Dohiyi Mir

This Week Extra Utero: 19

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub:

Following a well-established nighttime routine, which might include a bath or a bedtime story, may help settle your baby to sleep. It's a good idea to consistently "sequence" your baby toward slumber, as in this example: Feed her, give her a bath, put her in pajamas, read her a book, sing a lullaby or play some music, and then put her down.

A beloved routine gives you and your baby plenty of time to connect and wind down. You may decide to alternate going-to-bed activities with your partner (you do the bath, he reads the story, and so on). Or, to give both of you a regular break, try taking turns, with one person responsible for putting your baby to bed each night.

We do have a routine more or less, though the last few days Sam's has been clearly disrupted by Ericka's absence.  Really, he seemed to miss her and even though he was happy overall and his needs were met, something was missing and it was apparent in his unsettled behavior.

Mommy's home now, so our world is complete once more...

ntodd

Sexist Bowl

Athenae and Echidne watched the ads.  Sadly, I'm sure Sam'll get plenty exposure to that shit growing up, TV or not, as we continue soaking in the patriarchy...

ntodd

Life Lessons

Sam has learned very early that a great way to fall asleep is to pull on the monkey for a while.

That's not a euphemism, you pervs.

ntodd

Sunday Assmussen

The only poll worth paying attention to™:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 26% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove which gives Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -17.

Here's a tip, Mr President: instead of escalating in Afghanistan, escalate your efforts for real HCR here at home.  That one's free...

ntodd

Illusions

I cover politics. If you want an over-hyped empty spectacle devoid of meaning -- the sort of syncopated ritual that H.L. Mencken would have denounced as fit for the booboisie -- try a national political convention. At least at a Super Bowl, adults wearing funny hats are under no illusion that their bizarre headgear has any connection with electing the next Leader of the Free World.
...
Authenticity matters in life -- and, for better or worse, I am stuck being the guy who hates pro football. So proudly taking the path less traveled, I intend to spend Super Bowl Sunday at the movies finally seeing "Avatar."

That will show Richard Nixon.

- Walter Shapiro

The working class, true to its sports culture aesthetic, is a spectator to politics ... politics which are so entirely imagistic as to be holograms of a process, not a process. Social realism is a television commercial for America, a simulacran republic of eagles, church spires, brave young soldiers and heroic firefighters and "freedom of choice" within the hologram. America's citizens have been reduced to Balkanized consumer units by the corporate state's culture producing machinery.

We no longer have a country -- just the hollow shell of one, a global corporation masquerading electronically and digitally as a nation called the United States.

- Joe Bageant

Maybe I introduce Sam to The Matrix tonight...

ntodd

198 More Sundays: What If They Had A Super Bowl And Nobody Came?

I hear tell there's some sort of athletic contest being held today.

Hey, I like football.  I like sports in general.  But last year our nascent family (more on that in a postscript) started a new tradition and quit the Super Bowl.

As this long-lived protest marks its second year today, I thought I'd revisit the Method it's an example of even though I'm sure blog traffic will be down as everybody's watching the game and ads so nobody will read this post.  From the category of Social Noncooperation we have 61. Boycott of social affairs:

A spirit of resistance may be expressed by a corporate refusal to attend certain social affairs, such as receptions, banquets, parties, concerts and the like.  During the Nazi occupation, for example, the Danes refused to attend concerts of German military music.  In late 1940 and early 1941 a wave of "cinema strikes" occurred in Norway in which patrons boycotted cinemas.  These began in Stavanger, where the local cinema board was dismissed for refusing to allow members of Quisling's elite organization (the Hird) to enter for free.  Cinema-going was then suspended elsewhere, culminating in the Oslo cinema strike in February.  (This example is also related to the economic boycott.)

In Poland during the same period the underground forbade Poles to patronize cinemas and theaters which had been started by the Germans.  In 1942 the underground determined that Polish theaters as well as German-operated theaters should be boycotted, and that no Pole should operate such a theater.  Jan Karski reports that the predominant reason was that "no Pole could be allowed to forget, even for two hours, what was happening to his country, or to amuse himself.  It was forbidden to interrupt the fight and insurrection in permanence against the invader."

