What is Revolutionary Intercommunalism? by Tom Watts (Used with permission).

WHAT IS REVOLUTIONARY-INTERCOMMUNALISM?

Panther Breakfast Program

 

By Tom “Big Warrior” Watts

 

Revolutionary-Intercommunalism is the theoretical understanding that the world we live in today, has become globalized and the principle contradiction in the world is now between the need of the capitalist-imperialist ruling class to consolidate their global hegemony and the anarchy and chaos they are unleashing by attempting to do so, including the threat of a new world war. Revolutionary-Intercommunalism recognizes that because of this globalization, independent nation states can no longer exist as such, and cannot exist except as temporarily “liberated territory” besieged and undermined by the forces and agents of capitalist-imperialism.
 

Revolutionary-Intercommunalism is illuminated by Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM) and the theory and practice of the original Black Panther Party (BPP) and allied formations in the revolutionary upsurge of the late 1960’s and early ‘70’s; and in particular the theoretical contributions of the BPP’s Minister of Defense, Huey P. Newton. Comrade Huey summed up that because of automation, the capitalist-imperialists would increasingly be unable to profitably exploit a growing percentage of the proletariat as wage workers, and this growing mass of “unemployables” would eventually become the majority of the population. He further theorized that the lumpen (broken) proletariat would provide the basis for a new revolutionary vanguard that would act as a catalyst upon the whole proletariat and masses of people to inspire them to rise up against and overturn the capitalist-imperialist system.
 

When we apply this analysis on a world scale, we see that large-scale capitalist agriculture has rendered the small-scale production of the peasant class obsolete, and that it is pushing the peasantry off the land and into the proletariat, as they have nothing left but to sell their labor power to survive, while at the same time the employed section of the proletariat is shrinking. Thus, throughout the “Third World” there is a growing mass of “unemployable” and marginalized poor concentrated in and around the urban centers living under dire conditions, or being compelled to emigrate to the “First World” imperialist countries in search of employment, even as industrial jobs are being outsourced to the “Third World” to take advantage of the cheap labor available there. Thus we have a situation of rapidly changing demographics in the “First World” countries.
 

In this declining phase of capitalist-imperialism, where nations are submerged into Empire, the “mother countries” of imperialism are being transformed into “Third World” countries while capitalist-imperialism is “ghettoizing” the dependant countries of the actual “Third World.” In the four decades since Huey Newton announced his Theory of Revolutionary-Intercommunalism in 1970, we have seen all his predictions come to pass, as well as an eightfold increase in the imprisoned population of the U.S., and the rise of the “New Slavery” of the prison-industrial complex. Moreover, wages have remained at or below what they were in 1970 (when adjusted for inflation), though corporate profits have soared to record highs, and the “Safety Net” of social welfare programs has been dramatically cut back and is in danger of being all together eliminated.
 

In effect, there is a “War on the Poor,” within the U.S. and internationally, while the ruling class grabs up the lion’s share of the wealth and power for itself and is driven to monopolize control over fuel, food and water globally and to subordinate every country to their economic and political domination. 

The concentration of wealth and power into ever fewer hands, and the systematic generalization of poverty, (driving masses below the level of bare subsistence), can only be ended and resolved by World Proletarian Socialist Revolution.
 

The absence of a “Socialist Bloc,” as existed previously under the leadership of the Soviet Union, and later People’s China, emboldens U.S.-led imperialism to bully the world and demand complete subordination to it global hegemony. NATO has been aggressively expanded, and of the 190 some countries in the world, more than 150 now have U.S. military bases and instillations and in many cases integrated military commands. Even though Russia and China are now capitalistic and integrated into the world capitalist system, they are viewed as potential rivals by U.S. imperialism, which demands their complete subordination. Instead of a “Socialist Bloc,” we have a formerly-socialist camp of semi-independent national bourgeois dictatorships clinging to the forlorn hope of achieving their own imperial hegemony in a bi-polar world.
 

The proletarians of today truly have no country. In every country, we are the oppressed and exploited – or the “broken,” - who have little connection to the global economy except as poor consumers. What we have is a world to win!
 

Our world is made up of communities in which we live, under the oppression of a growing police state. It is a world where day to day, week to week, and month to month survival is a constant struggle. Even those lucky enough to have jobs live paycheck to paycheck, with bills to pay every month and less to pay them with. We can communicate instantly around the world, (though “Big Brother” is listening), but everywhere we have no voice on the matters that determine our very existence. We share a common culture and economic life, we wear the same clothes and shop for the same things; we can get on a jet plane and fly anywhere in the world in a few hours, but everywhere we are under the same exploitative capitalist empire.
 

