Massacres Don't Work for Long

It seems rare enough that unarmed demonstrators are fired upon by police/national guard/soldiers. And it is frequent that there are agents provocateurs. It is also common for governments to bring in rural/poor/less educated militia members from distant provinces or different ethnic groups. The conscript Army in Egypt in Jan/Feb could not be reliably counted upon to fire upon demonstrators.



Clubbed, yes; fired upon, rare enough so that I could name a few prominent ones:

• Peterloo Massacre, Manchester, England 1819 Short Documentary, 2010
  
• Bloody Sunday, St. Petersburg, 1905 Hollywood, 1971
• Amritsar (Jallianwala Bagh), India, April 13, 1919 from Gandhi, 1982
  
• Bloody Sunday, Dublin, Ireland 1920 from Michael Collins, 1996
  
• Ludlow Massacre, Ludlow, Colorado, 1914 from Howard Zinn: You can't be neutral on a moving train, 1996
  
• Everett Massacre, Everett, Washington, USA 1916
• Sharpeville, South Africa 1960 from 2010 newscast or this
  
• Orangeburg Massacre, Orangeburg, SC, USA 1968
  
• Tlatelolco massacre, Mexico City, Mexico; October 2, 1968 footage
• Kent State Shootings, Kent, Ohio, USA May 4th, 1970 eyewitness account & these
  
• Jackson State Shootings, Jackson, Missisippi, USA 1970 Democracy Now clip from Howard Zinn's last interview
  
• Bloody Sunday, Derry, Northern Ireland, 1972 docudrama trailer, 2002
  
• Black Friday, Tehran, Iran, Sept. 8, 1978
  
• Greensboro Massacre, Greensboro, North Carolina 1979*
  
• Tianamen Square Massacre, Peking, China 1989
• Devil's Curve, Bagua, Peru, 2009
• Teheran, Iran, ~ June 2009
• Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, Jan/Feb 2011
• Lulu Square, Bahrain, Feb. 18, 2011
• 
  

None of these are forgotten or swept under the rug. That I can name them years later proves that. As do the wikipedia articles & youtube films. You might have seen some of the fictional Hollywood portrayals above.
* The Greensboro demonstrators were shot by the Klan, but acquitted. The subsequent rift led to a Truth and Reconciliation process.

**Nothing more after this**

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Some Constructive Approaches to the Mumbai Massacres

This Joint Statement is being released to the press simultaneously in Pakistan and India today, 30th November 2008.

We are deeply shocked and horrified at the bloody mayhem in Mumbai, which has claimed more than a hundred and ninty lives and caused grievous injuries to several hundred people, besides sending a wave of panic and terror across South Asia and beyond. We convey our profound feelings of sorrow and sympathies to the grieving families of the unfortunate victims of this heinous crime and express our solidarity with them.

As usual, all sorts of speculations are circulating about the identity of the perpetrators of this act of barbarism. The truth about who are directly involved in this brutal incident and who could be the culprits behind the scene is yet to come out and we do not wish to indulge in any guesswork or blame game at this point. However, one is intrigued at its timing. Can it be termed a coincidence that it has happened on the day the Home Secretaries of the two countries concluded their talks in Islamabad and announced several concrete steps to move forward in the peace process, such as the opening of several land routes for trade ? Kargil, Wagah-Attari, Khokhropar etc ?, relaxation in the visa regime,? a soft and liberal policy on the issue of release of prisoners and joint efforts to fight terrorism? Again, is it just a coincidence that on this fateful day the Foreign Minister of Pakistan was in the Indian capital holding very useful and productive talks with his Indian counterpart?? One thing looks crystal clear. The enemies of peace and friendship between the two countries, whatever be the label under which they operate, are un-nerved by these healthy developments and are hell bent on torpedoing them.

We are of the considered opinion that the continued absence of peace in South Asia - peace between and within states - particularly in relation to India and Pakistan , is one of the root causes of most of the miseries the people of the region are made to endure. It is the major reason why our abundantly resource-rich subcontinent is wallowing in poverty, unemployment, disease, and ignorance and why militarism, religious and sectarian violence and political, economic and social injustice are eating into the very vitals of our societies, even after more than six decades of independence from colonial rule.