Allow me to pre-emptively protest that I'm not a soulless, puritanical revolutionary who thinks people must be Morally Pure and shouldn't have fun or socialize until we have achieved Glorious Victory in The Great Struggle.  As Emma said:

I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal...for release and freedom from convention and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement would not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it. "I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody's right to beautiful, radiant things."

With that as backdrop, I'll indulge in a little more modified self-plagiarism:

There is value to social events--that's kinda why we have them.  And when engaged in resistance, community is very important, so the question is what types of community-building are the most valuable.  I found the time at my first war tax resistance gathering to be one powerful example, and of course there are many others that might still be "mainstream" or could be alternatives to the expected social interactions.

Of course we weren't planning on attending the Superbowl itself, but watching on TV is still part of the system.  There are the ads that many people actually watch the game for and  products are being pushed that we might buy them.

We have no illusions that today's refusal to watch football will end corporatism in America, or even obnoxious player salaries, let alone get us single-payer.  No duh.

Yet imagine if more people joined in boycotting the NFL's crown jewel with all its militaristic displays, refused to help the media networks that don't do their duty as the Fourth Estate while gladly taking our money, and didn't purchase the products crammed down our throats...maybe something could change for the better in our consumerist society.

Ad prices are deflated this year because of our current economic morass.  I suspect a social boycott could also have similar financial ramifications.  And consider all the money that people could redirect from spending on Super Bowl parties to feeding the hungry, donating to peace and justice organizations, funding HCR lobbying trips to DC, etc.  Yeah, I know it ain't gonna happen, but it's still a useful exercise to think about such things.

With the CBS' political policy of allowing anti-abortion ads but banning gay-friendly commercials, there's an added incentive for us to skip the big show.  Beer and other products have always been sold with sexist themes, but this year struck us as a bit worse than usual so Ericka suggested we call our action a MANcott.  And that's just what we're doing, man!

Anyway, feminists like madamb have a different take.  I especially like the idea of effectively turning one's back on the Tebow ad when it comes on.  It's all good.

It's actually a Boys Weekend here since my beloved is off visiting her BFF, who is recovering from cancer surgery (another personal reason why we fight for HCR).  I admit that when the game's on I will probably check in on Twitter to see what's going on, but no ads for me.

I hope everybody has a good Sunday whatever you're doing.  Recharge and be ready to carry on the struggle!

ntodd

PS--About that family.  We were full of that hopey-changey feeling after I returned from my penultimate tour at the soon-to-be-defunct DC Pink House and Pinking the Inaugural, and it turns out the math indicates we spent time we would've watched the Super Bowl much more, uh...productively.  As I write this, I'm listening to our little boycott coo and shriek and laugh as he exercises in his pack-n-play.  There are many ways to create peace...

(Post at Pax Americana, Dohiyi Mir, Green Mountain Code Pink, Corrente and Daily Kos.)

Healthcare On Their Minds

Harry Reid sings:

My mind is clearer now

At last
All too well
I can see
Where we all
Soon will be
If you strip away
The myth
From the man
You will see
Where we all
Soon will be

Barack!
You've started to believe
The things they say of you
You really do believe
This talk of Hope is true

And all the good you've done
Will soon be swept away
You've begun to matter more
Than the things you say

Listen Barack
I don't like what I see
All I ask is that you listen to me
And remember
I've been your right hand man all along
You have set them all on fire
They think they've found the new Messiah
And they'll hurt you when they find they're wrong

I remember when this whole thing began
No talk of Change then, we called you a Dem
And believe me
My admiration for you hasn't died
But every word you say today
Gets twisted 'round some other way
And they'll hurt you if they think you've lied

Kenya's most famous son
Should have stayed a great unknown
Like his father carving wood
He'd have made good
Tables, chairs and oaken chests
Would have suited Barack best
He'd have caused nobody harm
No one alarm

Listen Barack, do you care for your party?
Don't you see we must keep our powder dry?
We are the Majority
Have you forgotten how put down we are?
I am frightened by the crowd
For we are getting much too loud
And they'll crush us if we go too far
If we go too far

Listen Barack to the warning I give
Please remember that I want us to win
But it's sad to see our chances weakening with ev'ry hour
All your followers are blind
Too much healthcare on their minds
It was beautiful, but now it's sour
Yes it's all gone sour
Ah --- ah ah ah --- ah
God Barack, it's all gone sour...

