"No PIGS, No PEACE!" OpEd to the Washington "Peace" Community

The following is NOT the opinion of the Washighton Peace Center. Opposing or alternative opinions are welcomed.

My much loved brothers and sisters in the "Peace and Justice" Community:

For the 3 years I've been among you I have more and more ached to become able to voice the agony I feel for you, and because of you. For you? Because you, in this dire time, could be experiencing such extraordinary, heroic lives instead of the zombie-like existence I observe among you. Because of you? I have 6 billion in my family currently and virtually all are writhing in material and/or spiritual death throws, and you are my best hope of saving them.

"Peace and Justice" mOVEMENTS are wonderful for making participants feel good. But as we can see throughout history they NEVER bring any consequential change.

"Flesh and Blood" Movements [I'm open to a better term, but the substance is captured WELL here] are the only thing that have, and the only thing that ever will bring substantial change. Someone at the White House yesterday said to me, "demonstrations don't work any more. 10 years ago we had a million people in the streets and they still bombed Iraq." "How long were they in the streets," I asked? "Hmmmm. A few hours."

We've seen "Flesh and Blood" Movements fighting because, UNMISTAKABLY, THEIR Flesh and Blood (non-related) depended on it: King, Gandhi, Jesus, Romero, Anti-Apartheid, Suffrage, Anti-Slavery, Code Pink's Liz Des Murphy Medea, Diane Wilson, Ann Wright....

No, Symbolic / Sacramental / Self-Saving Actions don't count no matter what they cost the practitioners.

Only Flesh and Blood saving (non-biological) Flesh and Blood constitutes the bunker- buster weapon that pierces the concrete casings that entomb our western hearts. Everything less is wasted energy - to THE GLEE OF BUSH AND CHENEY.

"THE CHICKEN IS INVOLVED ["Peace and Justice mOVEMENT"],

THE PIG IS COMMITTED ["FLESH AND BLOOD MOVEMENT"]"

Am I remotely qualified to cast such a dire diagnosis? Well, YOU are. You can read history as well as I. But additionally, unlike most of you, I have been on, in, forming, coaching, leading high performance PIGS on extreme, SUCCESSFUL change missions my ENTIRE adult life and... with hardly any exceptions other than those noted above, you are not Pigs. But you can be. You must become. Or there is no hope.

"NO PIGS, NO PEACE."

ILL, VIGIL SUSPENDED FOR A DAY MONDAY 6/30

Hunger Strike continues but vigil, in the park, in the full sun all day suspended for a day.

No structural damage going on that I can tell, but Sunday I took quite ill with nausea and uncharacteristic exhaustion/weakness.

I expect to resume on Tuesday in Lafayette Park and continue there thru Sunday night and then return to Capitol Hill.

Saturday I was interviewed by a New York Times reporter for a larger story she was doing so I'll spend time Tuesday God willing, to compete a host of unfinished posts at the Start Loving site.

NOTE:

IRAN: Report says US waging secret war
Los Angeles Times, CA - 6 hours ago
The Los Angeles Times reported in April about the kaleidescope of Iranian separatist groups along Iran's borders, some of which said they were receiving ...

Preparing the Battlefield

The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran.

The New Yorker, by Seymour M. Hersh

Hunger Strike / Occupation Moves to White House

With Congress on one week vacation more impact can be achieved at the White House - Lafayette Park - than on the Hill.

Day 6 of the Hunger Strike, Saturday, will commence there along with 24 hour occupation excepting significant times of storm.

"THE CRITICAL THING IS NOT
WHO IS SITTING IN THE WHITE HOUSE,
BUT WHO IS SITTING IN."
Howard Zinn

Roll Call June 23, 2008

Score one for the children of Iraq. Roll Call.

50 Day Hunger Strike - 24/7 Hill Occupation Commences per Plan

The invitation to join in stands [per post below].

"A time comes when
silence is betrayal...

We are at the moment when
our lives must be placed on the line
if our nation [and world]
is to survive its own folly."

