Dear Sisters and Brothers,
So
many of us have very different resources of information. This is the
core of what I believe divides us.
In these times, there has been a lot of focus on Bernie Sanders and the movements he has inspired. There are those resources that tell us that Senator Sanders and his supporters are extremist, elitist, intolerant, rabid, cult-like, eat our own, are being fed by Trump and the Kremlin, are responsible for bringing us Trump, and will be to blame if Trump is re-elected. These narratives do not surprise me.
Without exception, the revolutionaries and the movements they inspire have always been demonized and dehumanized.
These are the ones with the radical ideas — like fighting for economic, racial, social, and environmental justice. These are the ones who’ve challenged the status quo and posed the greatest threat to those in power. These are the ones who share the same values and fierce commitment to fighting for a just and caring world that increasingly works for everyone rather than the wealthy few. These are the visionary activists who embody integrity, wisdom, courage, compassion, and revolutionary love.
And they are a force for radical change which the powerful have always done everything possible to crush — not because of the power of any one person — but because these are the leaders who effectively mobilize and empower millions in the great struggle for justice, for generosity, for truth, and for love.
And the millions they mobilize are also demonized by the powerful whose greed compels them to do anything to maintain their control and their hegemony through crushing the “radicals” — all those who have the audacity to demand justice and that their basic human rights, and the rights and the sacredness of other beings and the Earth, be respected, valued, supported, and protected. In order to succeed in their efforts to maintain the status quo, the powerful have consistently engaged in relentless brainwashing of everyone else, convincing them to work against their own best interests and to also vilify and condemn those who are demanding justice, democracy, environmental sanity, and an end to the rule of the elites rather the power being in the hands of We The People.
In these times, there has been a lot of focus on Bernie Sanders and the movements he has inspired. There are those resources that tell us that Senator Sanders and his supporters are extremist, elitist, intolerant, rabid, cult-like, eat our own, are being fed by Trump and the Kremlin, are responsible for bringing us Trump, and will be to blame if Trump is re-elected. These narratives do not surprise me.
Without exception, the revolutionaries and the movements they inspire have always been demonized and dehumanized.
These are the ones with the radical ideas — like fighting for economic, racial, social, and environmental justice. These are the ones who’ve challenged the status quo and posed the greatest threat to those in power. These are the ones who share the same values and fierce commitment to fighting for a just and caring world that increasingly works for everyone rather than the wealthy few. These are the visionary activists who embody integrity, wisdom, courage, compassion, and revolutionary love.
And they are a force for radical change which the powerful have always done everything possible to crush — not because of the power of any one person — but because these are the leaders who effectively mobilize and empower millions in the great struggle for justice, for generosity, for truth, and for love.
And the millions they mobilize are also demonized by the powerful whose greed compels them to do anything to maintain their control and their hegemony through crushing the “radicals” — all those who have the audacity to demand justice and that their basic human rights, and the rights and the sacredness of other beings and the Earth, be respected, valued, supported, and protected. In order to succeed in their efforts to maintain the status quo, the powerful have consistently engaged in relentless brainwashing of everyone else, convincing them to work against their own best interests and to also vilify and condemn those who are demanding justice, democracy, environmental sanity, and an end to the rule of the elites rather the power being in the hands of We The People.
Through the years, Noam
Chomsky has accurately and tragically spoken to how we Americans are a
"massively propagandized people." And, of course, this level of truth is why Professor Chomsky's voice is both known and honored worldwide, but never makes the airwaves of the American mainstream media.
Please know that I speak to the pervasive brainwashing of the American people with the utmost humility
and compassion. I have been among the masses of those who've been fed
and absorbed the propaganda of the powerful. It's taken me hard, hard
work and a fierce commitment to pursuing the truth over many years
now to begin to wake up from the fog I was completely unaware that I
had been in. This process very much continues to this day and will continue as long as there is breath in my body. Because today I understand that when reality is on life support, the courageous visionary truth-tellers are the vital nourishment that is needed if there's to
be any chance of collectively waking up in time to save
ourselves.
But this oxygen that nourishes and empowers us with the truth is something that we are intentionally and systematically deprived of here in America. This is what I have discovered. I wish it were not true. But it is.
There is simply no way that our nation and the world would be facing the dire threats that we are at this time in our human history — the human caused sixth major extinction, a Trump presidency, both major political parties and a mainstream media corrupted by powerful special interests, endless wars and worldwide militarism, billions dying and living in devastating poverty in America and across the planet, the catastrophic impact of the coronavirus in our country and worldwide, and the climate and ecological crises which threaten us all with extinction — none of this would be our reality if there weren’t a very long term process in place which has resulted in an epidemic of powerlessness and polarizing propaganda that convinces human beings again and again to not unite in the great struggle for a just, sustainable, peaceful, and caring world.
There are certainly countless examples of those leaders who, along with their mobilized movements of millions, have always been demonized by the powerful exactly because they sought to dismantle the systems of entrenched power which produce so much suffering, greed, inequality, violence, and death. And there are countless examples of those who’ve been propagandized into joining with them and acting against these desperately needed changes. Bernie Sanders is joined by a long list of revolutionaries who have spent their lifetimes fighting for justice, certainly including Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela (both of whom are inspirations to Bernie) and Gandhi.
Now the struggle continues and will persist as it always has. We are not going away. We understand the forces which have brought us the climate and ecological crises, the Trump presidency and the all out war against the planet, crushing poverty and inequality, thousands going bankrupt and dying because of no or inadequate healthcare, devastating student debts, endless wars and militarism and violence, and all the other direct consequences of neoliberal capitalism and the ideology of domination which it embodies. We understand these symptoms of the dying American Empire.