Culture and location define our communities. Neighborhoods, regions and countries define one type of community, and ethnicity, religion and life style define another. There is the gay community, the Black community, the biker community, the hip hop community and so forth. We all live in communities!
 

Revolutionary-Intercommunalism promotes solidarity between communities, and a culture of resistance to all oppression. In opposition to the “War on the Poor,” it promotes strategies for survival and mutual assistance. In the broadest sense, it promotes a worldwide people’s war against the capitalist empire and the creation of “liberated zones” and “dual power.” In particular, it promotes the transformation of urban oppressed communities into base areas of cultural, social and political revolution, and the creation of “People’s Power” at the grassroots level. In the prisons and other “Slave Pens of Oppression,” it promotes their transformation into “Schools of Liberation,” as well as a united campaign to defeat the imperialists’ strategy of criminalization and mass incarceration of the poor.
 

The goal of revolutionary-intercommunialism is to overthrow capitalist-imperialism and create a worldwide “Dictatorship of the Proletariat” as a preparatory step towards “World Communism,” classless, stateless, egalitarian society, a world without poverty and war, where everyone has an equal right to access the fruits of our common labor.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

 

Tom Watts is a former 60"s activist and white panther. Today he is an elder advisor to the prison-based United Panther Movement led by the New Afrikan Black Panther Party Prison Chapter. He is an editor/publisher at Rising Sun Press and lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

World War Forever by Cindy Sheehan

World War Forever

Cindy Sheehan

 A good friend of mine Jon Gold has taken to calling the US wars against the planet, “World War Forever.” So, I’d like to thank him for the sadly relevant title of this piece.

Today, a friend of mine named Jacob George killed himself.

Jacob George

Jacob was a young vet who performed three tours of duty in Afghanistan and I met him last year when I was in the middle of riding my bike across from California to Washington DC for Tour de Peace. We met Jacob in the middle of the country: Oklahoma City. I can’t begin to say what the death of such a gentle and sweet human means. The loss is horrible and not just for Jacob’s friends and family, but for all of us.

Not only is the Empire deadly to the people who live far away in foreign countries, but also to the people it recruits with lies and dangling “benefits” to lure our young people into its bloody maw and then casually tosses them to the garbage pile when they are “lucky” enough to come home from the wars for profit.

I know many colleagues and friends, as well as myself, who are beyond frustrated and devastated with World War Forever, but I also used to be friends and connected to far more people who are now saying that they are “disappointed” in Obama. My question to these people is, “just what the hell did you all expect would happen when you sat on your collective and hypocritical asses for over six year?” Where were these people when Obama sent more troops to Afghanistan, killed people in ½ dozen countries with his damned drones, supported neo-Nazis in Ukraine, destroyed Libya, supported violent rebels in Syria (which many analysts say have blossomed” into ISIS/ISIL) and all the other evil things the Peace Laureate has done in his tenure as Managing War Monger for the 1%?

I am convinced these same people who are just NOW regaining consciousness will soon go back into an ethics-coma and vigorously support the next Dem warmonger would have never left the streets if a Republican were in the Oval Office.

I don’t know which group of people gets under my skin more, the Google-challenged rightwing who constantly accuse ME of being a hypocrite for not “opposing Obama,” or the ethically and morally challenged “liberals” who deserted the peace movement like the rats they are because they support Democrats over peace and justice.

I don’t know what the solution is because I don’t see anything changing as long as We the People keep allowing ourselves to be caught up into this never-ending death-cult spiral of partisan politics which has led to the death-cult of World War Forever.

While you Republicans and Democrats are waiting for the perfect president (who doesn’t exist) or the next Congressional Super Majority (that doesn’t help), our young people like Jacob and our brothers and sisters around this planet are suffering.

How can you live with yourselves?

The Sorrows of Judicial Misconduct (SOAPBOX SPECIAL PODCAST 9/17/2014)

Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox

September 17, 2014

The Sorrows of Judicial Misconduct

Soapbox Podcast Midweek Edition

LISTEN

GUEST: AMBER REED

CONTACT: marieh0086@gmail.com

TOPIC: JUDICIAL MISCONDUCT

AMBER'S BIO:

Amber Reed is a local Solano County resident. She is one if the proponents on the Recall Petition to recall Solano County judge Cynda Unger. She's member of the women's group Justice For Mothers, and she and the group are fighting for the rights of

all women and children.

