Day of Prayer

Today is the Day of Prayer for Colombia , organized by Witness for Peace, so my wife and I are going in to Missoula to stand in solidarity with my Colombian brothers and sisters who have endured so much suffering, to pray with a local congregation for an end to the violence and to visit with my great friends Che Bob and the soon-to-be-Mrs.Che Bob. As for prayer, I'm not a believer. If there were a Merciful and Omnipotent God, things on earth would would be very different from their current state. ( I will often curse a Higher Power when I smash my thumb with a hammer and occasionally thank one when something goes right but my hearts not really in it) This will be an organizing trip, an opportunity to reach people in their own environment , however foreign it might be to me.Tommorro is the concurrent Day of Action, and here is where I put my "faith". We are asking folks to take collective action to try to change the destructive US policy in that region.



Which brings me to renegade eye's comment to my last post, that we need "mass action under correct demands". I have been reading comments to posts over at Common Dreams .Org, where the mostly "liberal" or "progressive" readers are struggling to explain and find solutions to the current rise of totalitarianism. Most are still locked in the liberal mindset of supporting this or that candidate, signing this or that petition, etc.. but many are finally breaking through to see the truth in renegades proposal. A general strike needs to be re-invented for late capitalism and implemented, with "correct demands". Meanwhile there is lots else we can be doing, legal and less legal.



Last night we watched Lennon Vs The US which provided much flashback material for an old hippie/leftist like me. Seeing the old criminals, Johnson, Nixon, Kissinger, G.Gordon Libby, reinforced the knowledge that only radical change can save us if we ever want to get off the merry-go-round of capitalist violence, oppression and suffering. John Lennon sensed it but was unable to articulate it fully and in my opinion, remained ideologically unformed. Of course ,Power to the People and War is Over showed more sophistication than Give Peace A Chance. M.L.King realized it at the end and so was killed, Angela Davis and Bobby Seale were nuetralized in more subtle ways, as were the yippies and students (I guess Kent State was not so subtle) and blacks in general. (And as was I, truth be told)