Martin Luther King
[truths the Empire effectively killed exactly one year later].

U.S. PROVOCATION OF WAR is what PROVOKED THOREAU. And what about you? Me?

HEADLINES TODAY:

• Video: Israel Rehearses Iran Attack
• Bush: Iran existential threat to peace
• US sidesteps questions on Israeli threat against Iran
• US refuses to clarify stance on Iran
• 'All possible means' must be used
• Iran: Rumors of War
• Israel Should Attack Iran
• Top Israeli official: 'We will attack' Iran to halt nuclear program
• Olmert Hints US Action on Iran Nukes is Near
• Etc.
• Etc....

U.S. provocation of war with / unprovoked attack on Mexico became Thoreau's defining issue, and the launch of so-called Nonviolence; Thoreau's ACTION provoked Tolstoy, Gandhi, King....

GERMANY'S UNPROVOKED ATTACKS ON NEIGHBORS AND INOCENTS DID NOT PROVOKE GERMAN CITIZENS TO HEROIC ACTION EN MASSE; and this cowardice defines Nazi era Germans - an irredeemable place in infamy. (There were exceptions: Holocaust Rescuers).

What is the question in such a situation as this? How do I stop the bombing of Iran? This and questions like it are questions of cowardice and inhumanity.

The question asked by our exemplars of Humanity in the face of pending atrocity - King, Gandhi, Biko, Corrie, Jesus... - is along the lines of:

• "What will happen to [them] if I do NOT act?" MLK
• How should one stand in the face of a threatened crime against humanity? Bonhoeffer.
  
• How can I FULLY express / communicate / VOTE: WHAT I STAND FOR, and my opposition? Hanh.
  
• What does a Sister/Brother/Family Member ("All Men are Brothers," asserted Gandhi, et al) do in the face of impending atrocity to world-family?
• If this is not my time to put it ALL on the line, when WILL it be my time? What will it take for me to put it all on the line? "A [person] is not equipped to live until he/she knows what she/he would die for," MLK.
• How MIGHT I spark the Miracle it would take?
  
• What is the best shot I can imagine for ME to take right now, in time?
  

I expect to resume occupation of the Hill (PEACEMAKERS FOR US FORCES, IRANIANS, IRAQIS) up to 24/5 (weekdays) (originally an idea Col. Wright and Gael Murphy of Code Pink gave me) beginning Monday, EXCEPT DURING STORMS. Hundreds of Congressfolks walk within feet, back and forth every day. Ridiculous? In late June I expect to escalate this by undertaking my third Hunger Strike in 4 months, of 40 days duration, water and vitimin only. The previous two recent Strikes were 20 days each. In the late stages of the Strike this clearly gets into the heads of these Congressfolks. Quite powerful.

Join the "Occupation" campaign, bring your signs, courage, solidarity with Iranians, and perseverence, or...

... FORMULATE WHAT ACTION YOU FEEL IS ENTIRELY COMMENSURATE with this situation, what meets the test of History / Humanity / Honesty / "Family"... let me know, and I'll join you, and then maybe others will join us.... You know where to find me; or how to ignore me.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Schweitzer:
"Example is not the major thing in influencing people.
Example is the ONLY thing in influencing people."

It is not so much WHAT you do.
It is THAT you do with total commitment,
great sacrifice, and universal love.
Start Loving

Expactation: RESUME "OCCUPATION" OF THE HILL MONDAY

Recovery from the two 20 day Hunger Strikes of April/May is progressing.

As per my earlier estimations I expect to return to the Hill 24/5 (weekdays) this coming Monday, until late June when I expect to go 7/24 and mount a 24/7 Hill "Occupation" in demand of the Congress taking a courageous, suffiicent stand against bombing Iran.

EVERY CITIZEN should be acting with similar commitment in the face of the Bush administration's insanity - threatening joint bombing of Iran with Israel. Madness. What will it take for the US citizenry to leave their orgy of selfishness and come to the defense of their children's, and more broadly humanity's defense?!?!!?!