At this moment of unmitigated tragedy, the first thing we call upon the Governments of India and Pakistan to do is to acknowledge the fact that the overwhelming majority of the people of India and Pakistan ardently desire peace and, therefore, the peace process must be pursued with redoubled speed and determination on both sides. The sooner the ruling establishments of India and Pakistan acknowledge this fact and push ahead with concrete steps towards lasting peace and harmony in the subcontinent, the better it will be not only for the people of our two countries but also for the whole of South Asia and the world. While the immediate responsibility for unmasking the culprits of Mumbai and taking them to task surely rests with the Government of India, all of us in South Asia have an obligation to join hands and go into the root causes of why and how such forces of evil are motivated and emboldened to resort to such acts of anti-people terror.?

It is extremely important to remind the leaderships of Pakistan and India that?? issuing statements and signing agreements and declarations will have meaning only when they are translated into action and implemented honestly, in letter and spirit and without any further loss of time. It assumes added urgency in the prevailing conditions in South Asia , with the possibility that so many different forces prone to religious, sectarian and other forms of intolerance and violence may be looking for ways to arm themselves with more and more sophisticated weapons of mass murder and destruction. The bloodbath in Mumbai must open the eyes of our governments, if it has not already happened.???

We urge upon the governments of India and Pakistan to immediately take the following steps:

1. Cessation of all hostile propaganda against each other;
2. Joint action to curb religious extremism of all shades in both countries;?
3. Continue and intensify normalization of relations and peaceful resolution of all conflicts between the two countries;
4. Facilitation of trade and cooperation between the two countries and in all of South Asia . We welcome the fact that the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawlakot borders have been opened for trade and that the opening of the road between Kargil and Skardu is in the pipeline.
5. Immediate abolition of the current practice of issuing city-specific and police reporting visa and issue country-valid visa without restrictions at arrival point, simultaneously initiating necessary steps to introduce as early as possible a visa-free travel regime, to encourage friendship between the peoples of both countries;
6. Declaration by India and Pakistan of No First Use of atomic weapons;
7. Concrete measures towards making South Asia nuclear-free;
8. Radical reduction in military spending and end to militarisation.

Signatories:
Pakistan

1. Mr. Iqbal Haider, Co-Chairman, Human Rights Commission Pakistan and former federal Minister of Pakistan
2. Dr. Tipu Sultan, President, Pakistan Doctors for Peace & Development, Karachi
3. Dr. Tariq Sohail, Dean, Jinnah Medical & Dental University , Karachi
4. Dr. A. H.. Nayyar, President, Pakistan Peace Coalition, Islamabad
5. Justice (Retd) Rasheed A. Razvi, President, Sindh High Court Bar Association
6. Mr. B.M.Kutty, Secretary General , Pakistan Peace Coalition, Karachi
7. Mr. Karamat Ali, Director, PILER, Karachi , Founding member, PIPFPD
8. Mr. Fareed Awan, General Secretary , Pakistan Workers Confederation, Sindh
9. Mr. Muhammad Ali Shah, Chairman , Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, Karachi
10. Mr. Zulfiqar Halepoto, Secretary, Sindh Democratic Front, Hyderabad
11. Professor Dr. Sarfraz Khan, Area Studies Centre ( Central Asia), Peshawar University
12. Syed Khadim Ali Shah, Former Member National Assembly, Mirpur Khas
13. Mr. Muhammad Tahseen, Director, South Asia Partnership (PAK), Lahore
14. Mrs. Saleha Athar, Network for Women's Rights, Karachi
15. Ms. Sheema Kermani, Tehreek-e-Niswan, Karachi
16. Ms. Saeeda Diep, President, Institute of Secular Studies, Lahore
17. Dr. Aly Ercelan, Pakistan Labour Trust, Karachi
18. Mr. Suleiman G. Abro, Director, Sindh Agricultural & Forestry Workers Organisation, Hyderabad
19. Mr. Sharafat Ali, PILER, Karachi
20. Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah, PILER, Karachi
21. Mr. Ayub Qureshi, Information Secretary , Pakistan Trade Union Federation
22. Ms. Sheen Farrukh, Director, Interpress Communication Pakistan , Karachi
23. Mr. Zafar Malik, PIPFPD, Lahore
24. Mr. Adam Malik, Action-Aid Pakistan , Karachi
25. Mr. Qamarul Hasan, International Union of Food Workers (IUF), Karachi
26. Prof. Muhammad Nauman, NED University , Karachi
27. Mr. Mirza Maqsood, General Secretary, Mazdoor Mahaz-e-Amal
28. Ms. Shaista Bukhari, Women Rights Association, Multan

