Apr 292010
 

Civil rights are synonymous with democracy.  Every civil rights movement has made an important contribution to democracy for all of us.  When the civil rights of one group fails, democracy fails for all of us.

Understand:  it is NOT armies and war that win democracy.  That is a myth. 

Democracy is won by citizens fighting for what is right and just.  There is an ebb and flow through thousands of years of human history.

CONTENTS

(1)  THE MOVIE, SOUNDTRACK FOR A REVOLUTION

(2)  IS IT WAR AND ARMIES THAT WIN CIVIL RIGHTS (DEMOCRACY)?  THE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT & NON-VIOLENT RESISTANCE

(3)  THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION, “WHAT CAN WE DO”?

(4)  CBC THE CURRENT, EXCELLENT INTERVIEW, ETHAN MCCORD,  WIKILEAKS VIDEO OF ATTACK ON IRAQIS BY U.S. APACHE HELICOPTERS

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(1)  THE MOVIE, SOUNDTRACK FOR A REVOLUTION

You may want to rent the movie  Soundtrack for a Revolution.

It  tells the story of the American civil rights movement through its powerful music – the freedom songs protestors sang on picket lines, in mass meetings, in paddy wagons, and in jail cells as they fought for justice and equality.

More information:  http://www.soundtrackforarevolutionfilm.com/Home.html

 

SOLIDARITY

My most recent act of obedience to a moral authority: because I have responsibility and power as a citizen, in relation to Steven Harper’s  $16 billion dollars for Lockheed Martin fighter jets,  I submitted the  military portion of my income tax to Conscience Canada    instead of to Revenue Canada.

My action is one of solidarity with the young punks and rappers you will get to know in “Sounds Like a Revolution”.   I am so impressed by what the young people of today are doing to help turn us away from the destructive nature of American culture (not referring to the Lulu Lemoners and the young ones who are programmed by our culture to “lay waste their powers”.).   

 

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(2)  IS IT WAR AND ARMIES THAT WIN CIVIL RIGHTS (DEMOCRACY)?  THE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT & NON-VIOLENT RESISTANCE

The movie, Soundtrack for a Revolution, is a moving and inspiring experience, more than a refresher course on what happened in the U.S. in the 1960’s.   It is also a lesson that needs to be passed generation-to-generation:  the battles for civil rights are fought and won by ordinary people.

The brutality to the victims of human rights’ abuse are heart-wrenching.  The brutality often escalates when ordinary people work to assert their human rights.

The police and military typically, but not always, defend the status quo, remember the Kent State (Ohio university) massacres in the same period (1970.)

The American Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s-70’s is an amazing story of the effectiveness of non-violent resistance, in this case under the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr (assassinated in 1968).  Concurrently, Nelson Mandela was a leader of the same struggle for human rights in South Africa.

More than two hundred thousand people joined  the civil rights march on Washington (Aug 28, 1963)

Old-timers in our network may remember notices we circulated of other excellent movies that document the struggles:

–          “Iron Jawed Angels” with Hilary Swank, the right to vote in the U.S. for women

–          “Nellie McClung”, the right to vote in Canada for women

–          “Gandhi

–         “Battle in Seattle

There are, of course, many movies and many stories of the steps taken by people to secure human rights.

A common denominator of the larger struggles is that people are fully prepared to die, and have died,  in order to achieve human rights.

Those human rights are a legacy handed down to us.

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(3)  THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION, “WHAT CAN WE DO”?

Ed’s words summarize the situation:

Sandra; I too am pissed off. What if anything can a person do. We, my wife and I, talk with our MLA, Kevin Yates, but we don’t get a feeling that he really understands the gravity of what is taking place. What, if anything is our government opposition doing? What can we do?

We take things for granted.  We are not taught that ordinary people died in the past, in order to secure the human rights we enjoy today.   We are taught that sending “the boys” to war did the deed.

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(4)  CBC THE CURRENT, EXCELLENT INTERVIEW, ETHAN MCCORD,  WIKILEAKS VIDEO OF ATTACK ON IRAQIS BY U.S. APACHE HELICOPTERS

Testament to:  the battles for civil rights are fought and won by ordinary people.     Like Ethan McCord speaking out.