MEDIA ROOTS- The revolution starts in your own backyard.

Cindy Sheehan, along with over 160 other leading peace advocates held a conference call on February 6th, 2011 to strategize for a new collaborative effort of localization called “Re-creating Revolutionary Communities”, or RevComs.

The plan is to put words into action. Cindy’s book, Myth America: the Twenty Greatest Myths of the Robber Class, breaks apart the societal and cultural myths that keep the oppressed dependent on their oppressors, and lays out the case for communities to revolutionize their environment, economy and society.

RevComs intends to overwhelm and permanently overcome the corporate controlled political and economic system that perpetuates exploitation and destruction by providing resources and guidance to local communities as they connect and build outside the grid. It is a truly grassroots effort that requires people to get active and to work collectively and creatively with their neighbors.

In the conference call, Cindy described the vision of how citizens can re-claim the resources in their environment and communities:

“We can do this by appropriating for ourselves what should already be under our control: community banking, community farming, supporting farmer’s markets, electing progressive revolutionaries to local school boards and city councils, having a barter/trade economy and creating cooperatives for every system we can…”

Cindy also emphasizes the necessity for people to look outside of the “use and throw away” paradigm of the current consumerist, capitalist institutions. Citizens who want to create a self-functioning community need to re-evaluate the way they consume and must focus on waste reduction: re-using what we already have and recycling that which we already use.

RevComs aims to be the umbrella organization that helps to guide and connect community initiatives happening across the nation and eventually the world. There are already hundreds of projects happening all over the country– the first step is to discover what they are, followed by getting involved and helping to strengthen them. If your community lacks this foundation, Cindy stresses the need to get creative with entrepreneurial endeavors and new collaborative projects in the community.

Re-creating Revolutionary Communities believe that the answer to globalization is localization. People need to see the fruits of their labor and the benefits of community involvement. Waiting for federal change every four years keeps people disempowered and disillusioned with actions that struggle to affect visible change. Undoubtedly, there will be people who dismiss the potential of RevComs to help emancipate citizens from the ties of multi-national corporations or corrupted policies, and still others who disregard the movement as ‘doomed to fail’. Cindy responds to the naysayers:

“With this we cannot fail, because we will be touching people’s lives in a positive way… when Yoko [Ono] was on my show she said we have to drop the pebble in the pond and the ripples will go to infinity… Everybody that went before us that tried to make positive change did make positive change. They did not fail. I shudder to think where our society would be today if we didn’t have people like Martin Luther King Jr… I know that many of those people… were thinking the same way that we thought. They were thinking that they failed, they were thinking that they didn’t change society. But they changed it in a very profound way. The only way we are guaranteed failure is if we don’t do anything. That is the beautiful, wonderful miraculous thing about this project: that we will have a 100% success rate.”

RevComs will begin putting this plan into action during the first round of community gatherings slated for the first week in March 2011. The meetings are going to start locally, with anticipation of then going regional, and eventually national.

The seeds of revolution are already being sewn, now it’s up to you to join in.

To learn information, gather resources or to get involved with Re-creating Revolutionary Communities, please visit their website at http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/2011/01/re-creating-revolutionary-communities.html or become a part of their facebook community here.

Writing and art by Abby Martin

Check out an exclusive Media Roots interview with Cindy Sheehan.

Resist, collage and acrylic, 2010

MEDIA ROOTS- I pull a lot of inspiration from Kurt Vonnegut. The sentence “Here it is: the end of the world” from Cat’s Cradle stuck out to me, and this image is what came out of it. It made me picture a beautiful resistance blooming out of a bleak, dystopian society that had been pushed to the moral and economic brink by a hypothetical doom.

Vonnegut had the ability to put so much thought and emotion into so little words. He always managed to pepper some dry wit throughout the characters’ inner dialogue too, even when portraying some wretched and hopeless war torn scene.