India

1. Kuldip Nayar, journalist, former Indian High Commissioner, UK., Delhi
2. S P Shukla, retired Finance Secretary, former Member, Planning Commission, Delhi
3. PEACE MUMBAI network of 15 organisations, Mumbai
4. Seema Mustafa, Journalist, Delhi
5. Manisha Gupte, MASUM, Pune
6. ?Dr. Ramesh Awasthi, PUCL, Maharashtra
7. Jatin Desai, journalist, Mumbai
8. Prof. Ritu Dewan, University of Mumbai
9. Prabir Purkayashta, DSF, Delhi
10. Prof. Pushpa Bhave , Mumbai
11. Paromita Vohra, filmmaker, Mumbai
12. Achin Vanaik, CNDP, Delhi
13. Meena Menon, Focus on the Global South, Mumbai
14. Romar Correa Professor of Economics, University of Mumbai
15. Anjum Rajabally, film writer, Mumbai
16. Anand Patwardhan, filmmaker, Mumbai
17. Kamla Bhasin, SANGAT, Delhi
18. Dr. Padmini Swaminathan, MIDS, Chennai
19. Sumit Bali, CEO, Kotak Mahindra Prime Limited
20. Dr Walter Fernandes, Director, North Eastern Social Research Centre , Assam ,
21. Rabia, Lahore Chitrkar
22. Rakesh Sharma, filmmaker, Mumbai
23. Prof. Kamal Mitra Chenoy, JNU, Delhi
24. Prof. Anuradha Chenoy, JNU, Delhi
25. P K Das, architect, Mumbai
26. Neera Adarkar, architect, Mumbai
27. Datta Iswalkar, Secretary, Textile Workers Action Committee, Mumbai
28. Madhusree Dutta, filmmaker, Majlis, Mumbai
29. Amrita Chhachhi, Founding member, PIPFPD
30. Mazher Hussain, COVA, Hyderabad
31. Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty, Delhi
32. Prof. M C Arunan, Mumbai
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Armistice Day

I remember sitting in a cafe on Nov. 11th, 1983 in the Town Hall Square (RatHausPlatz) in Bonn, Germany at 11:11 AM. I noticed that some oddly dressed fellows were performing a ceremony, and asked my friend what that was.

"It's the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. One of those fellows is the Mayor, performing a ritual for Karneval (Mardi Gras to those of us who know New Orleans). It's the official countdown to Karneval."

What I didn't know (and should have, as an history student),

was that it was also Armistice Day, and that there was a tradition after World War I to honor the dead.

According to Wikipedia,
An Act approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday; "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'."

Like Mother's Day, founded as a peace holiday by Julia Ward Howe, writer of the
Mother's Day Proclamation,
and International Women's Day, founded by woman union activists;
the holiday has been re-purposed by those with more power.

But perhaps today, with the anti-nuclear movement on the rise, echoing the events of 32 years ago, we can take some hope.

11:11 AM on 11/11 is a good time to pray for the dead,
and resolve to fight like hell for the living.


Update:
A similar piece (and more informed) at
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/opinion/11watson.html
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Nonviolence works

Nonviolence works

A really fascinating post on the Buddhist Channel, via the Buddhist Blog on a new study showing that nonviolent campaigns are more successful than violent ones:

Nonviolent resistance is not only the morally superior choice. It is also twice as effective as the violent variety. That’s the startling and reassuring discovery by Maria Stephan and Erica Chenoweth, who analyzed an astonishing 323 resistance campaigns from 1900 to 2006.

“Our findings show that major nonviolent campaigns have achieved success 53 percent of the time, compared with 26 percent for violent resistance campaigns,” the authors note in the journal International Security.

