By Mark L. Taylor
The Daily Call (11/15/11)
Yes, it was disheartening to see the NYPD flying monkeys sweep in to destroy the encampment at Zuccotti Park Monday night. But it’s not surprising; oligarchs only know how to tear down – they don’t know how to build up.
It’s what they did in 1932 to the World War I Washington D.C. Bonus Marchers. That camp, too, was tolerated for about two months before Army troops under the command of Gen Douglas Macarthur and his aide, Dwight David Eisenhower, roared through the camp with tanks, horses, batons and bayonets, setting fire to the humble little shelters the unemployed vets and their families had tacked together on the Anacostia Plain. Two vets were murdered by federal troops for exercising the First Amendment rights vets had been told they were fighting for in WWI.
The Army won the battle that day. Brutally. Decisively. And they lost the war.
The same thing will happen now.
In his powerful little book, “From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation” author Gene Sharp notes some promising statistics. Here are a few to consider:
- Dictatorships and anti-democratic oligarchic regimes, like the one that has overthrown America’s democracy, have 17 fundamental fatal flaws. Each of those flaws offers multiple points of vulnerability.
- Sharp notes: “About two hundred specific methods of nonviolent action have been identified, and there are certainly scores more.”
- There are 3 broad categories of non-violent action: protest and persuasion; noncooperation and intervention.
- There are 54 methods of protest and persuasion
- There are 103 methods of noncooperation.
- There are 41 methods of nonviolent intervention.
- Altogether Sharp identifies a total of 198 tried and tested successful forms of non-violent methods that have been used around the world to topple tyrannies of the sociopathic wealthy. Occupation of public space, like the beautiful camp at Zuccotti Park was but one.
We have only begun the protests. Think of all the amazing ways we have to act. I know, I know, it can feel overwhelming; hopeless, even. But there is a West African proverb to take to heart at such times:
“If you think you are too small to make an impact, try
sleeping in a room with a few mosquitoes.”
Remember, for every one of them, there are 99 of us and each of us have at least 198 different ways to bite.
- You can order Sharp’s book or get a free pdf download at: http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations98ce.html
