September 1, 2013

Dear comrades, friends and allies:

In case we all forgot, wars, domestic and abroad, will continue until we dismantle and destroy the systems of Power that thrive on and exploit them. Power is corrupt. Policy change & adjustments will always be a disappointing dead end. Wars won’t stop until we stop them. But we must do more than just dismantle and rebel. Refusal is only the first step. We must create viable alternatives. If we want people to leave the capitalist system we must create something better. We need a new body politic that is holistic and encompassing of culture, social, family, philosophy, reason, geography, emotion and many other things. One that asks questions—hard challenging questions–of the systems around us and how we engage in them. One that is flexible, dynamic and more than just political frameworks as we know them. A politics that has relevance to all of us not just a small subculture. Lets move together beyond the politics of opposition that tries to rectify the past. Let’s move to a politics of possibilities; that creates different futures.

We don’t know the future and we cannot control it, but we can rebuild ourselves and our worlds. We must act as we never have before to challenge ourselves with our emergency hearts to engage in new strategies. The politics of possibilities are much harder than opposition because it challenges us to forge new paths or revisit long forgotten ones. It will not be easy. It will not always be fun, but it will be done together. Our voices. Our lives. The politics of possibilities dares us to take new risks if we want alternatives to genocidal wars. Let’s throw down the ways that have failed us.

I often hear that people are asleep, or sheep or drones.  That falsity needs to be forgotten. No one is asleep. People ARE awake and waiting for something else. Voters, consumers, oppositional protests? A great leader? They have all had their places and times. Those have also been the choices of Power to pen us in, to reinforce their domination by stifling, coopting or crushing the growth of liberatory alternatives. There is more. We must ask ourselves what they are and be those solid alternatives beyond stale opposition. To show is better than to preach. We all need alternatives that mean something to them to grasp hold of.  All empires fall! Let’s relive and rethink change within ourselves and around us. Then we will be able to end large scale wars on innocent populations.

This is not rhetoric from an empty vessel on the eve of war, but a questioning and clarion call from a heart for those who want to make the changes from within and without. Its all of us.

No más guerra. Sí a la vida.