Oh yeah, this isn't the first time Democrats have done JCS...

ntodd

When The Cat's Away

We mice play.

ntodd

Saturday Weehoursweeboyblogging

Wakeded up grumpy.


Comforted back to sleep.

ntodd

Friday In Bil'in: 256

Always makes me shake my head when I see direct action in the West Bank whilst people in the US accept injustice so passively:

Dozens of residents of Bil'in, neighboring villages, international solidarity activis, and peace-loving israelis participated in a weekly march organized by the popular committee against the wall. The march started from the village's main square after Friday prayers and echoed national symbols aimed at reconciliation, reunification, while directly confronting the Israeli occupation. After the arrival of the march participants at the western gate of the wall, a shower of rubber coated metal bullets, tear gas, and sound bombs was directed against them. The popular committee's cameraman, Hamde Abu Rahma, was wounded as well as Ashraf Abu Rahma (from a tear gas canister) and an Icelandic solidarity activist (from sound bomb shrapnel).
...
The army then tried to suprise protesters at the back of the march with special forces, who tried to hunt down young men in the village but were unsuccessful. Instead, their presence led to violent clashes in the vacinity and tear gas reigned down by cars in the same area where recently freed Popular Committee Cameraman Hamde was arrested 2 days prior as he covered the arrest of Ibrahim Burnat. Hamde was later released without charge.

How is it that we cannot learn from the examples of so many actionists all over the world?  I'm a bit sick of the "it can't work here" refrain...

ntodd

The Greeks Strike Against Government Policy: Why Don't We?

In light of last Sunday's post about the strike as a force for social and policy change, I'd been meaning to discuss what's been happening in Greece recently.  Deutsche Welle:

Greek tax collectors and customs officials went on strike on Thursday, beginning a spate of anticipated strikes in the country to protest at government budget plans.

Revenue employees began a two-day walk out, which comes ahead of strikes planned by civil servants and doctors on February 10. A general strike could take place later this month, if agreed by members of the country's main private sector union GSEE which has 600,000 members.

Unions are angry with the government over an austerity program to cut back the country's huge deficit from 12.7 percent last year to less than 3 percent by 2012.
...
Members of the GSEE are expected to approve a February 24 strike date recommended by union head Yiannis Panagopoulos. "I deeply regret that the government has bowed to the wishes of the markets," said Panagopoulos on Wednesday.

Public sector unions ADEDY has called a nationwide strike on February 10 to protest against a wage and hiring freeze.
...
In December, several thousands of people walked through Athens to protest against proposed cuts.

This is a great example of an escalation path from protest to increasingly large strikes across multiple sectors.  I firmly believe that we could use a very similar approach to HCR.

Why don't we?  In large part probably because the divide-and-conquer embodied in the Senate bill has worked exactly as intended.  Labor, which would be one logical organizing force, got what it wanted and then demobilized.  Other constituencies got goodies as well, so are less motivated to fight the bill and instead say, "yes, it's bad, but there are some important things in here so we should just pass something."

Whether HR3962 actually gets out of the House as is, is "fixed" via reconciliation with the Subtitle B public insurance option and/or other popular provisions restored, or suffers a grisly death in the sausage machine, we've still got lots of work to achieve real reform.  So how can we follow the Greek example and get Americans to be more invested in HCR, more actively engaged and more willing to take risks when this issue impacts us all, not just the 45k who die every year from lack of insurance?

ntodd

(Post at Pax Americana, Dohiyi Mir, Green Mountain Code Pink, Corrente and Daily Kos.)

Friday Catblogging

Taran wonders why I haven't blogged for 24 hours.

ntodd

Sleepytime

Daddy's too tired to grab the real camera, but Sam's not too tired to grab Teddy.

ntodd

My Own Himalayan Miscalculation

Back in 2006 there was a pretty nice example of hartal to protest bigoted immigration policy being debated in Congress, and to support the idea that immigrants are an integral part of American life economic and social life.  At the time the AP reported:

Hundreds of thousands of mostly Hispanic immigrants skipped work and took to the streets Monday, flexing their economic muscle in a nationwide boycott that succeeded in slowing or shutting many farms, factories, markets and restaurants.

