TAKING IT TO THE STREETS

Guest post George Washington’s Blog

The Powers-That-Be Are Secretly Terrified of the People’s Power … And Only PRETEND They’re Firmly In Control

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Our Actions Are More Powerful Than We Realize

David Swanson writes:

Almost every [history of past activism] includes belated discoveries of the extent to which government officials were influenced by activist groups even while pretending to ignore popular pressure.

 

These revelations can be found in the memoirs of the government officials as well, such as in George W. Bush’s recollection of how seriously the Republican Senate Majority Leader was taking public pressure against the war on Iraq in 2006.

 

Of course, activism that appears ineffectual at the time can succeed in a great many ways, including by influencing others, even young children, who go on to become effective activists — or by influencing firm opponents who begin to change their minds and eventually switch sides.

 

The beautiful thing about nonviolent activism is that, while risking no harm, it has the potential to do good in ways small and large that ripple out from it in directions we cannot track or measure.

 

Wittner participated in his first political demonstration in 1961. The USSR was withdrawing from a moratorium on nuclear testing. A protest at the White House urged President Kennedy not to follow suit:

“Picking up what I considered a very clever sign (‘Kennedy, Don’t Mimic the Russians!’), I joined the others (supplemented by a second busload of students from a Quaker college in the Midwest) circling around a couple of trees outside the White House. Mike and I — as new and zealous recruits — circled all day without taking a lunch or a dinner break.

 

“For decades I looked back on this venture as a trifle ridiculous. After all, we and other small bands of protesters couldn’t have had any impact on U.S. policy, could we? Then in the mid-1990s, while doing research at the Kennedy Library on the history of the world nuclear disarmament movement, I stumbled onto an oral history interview with Adrian Fisher, deputy director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. He was explaining why Kennedy delayed resuming atmospheric nuclear tests until April 1962. Kennedy personally wanted to resume such tests, Fisher recalled, ‘but he also recognized that there were a lot of people that were going to be deeply offended by the United States resuming atmospheric testing. We had people picketing the White House, and there was a lot of excitement about it — just because the Russians do it, why do we have to do it?'”

Yes, Kennedy delayed a horrible action. He didn’t, at that time, block it permanently. But if the picketers in 1961 had had the slightest notion that Kennedy was being influenced by them, their numbers would have multiplied 10-fold, as would the delay have correspondingly lengthened.

 

Yes, our government was more responsive to public opinion in the 1960s than now, but part of the reason is that more people were active then. And another reason is that government officials are doing a better job now of hiding any responsiveness to public sentiment, which helps convince the public it has no impact, which reduces activism further. We also focus far too much on the most difficult individuals to move, such as presidents.

 

In 1973-1974, Wittner visited GI coffee houses in Japan including in Yokusaka, where the Midway aircraft carrier was in port. The Japanese were protesting the ship’s carrying of nuclear weapons, which was illegal in Japan, and which the U.S. military, of course, lied about. But U.S. soldiers with whom Wittner and other activists had talked, brought them onto the ship and showed them the nukes. The following summer, when Wittner read in a newspaper that,

“a substantial number of American GIs had refused to board the Midway for a mission to South Korea, then swept by popular protest against the U.S.-backed dictatorship, it occurred to me that I might have played some small role in inspiring their mutiny.”

Soldiers can still be reached much more easily than presidents, more easily in many cases in fact than the average citizen. War lies are harder to sell to the people who have been fighting the wars.

 

In the late 1990s, Wittner was researching the anti-nuclear movement of decades past. He interviewed Robert “Bud” McFarlane, President Ronald Reagan’s former national security advisor:

“Other administration officials had claimed that they had barely noticed the nuclear freeze movement. But when I asked McFarlane about it, he lit up and began outlining a massive administration campaign to counter and discredit the freeze — one that he had directed. . . . A month later, I interviewed Edwin Meese, a top White House staffer and U.S. attorney general during the Reagan administration. When I asked him about the administration’s response to the freeze campaign, he followed the usual line by saying that there was little official notice taken of it. In response, I recounted what McFarlane had revealed. A sheepish grin now spread across this former government official’s face, and I knew that I had caught him. ‘If Bud says that,’ he remarked tactfully, ‘it must be true.'”

When someone tells you to stop imagining that you’re having an impact, ask them to please redirect their energy into getting 10 friends to join you in doing what needs to be done. If it has no impact, you’ll have gone down trying. If it has an impact, nobody will tell you for many years.

