Thoughts & Words Alone ..

We are at a point in history where such things as total war, state-enforced racism, overt colonialism and the destruction of other cultures, full participation in the political process being only available to men, so on and so forth, are no longer acceptable. But how did we get here? Some say it is a gradual, evolutionary process, that comes mostly through education and the slow dispersion of raised awareness - I suggest that it is so, yes, but this process has required catalysts of horrific crimes against humanity and violent domestic social unrest, where people have been willing to sacrifice their freedom, even their very lives to affect change.

NOTE: STEEMIT 'is' action, it is is not just talk .. its very existence and our daily participation, is a revolution in-progress!

Violence and Non-Violent Non-Participation

We have a lot to thank the 60s for, but the kids these days think it was mostly about new music, fucking and smoking dope. We have to remember that only a few years before this revolution, atomic weapons were used on Japanese civilians, twice, 'after' The War was effectively already over - the majority of Americans at that time had absolutely no problem with that.

The women's movements, the Suffragettes of the late 1800s early 1900s, and the Women's Liberation movement of the 60s & 70s (ongoing in many respects), pushed an end to the inequities between the sexes. Sadly we see this imbalance is alive and well in many parts oft he world, where religion dominates politics, namely the middle-east.

The end of slavery was the result of bloody conflicts, between England and Spain as well as the Civil War in the United States. Racial equality was a longer process, culminating in the Civil Liberties movement of the 1960s, which coincided with anti-colonial revolutions in Africa and in Asia.

Vietnam was one such revolution - people have been made very confused about the beginnings of the Vietnam war. The original purpose behind the movement by the Vietnamese people, was to push the French colonials out of their country and regain control of their land, so that the impoverished and indentured plantation workers could have life-sustaining land of their own.

Ho Chi Minh, as seen above, attempted since 1919 to ask the Western Powers to help the Vietnamese people in their struggles against the French occupier. France had violently invaded and through many episodes of mass murder, took control of Vietnam in 1858. Later, as the revolution gained momentum, Ho Chi Minh penned a letter to President Kennedy, again asking for help .. trying to find common ground with the US, as a fellow nation who had thrown off their colonial oppressors.

Vietnam War

Between the carpet bombing along the Cambodian border (which created Pol Pot's extremism in that country), the use of napalm against civilians, the torture, the summary executions, the many massacres that have come to light since the end of that war (My Lai was not the only one of course) .. we saw an attempt at diplomatic resolution, and the violent as well as non-violent resistance, by the Vietnamese as well as disgusted citizens in the United States and around the world, we hoped we would have seen the last of the "old world" wars. Old-world war, meaning that it was driven by racist ignorance and that the population of the target nation was fair game. It was not until near the end of that war that people were demanding justifications for civilian deaths, and now this is a widely held concern and something that politicians and military leaders must be very mindful of. NOT NEARLY ENOUGH of course, but progress has most definitely been made.

Apartheid

The vast majority of South Africans had suffered racist treatment, a lack of rights, and horrible abuse since the arrival of their foreign masters. The apartheid system came into being in 1948, it was basically an amplification and formalization of previously existing racist government policies. It was not until the anti-colonial, sexual and racial equality movements that gained real momentum in the 1960s, did the world begin to turn its condemnation toward South Africa, but what had really spurred this was the Sharpeville Massacre March 21, 1960, when approx 6000 people gathered to protest the policies, and 69 of them were shot and killed.

Despite the violent resistance on the part of the ANC's military wing (African National Congress), which existed since 1923, it is interesting to note that what finally brought it to an end, was not the world-wide phenomena of anti-apartheid concerts, or UN sanctions, being "officially condemned" by the leaders of other nations ..

.. it was the boycotts, both world-wide and domestically, that finally pushed the white elites to "allow change"!

When Their Bottom-Line is Negatively Affected ..

Beyond the world-wide boycott of South African goods, more importantly and more impact-ful was the domestic South African boycott movement, where blacks chose not to buy from shops owned by whites. Instead of being refused entry, they refused to enter! How beautiful a thing is that!?

Waiting for change to 'naturally occur', seeing it as inevitable with the growth of awareness .. it might not be wrong, but we have never seen that in history - it has always occurred when people chose to act, or to act by very consciously refusing to participate.

So, if you do not want to blow something up you can always make yourself be counted, by being uncountable. But a peaceful occupation of Wall Street for a relatively brief time .. sadly, this won't do shit. It might make the few remaining blissfully ignorant raise their head and wonder .. is something wrong, I didn't know anything was wrong!? But we all know that everyone knows, the question is .. what are you going to DO, or alternatively, what are you going to REFUSE to do?