My lil Notebook

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2008-06-10T20:35:00.000-04:00

Stereo Nation - Spirits Of Rhythm - Ik Pyar Ka Nugma

2008-06-10T20:34:00.000-04:00

Stereo Nation - Spirits Of Rhythm - Ik Pyar Ka Nugma

Mysteries of the Great Pyramids

2007-12-31T15:44:00.000-05:00

This is an interesting article I read a few years ago in the Magazine Akandh Jyoti (November; December 2003 Issue.)
This article can be found at: Akandh Jyoti

Mysteries of the Great Pyramids

The pyramids of Egypt have always been a center of curiosity and attraction. From common tourists to historians, archeologists and scientific researchers, everyone feels somewhat fascinated by these mysterious monuments. For what purpose the pyramids were originally built and by whom? How were they used in the ancient times? Answers to these questions still remain a matter of controversies and endless debate. For many years, the pyramids were thought to be royal graveyards made for preservation of the mummies. However, the majestic geometrical and archaeo-astronomical features of the pyramids and the amazing energy fields found by the researchers inside these gigantic structures reveal a gamut of new facets.

The word ‘pyramid’ originates from the Greek words ‘pyra + mid’. ‘Pyra’ means ‘fire’ and ‘mid’ means ‘in the middle’. Thus, the literal meaning of pyramid would be – in the middle of fire (energy!). This indicates a possibility that the pyramids were constructed to serve as energy reservoirs or sources of accessing and preserving energy from the cosmos. The distinct geometrical features of these masterpiece designs also show the superb scientific knowledge of their architects.

The geometrical analysis of the ‘Great Pyramids’ at Giza (Egypt) shows that the base area of a pyramid divided by twelve times its height equals the universal mathematical constant π (pi). The ratio of its vertical and horizontal edges is 1.618…, which is an important geometrical constant φ (phi). This perfection of mathematical formulae in its design can’t be a mere coincidence. It is also a puzzling surprise that its depth below the earth’s surface is exactly the same as its heights above the surface.

A billion times of the height of a Great Pyramid equals the astronomical unit (the sun-earth distance). It is also remarkable that the solar energy-radiations are found to be significantly dense on the earth at this distance at the inclination at which the pyramids are located. The north-south axis (diagonal) in the middle of the pyramid divides the earth in two equal parts; not only that, this division also halves the land and the water on the earth. These and similar findings affirm that the architects of the pyramids had accurate knowledge of the geometry of the earth and the solar system and they had made use of it for advanced level experiments and applications through these pyramid shaped laboratories.

The wonders of pyramids include the fact that these are situated right above the geo-center of the gravitational field. The total of diagonal lengths of a Great Pyramid is about ten-thousandth fraction of the radius of the earth. The original meter, which was defined as one ten millionth of the distance between North Pole and the Equator, is one-fortieth of its edge. It appears that the pyramids were also used for certain standards of scale. If we multiply the number of days (= 365) in a non-leap year by 100 and add the number of hours (=24) in one day (the extra day of the leap year!), we get 36524. This happens to be the value (in meters) of the total peripheral surface of a Great Pyramid! The entrances of all the pyramids happen to face the East. Moreover their central axes at the entrance are directed towards the point in ecliptic reached by the sun at solstice (on the 21st June and 22nd December, when the sun is farthest from the equator and appears to pause before the earth returns nearer). These findings suggest astrological / astronomical applications of the pyramids.

Historical studies mention of an Egyptian Archaeo-architect and Priest named Imhotep, who had prepared the calendar of the year 4229 B.C.; it is amazing to note that his calendar also showed 365 days in a year. Such precision of calculations was also reflected in other information given in his calendar; this could be possible only by substantial knowledge of the movements of the planets and stars in and around our solar system. Usually very few planet/stars are seen in the sky over Cairo (Egypt), that too not so clearly as could be visible from other parts of the world. Then, what kinds of telescopes were used for astronomical studies those days? Were the pyramids serving as the observatories? This was also the common belief of the Arabs. However, the scientific authenticity of this possibility got accepted only after publication of the book "The Great Pyramid – Observatory, Tomb and Temple" by British Astronomer, Richard Anthony Procter in the late nineteenth century.

The learned author has revealed many important facts on applications of pyramids in planetary studies in the above book. According to him, the location of pyramids on the Equator is along the north-south geo-axis from where positions and movements of the planets and stars on the North Pole side could have been studied by the astrologers of ancient Egypt. The canals beneath the base of the pyramids lie straight in the direction of the Pole Star; the deviation angles of its rays could be measured here. These canals are dug beneath the earth’s surface at an angle of 26 degrees and 17 minutes, which happens to be the angle of reflection of light there. The upward and downward directions of these canals are according to the angles of incidence and reflection of light. These dark wells of 200 ft deep canals thus illustrate the thorough knowledge of astronomy by the experts of those days.

The above are some notable facts on the construction of the pyramids. The atmosphere inside the pyramids is found more astonishing and has posed many challenges before the modern scientists. Nobel Laureate Luis Alvarez had tried to measure the energy levels inside the pyramids using a cosmic counter machine but he did not succeed, as his instrument stopped working in the energized fields here. Surprisingly, it happened during several trials; the instrument would start functioning fine as soon as it was brought out beyond a certain distance from the pyramids. X-raying the pyramids by groups of scientists coupled with the studies by renowned physicists like Dr. A. Goneid showed findings inside the pyramids that were beyond explanation by scientific laws. Dr. M. Mc Luhan of Ontario, Canada and several others have also researched on these aspects and found that somewhat different forms of energy-fields than the electromagnetic energy (which is the energy so far known, pervading in the space) seem to exist inside the pyramids.

In view of these arcane energy fields of high intensity found inside the pyramids, the researchers opine that such marvelous scientific structures can’t be graveyards. These must have been built for some super-level purposes such as astronomic studies, understanding of the cosmos, experiments on subliminal energy, and/or spiritual modes of devotion, etc. Many believe that the rare cosmic energy indwelling here could induce sublime transmutation. This view is strongly supported by Manly P. Hall in his celebrated work entitled "The Secret Teachings of All Ages" (first ed. 1928). He mentions that staying inside the pyramids used to empower the devotees with evolved spiritual energy. In his view, pyramids might have been constructed as spiritual energy centers for enlightened transformation of personality.

Historical reviews also indicate that as per the period of their construction, the pyramids do not appear to be originally constructed as the graveyards of the Pharaoh Kings of Egypt; neither their construction took place during the reigns of the latter. In his research dissertation on "The Pyramids of Egypt", published in 1964, I. E. S. Edwards has shown 3100 B. C. to 332 B. C. as the period of the rule of the Pharaohs in Egypt. Till the early 20th Century AD, the pyramids were also largely believed to have been erected during this period. However, advanced archeological studies and scientific analysis have shown that the pyramids are much older. British archeologist, Walter Emory had examined the stones of the Great Pyramids of Giza using spectrographs and had estimated the age of these constructions to be between eleven thousand to fifteen thousand years. The Bodleian Library at Oxford has an antique treatise of Egypt, which is written on Birch Leaves. Abu Al Massoudi describes the pyramids as constructed prior to the disastrous inundation that had engulfed most parts of the earth and gave rise to its present form. As most of the modern historians approve the occurrence of this epochal flood disaster to be before 15000 years, the age of the pyramids is found to be older than fifteen thousand years from historical proofs as well. Similar supporting evidences of the recent times affirm that the great pyramids of Egypt were not built during the reign of the Pharaohs. Arabic researcher Abu Jed Al Balkhi has estimated the age of these pyramids as about thirty-three thousand years based on the results of Carbon-14 techniques applied to the organic remains of the later ages in these monuments.

