Ceremonies of Resistance
I fear that the most significant historical tendencies we are experiencing are the deterioration of our liberties in the face of competing fanaticisms; ongoing annihilation of our climate by neglect of and refusal to repair the damage we have done our air and water and general ecology; and the continuing possibility of the annihilation of our species via nuclear warfare.
How many of us have adapted to the fear engendered by these political atrocities by choosing gradual self-murder instead of political resistance? Please consider alternatives to absorption in media portrayals of death, which can be reassuringly turned off and forgotten, as opposed to the real thing; and to all the other ways we choose to sleep, to temporarily die instead of seizing our right to live in freedom and in safety from species and planetary annihilation.
Please consider this now, before a second terrorist attack, either allowed by the Bush administration or fomented by it, is used as the excuse to incarcerate millions of Americans whose existence offends hegemonists currently advocating the extension of the American occupation of Iraq to Iran, and fascists who call themselves Christian and who should more accurately term themselves exterminationists.
How perceptive are my fears? How accurate are my observations?
The first fear is created by the historical conjunctions of American fascism in the transparent guise of “religious” warrior sects with the rise of similar South Asian and Near Eastern political sects masquerading, also not too successfully, as religious – as Muslim. In America, this incredibly well-funded “religious right” phenomenon has been preceded by cults masquerading as supports for questioning and afflicted persons. These cults are numerous, often wealthy at the top and poor at the bottom and are exemplified by, surprisingly to the non-investigating public, both the better-known cults like the Unification Church and EST and also programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and Overeaters Anonymous, both of which promise healing which statistics do not bear out. All these cults demand uniformity of thought with the threat of ostracism should compliance not occur. All have in common a surrender of individual will, particularly intellectual will, to “authorities” who have seized or been given the right to punish questioners. These pompous idiots have about as much right to their “authority” as the Wizard of Oz, and can be immediately de-throned by assertion of their followers’ freedom of thought and freedom from any form of abuse – spiritual, physical, political.
The second fear is created by an impending ecological catastrophe caused by governments’ and corporate partners’ (senior partners’?) greed and exploitation of indigenous and “First World” peoples and environments, and our political and economic cooperation with said violence. The most dramatic symptom of ecological deterioration is the melting of the Polar ice caps. The threatened overwhelming of our current salt- and fresh-water balance, possibly resulting in a freezing planet, is accompanied by droughts, abnormally heavy fire seasons and aggressive insect breeding seasons, among many symptoms.
The third fear is that President Bush II will, before the expiration of his term in November 2008, do what some of his advisors have been advocating and launch nuclear weapons against Iran, almost certainly precipitating general nuclear war.
The climate of expectation of death has created a horrifying passivity, the end of which I await fervently. Please cast aside solitary opiates, from television to heroin, and demand via sustained massive and non-violent protests the restoration of our liberties, which have been significantly eroded under the Patriot Act and other legislation. Demand leadership which will correct our present course toward destruction and self-destruction. The current conjunction of corporate and state power will destroy us all unless such a restoration takes place, and said restoration will not occur until we awaken, individually and as a nation, as a world.
My long healing journey from a victim of power, of sexual, emotional and physical abuse has resulted in many active strengths and a joyous and fulfilling life of good work, of empathy and the continuing giving and receiving of love and,thank The Creator of All Life, political activism.
I pray that any words herein will be of similar assistance to you individually, and to our very precarious world.
To that end, please consider the themes of these writings.
Facing Nuclear War, an essay concerning planetary annihilation.
Abortion, a personal and theological essay which calls for both mercy and logic in the face of personal tragedy.
Sadomasochism, an essay on self-annihilation as adaptation to child abuse and the sexualization of intolerable terror.
