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• Friday, December 5, 2008 02:11 AM

  re: What would nonviolent revolution in America look like?

  You say you want a revolution
  Well, you know
  We all want to change the world
  You tell me that it's evolution
  Well, you know
  We all want to change the world
  But when you talk about destruction
  Don't you know that you can count me out
  Don't you know it's gonna be all right
  all right, all right

  The law man wrote:

  Heru, I posed the question to Adnoto, but I'll engage your answer ([Adnoto], you're not off the hook).

  Massive, widespread, non-violent civil disobedience.

  Or, just no one goes to work or pays any bills for one month. That would be total havoc.

  Or, everyone goes to work but pays no bills for 3 months. Buy gas and food in cash and spend nothing else.

  I was asking for specifics. Anyone can describe general conditions, which would be the putative outcome of the necessary specifics. How, specifically would that occur, what would be the catalyst, and how - again, specifically - could you get the critical mass of such people to agree on the official purpose and demands behind the action?

  -- DCLaw1

  I was describing specific tactics. They were off the top of the head, but I think all would work. I'll throw in one more. One million people in the street in DC keeping government drones from going to and fro. Throw in NYC also. Perhaps all the major cities with huge crowds just standing and singing songs.

  I think you want to know how such a thing (or some other mass action) might happen in the first place; that is, how it gets started. No?

  The sort answer is to take a look at chaos theory for your answer. The system must reach a state of being fairly unstable --- weak, even if it does not look like it from the outside. Like Russia when the monarchy fell, or the USSR when the commies fell, or even France when its monarchy fell.

  Given a state of high dissatisfaction then there is room for a leader (or a group) to appear and work a plan. It could be a plan that is non-violent (relatively speaking of course), or it might be "blood and guns".

  It is also possible that the masses rise up with only one idea --- destroy the present order and they have no real idea what will come after. This can happen when the rulers follow the "beat them until they are happy" method of crowd control. :-)

  If we want to get even more specific and look at 2008 America, then we need ask, "what is the biggest fault that our present government does that the people might come to resent"? It is spending all the resources on making continual war on the entire world. Even if you wanted to be "top dog", the cost is ruining the country.

  The very poor (I am one, or at least getting there), see only getting reamed by the government. Trillions for merchants of war, bankers, and the like; but nothing for the working poor, the hungry, the homeless, the downtrodden. We have very little to lose. In many cases, we have nothing to lose.

  And we have allies. The continual war making has lead to deduced freedom and civil rights at home. The attitude also leads to draconian laws like "3 strikes" or the odious and unconstitutional drug laws. The people effected by these things may not be poor, but they are perhaps becoming less happy by the day.

  The hatred of the present conditions is there. The butterfly might flap its wings on the other side of the world and cause a hurricane of demonstrations here. Then someone (perhaps adnoto) will get out front after he sees where the mob is headed --- and then he will lead. Later, historians will claim that the "leader" started it all.

  I hope that you find the above more specific. I don't really know if I could do any better given the short amount of time that I have to work on this and the short amount of space we have here.

  —heru-ur Read heru-ur's other letters
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