It is important here to note the recent findings of distinguished anthropologist and archaeologist Prof. Tom Dillehay and Dr Dennis Stanford on the prehistoric global migration. They have thoroughly analyzed the archaeological data, the antique structures, data from excavated sites and the skulls, bones and soil/stone constructs obtained there, data on linguistic and geographic history and the data on anthropological research and evolutionary studies in genetics. Their research has annulled the hypothesis that Asians had migrated to America via the Bay of Bering about ten thousands years ago. Based on the results of this research, Prof. Tom Dillehay of the Archaeology Dept., Kentucky University (USA) concludes that – there are proofs of human inhabitation in Chile since about 33,000 years; the migration of Asians towards the American continent had begun much before that. He also argues that even the frozen strait of Bering could not hinder this migration. According to Dr. Dennis Stanford of the Smithsonian Institute (USA) this prehistoric migration had taken place in three to four stages. The findings of these researchers also support what was written by Abu Al Massoudi and point out that the architects of The Great Pyramids were not the ancient Egyptians, rather some others who had reached there much before the advent of Egyptian or Greek civilization.

Who were these "others" who had constructed the pyramids? The observations of Bill Schultz and Ed Petit are worth noting in this context. In their book "The Secret Powers of Pyramids" the authors cite that the fame of ancient Greeks as the founders of Mathematics is there just because they were able to decipher some knowledge from a well developed science of much more older civilization. The classical Alexandria of Greeks could gather and propagate only a fraction of the gigantic knowledge available with the handful of great sages, the unknown migrants, who had reached the land of Egypt thousands of years before the dawn of Greek civilization. These strangers (migrants from some more ancient and advanced civilization) of yore –– the founders of trigonometry, geometry, archaeology and astronomy – were the architects of the pyramids in the views of the authors.

The above findings and the studies of ancient Indian Culture indicate that the great sagacious migrants believed to be the architects of The Great Pyramids were the Indian rishis (the seers, sages and scientists of Vedic Age), who possessed supramental talents and had realized the supreme knowledge. Many of their disciples had migrated in small groups to even the farthest corners of the globe1 to spread the light of this supreme knowledge and sow the seeds of human civilization there. That the rishis possessed immense knowledge of the sciences pertaining to matter and the gross manifestation of Nature along with their expertise in spirituality and yoga – is clearly reflected in several treatises of the Vedic Literature. The following slokas from the 352nd Chapter of the "Matsya Puran" cite the names of eighteen experts of archaeo-architecture and civil engineering of the Vedic Age:

Bhraguratrirvasistha Ca Visvakarma Mayastatha |
Narado Nagnajiccaiva Visalaksah Purandarah ||

Brahmakumaro Nandisah Saunako Garg Eva Ca |
Vasudevoaniruddhasca Tatha Sukrabraahaspati ||

Astadasaite Vikhyata Vastusastropadesakah |
Sanksepanopadistam Yanmanve Matsyarupina ||

Of these eighteen, Vishwakarma and Maya were regarded as the leading masters. These two are referred respectively as the architects for the devatas (manifestations of divine powers) and for the danavas (demonic giants). The magical buildings, cities and supernatural instruments devised by them are cited in the Vedic Literature and also in the later scriptures like Mahabharata and Ramayana. That these were not mere mythological depictions has been authentically investigated by the researchers of the modern times as well1,2. It was certainly an easy task for such geniuses to construct the monumental pyramids. Archaeological and historical research up till now has shown that the Maya civilization in ancient Mexico was an offshoot of the Maya civilization in ancient India. The ‘Inca’ civilization spread from Ecuador to Peru was also a branch of this civilization cultivated by Maya and his followers. All these evidences strengthen the findings of Prof. Dillehay and Dr. Bill Schultz et al and show that the Great Pyramids are also an illustration of the advanced architectural knowledge of the Vedic India and that the great Indian architects of that time had constructed these wonders of the world.

What the historical data mark as the time period when the Shulbsutra and Brahmsutra were written now appears to be a little before the time the pyramids were built. These two post-vedic Indian scriptures happen to be the fundamental source of knowledge (derived from the Vedas) on vastukala (architecture), which also encompasses the secrets of constructions for archaeo-astronomical and ethno-astrological studies and hidden specificities of vastu-designs for spiritual impact, etc. This further leads to the conclusion that the ancient Indians had masterminded the magnificent design and amazing properties of The Great Pyramids.

Another puzzle associated with the pyramids is the purpose and mode of their use. The history of investigations on their mystery has also been very interesting. Many anecdotes were popular in the first few centuries A. D. about the tragic deaths of some explorers who tried to dig out the facts inside. The first authentic record in the history mentions of Khalifa Harun Al Rashid’s adventurous son Abdullah Al Memmon’s attempt in the year 820 A. D. Abdullah went inside the pyramids with a group of some intrepid young men carrying heavy hammers and chisels. Their efforts of removing or breaking some stones were ruined in the void, as the stones and their joints were too stout for the tools. In another attempt, concentrated acid was used to make a big hole from where some of the investigators could enter inside the gigantic tombs. But, they could find nothing – not a single corpse or mummy, no royal belongings. It took them about a month to come out from that labyrinth.

The common belief of these being the graveyards for preservation of the mummies was shattered completely when a team of investigators of international repute declared after search operations for several months that there were no mummies, no coffins and no hidden treasures inside the pyramids or in their basements. It is quite probable that in some period of the Egyptian rule, these might have been used for this purpose, as the energy fields inside were found to be miraculous. Most likely, this hypothesis also might have been just imaginary or an offshoot of false notions created to enhance the glory of the Pharaohs. Whatever it be, the possibility of such majestic designs with astonishing scientific and astronomical features having been constructed for merely keeping dead bodies does not appear logical in any respect; it is also not supported by any of the authentic research studies.

The unique energy fields found here indicate that these pyramids were made and used for higher-level meditations, devotional practices and spiritual experiments. These appear to be serving as reservoirs of cosmic radiation for such experiments. Journalist and philosopher, Paul Brunton had spent a night in a pyramid of Giza. His observations were compiled in the book (published by Rider & Co., 1935) entitled "A Search in Secret Egypt" where he mentions of experiencing the presence of divine consciousness-force inside these ‘celestial’ laboratories.

Several scientific experiments conducted inside the pyramids illustrate the presence of an exceptional energy field. Among these, the experiment of Austrian scientist Vern Cameron has been very popular. He had kept a watermelon inside a bathroom type wet chamber in the pyramid. Surprisingly, despite having water inside and around, the watermelon had shrunk into a tiny dry-fruit of the size of a chestnut with splendid taste. This amazing result inspired the scientist to study the aura of energy there. For this, he first worked with spectrographic recording of the energy domains (of light radiations, thermal and electromagnetic energy currents, etc) inside pyramid shaped designs in his lab. The aura of energy had an inverted pyramid shape and showed concentration of superimposed energy waves towards the base-center. The field remained dense at the particular spot for long time even after the model designs were taken away.

