Solidarity and heroes

Share thoughts and ideas regarding what can be done to meet contemporary humanity's need for rites of initiation and passage.

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ALOberhoulser
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Solidarity and heroes

Post by ALOberhoulser »

This is going on all over the world - people organizing in solidarity and somebody comes out of the masses to become a champion of the cause. Here's a hero I read about today:
At one point, he rolled up his sleeve to reveal a scrawny bicep. Some of his fellow activists, he told me, wanted to get tattoos of one of the most enduring images from the protests, a solidarity fist in the shape of Wisconsin. "Except on mine," he told us, "I want the Polish version: Solidarnosc."

That, of course, was the labor movement that, after a decade-long struggle, helped bring down the Soviet Union. Who knows what could happen here if Bird and his compatriots, awakened by the spark that was Madison, were to keep at it for 10 years or more? Who knows if Wisconsin wasn’t the beginning of the end, but the beginning of something new?
The Radicalization of Tom Bird
On Thursday, February 17th I entered the Capitol building for the first time during these protests. I
write this early in the morning on March 1st. 12 days have passed since this began for me but I cannot
even comprehend those 12 days through my usual perception of time. It feels like a month. My life
has been irreparably changed in ways that I am only starting to come to terms with. I began by simply
trying to write a brief timeline of what happened on each day... and there are entire days that I cannot
place any specific events into. As I write this I am gripped with a sense of purpose that I have never
felt before in my life. All I can do now is try to describe what I have experienced in the hope that I do
not forget more.
A statement from Thomas M Bird
University of Wisconsin-Madison Alum and Graduate Student
Comments?

ALOberhoulser
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Post by ALOberhoulser »

It might be hard to find a hero in the media with things like this going on:
The activist group Wisconsin Wave organized a protest of the governor's plan to eliminate mandatory recycling across the state, by suggesting that people drop off their recyclables at the governor's mansion.

Here is the lurid headline the WTMJ News Team in Milwaukee gave the story: "Capitol Chaos: Protesters to Dump Garbage on Walker's Lawn".

Here is what actually happened: protesters were encouraged to drop off their recyclables at 7 am--just in time for regular garbage pick-up on Monday morning. A couple of my neighbors got involved and spread the word on an email list-serve, only to back down when confronted by the village police chief, who didn't like the idea of making a mess or creating extra work for our own garbage crew.

In the end there was no mess--"I would have seen it if there were," a Maple Bluff public works officer told me. Protest organizer brought a few neatly bagged recyclables, and they were hauled away.

Welcome to Wisconsin.

Friendly Neighborhood Protesters vs. the Forces of Greed and Destruction
Is there an *ism for this kind of media?

ALOberhoulser
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Post by ALOberhoulser »

Always count on google to add a counterpoint:
(September 07, 2009) in Politics

The UN has declared Fidel Castro, the longtime Communist dictator of Cuba, the “World Hero of Solidarity.” Castro killed thousands and thousands of people during his rule, torturing some to death (including a few American citizens), and Cuba remains an oppressive dictatorship even today.

Opposing Views
Well, it's better than a sharp stick in the eye. :shock:

The sad thing is, in most of the articles I can find about this, no one mentions how Castro got the "award", what it was, or even if he accepted it. All the articles I can find go on about how the Obama administration is full of communist sympathizers.

I picked a terrible title for this thread :cry:

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Post by Clemsy »

Al that just got my attention. I googled the story and could only come up with right wing blather. I went to the U.N. website and did a search. THIS is the only thing that popped up. It's a transcript of a daily press briefing.

The only mention is this, and it's at the very end of the transcript:
Question: [inaudible]…there were some reports on Mr. d’Escoto’s last trip that he named Fidel Castro a world hero of solidarity, and Evo Morales a world hero of Mother Earth. Was this a UN award? Was it a Father d’Escoto award? What was it?

Spokesperson: It was his own initiative as the President of the General Assembly. And with that, thank you very much. It’s been a pleasure to have and to share this full year with all of you. Thank you.
That makes it sound like it was Mr. d’Escoto’s doing. Earlier, it says:
Well, Mr. d’Escoto is going to be here for a few days and he’s returning to Nicaragua where, as you know, he’s holding a ministerial rank, post in the Cabinet.
Now that makes it an interesting context which the anti-UN right put blew completely out of proportion and bounced around the echo chamber.
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

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Post by ALOberhoulser »

This is the only other article I could find:
Besides Morales, the former Cuban head of state Fidel Castro has been named “World Hero of Solidarity” and the late ex-president of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere, will be honored as “World Hero of Social Justice.”