(The study is available as a PDF file at http://www.nonviolent-conflict.org).

The result is not that surprising, once you listen to the researchers’ reasoning.

“First, a campaign’s commitment to nonviolent methods enhances its domestic and international legitimacy and encourages more broad-based participation in the resistance, which translates into increased pressure being brought to bear on the target,” they state. “Second, whereas governments easily justify violent counterattacks against armed insurgents, regime violence against nonviolent movements is more likely to backfire against the regime.”
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Doing Democracy- Bill Moyer's Movement Action Plan

I did a workshop based on Bill Moyer's Movement Action Plan at the Youth Environmental Sustainability conference at the University of North Carolina, Asheville on Sunday, November 2nd.

You can find a wikipedia article on the late Bill Moyer (who is NOT the PBS guy, thought they share a lot in common) at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Moyer

His book is called Doing Democracy: The MAP Model for Organizing Social Movements
By Bill Moyer, JoAnn McAllister, Mary Lou Finley and Steve Soifer It is published by New Society Press
http://www.newsociety.com/bookid/3694

It costs $17 and you can buy used copies for $6, including shipping.
http://www.amazon.com/Doing-Democracy-Bill-Moyer/dp/0865714185/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225734407&sr=8-1

The one minute overview is at
wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement_action_plan
but you are much better off reading the free 14 page summary at

http://nonviolence.org.au/downloads/practical_strategist.pdf
Since giving ghe workshop, I have discovered a short compliation of excellent articles at
http://nonviolence.org.au/planning.html

If you'd like to see a video of Bill talking (his last talk, in fact) visit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17iITob04t4

I think you'll get more out of the talk AFTER reading the book or overview--- it's more of an advanced talk than an intro.

In the course of the workshop, I mentioned two other works that talk about phases groups or individuals go through.

The first was Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's stages of grieving, detailed in her work
On Death and Dying

You can get a quick overview at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCbler-Ross_model

The second was the "innovation of diffusions" which was first developed by Everett M. Rodgers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations
but much better explained by Geoffrey Moore in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm


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A short talk and film on nuclear power, 1977

Hi-
I'll be talking at this event about how this event shaped my life and jumpstarted the antinuclear movements against power plants AND weapons.
******************************

NO NUKES, NO COAL, NO KIDDING!

CALLING ALL CLAMS -- and anyone interested in non-violent direct
action...and energy issues... this 90 minute film is original footage,
remastered for the 30th anniversary -- of 1414 people taking over a
nuclear power plant construction site -- in 1977, in New Hampshire. They
did not cooperate with arrest -- and did not give their names, doing
massive "jail solidarity" for more than a week, while held in armories
and other large warehouse type settings. This is an amazing story -- and
now that that the nuclear industry is BACK and asking our region to take
the new nukes (15 new reactors are already in some phase of licensing in
the Southeast)...

"CLAMS" -- or those who were part of the Clamshell Alliance that did
this mobilization -- are coming to share their stories -- if you are a
Clam, come too!
Likely NIRS will screen this film again later in the season, since
several Clams that live locally already have sent "regrets" !

WHAT: Seabrook 1977 film -- "remastered"
WHERE: Firestorm Cafe and Books -- on Commerce St --just around the
corner from the light at Patton and Coxe -- diagonally across the street
(towards Patton) from the Coxe Post Office
WHEN: Monday October 13 at 7:30 pm -- discussion after
WHY: In part to support FIRESTORM -- nice menu of vegan wraps,
sandwiches and salads... coffee bar, baked goodies -- this is a worker
(activist) owned business -- come eat dinner!
*...and to revive the previous generations of anti-nuclear activists
while welcoming and CELEBRATING the 4th generation as they rise!

*More info:

Mary Olson
NIRS Southeast Regional Coordinator
Nuclear Information & Resource Service
PO Box 7586 Asheville, NC 28802
nirs@main.nc.us www.nirs.org
828-675-1792
new cell -- 828-242-5621 (no signal at my office)


Nuclear Information & Resource Service
6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 340,
Takoma Park, MD 20912
tel: 301-270-NIRS (301-270-6477);
fax: 301-270-4291
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