To me, resistance means freedom- the act of breaking away from the institution. It means emancipation from societal, cultural and poltical chains and limitations. To resist is to liberate your mind, and to embrace knowledge, truth, enlightenment.

When society pushes you to the brink- will you peacefully resist? Would you surrender yourself in the struggle to save humanity?

Abby

MEDIA ROOTS– “I think we all have a little voice inside us that will guide us…if we shut out all the noise and clutter from our lives and listen to that voice, it will tell us the right thing to do.” – Christopher Reeve

After several scores of human history, contrary to popular belief, the human race as a whole is still not free. Many of us claim that we are free, but we are rather enslaved by our perishable pleasures and appetites (perishable pleasures not to be confused with engaging in your passions). We carry on the charade of freedom while deep down we are still locked in prisons of fear and ignorance – gagged, shackled and blindfolded. Is there a way out, one asks? It feels like there isn’t, and many of us tend to believe that we were made to spend eternity being slaves at the behest of a mercenary.

I am aware that many of you reading this have been through tunnels of trials and tribulations. I understand that there are many of you that want positive, peaceful and lasting change in this world, but are constantly inflamed by thoughts and emotions that dictate that nothing will change in an environment that strips you of that opportunity. I believe many of you want to rise up and live your destiny – only to find discouragement weighing down on you like a ton of bricks.

One can only endure this type of perception for so many years before the time of questioning comes: questioning of the calamity, the malaise, the resentment, the bitter and bloody rivalries. Is this all there is? Let me ask once more: Is this all there is?

I recall a scene from the popular movie The Matrix where Morpheus is sitting down with Neo in a room draped in shadows and desolation. At one point, Morpheus offers Neo two different pills: a blue one and a red one. Should Neo take the blue one, he will return to his slumber and convince himself that his calling was but a mere dream. Should he take the red one, Morpheus will then fulfill his promise to take Neo down the rabbit hole far beyond what he can imagine, in order to discover his true self and to learn the true nature of reality.

The discovery of oneself – therein lays the key. However, embarking on the journey can be a very fearful thing. Down the rabbit hole, you cannot see what is ahead and there is a surprise around every corner. Once you go deep down, there is no turning back and it is either prosperity or peril. The red pill may be bitter and tough to swallow, but it is something one must do in order to discover his/her true salvation, prosperity and destiny.

You have to leave it all behind…all the falsehoods that you have been told and raised upon – by the mainstream media, by “religious leaders”, by those in authority and perhaps your parents and peers. Your worst enemy down the rabbit hole is not the termites, not the earthworms nor the reptiles – but rather your own ego that keeps your brain in a cell.

But why is it so hard to take the red pill? Why do so many us choose to live out our lower nature and refuse to acknowledge higher levels of intelligence and intuition? Why do we approve of, or are even grateful for, our own chains, despite their fierce and intense limitations? I believe there is a big reason as to why so many of us refuse to be awakened…

It is a fear that manifests on an unconscious level.

The fear of what other people think of us.
 
It is more than just a simple matter of peer pressure going way beyond what you experienced in high school. I believe most people want to speak out and have an idea of how they want to go about it, only to be ensnared by fear of public opinion. It is the single, most crushing thing to the revolutionary spirit and couldn’t come at a time where dissent is needed the most.

Why is it that we promote free speech, encourage discussion and the right to be different when at the same time we slander those actions whenever they are committed by a creative, peaceful and thoughtful individual? The fact is that we create enemies amongst ourselves and most of us do not respect each other for our differences, especially when it comes to a revolutionary act. In other words, we only entertain differences established by the standards of authority over public opinion such as mainstream television shows, movies and sitcoms. It reminds me of a quote by late comedian Bill Hicks: “You are free to do as we tell you.”

We live in this dream world buying the illusion that we are free. We are rendered less inclined to question the nature of the system that we live in, by the relentless propaganda and fanfare of mainstream glamour that consistently holds our attention so. We believe that this reality is the absolute and despite any glimpse of the long-term misery and suffering it brings. So how then can we be free?

