Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Sunday, February 04, 2007
It Says Here
Good morning Mickey.
Keir from last night...I will keep you posted. The local paper has scheduled an interview for this afternoon. I hope that it will be worth reading. You never can tell. I talk about the issues and the reporters usually ask questions like, “How tall are you?” What I said to the court during my sentencing is available on the Internet, under my name and “A Courtroom Speech”. No newspaper in the state has ever published it. I am a little disappointed that I will not have the opportunity to use it again, not right now anyway.
Ward Churchill is right, what I and so many others did was just the politics of convenience. It makes us feel good and accomplishes nothing. Until we have sufficient numbers to have an effective boycott of everything, nothing will change. Everything should stop until the killing stops. We are all apologists for the State. We could create change in legal and non-violent ways. Was it Tolstoy who said that it is not surprising that governments order armies of men to kill. The question is why do the men obey. My question is why does commerce and life in general continue as if everything was fine. When will the civilian people here and around the world join with the civilians in Iraq and take a real stand against the killing and the Occupation?
WC says, “...If you conduct your protest activities in a manner which is sanctioned by the state, the state understands that the protest will have no effect on anything.
You can gauge the effectiveness—real or potential at least—of any line of activity by the degree of severity of repression visited upon it by the state....
People engaged in the activity that is engendering the repression are the first people who need to be supported—not have discussion groups to endlessly consider the masturbatory implications of the efficacy of their actions or whether or not they are pure enough to be worthy of support. They are by definition worthy. Ultimately, the people debating continuously are unworthy. They are apologists for the state structure; [and] in [effect], try to convince people to be ineffectual.
Nonviolent action can be effectual when harnessed in a way that is absolutely
unacceptable to the state: if you actually clog the freeways or occupy sites or whatever to disrupt state functioning with the idea of ultimately making it impossible for the state to function at all, and are willing to incur the consequences of that. That’s very different from people standing with little signs, making a statement. Statements don’t do it. If [they] did, we would have transformed society in this country more than a century ago....” WCPosted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/04 at 09:56 AMMickey...the article about the other grandmothers was written by Bill Quigley. He had offered to represent me. I think that it would have been a good thing for Vermont to see him in action.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/04 at 10:16 AMGood morning, RMJ, all Expendables, and guests...from chilly Astoria.
RMJ: I remember your earlier mention of Quigley and that’s why I posted that link. Sometimes I think that the only reason I might’ve ever gone to school would’ve been for law. A dedicated lawyer can be of invaluable help to radical movements.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/04 at 10:46 AMRelated:
http://tinyurl.com/3xs8qfPosted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/04 at 10:48 AMcongratulations Rosemarie! I’m delighted for you.
Posted by owen on from schmarcelona 02/04 at 02:13 PMI second Owen. Wonderful news, Rosemarie. Although, I do see your point in now not being able to have your day in court. Perhaps you should consider hiring a PR person or try composing a few sound bites, palatable for the evening news, ha, ha. Nevertheless, I am glad you are not looking at doing some hard time. We would really miss your wise & witty presence here.
Posted by Canadian Observer on from 02/04 at 02:55 PMIt’s alright, I would have sent you a cake with a file in it Rosemarie.
Posted by owen on from schmarcelona 02/04 at 02:58 PMHey RMJ: The next time you have a major legal breakthrough, please don’t do it on the same day I post a rare bit of my published fiction. You know I can’t compete with you…
Hello Owen and CO.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/04 at 03:03 PMMickey...I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care how good your play is. I just heard from Bill Blum and I think he would agree that you should have an old person in the cast. Both of us are ready to memorize your words...nobody much over 30 hummmmmmm and besides that, you are published more than anybody I know. When I was in a tiny bookstore in the middle of no where up here, there was a pile of your books right by the cash register. They told me that they were selling a lot of them. I told them that I was a friend of yours but they still wouldn’t give me a discount.
Thanks Owen and Canadian Observer...sad, now I won’t get that orange jumpsuit I was looking forward to.
Howard Zinn is on C-span book TV right now.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/04 at 04:36 PMGood morning/afternoon, Rosemarie, Mickey, Owen and Canadian Observer. Congratulations, Rosemarie! I am delighted for you as well.
And I like the ‘Cafe Irreal’ - most if not all news these days strikes one as ‘irreal’, not to say surreal. Unfortunately the news about African Americans in Alabama is quite real.
As for the state of things down under, our national airline Qantas will probably be sold off to private interests. Could that happen in any other Western country?
Greetings from a warm Daylesford (100F later today) to those chillier parts of the world where my fellow expendables reside.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 02/04 at 04:59 PMGreetings, all. Outstanding news, RMJ. Don’t think of it as a missed opportunity, but an opportunity to do something more meaningful. I dare say you have greater name recognition now, and your efforts will be more widely noticed and appreciated.
Sorry for not joining in the discussions more often, but I check in every day.
Posted by Cart on from near Warshington DC 02/04 at 05:17 PMI indulged in a little protesting today, though I don’t do it often enough to emote about it. Governments love protests, something to visibly crush to keep the rest of the population in line. Like in the military officers are trained to keep cool when their men complain, they can complain all they want - the time to worry only comes when the men stop complaining. I don’t protest much because it seems to acknowledge a government as a source of power, the protestors are what give a tyrannical cartel its shape.
Posted by owen on from schmarcelona 02/04 at 05:51 PMThanks Helga and Cart.
Owen...I agree that governments like protests. It gives them the appearance of tolerance.For those who missed it. Zinn said that he favored a lottery system to select the president. He also said that he supports Nader.
This was just received in an e-mail from somone out West named Richard.
“I support the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I support the killing of innocent women, children and soldiers.
I support the desecration of the Constitution.
I support the destruction of our environment and our eco-systems.
I support Global Warming.
I support the death penalty for poor people and people of color.
I support population control through starvation.
I support the power to imprison us without our due process by
eliminating habeas corpus.
I support these things by DOING NOTHING.”Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/04 at 07:27 PMVery much enjoyed your piece, Mick…
Congrats on its publication!
Posted by JOS on from Oak Park 02/05 at 01:05 AM
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