We turn to resources of information that are independent and not funded by corporate interests tied to Wall Street, the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, the fossil fuel industry, and other toxic special interests. We turn to the truth-tellers and visionaries and those who’ve never given up the struggle for a just world. We are informed and inspired by Bernie Sanders, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Chris Hedges, Chalmers Johnson, Henry Giroux, James Baldwin, Amy Goodman, Naomi Klein, Joanna Macy, Jane Goodall, Riane Eisler, Arundhati Roy, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Vandana Shiva, Bill Moyers, Bill McKibben, Dahr Jamail, Jeremy Scahill, David Korten, France Moore Lappé, and countless others — all of whom share the same values and visions and are united in the great struggle for economic, racial, social, and environmental justice.
These are the leaders and activists, the values and visions, the vitally needed radical changes that millions of Americans have tragically been propagandized to demonize and stand against. To focus just on Bernie Sanders is to miss entirely the enormity of a much, much larger picture.
This larger picture includes our commitment to persist. To ask me or any of us to reverse course and stop speaking the truth, stop our deep research and passionate activism, stop fighting for the dramatic systemic changes that are needed to address the root causes — rather than the symptoms — of all that plagues and threatens us is something we refuse to do. Because this is the equivalent to asking us to let go of the great struggle that humankind has been engaged in for millennia to awaken, heal, and transform ourselves and our world into one which holds all of life with reverence.
There is simply no way that our nation and the world would be facing the dire threats that we are at this time in our human history — the human caused sixth major extinction, a Trump presidency, both major political parties and a mainstream media corrupted by powerful special interests, endless wars and worldwide militarism, billions dying and living in devastating poverty in America and across the planet, the catastrophic impact of the coronavirus in our country and worldwide, and the climate and ecological crises which threaten us all with extinction — none of this would be our reality if there weren’t a very long term process in place which has resulted in an epidemic of powerlessness and polarizing propaganda that convinces human beings again and again to not unite in the great struggle for a just, sustainable, peaceful, and caring world.
There are certainly countless examples of those leaders who, along with their mobilized movements of millions, have always been demonized by the powerful exactly because they sought to dismantle the systems of entrenched power which produce so much suffering, greed, inequality, violence, and death. And there are countless examples of those who’ve been propagandized into joining with them and acting against these desperately needed changes. Bernie Sanders is joined by a long list of revolutionaries who have spent their lifetimes fighting for justice, certainly including Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela (both of whom are inspirations to Bernie) and Gandhi.
Now the struggle continues and will persist as it always has. We are not going away. We understand the forces which have brought us the climate and ecological crises, the Trump presidency and the all out war against the planet, crushing poverty and inequality, thousands going bankrupt and dying because of no or inadequate healthcare, devastating student debts, endless wars and militarism and violence, and all the other direct consequences of neoliberal capitalism and the ideology of domination which it embodies. We understand these symptoms of the dying American Empire.
We turn to resources of information that are independent and not funded by corporate interests tied to Wall Street, the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, the fossil fuel industry, and other toxic special interests. We turn to the truth-tellers and visionaries and those who’ve never given up the struggle for a just world. We are informed and inspired by Bernie Sanders, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Chris Hedges, Chalmers Johnson, Henry Giroux, James Baldwin, Amy Goodman, Naomi Klein, Joanna Macy, Jane Goodall, Riane Eisler, Arundhati Roy, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Vandana Shiva, Bill Moyers, Bill McKibben, Dahr Jamail, Jeremy Scahill, David Korten, France Moore Lappé, and countless others — all of whom share the same values and visions and are united in the great struggle for economic, racial, social, and environmental justice.
These are the leaders and activists, the values and visions, the vitally needed radical changes that millions of Americans have tragically been propagandized to demonize and stand against. To focus just on Bernie Sanders is to miss entirely the enormity of a much, much larger picture.
This larger picture includes our commitment to persist. To ask me or any of us to reverse course and stop speaking the truth, stop our deep research and passionate activism, stop fighting for the dramatic systemic changes that are needed to address the root causes — rather than the symptoms — of all that plagues and threatens us is something we refuse to do. Because this is the equivalent to asking us to let go of the great struggle that humankind has been engaged in for millennia to awaken, heal, and transform ourselves and our world into one which holds all of life with reverence.
This will not happen. We will not give up.
And we refuse to be complicit with the powerful forces which deny our
basic human rights, including for peace, an economic system which
works for all of us, and sustaining a habitable planet for the
children of today, the children of the future, and for all of Earth's
inhabitants.
I will continue to both fight for a just, caring, and sane world and to reach out my hands, my heart, my soul to others to please join us. We need you. We truly and deeply do need you.
I invite you to please consider looking into any of the resources which I listed above and explore the
deep truths of who these visionaries are and what they have been speaking to, and often over the course of many decades. Please look into the eyes and hearts and consciousness of
those of us, including youth worldwide, who are demanding radical
change now. We demand these changes because we know that everything
we all love and cherish is at stake. Everything, absolutely
everything.
Please also specifically consider purchasing Rabbi Michael Lerner's most recent book, Revolutionary Love: A Political Manifesto to Heal and Transform the World: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520304505/revolutionary-love. United, we can replace the “capitalist globalization of selfishness” with a globalization of generosity, prophetic empathy, and environmental sanity.
We're
all in this together, all related, all family.
In peace, solidarity, and with warmest
blessings to us all —
blessings to us all —
Molly
* * *
May we be at peace.
May our hearts remain open.
May we know the beauty of our own true nature.
May we awaken and be healed.
❤
1 comment:
Molly - I have so much to say and share with you. Maybe this is my summer for Portland ..... thank you for your important work! Love, Laurel
Ps - i font use my email indicated below since it’s not correct (lelmer@comcast.net)
Post a Comment