From Los Angeles to Chicago, Houston to New Orleans, the "Day Without Immigrants" attracted widespread participation despite divisions among activists over whether a boycott would send the right message to Washington lawmakers considering sweeping immigration reform.

"We are the backbone of what America is, legal or illegal, it doesn't matter," said Melanie Lugo, who was among thousands attending a rally in Denver with her husband and their third-grade daughter. "We butter each other's bread. They need us as much as we need them."

Police estimated 400,000 people marched through Chicago's business district and tens of thousands more rallied in New York and Los Angeles, where police stopped giving estimates at 60,000 as the crowd kept growing.

An estimated 75,000 rallied in Denver, more than 15,000 in Houston and 30,000 more across Florida. Smaller rallies in cities from Pennsylvania and Connecticut to Arizona and South Dakota attracted hundreds not thousands.

Leading up to the action, I was actually not all that enthused.  Then I was more concerned about the mid-terms and Democratic chances of seizing Congress later that year, thought that there hadn't been enough of a strategic escalation plan laid out to use such a tactic, and felt that with the specific, objectionable bill in question defeated in the Senate even a mostly symbolic form of economic intervention was unnecessary and perhaps counterproductive.

I've since decided that I was wrong.  Not a Himalayan miscalculation, as Gandhi thought he'd made in pushing for hartal in 1919, but I didn't fully consider how empowering this action could be even--or especially--in the wake of a tactical victory.  Of course there was backlash from the usual suspects, but that was outweighed by the impressive mobilization and demonstration of unity and economic muscle.

Two years later, as my understanding of NV tactics and strategy evolved and I'd been more engaged in real application of them, I was fully behind a similar, albeit less successful, action against hate and in support of marriage equality.  I still had the same concerns about follow-up and whatnot, but the political environment seemed better to me.

More importantly, I'd moved into a space where I thought action was paramount while jawing endlessly about the perfect way to move only encouraged dangerous impotence.  I've grown to embrace tension and conflict as means to effect change, thus am now more comfortable with jumping in with those kinds of tactics, backlash be damned.

I would love to see something like this used in our escalating struggle for HCR, not to mention to achieve other important ends like protecting reproductive freedom, ending our wars, changing how we finance campaigns, etc.  For it all to work, of course, we need to stop relying on the same handful of people to do the work and have more step up.  So how do we get them on board and out of their comfort zones?

ntodd

(Post at Pax Americana, Dohiyi Mir, Green Mountain Code Pink, Corrente and Daily Kos.)

Single-payer In Vermont

The other day I wrote to VT Rep Dave Zuckerman about the single-payer bill he has co-sponsored in the House: what's the general difference between H491 and the other bills introduced last year, S88/H100; who we might target for support; what's the general sense of our chances on single-payer going forward.

Even though I'm not his constituent, he responded and informed me that the Progs' bill has some more concrete implementation plans, our single-payer efforts are probably going to start in the State Senate, and that our friends at the Vermont Workers' Center have a better idea of where individual legislators might be on potential votes.  That said, it looks like Sen Racine--who's chair of the Health and Welfare Committee and gunning to be the Dem gubernatorial candidate this fall--is unsurprisingly a key player to watch and coax.

ntodd

I Have A Question For President Obama

RSVPing for Thursday's "Conversation":

You lost in MA in part because the electorate thinks you haven't gone far enough with healthcare.  When are you really going to govern as though we gave you an overwhelming majority and stand up to be counted in the Civil Rights struggle of our era?  Or will you continue to believe in the siren song of "bipartisanship", side with corporatists, act as though you had no mandate and let this historic opportunity for true reform go the way of Hillarycare?

I'm sure he'll answer my question thoughtfully and frankly, and mention single-payer and HR676.

ntodd

This Week Extra Utero: 18

Right on track:

Even though crying is still your baby's strongest form of communication, he's also beginning to develop a sense of humor. He may start to laugh at pleasant surprises, such as your face appearing from underneath a blanket or a toy popping out of a box, provided it isn't too loud or startling.

