An act of love

[uth1984]

"Every revolutionry act is an act love. Is so, this is an act of love." (MOS DEF)
We need, we are thirsty, hungry for revolution. How can this be brought about?
My two cents is that we need a world-wide coalition of leftist groups, one orginisation in which all socialists/ communists/liberals are united against this old, cruel system of capital.

"we are the future. Because the future is not hating the oppressor but loving the oppressed."

[vox]

I'm not thirsty or hungry for revolution. For justice? Yes. For revolution? No.

I do not believe that, in most instances, emulating the oppressor is the correct course of action. It's currently fashionable on this board to call for violence. Rather than do the hard work needed to gain support, these folks want to enforce their will upon the masses just as surely as any Stalinist. They are lazy and arrogant, hoping for a simple solution to a difficult problem, a solution that would, of course, leave them in charge.

I'm all for love. Feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, tending to the ill, all of these are important things, especially if you're on the receiving end. My guess is that a tiny group like Food Not Bombs does more good in one day than all of the folks on this board urging violence have done in their combined lives.

Because, while you may be hungry for revolution, and I may be hungry for justice, there are some, not far from here, who are just hungry.

vox

[Menshevik]

Just read me sig. Vox, how is revolution emulating the oppressor?

[I Will Deny You]

I'm not sure exactly where vox was coming from, but the type of revolution that the members who are gung-ho for violence are calling for does not involve the masses, it involves a few kids shooting at the US Army. The improbability of this (which I have written about numerous times before) aside, the fact is that most of the people on this board do live in democracies. Perfect democracies? Of course not! But nearly every member who is over 18 is eligible to vote somewhere, and even the people who are under 18 are old enough to have an impact. In Cuba, there was a dictator and there was no hope for the masses . . . in certain situations, violence is definitely called for. However, the American people (I'm singling them out because I live in America, along with many of the AK-47 board members, and the wonderful Mos Def) have a history of overcoming the government's injustices. Take a look at the women's rights movement and the civil rights movement for example . . . they both still have a long way to go, but they've come very far and the women's rights movement in particular has very little violence in its history. They could have never happened in Batista's Cuba, but they can make progress in Bush's America if certain people stop complaining about "champagne revolutionaries" and sign a petition or two. Another thing that has to be looked at when guerrilla revolution is considered is that, unlike the civil rights movement and the women's rights movement, it's very hard to overthrow a president with astronomical approval ratings and then convince people that his ways were wrong and a radical's ways are right. What has to be done where the people have voting rights is peaceful education and integration. Were these movements "revolutions" in their own right? The case can be made either way. But applying the methods used almost half a century ago in a radically different environment to today's conditions without thinking about the lessons that should have been learned decades ago is not the best way to proceed. vox was correct in that revolution does not equal justice. And I'd rather be patient if my patience, hard work and love will bring about lasting and meaningful change than be violent, even if my immediate violent action could bring temporary hope.

[DaNatural]

Lindsay im with you when u talk about educating the people but that doesn't appear to be working. You talk about the civil rights movement but look at all the shit they went through. THe CIA and FBI systematically destroyed the black panther party. They framed Geronimo Pratt and Matulu Shakur. THey assassinated Fred Hampton. THey have fire bombed a neighbourhood where MOVE members operated out of killing over 20 people and destroying numerous homes. MOVE is the organization that Mumia abu Jamal is in. ANyway im sure u get my point, our protests and peaceful actions, once they get strong enough, are usually destroyed by the government. I'm at a loss right now to give a good statement on how change can come about. At moment i think its impossible. Violence in america obviously wont work. My handgun or rifle or hell even a rocket launcher wont do shit against a 300 billion dollar military budget. The only thing i can envision is other countries slowly building towards the center or left of politics and introduce good social reforms. Then others will follow suit. who knows where america will stand.