Another widely publicized experiment was conducted in the late twentieth century by some Russian scientists. A pot containing a six inches long fresh sapling of a plant having two or three leaves was kept inside a glass pyramid. The response and growth pattern of this tiny plant was recorded continuously by time-lapse video camera. The plant appeared to be dancing on a sonorous tune. It first inclined slightly towards the floor. Then took a round towards the east; from there it completed the round by moving towards the west. Having reached the west, it became straight and started oscillating in a slow rhythm. It repeated this ‘dance’ for few minutes at an interval of two hours. Surprisingly, no such movements were seen in any of the saplings (of same age) of that plant in the pots kept outside the pyramid.

Another interesting observation was that only the sapling inside the pyramid showed its greed (like the humans!) for the precious metal by bending completely towards a piece of gold which was placed near it.

The rishis – the ancient Indian experts of geometry, architecture and other sciences and the deep science of cosmic energy – were well aware of the distinct features of pyramid shaped designs. They had also chosen the specific positions on the equator for the construction of the gigantic pyramids at Giza (Egypt), for maximum attraction and conservation of rare cosmic radiations there. They were the torchbearers of divine light, who might have used these pyramids as centres of sublime spiritual endeavors. The savants of today, sitting on the peaks of modern marvelous scientific advancement, may well begin to reinvestigate the noble use of the pyramids for similar experiments.

References:

1. Pt. Shriram Sharma Acharya: Samasta Vishwa Ko Bharat Ke Ajastra Anudan."Pt. Shriram Sharma Acharya Vangmaya", Vol. 35. Published by Akhand Jyoti Sansthan, Mathura:283001 (U.P., India). 1995.

2. Dr. Kapil Dwivedi: Vedon Mein Vigyan. Published by Vishwa Bharti Anusandhan Parishad, Gyanpur, Bhadohi (U.P., India). 2000

21st centuries' racist reaction to America's faltering economy

2007-12-18T01:20:00.000-05:00

Earlier tonight, my wife and I watched the news on the television. It has been sometime since we watched the news together - being that I usually get pist off and go off on some rant about how stupid the media is and how stupid people are for believing that crap! CNN aired a segment on a sheriff who was battling illegal immigration in his town. That was not news - that was straight up propaganda; an infomercial selling social ideas. I was floored when I realized that major broadcasters now, more or less, openly condone and support racism. CNN has not reached the point of where they air their proponents saying "I hate Mexicans" right out yet; but who are they fooling with their flimsy legitimizations (i.e. ridiculous cause and effects) and use quasi-politically correct terms.

I used to dismiss the immigration issue as if it were an earnest effort to garner public opinion for the Republicans. But this is much deeper than that - the looks on those anti-illegal immigrant protesters reminded me of the photos and videos I have seen from the civil rights days. This one particular white woman was screaming her head off and you could see the deep rooted hatred in her. She was not there pushing for greater efficiency in her district; rather she was furthering her personal agenda of hate! She sounded absurd with her little one liners: "Hasta La Vista your ass to the border!" It hurt to watch her and she truly pissed me off.

It must be stated that these immigration issues that are being debated in the media are magnificently superficial; for these matters lay in deeper sciences of international trade and theory and international political economics. As such, citizens are for the most part ignorant to the specifics surrounding international trade negotiations in both the public and private spheres. But these people seem to have lost their minds; abandoned the little they do know about economics (the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer) and have ultimately jumped on this bandwagon chastising other poor peoples!

There is so much that needs to be done in this world - people starving; people needlessly dying from preventable/ curable diseases; the use of torture... And these people are exerting their energy at having people detained and deported for not complying with the federal government's bureaucracies!

Honestly, if I was a gangster, which I am not, I would extort groups like the minutemen.

Mahalo!

2007-12-17T11:09:00.000-05:00

We adopted a puppy from the Animal Center of Queens on Friday! My wife and I named her 'Mahalo'. She is a gentle 4 month old Lab/Pit Mix. She's only 20 some pounds and is absolutely precious. I'm hoping she gets much larger!

Getting Knowledge to play nice with her is a work in progress...

Mahalo

Knowledge

Knowledge and Mahalo at play!

Mahalo has two sisters that need to be adopted as well (a litter of three females.) If anyone is interested in adopting one or knows someone who would be - please let me know.

UPDATE: MAHALO'S SISTER'S HAVE BEEN ADOPTED!!!!

Click on Mahalo's Sisters' pictures to find out more:

Lonnie also needs a home. I was going to adopt her initially, but Knowledge would not accept her into our lives. Lonnie is a little older and Knowledge can still be dog aggressive at times. Although we got them to play and walk together - we didn't want to take a chance... She is absolutely gorgeous and this picture does not do her justice. She is the sweetest thing in the world and needs a good home.

Click on Lonnie's Picture to find out more:

Peace.

Terrorists using terrorism to terrorize terrorists?

2007-12-16T19:48:00.001-05:00

If I hear the word "Terrorist" one more time in the News - I will have to physically throw my television out of the window (hopefully landing on Lou Dobbs.)

By definition, "Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives." (US Federal Bureau of Investigation.)

Think about that definition long and hard 'outside of the box'.

Thus it can be said that any country who uses violences against another government or a civilian population for its social or political ends is a Terrorist.

Hence, the paradox: the Republic of the United States of America has more than 700 bases overseas and in over 36 countries. Since 1798 to 1983 the Republic has engaged in well over 234 conflicts and wars. This number does not include the endless list of American Indian Battles/ wars which were fought from 1777 to 1974; nor does it include armed insurrections and slave rebellions; domestic conflicts; nor does it account for all of the covert operations U.S. agencies have been involved in: i.e. The Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic; Brazil; Guyana; Greece; Bolivia; Peru; Haiti; Guatemala; Fiji; El Salvador...

This is why it is so annoying to keep hearing the word "terrorism" in our mainstream media. It is trenched in hypocrisy and frankly it sounds absolutely absurd and ignorant. Yet like zombies our neighbors; families; co-workers seem to legitimize our governments actions with the notion that it is fighting terrorism. Thus we have terrorists using terrorism to terrorize the terrorists.

But hey before we blame the Bush Administration, lets remember that our present governance has only continued in our Nation's legacy: TERRORISM.

For a list of wars/conflicts please see: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/foabroad.
For another list of conflicts/ wars/ or general involvement (i.e. military aid...):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_military_history_events
A Map showing a few of these conflicts:
http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/american-wars.html
Terrorism, lol, READ THIS!
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/september2006/210906planebomber.htm
SOA:
http://www.soaw.org/
Wbat is the Schools of America?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Hemisphere_Institute_for_Security_Cooperation

War on Poverty

2007-12-13T08:25:00.001-05:00

http://stir.org.au/stir/Content.aspx?topicID=76

In the Tradition of Hebron

2007-12-12T00:43:00.000-05:00

Let us focus here for a moment and ask ourselves these fundamental questions:

a) How can the Israeli governance possibly legitimize the methodology employed by its police at this residence?

b) How can the U.S. continue to participate in any form of relationship with the current Israeli leadership after witnessing these acts of violence?

Is this is how our allies treat their civilian populations?
If so, what does that say about us?

Should I sympathize with the Muslims or Christians?

2007-12-11T06:41:00.000-05:00

Since the invasion of Iraq I have found myself defending Islam on many occasions. Not that Islam needs defending from a NY born Hindu - but just out of decency of knowing that America is not at war (as it legitimizes) "against terrorism propagated by Islam" - rather it is once again on its imperial rampage: Manifest Destiny.