Encourage your baby's laughs, giggles, and smiles with funny faces and lots of general silliness. Babies enjoy hearing a variety of sounds, and you don't need special toys or instruments to create them. Simply click your tongue, whistle, or make animal noises — your baby will love it!

Sam's never been much of a crier, but he cries even less now that he's got a good vocabulary and we're not relying just on our imperfect interpretation of his cues.  And boy does he love to smile and laugh...

ntodd

End Of A Pink Era

The DC Pink House is shutting down at the end of this month.  Since 2007 it has been a home away from home for me, and a place of great joy, action and learning.  Perhaps I'll have more to say later, but right now I'm just processing what I knew was inevitable.

Peace, love and respect to everybody who made the house special and empowering for so many people.

ntodd

They Grow Up So Fast

Pretty soon Sam will be marching with us in DC...

ntodd

198 More Sundays: A Day Without Insurance Employees

I'm going to stick with economic noncooperation this week since I think that's an integral part of an intervention strategy to force Congress to pass real reform, as I outlined the other day.  I've generally thought that a combination of boycotts and strikes were the real key to success, hindering our corporate overlords' ability to function.  This general tactic has been employed in a variety of struggles, including for marriage equality, Indian independence and even resistance campaigns against the Nazis.

Today's gonna be a three-fer because I'm not entirely sure if there is a single form to use.  As Sharp observed:

The broad categories which must be used in classifying the many methods of nonviolent action are too rigid to suit the reality...Consequently, in every general class and subclass--such as the strike--there are some methods which also have one or more characteristics of another class (or do so under certain conditions) or which differ in at least one respect from the general characteristics of this class.

This is especially true in the case of the strike.  Normally, the strike is a temporary withdrawal of labor, but there are methods in which the withdrawal is, or at least intended to be, permanent.  Also, some methods are combinations of boycotts and strikes.  Other methods operate by withdrawing labor but do so only symbolically, so that they might also be included within the class of nonviolent protest and persuasion.

I have in mind some application of examples from three subclasses: Restricted Strikes, Multi-Industry Strikes, and Combination of Strikes and Economic Closures.  First, Method 112. Reporting "sick" (sick-in).  This is a form of restricted strike (i.e., not a total or general work stoppage):

Where strikes are prohibited by law, decree, or contract, or are not feasible for other reasons, workers may achieve anything from a slowdown of production to the equivalent of a full strike by falsely claiming to be sick.  This is an especially useful method when sick leave has been granted in the contract or law but strikes have been prohibited.

A great deal of feigned illness was reported among African slaves in the southern United States, sufficient to have had considerable economic impact.  Sometimes the illness ratio was nearly one sick to seven well.  Slaves were frequently sick on Saturday but rarely on Sunday, which was not a normal workday; more sickness occurred when the most work was required.

Although there was a great deal of genuine illness among the slave population, it is also clear that much of it was feigned in order to get out of work, to avoid being sold to an undesirable master, or to get revenge on a master (by feigning a disability while on the auction block and hence fetch a lower price).  Women pretending pregnancy received lighter work and increased food.  The Bauers write:

Of the extent to which illness was feigned there can...be little doubt.  Some of the feigning was quite obvious, and one might wonder why such flagrant abuses were tolerated.  The important thing to remember is that a slave was an important economic investment.  Most slave owners sooner or later found out that it was more profitable to give the slave the benefit of the doubt.  A sick slave driven to work might very well die.

One population that would be very good to have join in our efforts is employees of the health insurance carriers themselves.  Of course a full-blown strike in, say...billing or customer service likely is problematic for a number of reasons, but what if they used sick-ins, perhaps in the form of a "rolling" strike, to create work slowdowns in conjunction with stoppages in other tangential industries? 

Of course I wouldn't limit this form to just insurance workers.  An epidemic of HR676 Flu could have great impact on any industry, and the government.

We might also try a tactic used quite frequently and successfully outside the United states: 117. General strike (multi-industry strikes):

The general strike is a widespread stoppage of labor by workers in an attempt to bring the economic life of a given area to a more or less complete standstill in order to achieve certain desired objectives.  The method may be used on a local, regional, national or international level.  Wilfred Harris Crook defined the general strike as "the strike of a majority of the workers in the more important industries of any one locality or region."
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While a general strike is usually intended to be total, certain vital services may be allowed to operate, especially those necessary for health...Crook distinguishes three broad types of general strike--political, economic and revolutionary.

