War without violence? Yes, neither Gandhi nor Burmese Buddhist monks were pacifist do-nothings. They instead did what worked, according to Gene Sharp. (state of collapse)Radical Radio LA: Sojourner Truth
Margaret Prescod, Dec. 2, 2011
KPFK broadcast an hour long special with Gene Sharp. Sharp is the senior scholar at the Albert Einstein Institution, advancing freedom through strategic non-violent action. He is also the author of books on non-violent direct action. His work was reportedly widely read by activists in the uprisings in Egypt around Freedom (Tahrir) Square and the awakening of the "Arab Spring" and worldwide Occupy Movement.
Many agencies having nothing whatsoever to do with national defense now have their own paramilitary units (extremumspiritum.com).
Have American police become militarized?
Al Baker (New York Times Sunday Review, Dec. 3, 2011)
RIOT police officers tear-gas protesters at the Occupy movement in Oakland. There is a surprising nighttime invasion of Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan; it is carried out with D-Day-like secrecy by officers deploying klieg lights and a military-style sound machine. Campus police officers in helmets and face shields dousing demonstrators at the Univ. of California, Davis with pepper spray. Is this the militarization of the American police? Police forces undeniably share a soldier’s ethos, no matter the size of the city, town, or jurisdiction: officers carry deadly weapons and wear uniforms with patches denoting rank. They salute one another and pay homage to a “Yes, sir,” “No, sir,” hierarchical culture. MoreThis Changes Everything
Edited by Sarah van Gelder and YES! Magazine staff
The Occupy Wall Street movement named the core issue of our time: the overwhelming power of Wall Street banks and large corporations. It was something the political establishment and most media had long ignored. But the movement goes far beyond this critique. This Changes Everything shows how the movement is shifting the way people view themselves and the world, the kind of society they believe is possible, and their own involvement in creating a society that works for the 99% as well as the 1%. More
What it is like just before being beaten by line of police (Guido Corleone TV)
Post Occupy LA raid morning return march from Pershing Square