As such, I have often had "Bush bashing" sessions with my Muslim friends and shared in their frustrations - for I too am a child of the colonized and enslaved and within whom the blood of the raped flows. While finding camaraderie with the oppressed: I too often forget that those I find a parallel with may still adhere to the ideology of the oppressor - but have simply been defeated. Its as if a thief was 'out-thieved.'

Thus the conflict ensuing between the Muslims and Christians puts people like myself in a weird position. Hence if one claims to be of either religion, there is an implied acceptance of that religion's doctrines - of which both are imperialistic and condone violence - thus how can we sympathize with either side? They both produce nations of indoctrinated peoples who find wars, primarily based in ideology, justifiable. Thus as these two religions continue to wreak havoc on one another, the Christians have established a stronger footing which has ultimately created a huge oppressed class of Muslims. Thus should we not sympathize with the currently oppressed? Should we not try to remedy this; for it embodies human suffering? Or rather should we stand aside and applaud the oppressor who has been subduing a potential threat and keeping it at a bay?

Qur'an:
[5:33]
"Those who make war with Allah and his messenger will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. That is how they will be treated in this world, and in the next they will have an awful doom."

Qur'an:
[5:86]
"But those who disbelieve and deny Our revelations, they are owners of hell- fire."

Qur'an:
[9:29]
"You shall fight back against those who do not believe in GOD, nor in the Last Day, nor do they prohibit what GOD and His messenger have prohibited, nor do they abide by the religion of truth - among those who received the scripture - until they pay the due tax, willingly or unwillingly."

Qur'an:
[47:4]
“So when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you have overcome them, then make (them) prisoners, and afterwards either set them free as a favor or let them ransom (themselves) until the war terminates"

Bible (KJV):

Mathew 28:19:
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"

Luke 19:27
"But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me."

Numbers 31:15-19
"And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? ... Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."

Deuteronomy 20:13-16
“And when the Lord thy God hath delivered [a city] into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: But the women, and the little ones . . . shalt thou take unto thyself . . . But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth”

Presently, there are 1.6 billion Muslims and 2.1 billion Christians in this world - 54% of the world's population. Of which, the Muslims have suffered their due defeat on the battle field. After centuries of domination, they have now come to suffer the same pains they inflicted on those they conquered. So before we align due to similarity in circumstance - one must understand that we are both here from very different reasons. Further one must note - that once this body is rejuvenated and should it maintain a non-secular route: it will again wreck havoc on the world. On the other hand, we have the victorious Christians who have essentially used the world as their own backyard. Within which the U.S. is 75% Christian and has a track record that is less than fabulous: with nearly wiping out the indigenous of this land; slavery; witch hunts; colonialism; imperialism; white supremacy; neo-liberalization and now their recent war on terror and against immigrants.

Thus we must not get caught in the cross fire between the Christians and Muslims - rather we should focus on the greater good and try to divert their energy towards the same. One should employ power politics and employ methods to call upon the masses religious morality/ accountability in composing both domestic and foreign policies fostering Universal Peace. Public advocacy which manipulates that which the wealthy oppressors have held a monopoly over. And all the while trying to create a harmonious society conducive to peace - continue fostering Education; Education; and Education for the masses.

"Just Give Peace A Chance"

2007-12-11T04:07:00.000-05:00

Problem:
We live in a violent society which is conducive to random killings. Whether we blame the media; poverty; poor education; or even the government's imperialistic agenda (constant state of war and terror); - we have to face this fiasco and remedy it.

Solution:
To welcome certain acts of violence and to shun others has proven futile in nurturing a healthy society. Hence we have given violence its fair chance: for throughout history we have allowed war; aggression; and patriarchal methods. Is it not time to "just give peace a chance"?

Methodology:
If in the absent of violence there is peace, then it is non-violent methods we seek.

Ideally we would be able to seek a solution in a 'top down model' - where the government would change certain policies and the violence would diffuse. As nice as that would be - it is unrealistic and many would suggest that the solution lays more at a grassroots level in a 'bottom up model'.

Yet the grassroots level may very well be a too high of a point to start as well - for the ultimate change lays in the individual. For before individuals can congregate and collaborate for a greater communal consciousness - they themselves must have actualized its virtues.

To anticipate the such: individuals laboring at finding peace within themselves - would be at best - naive. The probability that individuals will self-motivate and began the arduous task on their own is close to zero.

Thus the method to finding communal wellness lays not within top down or bottom up models - but rather lays in every facet of the society becoming involved in "refinement." Example can be made of China's recent 'refinement regiment' (i.e. no spitting in public spaces)- to better present itself for the upcoming Olympics. From the governance to the media; private enterprise; academia; and grassroots - every asset of society must be mobilized in finding better citizenry and communal wellness.

Task:
Thus to bring non-violence into our societies psyche - individuals must let go of their violent thoughts; methodologies; and actions. This begins with deep introspection and studies aided by a strong will to live righteous. Realization of concepts that have been scribed about non-violence: i.e. it is not a double negation as in 'not getting angry is non-violence' - rather non-violence lays in refining one's thoughts and actions and coming to higher understandings of life and its processes...

Anti-depressents and the wave of violent teen shootings

2007-12-06T15:10:00.000-05:00

Interesting article on the connection between anti-depressants and the wave of violent teen shootings at:

www.newstarget.com/022330.html

www.newstarget.com/020279.html

The Family Literacy Program

2007-12-04T22:43:00.000-05:00

Silvana Vasconcelos has recently began a Family Literacy Program at the Queens Library located in Long Island City, Queens. Through her constant dedication, She has helped many immigrant families find better lives here in New York City. She has continuously taught them everything from goal orientation to literacy to better parenting - she has been absolutely involved in bringing all that she can to this community.

I interviewed with her yesterday to become a volunteer with her program and came to learn how much help they really need over there. With regards to work and school - I can only volunteer for a few hours a week. I hope people take interest in her cause in helping these families better integrate in to our city and our able to help her for at the least a few hours a week.

You can find more information at the Queens Library's Website:

www.queenslibrary.org/index.aspx?page_nm=Adult+Literacy-MoreLit

Peace and Blessings.

The Economics of Black Diamonds

2007-12-01T23:05:00.000-05:00

As a slave descendent scavenges through his vague story (history) books and analyzes hear say, he simply seeks knowledge of what exactly happened to his forbearers. Were they really primitive savages or were they (or rather we) of less ability than those who enslaved us? One can not develop a full sense of self or identity alone from the achievements of the few celebrated Washington Carvers or the controversial Malcolm X’s. This inquiry has created a market for research seeking the truth of our past. Yet after a deeper study of this subject on slavery, focused on the African transatlantic trade, we only seem to find the obvious: capitalism! It is what motivated the European colonies in the Americas to rely on the labor of slaves of African descent; it was business.