Mr. Swanson is right. I noted in 2009:

As MSNBC news correspondent Jonathan Capehart tells Dylan Ratigan, the main problem is that people aren’t making enough noise. Capehart says that the people not only have to “burn up the phone lines to Congress”, but also to hit the streets and protest in D.C.

 

Even though most politicians are totally corrupt, if many millions of Americans poured into the streets of D.C., a critical mass would be reached, and the politicians would start changing things in a hurry.

 

As [liberal] PhD economist Dean Baker points out:

The elites hate to acknowledge it, but when large numbers of ordinary people are moved to action, it changes the narrow political world where the elites call the shots. Inside accounts reveal the extent to which Johnson and Nixon’s conduct of the Vietnam War was constrained by the huge anti-war movement. It was the civil rights movement, not compelling arguments, that convinced members of Congress to end legal racial discrimination. More recently, the townhall meetings, dominated by people opposed to health care reform, have been a serious roadblock for those pushing reform….

 

A big turnout … can make a real difference.

Baker is right about Vietnam.

 

Specifically – according to Daniel Ellsberg and many others – Richard Nixon actually planned on dropping a nuclear bomb on Vietnam. Nixon also said he didn’t care what the American people thought. He said that — no matter what the public did or said — he was going to escalate the war in Vietnam.

 

However, a well-known biographer says that Nixon backed off when hundreds of thousands of people turned out in Washington, D.C. to protest an escalation of the war.

And Pulitzer prize winning reporter Chris Hedges pointed out recently:

I was in Leipzig on November 9, 1989 with leaders of East German opposition and they told me that – perhaps within a year – there would be free passes back and forth across the Berlin wall.

 

Within a few hours, the Berlin Wall, at least as far as an impediment to human traffic, did not exist.

 

Week after week, month after month, these clergy in Leipzig held these candlelit vigils. And it was slow at first … people forget. Just like the Egyptian revolution has been percolating for many many months, and even years.

 

And suddenly, it began to grow.

 

And Honecker – who had been in ruling East Germany since the time of the dinosaurs – sent down a paratroop division to Leipzig .. . and they won’t attack the demonstrators.

Part of the reason that our actions are more powerful than we think is that courage is contagious. So is the ability to think.

As we’ve previously noted:

[Studies show ] that even one dissenting voice can give people permission to think for themselves. Specifically:

Solomon Asch, with experiments originally carried out in the 1950s and well-replicated since, highlighted a phenomenon now known as “conformity”. In the classic experiment, a subject sees a puzzle like the one in the nearby diagram: Which of the lines A, B, and C is the same size as the line X? Take a moment to determine your own answer…The gotcha is that the subject is seated alongside a number of other people looking at the diagram – seemingly other subjects, actually confederates of the experimenter. The other “subjects” in the experiment, one after the other, say that line C seems to be the same size as X. The real subject is seated next-to-last. How many people, placed in this situation, would say “C” – giving an obviously incorrect answer that agrees with the unanimous answer of the other subjects? What do you think the percentage would be?

 

Three-quarters of the subjects in Asch’s experiment gave a “conforming” answer at least once. A third of the subjects conformed more than half the time.

Get it so far? People tend to defer to what the herd thinks.

 

But here’s the good news:

Adding a single dissenter – just one other person who gives the correct answer, or even an incorrect answer that’s different from the group’s incorrect answer – reduces conformity very sharply, down to 5-10%.

Why is this important? Well, it means that one person who publicly speaks the truth can sway a group of people away from group-think.

 

If a group of people is leaning towards believing the government’s version of events, a single person who speaks the truth can help snap the group out of its trance.

 

There is an important point here regarding the web, as well. The above-cited article states that:

When subjects can respond in a way that will not be seen by the group, conformity also drops.What does that mean? Well, on the web, many people post anonymously. The anonymity gives people permission to “respond in a way that will not be seen by the group”. But most Americans still don’t get their news from the web, or only go to mainstream corporate news sites.

 

Away from the keyboard, we are not very anonymous. So that is where the conformity dynamic — and the need for courageous dissent — is vital. It is doubly important that we apply the same hard-hitting truthtelling we do on the Internet in our face-to-face interactions; because it is there that dissent is urgently needed.

 

Bottom line: Each person‘s voice has the power to snap entire groups out of their coma of irrational group-think. So go forth and be a light of rationality and truth among the sleeping masses.