JUSTICE FOR MOTHERS FACEBOOK PAGE

FEATURED MUSIC:

R-E-S-P-E-C-T by Aretha 

Cuban v. USAian Education: LOL (SOAPBOX PODCAST 9/14/14)

Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox

September 14, 2014

Cuban v. USAian Education: LOL

GUEST: CATHERINE MURPHY

TOPIC: Literacy in the Americas

WORLD LITERACY RATES ACCORDING TO USA CIA

Catherine Murphy is a San Francisco-based filmmaker who has spent much of the last 10 years working in Latin America. She is founder & director of The Literacy Project, a multi-media documentary project on adult literacy in the Americas.

As an independent producer, Murphy's work has largely focused on social documentaries. She has field produced films like Saul Landau's Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up?, Eugene Corr's From Ghost Town to Havana, served on the production crew of Gay Cuba; and subtitled Stealing America by Dorothy Fadiman, Jaime Kibben's The Greening of Cuba, and Out and Refusenicks by Sonja de Vries. She also served an archival researcher for Susanne Rostock's recent biography of Harry Belafonte, Sing Your Song.

Murphy served as senior staff producer at the TeleSur TV Washington bureau in 2006 and has produced content for PBS, TeleSur, Avila TV, Pacifica Radio National, WBAI and KPFA.
While in Caracas in 2009, she founded Tres Musas Producciones, a collaborative production house of independent women producers working in film, music and literature.

Four short stories based on her interviews were published in Eduardo Galeano's most recent book, Espejos.

The Deep State Factionalized: Review of Sibel Edmonds' book: The Lone Gladio by Cindy Sheehan

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The Deep State Factionalized

Review of The Lone Gladio by Sibel Edmonds

Cindy Sheehan

Since I have become an activist after my son’s death in Iraq in 2004, I have gotten out of the practice of reading fiction. The exceptions are through my iPod when I am exercising, or when I am on airplanes. And, if I do read fiction, it’s not usually international spy thriller type books.  I find those types of books too real for me now since I have been the subject of surveillance. And, since my son was killed by this “deep state,” I don’t like the traditional way of portraying the protagonists in these books as “heroes,” when I suspect in reality most of them are either boring functionaries or stone-cold killer/torturers.

However, having said all that when Sibel Edmonds, (“The Most Gagged Woman in America”) asked me if she could send me a review copy of her fictional (high stress on the "fictional") book The Lone Gladio, I readily agreed because how could I refuse someone who I hold in such high regard for her courage, intelligence, and compassion?

After the book arrived, it took me a few days to sit down and crack open The Lone Gladio, but when I finally did I had trouble putting it down.

Of course, I know Sibel’s story and I know her work with The Boiling Frogs Post and after I read The Lone Gladio, I looked more into the very real program called “Gladio B.” Gladio B is the codename for an operation that began in 1997 for ongoing relations between US intelligence, the Pentagon, and Al Qaeda. The name refers to the original Operation Gladio, in which US intelligence had relations with anti-communist groups in Europe. (From the Wikipedia page of Sibel Edmonds).

Operation Gladio is fundamental in this book because the anti-hero, Greg McPhearson is a semi-retired Gladio agent who gets drawn back into the murderous world of international intrigue and his path eventually coincides with the protagonist of the book Sibel, oops, I mean FBI analyst Elsie Simon, who is actually a hero who wants to expose the fact that many of the so-called “terrorists” are actually agents of the CIA trained by US operatives and many had meetings with high level US operatives long before 9/11/2001.

Sibel does a great job of portraying what I suspect is the reality of the slimy underbelly of the “deep state’ without turning the bad guys into noble actors or falling into the trap that the USA actually has any good intentions and sometimes, regrettably (yeah, right) has to do evil to meet those ends.

I highly recommend this book and the only mild criticism I had was that I was lost for the first several chapters but Sibel ties all those loose threads up and weaves them into a very compelling tale of intrigue and as a reader it’s fun in fiction to have those “aha” moments.

The Lone Gladio was released on September 11, 2014 and it’s factional recounting of the suppression of the events that led to such a disaster and horrendous aftermath is so important because after 13 years, many, many people are still dying and being tortured for the lies and cover-ups of that day.