Karl Marx wrote, “…the colonisation of America, trade with the colonies, the increase in the means of exchange and in commodities generally, gave to commerce, to navigation, to industry, an impulse never before known, and thereby, to the revolutionary element in the tottering feudal society, a rapid development."[i] To give justice to Marx’s commentary, one must have an understanding of Europe’s medieval economics. Many economic historians attribute the enclosures as a starting point, which coined the growth of market economies in approximately 1450 a.d. In brief, enclosures were the privatization of land to be used to supply the market; rather than meet the communal needs of those who pastured it.[ii] Without land to nourish the peasants, they transformed into the proletariat seeking refuge within the Feudal System.[iii]

The feudal system comprised of a relationship between the peasant’s labor (known as the serf) and the aristocratic noble’s (land owner) protection. The land was a dividend granted by the king “to his most important nobles, his barons, and his bishops, in return for their contribution of soldiers for the king's armies.”[iv] The scarcity of resources is a primary principle of economics and as such over time the lords could no longer provide new land to their serfs. With kings developing National Armies and the lack of land led to the decline of this feudalistic system.[v] This "marked the end of the true feudal age and began paving the way for strong monarchies, nation states, and national wars of the sixteenth century. Much fourteenth century feudalism had become artificial and self-conscious. Already men were finding it a little curious. It was acquiring an antiquarian interest and losing its usefulness. It was ceasing to belong to the real world of practical living." [vi] With the feudal system failing, merchant capitalism took the main stage.

Mercantilism was the prominent economic policy during the 1500’s, which held ‘emphasis on the importance of gold and silver holdings as a sign of a nation’s wealth and power led to policies designed to obtain precious metals through trade by ensuring “favorable” trade balances. It ensured government regulation to increase its power at the expense of rival nations and it favored a large population to supply laborers, purchasers of goods, and soldiers.’[vii] Mercantilism set the precedent for colonialism and overseas conquest; the Americas had an abundance of resources, whereas feudalist Europe had depleted their own. Thus the colonies became a vital resource for its bullion, raw materials, finished products and other commodities. Slavery became essential in this equation by keeping the labor cheap and increasing the profit margins.[viii] Neither the merchants nor the empires they represented had any humanistic ideals: they were simply seeking wealth, regardless the cost. There was a created demand for slavery and a market rose in the form of the transatlantic slave trade.

“The long-term contact of the Mediterranean with Africans from at least the time of Egyptian civilization onwards makes one doubt the importance of this phenomenon. Also the extensive history of Europeans enslaving each other would suggest that there was nothing special about the Africans and slavery in the European mind at the end of the fifteenth century.”[ix] Mercantilism aggressively forced efficiency for the colonialist and for those trying to capitalize from the Americas: thus the demand for cheap and efficient slave or indentured labor. The Native Americans were a poor labor source with their propensity for revolt, escape, and suicide. Other labor markets were rapidly growing across Europe, so it became increasingly difficult to recruit European peasants for labor across seas. The Portuguese had success with the Black labor force in São Thomé in the Gulf of Guinea and through a series of trial and error again met success with this labor in the tropical Americas (staffed with European managers.)[x] The Africans also waged better against disease and the climate compared to their laboring counterparts.[xi] African slavery seemed to fit the shoe. “America became the great market for some 9 to 10 million Africans in the course of the next five centuries,” [xii]

We are often led to believe the romantic notion that Europe was engulfed with an adventurous spirit and these great men set sail to discover new routes to the Indies. Once this new land was discovered they civilized the areas and brought with them agriculture to tame the land. This is a stretch from the truth; they came in pursuit of capitalistic resources from prior knowledge of existing routes. Once they landed, they destroyed the inhabitants and ruthlessly pursuit of African slavery as labor for profit. Europe was at the dawn of peasant uprisings and with a mobilization of a middle class at hand; they needed economic expansion. Thus were the birth of capitalism and the modernization of slavery. Capitalism is the culprit and at its roots we find greed which led to the African slavery. With this learnt, allow us the wisdom to learn from our past, regain our dignity and to have the sight of our greed incited ideology of today: our Neo-Conservative government with its forced expansionary Neo-Liberal markets.

[i] Marx, Carl. Communist Manifesto. International Publishers Co., Inc 1948 (American Reprinting)

[ii] This information is primarily based off Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclosure and Encyclopedia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9032595

[iii] Information is based on the article from Revolution Special Youth Edition http://www.worldrevolution.org.uk/oldsite/pages/ideas_pages/birthofcapitalism.html

[iv] Annenberg/CPB Learner.Org http://www.learner.org/exhibits/middleages/feudal.html

[v] This information is almost paraphrased from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudalism

[vi] J. J. Bagley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudalism

[vii] This segment is paraphrased from Encyclopedia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9052075/mercantilism and Answers.com http://www.answers.com/topic/mercantilism

[viii] This information was found at http://www.answers.com/topic/mercantilism and was combined with my prior learnings.

[ix] Herbert Klein, African Slavery, chapter 2

[x] Curtin, Philip D. Epidemiology and The Slave Trade. The Slavery Reader. Slavery in the

Americas: An introductory overview. London: Routeledge, 2003.

[xi] Curtin, Philip D. Epidemiology and The Slave Trade. The Slavery Reader. Slavery in the

Americas: An introductory overview. London: Routeledge, 2003.

[xii] Walvin, James and Heuman, Gad. The Slavery Reader. Slavery in the

Americas: An introductory overview. London: Routeledge, 2003.

A Persuasive Precedent for a New World Order

2007-12-01T23:03:00.000-05:00

Art has been a decisive tool for mass propaganda and the legitimization of imperial sovereignty throughout history. An apposite illustration which attests to the persuasive precedents for a New World Order may be found in Roma Spiridione’s The East Offering its Riches to Britannia. Through this artistic rendition of merchant capitalism, we find a stark reminder of our felonious past as Americans, in part of the European structure of commerce. This early modern art is also emblematic of Europe’s egocentric views from its period of Enlightenment.

This oil painting was finished on an oval canvas by Spiridione, while commissioned by The East India Company in 1777 (British Library). He was assigned to paint a ceiling piece for the Revenue Committee Room at the East India House (British Library). Although it is representational art depicting early corporate colonialism, it combines the Rococo style by accenting the luxurious state, dainty figures and by placing cherubs in the background (Stokstad 378). This style is further accentuated by his use of polychromy combined with a high concentration of the primary hue blue, which creates a cool palette (Stokstad 5). His use of other colors contrasts the blue, such as the use of red on the Roman God Mercury’s garments and the dark complexion of the Indian woman. Mercury’s red commands authority as he stands amongst the ‘Easterners,’ in the middle right quadrant. The Indian woman is kneeling at the center of the painting, and as her complexion contrasts with her surroundings, the observer’s attention is directed to the paintings midpoint. There is also linear symmetry which focuses at the center, by depicting majority of the figures facing or pointing towards the middle.

The heavy use of iconography (Stokstad 6) captures the observer’s intimate attention. The major concentration of the painting is on the middle and lower quadrants of the left and right side. In the aforementioned quadrants of the right side, we find the ‘Easterners’ represented by the Asian delegates of India, China, and Indonesia. They are giving their wealth to Britannia at the command of Mercury. On the quadrants aforesaid of the left side, we find Britannia identifiable by the flag she is wearing. She stands over a lion which symbolizes power. Below it in the lower left quadrant of the foreground, lays Old Father Thames (Robins 6) also symbolizing navigational might. In the center lower quadrant, we find a ship with the East India Company flag (Robins 3). This painting can be interpreted as the lowly Asians engaging in commerce with the mighty Brits, through the East India Company. Roma juxtapositions Britannia in a higher quadrant over the kneeling Asians to show an early classical styled relationship akin to God and worshiper.

