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VETERANS' GROUP: WIKILEAKS REVELATIONS WILL SPARK MASSIVE RESISTANCE TO AFGHANISTAN WAR
By Veterans For Peace President, Mike Ferner
Today the war in Afghanistan begins to crumble under the weight of government lies at home and criminal behavior on the battlefield.
Since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan nine years ago, Veterans For Peace has been waiting for the day when internal documents would reveal what we have known all along -- this war is illegal, immoral, and we must add, it is bankrupting our nation at a time when millions of Americans are thrown out of work and thrown out of their homes.
Neither Wikileaks nor the soldier or soldiers who divulged the documents should be prosecuted for revealing this information. We should give them a medal.
Now that the rotten truth of the war has been dug out of government vaults and brought to light - the murder of civilians, the inexcusable deaths and injuries of our troops, the knife to the heart of every soldier's family member, the fact that "winning" in Afghanistan is meaningless, the outrage of our jobless and homeless as trillions are spent on war and bank bailouts - the most important question is, "what will we do about it?"
We can be sidetracked by watching the 24-hour news cycle regurgitate Obama administration denials and "expert" opinions. Or every single one of us can look in the mirror tomorrow morning and see the person responsible for bringing this war to an end. It really is as simple as that. We know this war is wrong. Now we have official proof. When will we do something?
If we have complained, we must write a letter. If we've written a letter, we must get into the streets. If we've marched in the streets we must sit down in them. If we've been to our representatives' district offices, we must return and not leave until they stop funding the war. If we've talked to our co-workers we must call in sick, slow down production, urge our union to call a strike.
Government can only function with the consent of the governed. We must withdraw our consent at every opportunity until this war is ended, the troops are brought home and we start to rebuild our nation. That is our responsibility and our mission.
As of today, no American can say, "I didn't know what was happening." Now each and every citizen knows. Now we must act like citizens and stop this war.
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Stay warm this winter in a black hooded sweatshirt. Order one. Order them by the dozen and donate them to occupations!
Rahul Bose - quote, If the character has the motivation to dance round trees, then I will dance round trees. If the motivation is strong enough, then I'll fly to the moon.
I like this article allot. It speaks of responsibility, what each of us can do. If you think about it, each of us want to be liked by others, and if "others" were to tell us that they would not tolerate that kind of behavior; then we would have an ideology that does good. Right now we are using ideology in a bad way. We are going along at work, with friends, and family in order to benefit from some really shady deals, or simply just ignoring what is reality because we would rather pretend that no one is watching our behavior. When we can no longer fool ourselves, is when things will get better real fast.
Until that magical day of mutually beneficial relationships with our friends, family, work, and the world; we must practice. Right now, the good guy finishes last. It is because the "others" are not supporting this man who is pointing out the problems at work, family, friends, and the world. I f we were to be more responsible people as supporters, and even be the whistle blower every once in awhile, then the dynamic will change considerably. I always like to mention Vaclav Havel's paper called " The Power of the Powerless". It speaks of responsibility with great examples; it speaks of ideologies, or simply misbehaving and cowardice. It really is this simple, all our problems root from this concept. Another great writing is the "Wizard of Oz", which shows how can all get a spine.
http://www.vaclavhavel.cz/showtrans.php?cat=clanky&val=72_aj_clanky.html...
http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2009/11/11/the_man_who_put_the_rainbow_...
So I commend the man and organization for speaking out with this vital message. For each of us to get involved, and then to suport those who speak out. In fact, I would suggest we start thuinking of a way that we can further reward whistle blowers. If I owned a company, I would tell anyone who gets fired for speaking out to come work for me where you would be more aprecciated and make even more money than what you were for the crumy old company you use to work for. Maybe we could have a support fund, kinda like how they have a "100 Club" for police families who are having loss. We need to really get real with what is going on here, we need to spend less time thinking of just ourselves. And if we can mustard that, then I bet our needs will be surpassed.
Spread these words, and they are responsibility, and support. Not only will our situation get better, but you will be living in the real world with real friends, real family; no more pretending, we all know we are only fooling ourselves.
Do what others have done in our situation. Start a community newspaper, start up meetings in your home for neighbors, get into the streets with others, talk to others about how great things can be when "we" are driving the ship, spread your enthusiasm to others and see how we are all connected like one big nervous system. See the magic that we each have but were kept compartmentalized from the world.
Émile Zola - quote, If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way.
Nikos Kazantzakis - Wikiquote, "Love responsibility. Say: "It is my duty, and mine alone, to save the earth. If it is not saved, then I alone am to blame."
"Love each man according to his contribution in the struggle. Do not seek friends; seek comrades-in-arms
Mark Twain - Wikiquote, My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its institutions or its officeholders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death.