In fact, the current US “peace” president and propaganda mill of the war machine are lying us right into more and more wars and we need more courageous whistle-blowers who refuse to be “gagged” to step forward and get these stories out any way that they can and Sibel is a gifted storyteller.

Get this book!

ORDERING INFO:

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Lone-Gladio-Ms-Sibel-Edmonds/dp/0692213295/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410413558&sr=1-1&keywords=the+lone+gladio

Sibel Edmonds' e-Store:

https://www.createspace.com/4787776

Nook:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-lone-gladio-sibel-edmonds/1120323939?ean=2940150682863

The Last Word on the (Kennedy) Assassination (SOAPBOX PODCAST 9/7/14)

Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox Podcast

September 7, 2014

John Barbour

Today, Cindy chats with raconteur John Barbour.

Among other things, John hosted a talk show in L.A. for years and created the hit show Real People.

He also has long been a radical political thinker and comedian who admired Jack Paar and whose mentor was Redd Fox (we're dating ourselves, but young people: please listen!).

John became interested in the Kennedy assassination after he read a book by attorney Jim Garrison and then John interviewed him for 3 1/2 hours in what came to be, The Garrison Tapes.

Please listen to this fascinating interview and go to John Barbour's website for info on how to order his film: The Last Word on the Assassination

John Barbour's World

Special Labor Day Podcast with Ray Light from Revolutionary Organization of Labor, USA (September 1, 2014)

Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox

September 1, 2014

"Workers of the world unite, the only thing

you have to lose is your chains!"

Karl Marx

On Labor Day (May Day, USA style),

Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox

Presents an exclusive interview with 

Ray Light: General Secretary of

The Revolutionary Organization of Labor, USA

Ray and Cindy chat about the organization, it's goals, the essential link between the working-class and oppressed peoples of the world AND do a little myth busting about the Soviet Union and Stalin.

ISIS Crisis: Brought to You by Israel/US (SOAPBOX PODCAST, August 31, 2014)

CINDY SHEEHAN'S SOAPBOX

AUGUST 31, 2014

GUEST: BRANDON TURBEVILLE

 www.BrandonTurbeville.com

Truth on the Tracks 

SUBJECT: ISIS in Syria and Iraq AND

Why doesn't Israel ever get attacked by

ISIS and al Qaeda 

We Were Lied To About 9/11 - Episode 2 - Mickey Huff

MICKEY HUFF is director of Project Censored and serves on the board of the Media Freedom Foundation. To date, he has edited or coedited six volumes of Censored and contributed numerous chapters to these works dating back to 2008. Additionally, he has coauthored several chapters on media and propaganda for other scholarly publications, most recently Flashpoint in Ukraine from Clarity Press (2014). He is currently professor of social science and history at Diablo Valley College in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he is cochair of the history department. Huff is cohost with former Project Censored director Dr. Peter Phillips of The Project Censored Show, the weekly syndicated public affairs program that originates from KPFA Pacifica Radio in Berkeley CA. For the past several years, Huff has worked on the national planning committee of Banned Books Week, working with the American Library Association and the National Coalition Against Censorship, of which Project Censored is a member. He is also a longtime musician and composer. He lives with his family in Northern California. He's also the associate editor of the forthcoming SAGE publication Encyclopedia of Censorship in 2017.

I apologize for the quality of the audio. One of our phones caused static. I did my best to fix it.

The song is "Killing In The Name Of" by Rage Against The Machine.

http://www.projectcensored.org
http://www.projectcensoredthemovie.com
http://www.cindysheehanssoapbox.com

The Soapbox People's Network presents... (Soapbox Podcast 8/24/14)

click to play show

On this week's Soapbox Podcast,

Cindy Sheehan

chats with two of our newest podcast

hosts:

Anthony Freda of

Freda Rants

and

Jon Gold of

We Were Lied to About 9/11

CLICK TO HEAR JON'S FIRST SHOW

We Were Lied To About 9/11 - Episode 1 - Jenna Orkin

Jenna Orkin is the author of "The Moron's Guide To Global Collapse." After 9/11, she was among the first to question the EPA's announcement that the air was safe to breathe. She went on to co-found the World Trade Center Environmental Organization as well as other lower Manhattan activist organizations that revealed and testified to the EPA's lies. Later, she wrote for fromthewilderness.com, the website founded by 9/11 investigative journalist Mike Ruppert who sadly killed himself in April of this year.