As Western societies hypocritically stand as pillars for justice and righteousness, their consciousness lays in a continuum of atrocious crimes against humanity and the peoples of hundreds of nations. The historical subject matter of this painting, captures these evils of merchant capitalism and their present day neoliberal policies. Although an afflicted eye can capture the true nature of this work, this painting gave merchant capitalism legitimacy to its intended audience. It held fast to the egoistic views of European supremacy. This allowed them to economically rape Asia, so they can enjoy their pathetic luxuries while profiting from human misery. This painting is a reminder of how our governing and economical systems, which are both geared towards the New World Order, need to be completely replaced!

Works Cited

Stokstad, Marilyn. Art: A Brief History. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2004 (DiYanni 154).

DiYanni, Robert. Writing About the Humanities. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2004.

Spiridione, Roma. The East Offering its Riches to Britannia. British Library. c5945-03

http://www.imagesonline.bl.uk/britishlibrary/controller/subjectidsearch?id=8389&startid=31272&width=4&height=2&idx=1

Robins, Nick. “The East offering its riches to Britannia.” openDemocracy.com. 22 January

2003.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/arts/article_916.jsp

Cries of the South

2007-12-01T22:58:00.000-05:00

The voices of civil right’s martyrs and the humming of a distraught black woman, combined with water flowing over the names and dates of those murdered fighting for equality commences the Southern Poverty Law Center’s film, Faces in the Water. The 2005 documentary complements Alabama’s Civil Rights Memorial and is viewed at their sixty nine seat theater. This cinema is based on a true story and is written, directed and narrated by Jim Carrier.

Set in an era of violence, it depicts America’s Southern struggle through a series of black and white photos and still shots. Many scenes also use Maya Lin’s civil right’s monument as a backdrop, which adds a continuum uniting the past and present strife for an equal status quo. The film is an overview of forty men, women and children who were victimized and murdered out of sheer racism. The narrative begins with the tragedy of Emmett Louis Till, whose body was discovered in the Tallahatchie River with one eye gauged out, a 75 pound cotton gin tied around his neck and shot in the head. The fourteen year old boy’s body was found three days after he was murdered. The husband of a white woman, with the help of his brother viciously tortured and killed him for allegedly having whistled when he saw her. The child’s mother had his body returned home to Chicago, where he was given an open casket funeral. She is quoted in the film, “people had to face my son, they had to face themselves.” Despite the overwhelming evidence the murders were given a not-guilty verdict (even though they admitted their doings in court.) Jim Carrier also displays an array of pictures humanizing Emmett, allowing us to see him as a real person (pictures of him growing up.)

Although the film is dedicated to the forty martyrs, Carrier seems to tell more: the civil rights saga. One can observe that the tragic stories are told on a time line, from the beginning of the black suffrage movement to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Through vivid visualizations from the use of various shot techniques, such as shallow focus shots, he leaves us with a memory of how the struggle unfolded. His use of black and white, the dark lighting of the film helps develop a sad feeling; thus reaching the audiences’ emotions (which is again, essential to memory.) Rather then presenting another single faceted history lesson, he brings alive the multi-dimensional aspects of life in the South and the need for such movements, in a manner that the audience will not forget.

Jim Carrier working in conjunction with The Southern Poverty Law Center created a heart wrenching film. I have watched it over ten times, and still am left with an overwhelming emotional response. It reminds me of the pains and labors of the men and women who paved the path for me. The scenes of women being hosed down during peaceful marches by uniformed riot police, police dogs mauling them, the water flowing in the monument, from Montgomery to Washington D.C., church bombings, and the eyes filled with tears all for equal rights with those of different skin complexion. The sharp images Carrier uses motivate me to further educate myself and become an asset to the continuous struggle for a land of equal opportunity. The boycotts, sit-ins, and names of those murdered like Rev. George Lee, Medger Evers, Jimmie Lee Jackson and Viola Rose will be reminded to the generations who watch this film.

Lavoe Revolt

2007-12-01T22:46:00.000-05:00

Come check out our new magazine at www.Lavoerevolt.com and download issues 1 and 2 for free in pdf format.

Speech from Dad's 60th Birthday Party

2007-12-01T22:20:00.000-05:00

Today we gather here to celebrate one man’s birthday. We eat, drink, laugh and dance to celebrate his special day…. But we live in a fast paced world, where the hours of time pass us so fast, that sometimes we truly forget why we do the things we do.

As such, allow us to remember that today is not just my father’s special day, but rather a special day for all of us that love him – for we have been blessed with another day, another hour, another year with our beloved. It is we who celebrate – because we know that we have the comfort of his love, the security that only his heart can provide, and his strength that guides us in our lifes path.

To best understand what a father endures, The great poet Kahlil Gibran once said:
“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.”
As such, my father has allowed the greatest archer, God – to use him as a bow – and he endured being bent, as a bow does: so that my brother and I, the arrows – may travel far and strong….

Many know that my father has done a great deal for both our family and our community – but what most don’t know what it takes to do what he has continuously achieved. The man has awoken consistently every morning for the past 35 years, to spend his entire day working. From early morning to late at night, as the rest of us played, watched t.v. or read books – my father sat in his office buried in a pile of paperwork.

Most of my life, I resented him for that, I would say – I rather have a poor father – but one who would spend more time with me.
But this was my youth speaking - I was too young to understand that my father was working so hard – so that he can provide a better life not only to my mother, brother and I – but to more then 8 other families. He has sacrificed his time, his life – so that other’s may live.

He has continuously stood as a pillar to both our nuclear family and extended. He is there for those within our community, as such - I often see men come late at night – simply seeking advice from my father. Many come in times of despair, when a good man’s friendship is necessary.

what I didn’t understand, was why he cared for everybody – but me.

But the truth is, my father gave me a wealth – the greatest riches in life – he taught me how to love, to love unconditionally and taught me how to be there for the people around me. My father’s lessons have taught us all – and has taught us well.

Today my brother is an attorney – and as of yet I have never seen him advice another in a wrong way – he often doesn’t worry about profits and helps people who need him. This virtue was not taught at law school, he learned it from watching my father. I want to teach, perhaps be a professor one day – this want of working with others is my father’s teachings to me.

This is but just one achievememnt of my father, there are many others I can speak of – as such as teaching us how to challenge ordinary thinking – to think outside the box. Remember he was the man who married a women, my beautiful mother, outside of the community understanding – he challenged and won against the caste system by having a successful marriage. He journeyed here to America, to speak of another achievement – not because America is anyway better then our India – but simply an achievement for having the courage to voyage half way across the world – to start a new life for him and our families.

So today remember, we are not here just to eat, drink, laugh and dance – but rather we are here to be reminded - that we have the opportunity to spend one more day, one more year, and simply just more time with the man that has loved us all unconditionally, my father Chandrakant Shantilal Shah.

Love u didi.

The Bolivian Example to Citizenry

2007-12-01T22:01:00.001-05:00

“Instead of governance being "of the people, by the people, for the people", governance becomes "of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations".”

It is amazing how men and women study and understand the deep intricacies of strategies, distribution, and demographics when it comes to football or baseball. They will know the most monotonous facts about these trivial things, yet they ironically shrug when current events are discussed. The American majority is plagued by such ignorance, inaction and complacency; for they rather watch sports than understand or question the basic tenets of our existing society. It is this same complacency that has allowed our government and its corporate affiliates to forcibly liberalize the post-colonial nations’ economies. They have only been furthering the advent of destruction of the people of these nations in the namesake of ‘development,’ and as these evil trans-national conglomerates rapidly grow in size, power and capital; we watch Tiki Barber running around in tights chasing a ball. Against all odds, the people of these oppressed nations have gathered and found within their souls enough strength to mobilize against these atrocities. As such allow us to review the events of and those that led up to the mass movement against privatization in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

“I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves.”