And a recent study shows that when only 10% of a population have strongly-held beliefs, their belief will often be adopted by the majority of the society.

True, governments worldwide are cracking down on liberty with the iron fist of repression.

But some argue that this is actually a sign that we are winning.

As Truthout’s Matt Renner writes:

Recently I sat down with two of the young adults who organized and led the Egyptian resistance movement that overthrew Hosni Mubarak. The media narrative said it took 18 days, when in fact, they had been organizing for over five years.

 

According to these young men, the moment they knew they had won was the day Mubarak’s government shut off the Internet and blocked cellphone communications. When people could no longer get updates about what was happening in Tahrir Square, they had to come out of their homes and see for themselves, tripling the size of the protests in one fell swoop.

 

The global plutocracy is terrified of dissent. In some places, the war on dissent is being fought with bullets. In others, the war on dissent targets social media and mobile communications, while repressing and deceiving communities of struggle. It’s already happening.

Indeed, the use of heavy-handed tactics – taking the velvet glove off of the iron fist – could backfire, as it will show the “emperor’s ruthlessness” for all to see.

The powers-that-be are terrified of political awakening and dissent. For example, Zbigniew Brzezinski – National Security Adviser to President Carter, creator of America’s strategy to lure Russia into Afghanistan, creator of America’s plans for Eurasia in general, and Obama’s former foreign affairs adviser – said:

For the first time in human history almost all of humanity is politically activated, politically conscious and politically interactive. There are only a few pockets of humanity left in the remotest corners of the world that are not politically alert and engaged with the political turmoil and stirrings that are so widespread today around the world.

 

***

America needs to face squarely a centrally important new global reality: that the world’s population is experiencing a political awakening unprecedented in scope and intensity, with the result that the politics of populism are transforming the politics of power.

 

***

[T]he central challenge of our time is posed not by global terrorism, but rather by the intensifying turbulence caused by the phenomenon of global political awakening. That awakening is socially massive and politically radicalizing.

It is no overstatement to assert that now in the 21st century the population of much of the developing world is politically stirring and in many places seething with unrest. It is a population acutely conscious of social injustice to an unprecedented degree, and often resentful of its perceived lack of political dignity.

 

***

 

These energies transcend sovereign borders and pose a challenge both to existing states as well as to the existing global hierarchy, on top of which America still perches.

***

 

The misdiagnosis [of foreign policy] pertains to a relatively vague, excessively abstract, highly emotional, semi-theological definition of the chief menace that we face today in the world, and the consequent slighting of what I view as the unprecedented global challenge arising out of the unique phenomenon of a truly massive global political awakening of mankind. We live in an age in which mankind writ large is becoming politically conscious and politically activated to an unprecedented degree, and it is this condition which is producing a great deal of international turmoil.

 

That turmoil is the product of the political awakening, the fact that today vast masses of the world are not politically neutered, as they have been throughout history. They have political consciousness.

 

***

The other major change in international affairs is that for the first time, in all of human history, mankind has been politically awakened. That is a total new reality – total new reality. It has not been so for most of human history until the last one hundred years. And in the course of the last one hundred years, the whole world has become politically awakened. And no matter where you go, politics is a matter of social engagement, and most people know what is generally going on –generally going on – in the world, and are consciously aware of global inequities, inequalities, lack of respect, exploitation. Mankind is now politically awakened and stirring.

And a reader notes:

We do not understand our own power. Look around you. Almost everything you see was not only made, but created by people like yourselves. Most of the horrors existing on earth were engendered by the elites, WITH OUR CO-OPERATION. Without our consent, most of the terrifying situations existing in our world will cease to exist. Resist. It certainly may be difficult initially, but it grows easier moment by moment.

Some historical quotes may be helpful in illustrating the importance of struggling to make things better …

It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
– Robert F . Kennedy

We must never despair; our situation has been compromising before; and it changed for the better; so I trust it will again. If difficulties arise; we must put forth new exertion and proportion our efforts to the exigencies of the times.
– George Washington

We must remember that one determined person can make a significant difference, and that a small group of determined people can change the course of history.
-Sonia Johnson

Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
– Margaret Mead

Hope has never trickled down. It has always sprung up.
– Studs Terkel

At certain points in history, the energy level of people, the indignation level of people rises. And at that point it becomes possible for people to organize and to agitate and to educate one another, and to create an atmosphere in which the government must do something.
– Howard Zinn, historian

There is no act too small, no act too bold. The history of social change is the history of millions of actions, small and large, coming together at points in history and creating a power that governments cannot suppress.
– Howard Zinn

Cynicism Is Not Realistic

Millions of Americans think that hope is for the foolish, and that the smart people are cynics.

