 |
| 2016 I support ANTI-WAR candidates! (Know Any?) |
The Democratic candidate is running on her credentials as a tough hawk; the Republican candidate makes random remarks that oddly align with some antiwar positions. The circus atmosphere is bigger than ever and the third-party antiwar candidates that we might usually place some hope in are lost in the swirl of events.
This year seems to underline a difficult truth: in the run-up to the US presidential election, it always seems axiomatic that this will be the opportune time to make headway on the antiwar agenda; but in the craziness of election season itself it becomes obvious just how far out of the action we antiwar people are.
As I reeled from last week's GOP convention shenanigans and find myself drenched in another week of party-business-as-usual during the Democratic convention, I'm having a moment of clarity: these people are stealing my time.
There are, what, 100 days remaining until the election in November? Am I really going to let the next 100 days be commandeered by the minutiae and couch-quarterbacking of this election?
Consider: what if each of us claimed back the time that election 2016 is trying to demand of us? What if we said, "I am not giving you my attention?" What if, instead, we acknowledged that we know right now what we're going to do on election day, and we don't need any more TV coverage or newspaper stories or Facebook posts or tweets, and that instead we were going to use that time in a way of our own choosing?
What would you do with that extra 30 minutes or hour or . . . ?
Here's a radical proposal: what if each of us spent that extra hour a day over the next 100 days to simply think? Imagine saying, "I am investing these 100 hours in thinking deeply about what it will take to change the war-like ways of this country I live in. I am going to ask hard questions, confront what's really standing in the way, think creatively, and come up with new ways to be an effective peace worker. This is my time and I am going to make the best use of it."
Taking a break to think. The results could be . . . revolutionary . . . !
Think about . . . how to get to a world beyond war FASTER . . .
Think about . . . getting networked with others in the peace movement . . .
Think about . . . how to use social media more effectively . . .
Think about . . . roles women play in the peace process . . .
Think about . . . having difficult conversations . . .
Think about . . . the structural problem of "thermonuclear monarchy" . . .
Think about . . . US Constitution and what we might do differently . . .
Think about . . . all the people doing peace work, and what part YOU want to play . . .
Think about . . . creative resistance to war and militarism . . .
Think about . . . how people encourage more people to be their best and make a difference . . .
Think about . . . ? . . .
Related posts
In four hundred and thirty-five Congressional districts, there is an
inseparable relationship between campaign funding for Congressional
races and the military contractors. How do we push back?(See IT'S A LOCK: Why the US Can't Break Its Addiction to War)
It
will benefit us antiwar activists in the US to attend to and reflect
upon the importance of these Sustainable Development Goals to achieving
the goal of ending war.(See PEACE DAY 2016: What comes first? Demilitarization? or Development?)
Election 2016 will come down to how the candidates propose to deal with ISIS, and whether they respond to the urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement.(See To Grab the Win, Might Trump or Hillary Surprise Us?)
No comments:
Post a Comment