In April of 2000, the Bolivian President Hugo Banzer raged that “the chaos has begun to spread ... just at the moment in which we are beginning an important economic reactivation plan,"[1] and declared a “state of siege.”[2] Later that day, BBC News reported globally that “The Bolivian Government has called the army onto the streets after protests over water price rises spiralled into violence, leaving several dead.”[3] The average individual would shrug at such violence and would perhaps even reprimand those who resorted to such means; especially to protest these menial and trivial issues. Thus, exemplifying how unaware the individual is in regards to the current dynamical global events. The events of Cochabamba did not categorize ‘random acts of insurgency,’ rather; it illustrated the unified and mass mobilization of Bolivian peasants to protect the public interest. The price rates of water had recently increased to estimates close to 200 percent[4] and affected the core survival of both the aggregate community and the individual family. To further dispel the disparity between the foreign reader and the events of Cochabamba; we need to highlight certain historical events that molded the current state of affairs of Bolivia.

“It all seemed a riskless romp - until a few thirsty, angry peasants decided they could stop it.”

At the root of the ‘water revolt’[5] was the neo-liberal ‘Decree 21060’ by President Victor Pas Estensorro in 1985.[6] Drafted by Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, an American-educated technocrat;[7] it essentially laid the foundation for privatization of state-owned companies and the destruction of the powerful unions.[8] President Estensorro tried to legitimize the legislation by declaring its necessity to challenge the preposterous inflation rates Bolivia was suffering. Ultimately, this legislation proved it did not have the public interest at heart; rather it was an invitation to international conglomerates to make the elite even wealthier by selling off the publicly held companies (i.e. tin mines, petroleum, telecommunications, railroads, utilities and manufacturing capital.)[9] To better understand how this could have happened; we need to briefly review President Estensorro’s role in Bolivian history and his political affiliations with the MNR.

President Estensorro originally came to power in 1952, after the MNR successfully overthrew the old military regime during the Bolivian National Revolution.[10] MNR (Nationalist Revolutionary Movement) was a political party that he had co-founded and it consisted of fascist ideology catering to the middle class.[11] Estensorro implemented vast political, economical and land reforms to avert scrutinization from the post-revolution masses.[12] Presumably, they opted for these conservative reforms because were still vulnerable to the masses (which had helped them achieve their power.) The MNR soon shifted their policies back to the extreme right after Estensorro was succeeded by President Hernando Siles Zuazo.[13]

“The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is,

in my opinion, the real source of the evil.”

Once again MNR suspended social programs, which had resulted from the revolution and began laying foundations to privatize industry. They brought in massive financial support from foreign investors (including the U.S.) and even re-invited the ousted American petroleum companies.[14] President Estensorro resumed his presidency after Zuazo’s term and followed suit in liberalizing Bolivia.[15] He also reinstated a national military. In 1965, Estensorro tried to run for another term of Presidency and was ousted and exiled by a military coup.[16] He then returned to Presidency in 1985 and immediately resumed his liberal policies. Since 1985, MNR has ruled Bolivia in conjunction with other parties who have also adopted neo-liberal policies. MNR once again directly secured power in 1993 with President Lozada and began a particular ‘privatization and capitalization program’ in which the “government sold its interests in electrical energy, transportation, communication, hydrocarbon, and airline companies to foreign partners; the remaining government stake in these companies was transferred to a new national pension fund system.” [17]

The dictator who had ruthlessly ruled over Bolivia from 1971 to 1978, Hugo Banzer was elected to presidency in 1997. The following year, Bolivia obtained a loan for $138 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF.)[18] The loan was received in an effort to stabilize “inflation and bolster economic growth”[19] and it detailed conditions bounding Bolivia to “sell of all remaining public enterprises; including national oil refineries and Cochabamba’s local water agency, SEMAPA.” [20] In 1999, the World Bank prepared an economic report Bolivia Public Expenditure Review and maintained that “no subsidies should be given to ameliorate the increase in water tariffs in Cochabamba.”[21] It prompted the government to privatize its water system in the region, and thus Banzer signed a $2.5 billion contract with Bechtel.[22] Aguas del Tunari, a consortium in which Bechtel held a 27.5 percent interest, assumed controlled of Cochabamba’s water and sanitation supply.[23] Banzer sold off an entire city’s water supply.

“It is a basic tenet of accounting that investors, not customers, fund capital projects. The risk-takers then recover their outlay, with profit, when the project produces a product for sale. This is the heart, soul and justification of the system called 'capitalism'. That's the theory. But when a monopoly operator gets its fist around a city's water spigots, it can pump the funds for capital projects from captive customers rather than shareholders.”

Water formulates two-thirds of the human body and has no perfect substitutes. We have an absolute need for water to cook our food, and to maintain both general sanitary and hygienic standards. Therefore, how do you think we would react to New York City secretly selling off our water supply? The government would have essentially jeopardized our survival and thus marginalized their legitimacy to advocate on behalf of our popular sovereignty. Nevertheless, before we take up arms; we must not forget the old Adam Smith cliché of “there is no such thing as a free lunch.” We continuously elect to live in a capitalistic society, and in order for us to enjoy the utility of a product or a service: we must engage in a trade. Thus, what should be the exchange rate/ value for a substance that is essential to human survival? This question also perplexed Adam Smith, and he questions, in his diamond-water paradox, “why is it that diamonds, which have very little practical use, command a higher price than water which is indispensable to life.”[24] This is not a subject that we can afford to be complacent with. Allow me to reiterate that last point, “…water which is indispensable to life.”

Although water itself is inexpensive, there are high expenditures on the water supply. Since the government appropriates our funds; we barely even know about it. We rarely even wonder how our water is supplied and/or the labour it requires to do so. Most people do not take interest in whether or not there has been a general increase in costs of production inputs as the environmental and health codes stricken and as new technologies are introduced. While we are complacent with our water supply, many companies are working hard to find ways to legitimize water privatization across the world. This is bad. Privatization has many downfalls and aside from the basic textbook disadvantages of privatization, such as the loss of ‘local control’ and ‘negative aspects of a long-term contract,’[25] there are some major factors to consider: what kind of contractual agreement to enter; evaluations and feasibility of privatization; assessments of risk and benefits; financial feasibility; regulatory considerations; and an evaluation of legal and institutional factors.[26]

Yet the community in Cochabamba was not even informed that Banzer had privatized their water supplies until October of 1999, when Aguas del Tunari (ADT) announced they now controlled what once was;[27] and always has been: a public utility. This should have been grounds from which grass root organizations could find immediate legal recourse; especially since ADT “was also to be given control over hundreds of rural irrigation systems and community wells, projects paid for and built by local people without government help.”[28] Therefore, not only were people not informed about the decisions, they were cheated as well. The masses were profoundly against privatization, “On March 26 we conducted a popular consultation in the Cochabamba area served by the water company. We asked the people what they wanted. Did they want the contract? Did they want the law to continue privatizing the water? Did they want increases in the water bills? Between 94 and 98 percent of the people said no to all of these. Fifty thousand people voted. It could have been more, but we didn't have the resources to make arrangements for more.”[29]

“At this moment I am happy, for I realize that I am achieving the goal of my life: to do something meaningful for others, to put into concrete actions my desire to love”

Soon broad based grassroots organization quietly developed in Cochabamba; included both “urban and rural, both poor and middle class.”[30] La Coordinadora for the Defense of Water and Life consisted of the “local factory workers union, irrigators and farmers, environmental groups, local economists, [and] progressive members of Congress.”[31] Everybody was against this privatization, “all of the people were united against the water company.”[32] Teachers with an $80 monthly income and workers living on the minimum wage of $60 could not afford to pay $15-25 a month for water. With $25 being 58% of $60, workers were paying more then half of their salaries for water. Proportionately, it would be relatively cheaper to shower with bottled water in New York City! As the people of Cochabamba were uniting; La Coordinadora began planning demonstrations.