The name of the song is "Killing In The Name Of" by Rage Against The Machine.

www.fromthewilderness.com
wtceo.org
www.fealgoodfoundation.com
www.cindysheehanssoapbox.com

Everyday is Labor Day: Save Our Unions: (Soapbox Podcast August 17, 2014)

Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox

GUEST: STEVE EARLY

TOPIC: SAVE OUR UNIONS

DISPATCHES FROM A MOVEMENT IN DISTRESS

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ABOUT THE BOOK

Stopping War Where it Begins: NNOMY (Soapbox Podcast 8/10/14)

Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox

August 10, 2014

CLICK PLAYER TO HEAR SHOW

GUEST: Rick Jahnkow

TOPIC: Alternatives to Youth Joining the Military

NNOMY

(NATIONAL NETWORK OPPOSING MILITARIZATION OF YOUTH)

ProjectYANO

The project on Youth and Non-military Options 

If you know young people or want to help keep our kids out of the military, please listen and spread the word!

 

August 6th: This Day in (Camp Casey) History by Cindy Sheehan

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August 6th is certainly a day that has gone down in infamy.

From Hiroshima, August 6, 2011

Undoubtedly, the most notorious event that occurred on 8/6 was the 1945 US a-bombing of Hiroshima followed closely by the bombing of Nagasaki. The tragedy of those war crimes still has have many repercussions to this day. 

I was honored to be invited to visit Japan on the anniversaries and I met survivors and the family members of those that were obliterated. I met a Japanese woman who was in Havana and she had lost a young daughter to cancer because of the never-ending after effects of radiation. What the US did on that day was beyond shameful, but what is even more shameful is the vast number of USAians who still consider those bombings justified.

Now, let’s jump over about 56 August 6ths to the year 2001. Remember this is one month and five days before the terrible events of September 11, 2001.

A little known, or remembered event happened on 8/6/2001 in teeny, tiny Crawford, Texas—a place I was to become very familiar with in a few more years.

On that day, Bush was on the longest recorded vacation of any POTUS in US history and he was handed a PDB (Presidential Daily Briefing) titled: Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the US. This, according to The History Commons:

“According to journalist and author Ron Suskind, just after a CIA briefer presents President Bush with the later infamous PDB (Presidential Daily Briefing) item entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US” Bush tells the briefer, “You’ve covered your ass, now.” This account is from Suskind’s 2006 book The One Percent Doctrine, which is based largely on anonymous accounts from political insiders. In the book, after describing the presentation of the PDB, Suskind will write: “And, at an eyeball-to-eyeball intelligence briefing during this urgent summer, George W. Bush seems to have made the wrong choice. He looked hard at the panicked CIA briefer. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘You’ve covered your ass, now.’”

Like I said, today, there will be commemorations that get it right, or get it wrong about Hiroshima, but I bet none will mention the PDB in 2001, or my little contribution to that day’s history in 2005 that came to be known as “Camp Casey.”

On August 3 of that year, I was at my home in Vacaville, Ca (still in deep pain from the murder of my son Casey in Iraq) watching some news broadcast, or the other, and my nemesis George Bush came on. He was, once again, on vacation at his pig ranch in Crawford, but this day he was somewhere in Texas doing something. That day, 11 Marines from the same reserve unit in Ohio were killed in the same incident in Iraq. Bush was asked about that and he said, “The families of the fallen can rest assured their loved ones died for a noble cause.”

Of course, since my son Casey died in Iraq in another long line of Imperial wars based on lies and for profit, my ears pricked up at this “Noble Cause” bullshit! At the time George was clearly at a press availability, so I waited for someone from the “press” (really, White House stenographers) to ask him what the “Noble Cause” was, since the mission-lie had already changed several times by then. Predictably, not one of the stenographers asked George that question.

Downing Street Memo Hearing. 6/16/2005

This was the first in a string of coincidences that led me to Crawford that year—well, really the second. The first one was that I was supposed to be in London the following week to go to an impeachment conference with Congressman John Conyers—my plane ticket had already been purchased by the London activists. I was very excited because I had never been anywhere in Europe before, but Conyers’ (he of impeachment fame before he became chair of the House Judiciary Committee in 2007) plans changed and the event was postponed, so I had my entire August free.

