Radical Frustration

 I am a radical. I believe in Revolution. Our country was created by it. I also believe in Democracy, even though I look for it but can find it no where. I feel the frustration that people who smash windows have for the system, I also feel the frustration that people in other social movements have when they find people who smash windows in their midst.

 

I believe there comes a time when smashing windows is appropriate. But I also believe in peaceful marches and I don’t think that a May Day march is that time.

 

May Day is about Workers rights and the march in Olympia this year was also supposed to be about the rights of immigrants who make up a large part of the working class. But those issues got lost in the chaos.

 

I participate in movements in hopes of affecting great change. Great change can not happen without participation by the masses. Smashing windows in broad daylight doesn’t win “hearts and minds” of the people of Olympia.

 

There where a lot of different people who marched on May Day in Olympia. And of those just a few decided to smash windows. Then they got angry when the police came and arrested people. Does anyone really expect cops to let us march around busting windows without coming to arrest people? Again, only a few of the many who marched broke windows and it sucks that the whole march got violated as a result of their actions. With that said, police brutality is never excusable even though they seem to always get away with it. Who will police the police?

 

The same thing happened at WTO in Seattle. I wasn’t an activist at that time in my life, so my perceptions of the events where shaped by the corporate media. I thought like many people think that everyone there were crazy anarchists until I watched the documentary, This Is What Democracy Looks Like. It showed me that the actions against the WTO were actually part of a mainstream movement. Even the AFL-CIO was there! The police used brutal tactics against everyone, not just anarchists.

 

I witnessed the same thing May Day in Olympia .The tactics of some alienated the masses. I suspect some don’t care. Some are complete nihilists who have no hope in bringing along the masses in the creation of a better world. There goal is anarchy, the opposite of a police state. It is ironic that the actions of some anarchists could be used to justify the further movement of our nation towards a police state.

 

I know our current government is horribly flawed. We don’t have a real choice on Election Day. Both the parties who hold office today are corrupted by corporations. Corporations control the media and our government. Clicking on opensecrets.org will show you which politicians are corrupted by which corporations.

 

When corporations commit crimes, who do we appeal to when the same corporations have financed the campaigns of our elected officials? I bring this up to illustrate the point that where the power of the ballot ends the power of stones begin.

 

I can not ask an anarchist not to throw a stone through a window. He is an anarchist. He won’t listen. I don’t mean to compare anarchists to terrorists because some anarchists are my friends. However, what anarchism and terrorism have in common is that they can never be completely suppressed. They are just ideas, tactics, or philosophies–abstract things. Abstractions can not be destroyed. Nouns can not be destroyed.

 

As long as power corrupts there will be anarchists. And as long as our government supports a foreign policy of corporate imperialism, there will be terrorism.

 

So, Don, you were right. May Day turned bad, and I am almost sorry for inviting folks like you and Dr. Walton. But I see it as just a symptom of the broader disease of injustice and corruption in our government that has caused young people to be completely disillusioned

 

To prevent the next May Day from turning bad the authorities can outlaw marches and destroy the freedom that makes this country what it is, or we the people who still have hope can work to solve the injustices of our government before it’s too late.

MAY DAY! MAY DAY!

May 1st is an international Workers holiday. It’s a day for Workers to take a day off to unite and address the injustices of the Ruling Class.

May Day as a Workers holiday started in 1886 after the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago, where brave Laborers sacrificed there lives against the brutality of the police to win an eight hour work day.

Most people don’t know about May Day in this country because, believe it or not, corporations run this country and corporations don’t like worker unity because when workers unite they demand higher pay, safer working conditions, health care. All those things our expensive and corporations don’t want to incur the costs of giving Workers a fair share of what they produce. And of course mainstream media is owned by corporations so they don’t want you and I to know when workers unite.

Big business doesn’t like when workers unite to form unions. But you and I have unions to thank for the minimum wage and the 40 hour work week.

Those things had to be fought for tooth and nail. Workers have died for their rights in the past in Chicago, Illinois, in Ludlow, Colorado,and in Centralia. Click the links I have provided to research the struggle between the haves and the have nots. Maybe it will give you a different perspective on dark events in Centralia history.

Though we have come along way, it doesn’t mean things are getting better for Workers. In fact, since the 1970’s the middle class has been disappearing form this country. CEO’s make millions while the average worker can barely afford health care. As the rich get richer, the gap between rich and the poor is widening. So there is just as much need as there has ever been for the people to unite and demand that our system start serving their interest rather than corporate interest. May Day is a day for Working Class solidarity.

Sometimes Workers strike on May Day for their own interests. Other times they strike for a higher cause. This year dock workers up and down the West Coast are celebrating May Day by striking to bring the troops home from the failed occupation of Iraq. Like all wars the oil war is declared by the Ruling Class, in this case oil companies and the politicans that serve them, but fought by the Working Class, young kids who signed up just to get an education or job training. As they fight and die, they believe they are fighting for freedom, but they really fight for American oil companies to gain access to Iraqi oil.