“What we want to do is present these three people to the world and say that they embody virtues and values worth emulation by all of us,” said D’Escoto, who like the socialist Morales is a staunch critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America.

D’Escoto was elected president of the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly on June 4, 2008, and was Nigaraguan foreign minister during the first Sandinista government from 1979 to 1990.

Morales Named “World Hero of Mother Earth” by UN General Assembly


d'Escoto is quite a figure in recent UN events - and a critic of US foreign policy. The wiki article about him says:
Libyan Foreign Minister Mussa Kussa wrote to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, nominating d’Escoto Brockmann as Libya’s new ambassador to the UN. he letter stated that Brockmann was nominated, as Ali Abdussalam Treki, also a former General Assembly president who was their first choice, was denied a visa to enter the United States under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973.[13] Complications have risen with his representation, as U.S. ambassador Susan Rice has claimed he does not have the proper diplomatic visa to represent Libya. Also, former prime minister Mussa Kussa's recommendation may be void, because of his resignation on March 30.
WoW - tricky stuff going on there with Susan Rice blocking a Libyan voice in the UN security council, while cheering on a US attack on Libya. Doesn't that represent a conflict?

I can't quite wrap my mind around that...

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Post by ALOberhoulser »

Vale Vittorio Arrigoni, 'hero of Palestine'
Pennie Quinton
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 16 April 2011 12.00 BST
...
I first met and interviewed Arrigoni while he was preparing for this action. He described to me how, after some years of suffering depression, he undertook volunteer work in Africa and Eastern Europe. He soon found himself in Palestine as part of ISM and felt that he had to do all he could to help bring about equality and human rights for Palestinians living under occupation and to raise awareness outside Palestine of the difficulties and injustices of their lives.
...
I can't even imagine...

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Post by ALOberhoulser »

Add Javier Sicilian, in Mexico, to the list. I haven't figured out how to copy links on the iPhone yet, but an interesting story on NPR today.

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Post by ALOberhoulser »


ALOberhoulser
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Post by ALOberhoulser »

Dr. Gene Sharp - This guy's going down in the history books as one of the leaders of non-violent protest methods. Amazing!!

Youtube channel

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Post by CarmelaBear »

Hi AL,

Thanks for this. I'm just now getting into it....have to catch my breath....

Carmela
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

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Post by ALOberhoulser »

It seems like the "hero" as an adjective is quite the headline highlight...

Carmela, I haven't been by the forums for some time, but I'll try to get a email when responses are posted in here - it's a valid topic in these times of public outcry all around the world.

8)
Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.
~Max Planck

ALOberhoulser
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Post by ALOberhoulser »

Have a look at this interview -
Hard Travelin' With Henry Rollins: An Exclusive Interview
Monday, 27 August 2012 09:32
By Jason Leopold, Truthout | Interview


I was wondering what Rollins had been up to - now I know...I'm looking forward to seeing his book! :!:

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Post by Andreas »

Interesting, thanks.
“To live is enough.” ― Shunryu Suzuki

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Post by CarmelaBear »

ALOberhoulser wrote:Always count on google to add a counterpoint:
(September 07, 2009) in Politics

The UN has declared Fidel Castro, the longtime Communist dictator of Cuba, the “World Hero of Solidarity.” Castro killed thousands and thousands of people during his rule, torturing some to death (including a few American citizens), and Cuba remains an oppressive dictatorship even today.
Many Anglo U.S. presidents "killed thousands and thousands of people during their rule". Why would we hold the Hispanic leader of Cuba to a different standard? Demonizing Castro and Chavez is not necessary. It is immature and based on tribal chauvenism.

It is the United States that oppresses the Cuban and other third world people with economic sanctions and policies of corporate rape of Latin lands and resources. The sanctions are as cruel as so many other greedy, corrupt U.S. practices throughout the world.....always in the name of freedom and democracy, of course. Such hypocrisy.

:twisted:
~
Last edited by CarmelaBear on Wed Aug 29, 2012 2:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

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Post by Andreas »

CB maybe you can expand a bit on Castro. As far as I know, Castro abused Che for his own interests, that is unforgivable, imo but tbh Che shouldn't be so naive.
“To live is enough.” ― Shunryu Suzuki

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