some Conceptual Basics
Organizational Structures Above- and Belowground
Security Culture
Q & A with Derrick

To Register and for more information, go here.

“DGR is an antidote to futility, inaction, paralysis and despair. Finally, I can see a way forward.”
–K.M.

Waziyatawin Targeted by FBI: Sign the petition

by International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network – Twin Cities

Sing the petition!

On November 8th, 2010, Dr. Waziyatawin a well-known Dakota writer, activist and teacher, was invited and presented a talk at Winona State University concerning the brutal realities of the colonization of this continent’s land, its resources, and First Nations People. She also spoke of a common need to restore our environment and a way of living that is not reliant on capitalism and the destruction of nature. The timing of the speech served to reinforce some of her points. At the time she spoke, members of the Dakota Nation were holding a Commemorative March along the route that nearly two thousand Dakota people were forcibly marched in 1862. The march route passes through Winona on its way from Lower Sioux Agency to Fort Snelling, where, over the winter of 1862-1863, those who managed to survive the march itself faced confinement, starvation, disease, rape and (for many), death. Shortly after Dr. Waziyatawin’s talk, a letter to the editor appeared in the Winona Post accusing Dr. Waziyatawin of making “terroristic threats”. In January 2011, the Federal Bureau of Investigation called Dr. Waziyatawin to question her speech and beliefs. We, the undersigned, see Dr. Waziyatawin’s Truth Telling as an important and honorable step toward healing the injustice of this land. We maintain that targeting Dr. Waziyatawin for this Truth Telling is a continued abrogation of justice. Truth Telling is not only about the past - it is also the present and the future. Truth Telling describes not only the harsh realities that First Nations people faced during the initial stages of genocide against them, but also of the long standing efforts of ethnic cleansing: re-location (reservations); boarding schools; forced sterilization; the illegalization of religion, language and culture; decades-long legal battles for recognition from the U.S. government in order to gain access to sacred lands; theft of land, resources, sacred objects and ancestors (burial sites); domestic violence; drug and alcohol abuse; homelessness, incarceration, and racism. We, the undersigned, also condemn these tactics used by the United States government against human rights as state intimidation. With the Patriot Act today, and the Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) before it, government agencies have exploited their power in order to disrupt, disenfranchise and “neutralize” movements that struggle for justice and equality. The recent call the FBI made to Dr. Waziyatawin is not an isolated incident, just as the FBI raids and what is now up to at least 23 Grand Jury subpoenas that have been issued since September 2010 in Minneapolis and Chicago - are all indicative of this government’s continued targeting of social justice movements. We assert that Truth Telling is a necessary step towards reparations, and that reparations are a necessary step towards Indigenous Sovereignty, the healing of our land and all people. We assert that the U.S. government must recognize and be accountable for the hundreds of treaties it has broken with First Nations. We condemn the FBI for targeting members of our community for Truth Telling and for working in solidarity with global Indigenous movements. It is through a united vision of justice for all peoples and a healthier planet that we band together against colonization, imperialism and racism in its many forms. Towards Justice, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network – Twin Cities

Community or Community of Resistance

For the past couple of years, I have mainly been working on trying to get folks in my community together to do positive things together and address the terrible things happening in the world right now, locally and globally. This has been my first big goal as an "activist": to effectively organize some sort of radical or "alternative" culture in West Bend.

It has pretty much been going great in terms of what I wanted to accomplish. We almost have a community social space (Candlelight Collective). We have a community garden plot. A couple of us more "radical" folk have made friends with other, more "main-stream" activists in town. I'd say that community is being built.

But, lately I've been thinking about this:

Derrick Jensen has this great quote that goes "dismantle globally, renew locally". This means that we need both an above-ground and under-ground resistance movement. The under-ground do the dirty work of things like tearing down industrial infrastructure and directly confronting power structures, while the above-ground support those doing the under-ground work and simultaneously create a new culture. This is what Derrick calls "A culture of resistance".

In West Bend, there is definitely a new culture springing up, but i would not say it's one of "resistance". At least, it's not one that's resisting the larger cultural machine or one that's effectively creating political change in the area.

My issue with all of this is that I don't know if this is the type of community that I really want to be putting my efforts into creating. I mean, yes i want folks to create good relationships with each other and yes i want for there to be a positive space that nurtures people's creativity and dissent. I especially want for all the kids to befriend and start to learn from all the older folks. I want for all the humans here to start to learn and love the landbase and all it's non-human creatures. I want all of this. BUT, I don't know if i want to work towards creating an "alternative" culture that still exists within the mainstream and isn't doing much to alter the mainstream. I want a culture of resistance.

There's this group called Fertile Ground from Bellingham, WA that really inspires me. They explicitly say that they are "an above-ground arm of a culture of resistance". This means that they do educational work: informing as many people as they can about the destructiveness of this culture, the need to bring down civilization, and how to get involved in "deep green resistance". To me, this is vitally important. I could see myself, an organizer, doing things like that for the rest of my life (or civilization's life, preferably.)

My issue is that while i feel so strongly about protecting the natural world from industrial civilization and communing with the landbase, not many folks in my town are on the same page as me. They are great people and of course i want to keep discussing things like this with them and make it relevant and apparent locally, but it's tiring and sometimes makes me feel ineffective.

The big thing for me is that I know civilization for what it is and i know it's coming down sooner or later. I know in my bones that i want to spend my whole life fighting on the side of the living against this culture. I want to make this my life's legacy. I have already started by the simple act of pitting myself against the lies and alienation that this culture imposes upon me and trying to tear it out of me from it's roots. I no longer want to hold these life-affirming truths to the side as i submerge myself in denial and pretend the situation doesn't really concern me or isn't urgent. Of course I still want to be comfortable and have nice, relaxed friendships and just hang out in town and have fun, but i think my life (and the lives of others, including the whole fucking planet) is worth more than that. I feel a calling in me: i know these things and i need to act on them.

My situation is: i need to find how and where will i be most effective. I guess that's what i'll have to figure out.


(note: When talking about resistance in this post and on this blog, I do not mean participating in illegal activities. I have NEVER and will NEVER participate in any of the under-ground actions of the culture of resistance.)