That was, I had my August free AFTER I went to Dallas, Texas on

August 4^th to participate in the annual Veterans for Peace convention. So, the day after George openly told another lie he was not held accountable for (except for by the people), I was scheduled to go to Texas. At that point, I had a brainstorm. After I give my speech in Dallas at the VFP conference on August 5, why don’t I drive to Crawford (at that point I didn’t even know where Crawford was in relation to Dallas—Texas is one big-ass state) and try to demand a meeting with George to ask him “What Noble Cause” myself?

I had scheduled an event in Sacramento that night, so I wrote a quick email to my email list at the time (probably about 300-400 people. There was no Twitter, Facebook, or even Myspace back then) telling my contacts about my plan, and I left for Sacramento. On the way, I called my sister Dede Miller who was meeting me in Dallas the next day to tell her that we were driving to Crawford from Dallas on Saturday to ask Bush “What Noble Cause” and she said, “okay.” Then I called Andrea Buffa who was working PR for CODEPINK at the time and asked her if she would help me spread the word and she said, “Okay.”

By the time I arrived back home that evening, my AOL (remember AOL?) inbox had overflowed. Apparently, my email had traveled around the world and many people were excited about the impending action.

Camp Casey I

The so-called right-wing in this country wanted to paint Camp Casey as a long planned out and well-funded venture and me as the "front person" in an effort that was politically motivated. Gasbag Rush Limbaugh claimed that my "story" was contrived and based on "false documents" like that of Bill Burkett who accused George Bush of being AWOL from the Texas National Guard. Of course, that's true and what did I do? Bury an empty coffin just so I could camp in 110 degree weather in Crawford 16 months later? Hell, even my own in-laws accused my protest of being motivated by my political leanings even though I had always been against wars in general and Iraq in particular. However, I don't think one brainstorm, no endless stream of conference calls/emails, and three days planning can truthfully be construed by anyone with any intellectual integrity as being nothing but completely spontaneous. And, NO George Soros did not personally fund Camp Casey. It was funded by people from all over sending us their contributions and other kinds of donations. 

Met at Crawford Peace House by the Sheriff of McCleelan County

On Saturday morning, August 6th, we loaded up a bus owned by a

member of VFP that had "IMPEACH BUSH" painted in huge letters on its side, and had a caravan of cars follow us to make the approximately three hour drive from Dallas down to Crawford.

Joining me on the bus were members of Vietnam Vets Against the

Dede, Cindy, Amy in front of Impeachment Bus

War, Vets for Peace, and Iraq Vets Against the War and another Gold Star Families for Peace (GSFP) who had come up from Houston to support us, Amy Branham. We were giddily apprehensive and we had no idea what to expect. The day before one of the founders of the Crawford Peace House, Hadi Jawad had asked me what I had planned to do if Bush refused to meet with me. I answered, "I hadn't thought about that, but I guess I will just sit on the side of the road and refuse to move until he agrees to meet with me." I will never forget Hadi's response to me: "Wow, that's an action." And it did turn out to be quite an "action."

When I look back on that summer, I have many, many, many fond memories. It was the first major post-9/11 "occupy" after all. People flocked from all over the country (and world) to come to that bump in the road to be in solidarity with us. If they couldn't come, they held rallies and camps in their own neck of the woods. One couple drove down from Wisconsin just to meet me, give us a donation and they turned around and went right back.

Of course, we had many celebrities come and join us. Hunky Viggo

Viggo and Me

Mortensen came for a few minutes to kiss my hand and bring me some California produce (greatly appreciated). Joan Baez came when I had to go back home to California to take care of my mother who had suffered a massive stroke one day (she sadly ended up passing away in February, 2007) when I was in Crawford. Joan stayed for awhile and was a great presence.

Joan gives private concert in my trailer that doubled as first aid station.

I made many friends who became my family, but some who have since abandoned the idea of peace in favor of the Democrat party.

When I look back on the experience from a perspective of nine years and millions of gallons of water under the bridge, the one thing I regret is that I did not recognize then that some of the prominent people and big organizations that came to Camp Casey that summer did not come to support peace, but came to only support Democrats. 

Hundreds of people gather at Camp Casey II for a rally

That summer, Camp Casey was a powerful movement that could have affected real systemic change if the devious Democrats and their minions hadn't co-opted the struggle to regain political power, and look what that has achieved as the world tilts on the brink of total global conflict via the Drone Bomber and ever present War Machine.