It is all about looking at the world around you – realizing what type of world we’re becoming, let alone what we already are. Look deep inside of yourself, deep down, and realize what you’re sick and tired of, what angers you, what enrages you – and get up and doing something about it. What is it you value? What change do you want to see…for yourself…and for others? Once you reconnect with your intuitive capabilities, then, and only then, will real change come into play. As Gandhi once said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” Doing things the other way around will have catastrophic effects.

Don’t let peer pressure win you over. Look around you. Why are so many people in debt? Why are so many people getting divorced? Why all the various health problems, including diabetes and heart attacks striking young adults? Why the rising crime? Why the gradual loss of our liberties and the mounting injustice around the world? All of these can be traced back to a peer pressure or groupthink of some kind. Every action we perform creates a reaction (or “domino effect”) in our surroundings and these reactions play out in various forums and ways. Open your mind and you will immediately notice this taking place. We are connected and the more we let our influences and egos get the better of us, the more negative change we will see expressed around us. If we wait, it will be far too late.

If you choose to not become conscious and give into the herd mentality, you’ll be taking a great risk – a risk that has consequences that far outweighs the benefits. If you want to make a difference but choose to remain idle, I must ask you: What price are you willing to pay?

What price are you willing to pay for not thinking for yourself?

What price are you willing to pay for not sending your voice out into the universe and making a creative contribution to put an end to this nonsense and tyranny on the planet?

What price are you willing to pay for letting fear run your life?

What price are you willing to pay for ignoring your revolutionary duty to stand up in the face of tyranny and injustice?

What price are you willing to pay for leaving the decisions to the elite in power, only to find months down the road that your neighbors have been grossly unrepresented and impoverished as more people die for the gain of a few people at the top?

What price are you willing to pay for giving up and walking away, letting the system get the best of you while people close to you suffer greatly as a result?

It is surprising what can happen when one person becomes enraged and starts doing something about it. Look back through history for just a moment. Who was it that changed the course of history? Was it a group, a mob or a committee? In the vast majority of cases, it was an individual who got the ball rolling and these individuals came from all walks of life. They woke up and realized, through creative insight that the system, whatever conditions they lived under, was doing humanity a great disservice – so they decided to act. They intuitively knew full well that sitting back and pretending things were okay would lead to absolute disaster.

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi are two outstanding examples of individuals whose efforts amassed a movement to epic proportions that eventually changed the course of history forever. The individual can begin a movement but it is the group that sustains it. Martin Luther King once stated that it wasn’t him that made the Civil Rights Movement effective, it was the people – the people were the change, not some government.

It is interesting to note that Martin Luther King, Gandhi and others like them, always stood up against tyranny, not terrorism. Tyranny, often occurring on their own soil, was at the root of the problem and the only way to medicate it was to stand up with the passion and determination to change things – a determination powerful enough to move mountains.  Shortly after, people followed in response.

Marianne Williamson stated this brilliantly in her famous poem Our Deepest Fear: “…and as I let my own light shine, I unconsciously give other people permission to do the same…” (my emphasis). It is your energy, the energy that you radiate out into the universe without conscious awareness, which has a ripple effect among your fellow human beings. If you really know what you need and change is burning at your core, you will automatically summon others to your cause. I know, I’ve experienced it and have seen others do the same.

We want hospitality rather than hostility.

Truth rather than trauma.

Forgiveness rather than frustration.

Serenity rather than segregation.

Reconciliation rather than racism.

Liberty rather than libel.

Peace rather than pestilence.

Ingenuity rather than isolation.

And equality rather than extermination.

You will have to endure the slander of your fellow men. But please remember that there are others out there just like you and they are there to support your efforts while permitting others to do the same – all you have to do is open your mind and your heart…and they will come.

Written by Shawn Bent

Photographs by BlaisOne