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The title of this blog came from a collaborative video and sound art piece created in 2009 by the artists Doug Henderson and David Brody, of Berlin and Brooklyn respectively.   I liked it instantly upon seeing and hearing it.  The call to disobedience came to mind recently when I was asked to define a phrase I sometimes use, ‘political disobedience,’ in conjunction with my Green-Rainbow Party activism.  A Facebook friend asked for a definition of ‘political disobedience’ when I used it to invite people to meetings of the party’s local chapter.  It  was also on my mind when the Green-Rainbow Party sponsored a recent screening of Howard Zinn’s “The People Speak,” which is a documentary about the strong positive impacts that people’s movements have made through use of direct action and civil disobedience throughout history.

Political Disobedience, like Civil Disobedience, is organized direct action that people take to confront power that does not serve people’s interests.  I first heard the phrase ‘political disobedience’ from fellow Green-Rainbow Party member, John Andrews.  I liked it instantly upon hearing it as I did with the title of the art piece mentioned in the previous paragraph; I think the time for it is now.

Continue reading Disobey This Command

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From the Green-Rainbow Party:

We all know that our legislature has a record of ignoring badly-needed reforms year after year.  Ultimately, we’ll change this by electing Green-Rainbow candidates who are not beholden to corporate special interests. But in the short term, we will work to promote worthy bills, since, occasionally, enough pressure can be mounted to pass real public interest bills (like last year’s CORI reform).

With that in mind,we’re passing along a call to action on behalf of Ranked Choice (aka Instant Runoff) Voting, an urgently needed voting reform that lets you rank your choices and vote your values without fear of  “throwing your vote away” or “spoiling” the election.  We encourage you to contact your state representative right away.  

Here’s the memo from Citizens for Voter Choice:

“In a partnership between Representative Alice Wolf, MassVOTE, and the Citizens for Voter Choice, we’ve filed a practical bill that will put Ranked Choice Voting on the map in Massachusetts by allowing cities and towns to voluntarily opt in to a Ranked Choice Voting system.

CALL YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE’S OFFICE NOW.  ASK THEM TO CO-SPONSOR HD.02026

Look up your State Representative here (click on the photo to get the phone number).

Here’s what you can say:


“Hi, my name is __________, I’m a citizen who lives in your district, at _[address]_.  I’m calling to urge the representative to co-sponsor HD.02026, the Instant Runoff Voting Local Option Bill.

I believe this practical bill will improve democracy by allowing cities and towns to opt into a voting system that is a great improvement over our current system.

Instant Runoff Voting (Ranked Choice Voting) will allow me to truly vote my values by ranking the candidates in my order of preference, and it will provide true majority winners and more competitive elections by solving the problems of vote splitting and spoiler candidates.

Will you co-sponsor HD.02026?  Thank you for considering.”

We have 2 more days to get co-sponsors for the Local Option Bill. Deadline: FEBRUARY 4.

We did it in Maine, and now is our chance to do it in Massachusetts. But we can’t do it without your help.  If you want to empower voters, reduce the power of incumbents, and eliminate vote splitting for good in Massachusetts, then call your state representative now.  Urge him or her to sign on as a co-sponsorr to HD.02026 – The Instant Runoff Voting Local Option Bill.

In case you’re curious, here is the working draft of the bill text.

 

[End Voter Choice memo]

Thanks much for your support for this critical legislation!

Continue reading Green-Rainbow Party Action Alert: Support Instant Run-off Voting!

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What connects Holyoke, Massachusetts, with floods in Australia, and explosions in La Preciosa, Colombia? The answer is coal.

As the January flood waters subsided in Australia the governor of the state of Victoria, medical researcher Professor David de Kretser, pointed the finger directly at climate change. Referring to the spate of record-breaking climate events de Kretser commented “everyone says this week [is a] one in 100, one in 200 years [event] but they are happening pretty much more frequently now.”

Continue reading Colombia, Australia, and Massachusetts
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Mike Heichman, GRP State Comm. member and member of the Greater Boston Chapter

“We are at war.”