But if all of the people who think of themselves as cynics or skeptics made noise, things would instantly change for the better. In other words, the millions of cynics/skeptics/self-described “realists” aren’t raising a ruckus against the fraud being committed by the giant banks, the corruption of our political system, or the lawlessness and imperial arrogance of our intelligence-military-industrial complex because they think things can’t change.

But by staying silent, they are actually creating the conditions in which nothing can change. As Edmund Burke points out:

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.

If the millions of cynics woke up to the fact that they are a huge group – especially when combined with the people who are already actively working for the restoration of a liberty, justice and the rule of law – they would suddenly realize that collectively we can change things in a heart beat.

Don’t Want to Go First?

Most people don’t want to go first …

Most people want to see others succeeding before they give it a shot.

But the truth – as pointed out by Zbigniew Brzezinski above – is that people are waking up worldwide … and things are changing quickly.

A few short years ago, Americans wouldn’t have believed that the White House would lie us into a major war, that our government would choose Wall Street over the little guy, or that the NSA spied on every American citizen.  Now, this is all common knowledge.

A few years ago, most Americans trusted government and corporate leaders.  Now, polls show that trust has collapsed, as people realize that our core institutions are rotten with corruption.

You will not be taking the first step.  More people than you realize are already working to challenge the corrupt people in positions of power.

When you act to make things better, you’re actually joining a large group of people doing the same thing.

And as Hellen Keller pointed out:

Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

Postscript: In any event, hiding our head in the sand doesn’t work.

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ragman
ragman

We outnumber them by the tens of thousands to one, we are heavily armed, and we are majorly pissed off. Why wouldn’t they be terrified? We lack national leadership and I’m not holding my breaf for any pubbie to provide it. With the possible exception of Rand Paul…..however he will treated just like his father was. He will not be given a chance.

Stucky

“Our Actions Are More Powerful Than We Realize”

You want to grow a tomato plant. You have 10 seeds. Which one do you plant? All of them, because you have no idea which seed will take root.

I barely passed high school. A dolt, by any standard. Truly. But, I had one history teacher, Ms. Wornstaff, who, in handing me another paper I got a “D” on, pulled me aside and said, “Stucky, you’re much smarter than this. I know it. Try harder”. It took all of 10 seconds and was said in passing. But, it stuck with me, encouraged me, and for the first time I actually believed I COULD do better in school. And Ms. Wornstaff has no damn idea about ANY of that.

Think about that one seemingly trivial thing that changed your life. Amazing, isn’t it?

That’s why from time to time we need to encourage Admin, and each other. It can be easy to slide into the Slough of Despondency wondering “What fucking difference does it really make?”

But with millions of readers over the years reading his and our posts I guarantee you lives ARE being changed. Knowing who they are is not as important as continuing to sow seeds.

But, I can tell you, I am one of those changed.

Thinker

Excellent post. This is why I have no time for people who want to wallow in “there’s nothing we can do about it!” talk. Even making noise is doing something productive. Yeah, it’s rigged. But we still outnumber them. Doing nothing is not an option.

If the Founders had sat back and said there was nothing they could do, where would we be today?

Stucky

Admin

She was Asian. No accent though. Petite. Short black hair of the 70’s style. Not hot, just attractive. The kind of girl you take home to mom. I used to think of her when … nevermind.

indialantic
indialantic

Tar Balls isn’t as tranquil and confident as you might think. Every night he quietly shits his pants and sleeps with one eye open.

Nick. A
Nick. A

The problem is that many have neither the time nor energy to “get involved”, and those living a comfortable life via the transfer payment express are certainly NOT going to rock the boat to any significant extent .

Will those in power relinquish their power graciously, or will they fight tooth and nail to retain “their” status quo? A very cursory review of recent US history may provide a few clues as to what might be the outcome.

Your taxes have certainly provided “them” with a vast arsenal of “tools” to ensure compliance. If it comes to the crunch, the American Elite have access to the World’s greatest military (and substantial, very useful connections with the “well heeled” Globally); combine this with a very captive MSM, the ability to shut down electronic communications (“technical outage” my foot!), and they certainly have the means and ability to “contain” even a significant uprising.