One day people will realize that it’s not about black or white. It’s not about being American or Iraqi. The great stuggle is the constant stuggle between the have and the have not’s.
!!!NO WAR but CLASS WAR!!!

Tacoma-Olympia Mayday Calendar:

Noon Mayday Rally in Olympia—Sylvester Park (Legion & Capitol Way)
2 PM Olympia March
Sponsors—Evergreen MEChA, Olympia Movement for Peace & Justice, Olympia Students for a Democratic Society and more….

5 PM Tacoma Demonstration—Pacific Ave. I-5 overpass
6:30 PM March to Federal Courthouse
Sponsor—Peace Action Coalition Tacoma, and ….

7 PM Working Families, Not War program—1911 Pacific Ave. Washington State History Museum, Tacoma
8:30 PM Candle-light Vigil at Federal Courthouse, 1717 Pacific Ave. Sponsor—America in Solidarity

Col. Ann Wright at the Carpenter’s Hall on April 17 at 3pm

“I served 29 years in the US Army/Army Reserves. When my government attacked Iraq, I was one three US diplomats to resign in protest. I resigned my career on principle. Today, I fully support US Military personnel who, in acts of conscience, refuse to fight in wars of aggression.”                  Ann Wright

 

Ann Wright is a retired US Army colonel and US diplomat turned radical peace activist by the crimes of the Bush Administration.

There is a picture of her going to jail for justice, as they say–or at least getting arrested for justice. Click on it to go to the Iraq Veterans Against the War website.

The real heros in the war of agression against Iraq are the soldiers like Wright and Lt. Ehren Watada who refuse to fight it.

That is what caused the Vietnam war to end– units refusing to go out on patrol. Maybe that is what it will take for the troops to come home from Iraq. Let’s hope it happens before soldiers start fragging there commanding officers.

Wright will be in Centralia on April 17th 3pm at the Carpenters Hall, 417 N. Pearl St. She is promoting her new book “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.”

!!!TROOPS HOME NOW!!!

                                                                                     

Greenroofs!

Lately I have been researching greenroofs.  No, I don’t mean rooftops that are green in hue, but roofs that are alive with plants.  Based on research (into scores of peer-reviewed journals, no less) I am convinced that greenroofs could be an environmental and economic asset to Centralia College.

How could living roofs benefit the college?  Well, greenroofs:

• - Sequester carbon (helping us reduce our carbon footprint!)
• - Mitigate stormwater runoff (with our recent flood history, this could be key!)
• - Provide aesthetic beauty (we live in the “Evergreen State,” let’s embody the title!)
• - Provide habitat for birds and invertebrates (Nature. Enough said.)
• - Decrease energy use/bills (the soil acts as a thermal insulator, helping classrooms retain warmth in the winter and avoid excess heat in the summer)
• - Increase roof lifespan, decreasing re-roofing budget (the lifespan estimate of a greenroof is 25-50 years compared to 10-15 years for a conventional roof)
• - Augment LEED points
• - Put Centralia College on the map as an innovator and environmental role-model!

Greenroofs cost between $10 and $25 per square foot whereas conventional roofs cost between $3 and $20 per square foot.  Clearly, there is considerable cost overlap.  On average, greenroofs do cost more to install, but they will more than pay for themselves over the 50 year building lifespan.

Greenroofs remain relatively novel concepts in the Pacific Northwest, but they have proven themselves to be ecological and economic assets elsewhere.  For millennia civilizations have incorporated greenroofs into building design, and since the 1980s, modern green roofs have gained popularity and prominence in Western European nations (including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Iceland).  Chicago is on its way to overshadowing NW cities as the greenest city in the country, thanks in part, to greenroofs.  Now is the time for the Pacific Northwest and Centralia College to step forward as environmental role-models while simultaneously enjoying the environmental and economic benefits of greenroofs.

Out of Iraq NOW!!!

March 19 marks the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Almost 4,000 U.S. troops have died over there and coutless Iraqi civilians have been killed or displaced. For what?

To free them? They have less freedom than they ever did under Saddam. It’s barely safe enough to walk the streets of Baghdad and they live under the occupation of a foreign army. That’s not freedom.

To make our country safer? There is still not a shred of evidence linking Iraq and 911.  

You fight terror with intelligence and surgical strikes with special forces. By invading and occupy  an entire country based on lies you give the next generation of terrorist a good reason to hate you. Don’t you see that! Don’t you get that!

 So if we didn’t invade to free Iraq or to make this country safer, then what are we fighting for? That answer is obvious to rational intelligent unbiased people. We invaded Iraq to get their oil. I know. The Iraqi people know. I hope you know it.

Those people have been surviving in the desert for thousands of years, many times longer than our nation has ever been in existense. Is there anyone who seriously thinks they will ever surrender their land to crusaders who are invading their land for pure greed.

Killing for profit is wrong. Lieing to the American people to make them fear and hate is wrong. Wageing a war where thousands of innocent civilians perish just to secure oil fields is wrong. What makes their lives less valuable than the life of an American?

 When I make a choice who to stand with, who to support, I do so based on what is right and wrong not based upon what flag they fly or what language they speak or what color their skin is. I don’t support the troops because they are fighting a war that is wrong. The only way for them to begin to right that wrong is for them to leave Iraq.

Check our events calendar!

Don’t forget to check the Centralia College calendar for current happenings and future events like: special presentations, theatre productions and concerts, sports schedules, student activities, and academic dates and deadlines.

No LNG!

Concerned citizens in Oregon are in the mists of a battle with the fossil fuel industry that is trying to build liquefied natural gas facilities and pipelines in Oregon. Olivia Schmidt from the Columbia River Clean Energy Coalition will be giving a presentation about LNG on Wednesday, March 12 in Washington Hall room 103 at 2pm, right after Lyceum.

LNG just perpetuates our dependence on foreign fossil fuels. The gas is liquefied to transport it on ships from the Middle East and other parts of the world.

There plan is to dredge the Columbia River, destroying salmon habitat, so that the huge ships can fit. These monstrous ships are like floating bombs. If one ignited it would cause an explosion 3 miles across. It’s so dangerous that it causes a civil rights issue because the river would be completely off limits to civilian traffic every time an LNG ship came in.

Then there is the pipelines that are used to ship the gas to California. The LNG gasification plants are only being proposed in Oregon because people in California wouldn’t allow it in their back yard, even though the LNG, once it is turned back into gas, will be shipped there.

Those pipelines would require a 120 ft wide clear cut 230 miles long. The trees would never be allowed to grow back because the roots could damage the underground pipes.

Some people say that the LNG facilities would create jobs. I say it’s not worth it. Just because something creates jobs doesn’t make it good for a community. Besides, there are also lots of jobs that could be had in alternative energy production and that is what governments and communities should be investing in. Lets create jobs building windmills and solar panels. If we destroy the earth by continued investment in fossil fuel, everyone will be out of work.

For more info go to nolng.net.

Progress

 I will leave Centralia in June. I will always remember my experiences at Centralia College and I hope the college remembers me. I hope that I have raised questions that perhaps before we were afraid to ask.

I hope that I have raised question that by answering them honestly would create a more peaceful and justice world-a world that respects the dignity and right to life of all people-even those living in other countries-even brown people-even Muslims-even people living in coutries that our leaders label threats.

This blog will become lost in a stream of new blogs. Most of the issues of blue&gold after being read will end up in the recycling bin. I dream of a more solid symbol I can leave at Centralia College that will remind people of the quest for peace&justice that goes on everyday around the world, a quest that I am already a part of in a small way but am always looking for more ways to fullfill.

My experience here at the college will be most successful if I achieve the goal of creating a memorial to Rachel Corrie.
She was an peace activist from Olympia whose death has called attention to the plight of the Palestinian people.
I would like to see a plaque honoring her on the clocktower or maybe a statue of her some where on campus. It will be a big project to take on with only one quarter left in my Centralia College career but I’m going to give it a shot.

Introduction

It’s seems I have become some what of a celebrity on campus, whatever that means. I have been given this opportunity to have a voice on this campus to express my views on sustainability and other issues, including the society that provides us a context for the alterations of our lifestyles that is necessary to, indeed, sustain ourselves and the Earth. (Is that a run on sentence? I’m still learning, as I hope you are.)

I am thankful for this opportunity.I like to think I have earned it by being active in my community and on campus while still maintaining a strong GPA.

I might recognize me from the cover of the Spring O8 catalog. Two other Eco-Club members and myself are pictured at the Go-Green Eco fair that we put together in January. Under our picture are the words “These students are pushing Green.”

That’s very true. I have been pushing Green for about a year now. What does that mean? To put it simply it means being an example and encouraging others to adopt lifestyles that are more environmentally friendly.

But that is just the 10 second version. And Ecological Wisdom is just one of the things that it means to me to be Green, there are about 9 others. Stay tuned…

Fossil Fools Day

My buddy JP Kemmick of the Cascade Climate Network has an idea to raise awareness of the problem with fossil fuels and the need to invest in clean energy. It’s called Fossil Fools Day.

 

So I made a little sign in the shape of a speech bubble, like in a comic strip, that says “COAL SUCKS.” (It’s a little crude but that is how people I know talk). Today, John Denton and I got about 20 people on the campus to hold up the sign next to their head and allow us to take a picture of them.

The plan it to make more signs like it, take more pictures, send them on to JP to be compiled along with pictures take at other campuses around Cascadia to make a huge anti coal collage to unveil on April 1, Fossil Fools Day.

 I know coal is a sensitive subject around Centralia. TransAlta is very much a part of our economy, not so much now that the mine is closed but the power plant is still burning tons of coal every hour. It doesn’t matter who benefits from it. It’s horrible for the environment and we need to shift to alternative sources of electricity, period.