Also, while I met lifelong friends in Crawford, also I lost some

Joan in front of mural of Casey.

friends due to jealousy at my sudden prominence. I guess in this day and age of the "15 minutes of fame" soundbite culture, many people would think that being "famous" or infamous, or a cause celebré is exciting and/or glamorous. It is not, it's mostly awful, especially if one never sought out, or wanted that celebrity.

I was either viciously attacked for example, Glen Beck called me a "tragedy pimp", or put on a pedestal, for example, Maureen Dowd wrote in the NY Times that I had the "absolute moral authority." Both of these extremes were undeserved. I was simply a mom from California who wanted a simple question answered. I wanted the truth, and here in the US, that is extra-ordinary, but I wasn't an extra-ordinary person. I hated having my life being put under a microscope, especially when another coincidence was that I was going through a separation and eventual divorce at the time, which was a deeply personal thing and never should have been fodder used to demonize me. If every woman going through a divorce was demonized in this country, that would be a profitable industry, wouldn't it?

The day I returned from Calif. Putting flowers near Casey's cross at Camp One

Since Bush has left office in the orderly and lawful way, not in handcuffs, and we're well into the term of the new War President, I almost feel sorry for Bush. (Almost, I said). Where's the outcry against Obama's wars? The occupy movement did not address these issues and I have tried to hold three protest camps since Obama has been president, and instead of thousands of people, there has been tens in attendance. 

Did I mention it was hot?

I would hate to think the only thing Camp Casey accomplished was getting the left-wing of the war party back in political power. I think we did re-shape the dialogue and perceptions of war. With many vets and other family members joining me that summer, people in the US were seeing, for the first time this generation, active family opposition to the institutions that steal our young people to kill and die in the wars for profit of today's Military Industrial Complex. 


We're still trying to make that difference and tip the scales towards peace and justice!

CINDY SHEEHAN'S SOAPBOX 

 

Observations on the Obstacles to Change - Evident Truths, by guest blogger, Stephen Wallace

 

It is tempting to write another piece, given the urgency of the current political situation - it is tempting to compile the usual statistics and economic details into a mosaic - some larger picture that will give legitimacy to the financial arguments for things regarding the human right to Healthcare, or for that matter, the human right to shelter, or food, or water. However, those arguments have been well-established elsewhere - for example, by organizations like the Physicians for a National Health Program, or the variety of organizations - from UNICEF to the United Nations - on the non-scarcity of food and water.
 
It is evident, however, that such arguments do not rupture cynical attitudes or reverse feelings of powerlessness. Observation of the political culture of the United States, its effects on the psychological existences of the population, and the attitudes of the political elite might lead us somewhere in our inquiry. The question is "what is preventing changes that would better the society, given that the facts have already been laid out?"


Well, there are a number of ways to proceed in terms of researching such a question - sociological analysis and study of the fresh commentaries is the common way. I'd like to suggest that the following -- simple observation and contemplation might lead to equally valid conclusions. If you are an organizer, or an activist, and the character of your ideology is radical or progressive, I submit the following as evident truth:


Organizing requires a long term commitment - social change of any sort doesn't happen overnight, and the illusion of spontaneity is the result of many years of dedication - a few days of successful protest is usually the result of months of door-knocking, scurrying about, coffee-fueled epiphany-generating exchanges. The ideal is always in mind, or at least, the moral clarity and sense of urgency that is provided with such a need. It is a temptation for the exceedingly vain to intellectualize the matter - social change being the result of some mysterious hand, or a shift in our spirituality, or some massive psychological leap, or cries about social renaissance and the 'round-the-corner revolution. Perhaps it is much harder to admit work like this is the result of simple virtue: A focused-mind, an open and willing heart, talk, and a willingness to participate in the happenings of the society.


There are some common obstacles. In my experience, the hesitation that precedes change is perfectly expressed in the sentiment that an "outside observer" - our neighbor - may "sympathize" with what we are doing, they may "support" our goals and idealism, and even the specific aim - but "not enough" people will care, not enough support will be garnered, or some variation of candy-coated apathy. It is a frustrating irony that this sentiment, which demonstrates active concern for the political direction and the corruption of institutional behavior, prevents active involvement.