Combine this with well polished Governmental lying capability, “Hundreds of thousands killed by unexpected Natural Catastrophe / Military accident / Industrial accident / transport catastrophe” – soothe the Sheeple with a “National Day of Mourning” then business as usual (minus quite a few “useless eaters”) and you might get my drift.

Any independent thinkers on the depopulation / “management” scenario outlined above? – the captive MSM will just follow accepted protocol – trot out a stream of photogenic “News Presenters” or “Chat Show Hosts”, and easily lead the remaining unwashed back to slumber – all they have to mention are the clichéd phrases “Conspiracy Theorist”, or “Anti-American Propaganda”.

Worked just fine, every time in the recent past. It’ll work just fine the next times too.

enigmatic ME
enigmatic ME

We read this stuff, on 100 different sites, and stomp in anger about how somethig has to be done about this !!! and then sit down to watch the game…

we all know how many people are living in oblivion, but how do a reach enough people in time
to make a difference? the papers and TV stations are bribed $50 $100 million a year to publish
lies; but what about an army of us plastering bridge overpasses with cold hard facts that
people cant ignore? yes yes yes, I know, you risk being identified by the DOD, and that ‘s
just not acceptable ! YOU AINT GUNNA DO THAT, better to claim you tried, and hide WTSHTF.

Here’s a little fact you aint gunna like, if your @ or approaching retirement age (your on the list),
if your on the BLUE list , and get photographed demonstrating, your probably moved to the
RED list, which get’s picked up (two weeks earlier.

you see? you have no choice ! get off your asses and quit bitching… you have the the ruby slippers Dorothy’s, but do have balls to use them?

Thinker

Perhaps the best example of the “they’re too big to fight us” commentary is that of the Tories in the Revolutionary War period. They rightly pointed out that the British government was far stronger than the colonies and that the British military, quartered in American colonist homes, was a far superior force to anything the patriots could muster.

History tells us what advantages the patriots had — passion for the cause, knowledge of their local vicinities, the ability to fight “guerrilla” warfare against the superior (in training and weaponry) British troops.

The article is right; We, the People, have more power than we give ourselves credit for.

Nonanonymous

Thinker, I’ve read recently that the American Revolutionaries were only 5% of the population of the colonies. There’s also a correlation between the indebtedness of Britain at the time, the taxes imposed upon the colonies, and the insurrection. The American Revolution was also nearly a civil war, pitting neighbor against neighbor in the counties.

The yoke of slavery to the money changers was cast off once in the American Revolution, and there’s certainly biblical precedence to throw them out, violently if need be.

Starving the beast, going John Galt, etc, are potentially effective strategies. So is the OWS movement. So is the Tea Party. So are the protests in Turkey, Thailand, and Kiev. These latter are protests directly against despotic rule.

It also pays to mindful of who is the enemy, and his intent to destroy all that God created.

sensetti
sensetti

What needs to be done?

We are living in a debt fueled illusion. Once that bubble pops this country will fall into the great abyss. We need to cut our spending to a level that will bring the free shit army to its knees. We need to be self sufficient and productive but this nation is packed with dependent zombies that can’t feed themselves. Damn near every other person is on the dole drawing some form of Government assistance. Dependence on Government healthcare will only exacerbate this dilemma.

Your telling me some how we are going to rise up with one voice and beat back the system. The same system the zombies depend on for their next meal. The zombies are speaking with one voice alright, they want more free shit. Takers take that’s what they do.

The only organized activism your going to see going forward will be the slaves on the Government plantation demanding an extra portion at feeding time. This citizenry will beg to hand over their last vestige of freedom for just one more meal.

What needs to be done? In this fourth turning blind optimism will kill you dead. The times required adrenalin fueled perpetration and the courage to see things as they are not as you desire them to be.

enigmatic ME
enigmatic ME

Tuthers are like snake handlers, who regularly inject themselves with small amounts of
venum in preparation for th inevitable bite…

we to ingest harmful poison every day to remain psychologically ready for the other shoe to drop.

Those who live in “bambi land” and flat out refuse to look at any of this will “crack up”
WYSHTF.

The 1954 CIA document “Silent weapons for quiet wars” lay this out in no uncertain terms…

This is SQUARE ONE @ Truther -U

Much of our society is becoming sub-human, devolving into plant life…. talkin to plants
really doesn’t benefit them…. expect a horrifying wave of suicde unlike anything the world
has ever seen…. try to stay out of the way.

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