-Chuck Turner

The other day I finished reading a book that I want to recommend. The thesis of James Douglass’s book, “JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters” is that after the Cuban Missile Crisis in November, 1962, President Kennedy moved to improve relations with the Soviet Union, was opening up a dialogue with Cuba and decided to withdraw US troops from Vietnam. These policy moves were bitterly resisted by the “National Security State”, and as a result, the CIA, military, FBI and Secret Service conspired to assassinate the President and then cover-up the truth and their crime.

This book is the first volume of a projected trilogy.  Orbis Books has commissioned James W. Douglass to write three books on the assassinations of the 1960’s.  The second will be on the murders of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, while the third will be on the assassination of Robert Kennedy. I believe that the upcoming books will come to similar conclusions about who deserves responsibility for their assassinations.

I was reading the book in the courtroom on January 25, the day of Chuck’s sentencing. Others who were present have commented that on their arrival there were US Marshals outside of the courthouse armed with machine guns. Some have speculated that this was a message that was deliberately connected to Chuck’s trial, while others have cautioned against jumping to conclusions, and that there may have been another reason for the “military” presence.

Continue reading Reflections on the Case of the US Government v. Chuck Turner

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Recipients say last year’s 35% rise in MA lobbyist donations not influential. Just like $58 million in state tax $ to EverGreen Solar (now EverGone to China) for promises instead of panels & $70 million/yr to Fidelity investments and other MA wall street investment firms for nothing at all! ow.ly/3MsVB

Continue reading New MA economic stimulus plan: 35% rise in direct donations from lobbyists
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Most of the coal we burn in Massachusetts – including the coal burned at the Mount Tom power station in Holyoke – comes from Colombia. So we have a very real connection to the miners at La Preciosa coal mine in Sardinata, Colombia, where an explosion has claimed twenty-one lives.

I am trying to identify workers’ organizations that we in Massachusetts can work with to support the injured miners and bereaved families. So far I’ve contacted the United Mineworkers of America, Justice for Colombia, and the Colombian branch of the International Labor Organization. As soon as I have any news I’ll post it.

In the meantime, if you know of any other organizations likely to have on-the-ground links to the community near La Preciosa, please tell me (peter@petervickery.com) and I’ll help spread the word.

The struggle of the coal-miners of Colombia is intimately bound up with our campaign for climate justice. Let’s show some real solidarity.

Continue reading Colombian Coal Mine Explosion

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Since it seems that we can’t expect too much out of the international or national policymakers for the next couple of years, I’ve been thinking that the next logical step for 350.org and the climate movement is to do it ourselves.  That could take the form of an ongoing global brainstorm on local, practical solutions where people who are working on projects can report their successes and failures, trade ideas on what works and what doesn’t, and help us all climb the learning curve faster as well as replicate successes quickly and modify them appropriately for different local conditions.

There are a number of people already thinking and working along these lines (appropedia, globalswadeshi, the coalition of the willing, global system for sustainable development…*) but they are dispersed, not networked, and there is no central nexus you can point people to.  This is something that needs to be done in order to make do it yourself climate change happen.  If done right, it would eliminate a lot of unnecessary duplication around the world and could build a community of practitioners that could be brought to bear on specific areas and problems like an Emergency Rescue Squad or ecological SWAT team.

Continue reading DIY Climate Change: Ongoing Global Brainstorm
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That afternoon seeing

the small child play in the snow

watched over by his father,

I remembered I’d never seen a snowman

here.

In the fading winter light,

I went out to the same little plaza

and with a gloved hand

lifted three small lumps of snow,

delicately, each in one piece,

and placed them

one on top of the other

to make a tiny snowman,

something like a Jizo,

the roadside statues seen

in Japan to remember the souls

of dead children and the aborted.

Yuki no Jizo

Jizo of snow

It was Martin Luther King Day

in Martin Luther King Plaza

right beside the library.

January 19, 2010

revised December 25, 2010

Continue reading Yuki Jizo: For Martin Luther King Junior Day
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