Another variation is in our definition of participation. A person who may be in agreement with certain matters in principle, may disagree as to what the proper method is to induce the changes we seek. It is custom in our culture to take pride in the elections - even if it is apparent, paradoxically, the futility of relying on this ritual. With a signature enthusiasm, we will be told to vote in the next election - that if we don't vote, we cannot complain about the deprived social conditions that we are subjected to. That more people should vote - and, of course, if we could only get an honest fellow in office, the problems would evaporate, simply, as a puddle evaporates after a storm. Come election time, that collective enthusiasm is demonstrated by many educated people - that we ought not to be cynical, that we ought to vote and the hysterical insistence that it does make a very large difference. There is additional frustration here, because, though the enthusiasm and authenticity of the sentiment is surely verifiable - so too is the recursion of disillusionment and inevitable feeling of uselessness and powerlessness that follows when a the love affair between a certain political figure and the public comes to an end. Take your pick with any of them, and some fraction of the population will feel this way. So that limited definition of participation results in self-limitation, and limitation of political possibilities. Participating means something more


Organizing means something different for everyone, of course - but there is the sense that a social change means something in our daily lives changes as well. It means that the merry-go-round, day-in-day-out endlessness transforms into something other than passive observations of headlines at the end of the day. It means that we are striving for some lost, or never discovered vitality that this life deserves - for oneself, and for everyone. It means that the culture of political participation doesn't limit itself to election cycles, or outside observations through academic lenses, or viewing the work of others simply to restore our faith in humanity. Political participation means that we play a part, ourselves, in creating the culture. A culture that is capable of educating itself, a culture that is capable of generating its own solutions and putting them into action. It means that it does not rely on viewing institutions through an illusory lens, static and unchanging. It means perceiving their flexibility, their fragility and moving to change their nature. 


The remaining obstacle is the simple fact that a cultural change is just that - a change. Explaining in explicit detail what such a cultural change would consist of is nearly impossible, given that there are few precedents in American history - this isn't a grandiose or self-celebratory statement - it is simply true that if the aim is to produce a new mode of thinking and acting in political culture, there is a very limited selection of historical examples to pull from. Surely, though, intellectuals have attempted to flesh out definitions of what is called "participatory democracy" and have given it an ideological genealogy: Athens, or models of direct democracy in South America (what's called the Landless Workers Movement) or, other systems of social democracy, but that isn't quite the aim, either. Discussions like this tend to be derailed by pedantic criticism.
 
Beyond that, it is impossible for one to assess the accuracy of critiques like this without direct exchanges with those who are putting effort into realizing these ideas. In addition, it may be intellectually entertaining to suggest that alternatives are possible - but it is a display of moral timidity that such notions - direct action and normalized participation - remain only in the realm of our ideas. But there are current examples to look to, experiments in changing political behavior are happening right now.

The Health is a Human Right Campaign in Maryland has been well underway for quite some time now. A little over a year since its inception, it has progressed toward the realization of the cultural changes that are necessary . Again, without any of the signature grandiosity of commentators - the simple actions of dedicated people have begun to have an effect on the state population. The Health is a Human Right Campaign doesn’t herd itself behind conventional political leadership, it informs its own communities directly of their power through things like speakouts, public forums, letters to local papers. The simple fact that language has meaning carries itself into community discussions with people - some who would consider themselves apolitical in nature may realize their political power, here. Discussions like this allow a platform for an honest assessment - free of political labels and banners - of the damage to personal life caused by the system in place.

The campaign organizes itself in a principled way. Those who organize in their communities are a part of them - an organizer from Southern Maryland is familiar with the psychological terrain of the area. Local events, county fairs, farmers’ markets - it is not someone who is alien to the community that speaks with them. It is literally a friend or neighbor who, like all of us - is seeking to understand what is happening here and everywhere, and is wondering if it is possible to do anything about it. Superficial rhetoric means nothing here. This is about building relationships with people who are directly around us.


Simply getting people together to discuss something has an effect. It shows us that there are people who are in our lives already - who are ready, like us, to see something new happen.


Perhaps it's best summarized, and may be oversimplified in the sentiment that we ought to "just do it." If we want to see something in the world, we ought to just do it. It may be easy to dismiss the sentiment as too idealistic, or even naive, but given the darkness of the current social reality, a bit of naivety, a bit of a spontaneous ethic such as this may be more than a nice thought - it is desperately needed.

Remember Ukraine? (SOAPBOX PODCAST 8/3)

Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox

August 3, 2014

This week, on a Special Edition of 

the Soapbox, Don DeBar from 

CPR Metro interviews journalist 

Patrick Lancaster who is 

reporting from Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine