Thanks for writing this courageous letter. I hope that a broad coalition of U.S. citizens, of all political persuasions, begins to agitate for the restoration of our Bill of Rights. We also have other problems to solve, yes, but none of them will be helped without citizens enjoying the civil liberties required to build movements [...]

Well said THD!! It appears that in Turkey the police are far more reliable enforcers for the regime than the military. No regime can afford to rely on a Praetorian guard to defend it, once the meager bread and circuses it supplies have become insufficient to keep the masses compliant.

Solidarity!! Thanks for sharing all this here, Rec’d

Meanwhile, it isn’t just in NYC and Istanbul that people are getting busy. Huge demonstrations against the ECB were held in Frankfurt. Here’s what our brothers and sisters from Blockupy Frankfurt say about their cause:

“We are fighting against the politics and institutions that serve the profit interests of capital instead of the needs of the [...]

The energy in Liberty Plaza was fantastic yesterday! Although this June 1 re-occupation was planned long before the protests began in Istanbul, we were joined by many folks who sought to express their solidarity with the Turkish protests that began in Gezi Park. The situation in Turkey remains grave:

“But Amnesty International spoke of reports of [...]

Thanks for the great post Isaiah88!

The Constitution
A noble piece of paper
With free society
Struggled but it died in vain
And now Democracy is ragtime on the corner
Hoping for some rain
Looks like it’s hoping
Hoping for some rain

Gil Scott Heron, Winter in America, 1975

Our march began in Union Square, NYC

While this is something to remember, my general opinion of his policies, especially his foreign policy, is not very high. He did veto Taft-Hartley, but he did many wrong things as well.

Thanks EFB!! I guess my “no hippie-lover” was too subtle. I certainly meant no praise to Truman, or the Cold War institutions he helped create in this post! Your paraphrase works for me, lol

Thanks for all the great information! I was delighted at the turnout for the anti-Monsanto rally I attended Saturday… some of the sheeple are waking up! Rec’d

X1000!!

Thanks brother Isaiah! My dad recently reminded me that President Truman refused to accept any corporate money, or cozy foundation speaking fees after he left office. He lived very modestly, but maintained his integrity.

Thanks Threadbare79. Part of the speech that President Kennedy gave where he said that can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_AesVsRvOEo

Of course the best advice was from Pesident John F. Kennedy: “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable.”

Thanks for this well-written post! I find your suggestion that we listen respectfully, to people now engaged in real struggles, very helpful. I’ve learned more in the past several months– hanging with fast-food/retail activists– than I did over many years listening to academics (even radicals like Noam Chomsky). Rec’d

FraudEx is a nasty, anti-union abomination!!

For is it not true that
“

if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.”

Be glad and continue the fight! Know Justice, Know Peace. No Justice, No Peace.

Fascinating diary Ohio Barbarian! I think all faiths and spiritual traditions may have positive characeristics. What the capitalists don’t want is for believers to hold their faith to the standard proposed by Pope Paul VI (December 1965) in Gaudium et Spes :

“This faith needs to prove its fruitfulness by penetrating the believer’s entire life, including its worldly dimensions, [...]

Thanks for this great post… we are indeed living through a slow-motion putsch, where too many people are too distracted to notice that their representative government has been replaced by lawless corporate control.