A political general strike has the goal of achieving specific concessions from the government.  One great historical example is the series of strikes in 1893, 1902 and 1913 in support of electoral reforms in Belgium--actually, Belgians seem to love this Method for lots of goals.

Belgium has a long tradition of mass industrial strikes. In 1886 a great series of strikes broke out first in the neighbourhood of Charleroi, then in Liége and over a large part of the Walloon provinces. The main demand was universal suffrage; but there were economic demands as well in some places.

Then in May, 1891, a mass strike of some 125,000 workers put forward a demand for changes in the electoral system. In April, 1893. another strike, embracing about a quarter of a million workers, broke out around a similar demand. The outcome was a universal, but unequal, franchise, the votes of the rich and “cultured” counting for two or three times those of workers. Dissatisfied, the workers called another mass strike nine years later, demanding a complete revision of the Constitution.

An even bigger strike – in which 450,000 workers took part – was called by the Socialist Party and trade unions to achieve electoral reform in 1902, and again in 1913.

Another general strike, which wrested a forty-hour week and paid holidays from the capitalists, took place in 1936. In 1950 a general strike led to the abdication of King Leopold.

In 1958-9 the coal-miners of the Borinage spontaneously began a general strike not merely for wage demands but for the nationalisation of the mining industry.

Our reformist tradition in the United States also includes general strikes, usually in support of labor, such as the Seattle General Strike, the San Francisco General Strike and Textile General Strike.  It wouldn't be much of a stretch for Americans to use such tactics to achieve other forms of social change like universal healthcare.

The final strike Method I've been musing about is 118. Hartal (combination of strike/economic closure).

The hartal is an Indian method of nonviolent action in which the economic life of an area is temporarily suspended on a voluntary basis in order to demonstrate extreme dissatisfaction with some event, policy, or condition.  It is not used to wield economic influence, but to communicate sorrow, determination, revulsion, or moral or religious feelings about the matter in question.  Although the form of this method is largely economic, the effect is one of symbolic protest.

The hartal is usually limited to a duration of twenty-four hours; it may rarely be extended to forty-eight hours or even longer in an extremely serious case.  The hartal is usually city-wide or village-wide, although it may occur over a more extended area, including the whole nation.  Generally speaking, there is greater emphasis in the hartal than in the general strike on its voluntary nature, even to the point of laborers abstaining from work only after obtaining permission from their employers.  Also, shop owners and businessmen fully participate by closing their establishments and factories.

This is one of the forms of nonviolent action known to ancient India, where it was used against the prince or king to make him aware of the unpopularity of a certain edict or other government measure.  The hartal is also used at a time of national mourning.

Gandhi employed this ancient method in resistance movements he led.  He often used the hartal at the beginning of a struggle with the intent of purifying the participants in the struggle, of testing their feelings on the issue, and arousing the imagination of the people and the opponent.  It was used, for example, at the beginning of the nationwide satyagraha campaign in India against the Rowlatt Bills in 1919, and at the beginning of and during the 1930-31 satyagraha campaign for independence, especially to protest the arrest of important leaders.

Gandhi emphasized the inward readiness required to begin a struggle.  Can we implement an Americanized version of hartal?  Perhaps it would lack some of the explicit spiritual aspects (attending vigils could count), but include the voluntary component (no union asking membership to strike), the notion of asking for permission to not work (maybe in the form of using sick or personal time), the limited duration (24 hours) and intent (protest more than true economic intervention).  Maybe use this specifically in DC as opposed to nationwide?

As usual, I don't have a specific formulation of how to apply these just yet, and am looking for other people's thoughts on their practicality and usefulness particularly in the fight for HR676.  I do think peace and justice activists need to consider updating tactics and strategy to work more effectively in the current political, economic and media environment, and one or more flavors of strike really ought to be part of the discussion.

ntodd

PS--I appreciate the feedback from some commenters at Great Orange Satan about my timing of these posts, so introduction of new Methods might move to a day other than Sunday.

(Post at Pax Americana, Dohiyi Mir, Green Mountain Code Pink, Corrente and Daily Kos.)