Oscar Olivera stated that “On December 28^th, we had the first mass mobilization. Many people said it wasn't a good time for it -- the end of the year during the holidays -- but we mobilized 15,000 or 20,000 people in the central plaza of Cochabamba.”[33] They rallied for reforms in both the water contract and the national parliament promulgated law number 2029. This demonstration lasted for four days and endured Banzer’s oppressive tactics to subdue to demonstration (once a dictator - always a dictator.) The demonstrators, while weathering against elements as such as tear gas, set up “blockades closed down the two main highways leading in and out of town, eliminating bus transportation and food shipments. The airport was shut. Roadblocks fashioned out of piles of rocks and tree branches cutoff all traffic in the city.”[34] The government finally ceded and singed an agreement, which stated that they would make the necessary adjustments to both the law 2029 and the contract with Bechtel within the next 45 days.[35]

“Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.”

As the people of Cochabamba waited for results from Banzer, La Coordinadora planned a peaceful demonstration. They tried to orchestrate a mass movement, to show that they had not lost public support and were still awaiting results. They planned on a “lunchtime protest,”[36] where people would come to support the cause, and then return to work. With more than 1,000 heavily armed police and soldiers emplaced, 30,000 people entered the into the city plaza with roses in their hands and solidarity in their hearts. Oscar Olivera recalls his experience from that day, of when the protestors were peacefully leaving the plaza: “We hadn't gone more than a couple of hundred meters when there were gunshots. A thousand police appeared, some with dogs. Some of the police had come from La Paz and other places to help the police of Cochabamba. The people fought for two days. It was practically a war -- 175 protesters were injured.” This had become a revolution against the oppressive regime that ignored the people’s voice. With sticks and stones; mothers, Fathers, Sons, and daughters fought against the fully geared police. As the radios began covering the story locally, people began to help people. They offered food to those fighting and helped those that were injured. Victims of tear gas and police brutality finally found victory when the announcement came: the company had “invoked a temporary rate rollback for six months.”[37]

“Why does the guerrilla fighter fight? We must come to the inevitable conclusion that the guerrilla fighter is a social reformer, that he takes up arms responding to the angry protest of the people against their oppressors, and that he fights in order to change the social system that keeps all his unarmed brothers in ignominy and misery.”

In the following month a public poll was set up, which allowed the general population to voice their sentiments towards their water be privatized. The demonstrations were no longer being staged to alter contracts or legislation; for they now wanted full control over the water and waste supply and utilities. The masses proposed that the government cancel the contract, and with their refusal to listen; on Tuesday, April 4^th, protestors took to the streets again. Staged as the “The Final Battle,”[38] La Coordinadora announced that it would demonstrate this time until their demands were met. Olivera recalled that “It was a similar action to the one before. But this time we were better prepared. The people prepared for it like for a war. They prepared molotov cocktails, barbed wire fences, things to puncture tires, masks, everything.”[39] At first, as protestors gathered – the streets were still peaceful. There was still dancing in the streets and religious services for the people until the businessmen from the Civil Committee and La Coordinadora held a meeting. While trying to create one common position polar to the government’s policy, police and military person locked down the building they were in for the night. Fighting erupted through the city, 30,000 angry protestors challenged the State’s authority. By Friday, the crowds were amassing to greater numbers in Cochabamba and a 17 year old had already been shot in the face and killed. After confusion between weather Bechtel had agreed to leave or not, crowds temporarily began to disperse. That night the government carried out a sweep and arrested majority of the protest leaders.

Saturday morning Banzer declared a ‘State of Emergency’ and implemented a form of Marshall Law. The people were infuriated and thus began the well know rebellion dubbed as the “water wars.” Buildings were set on fire, the protestors fought against the police and military personnel who were firing both live ammunition and tear gas into the crowds. By Monday there were more than 80,000 protestors in the streets and the news of it spread across the world. CNN broadcasted: “An international consortium pulled out of a planned $200 million waterworks project after violent protests against water rate hikes rocked Bolivia over the weekend, killing at least five people and injuring at least 40, the government says.” As Bechtel employees fled from Bolivia, Olivera emerged from hiding and signed an agreement with the government guaranteeing “the withdrawal of Aguas del Tunari, grants control of Cochabamba's water to La Coordinadora, assures the release of detained protesters, and promises the repeal of water privatization legislation.”[40]

Thus, here we find the true cost of privatizing water: factional insurrection or even an armed revolution. From the Bolivian experience, we learn that when Capitalism continues to serve the interest of the velvet gloved minority and oppress the basic essentials of survival of the majority: people begin to wake up and fight back. As such allow us to remember the struggle of those in Cochabamba and use them as an example to break our patterns of complacency, to stand against our oppressors as well. For there are no national, racial, ethnic or patriotic boundaries binding greed; the masses – be it they are American or Bolivian; black or white; Latino or Asian – are all simply viewed in a dual vision: as consumers and as factors of production. We are all at an equal risk, and must stop privatization immediately. We must find alternative forms of governance and economical structure; one which will provide an more equitable status quo for the peoples of the world. Idealism is not a form of disillusion, nor lunacy: it’s a form of caring about humanity.

To Love is to Die For Your Friends

By, Nestor Paz

To be poured into old wineskins

To cease being

To weep for being

To be other

To be silent

Solitary tree, hand on the landscape

We are winepresses of the memory,

Life clarifying in the joy of being.

Who would say that we must learn to love?

Whoever would say that to love

Is to die.

Felled ceder

Alcoholic green and wasted

To die for your friends

Wood for the sated’s fire,

To die for your friends

Crackling struggle

Twitching hand

Emptiness of being.

To die for your friends

To fill your hands

Not to dry your tears

Cease the mourning

Litany of selfgiving.

To die for your friends

To die in oblivion

To die for our frieds.

Oh, my beloved of the dusty roads,

So many dreams

So many hands interwoven

With songs sweet to ear;

Oh, beloved, companion of the dawn.

Who would say that we must learn to love,

That to live is to die for your friends.

Subworld of the mediocre,

A lawn, pleasant lawn,

And the bank account,

And the life insurance,

And the world of competition,

And to die for your friends

For the alienation

That gallops through your veins,

To die for your friends,

To forget the last name,

The smell, the color,

Of the competition of the status money quo.

To give your life for your friends

And to learn to love.

To die in oblivion

Announced today

Thursday night

Comfort tomorrow

Friday afternoon.

To transcend in wheatgrain,

To be ground up for bread,

To dry the tears.

No more weeping!

To be able to see the people

With hope-filled eyes,

To be able to say

Get set to be a man

To be a man

To be other,

Extended hand

Loving ceder

Love-man-love.

Index

Sources for quotations between paragraphs

Dr. Vandana Shiva. Bechtel And Blood For Water. http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/BechtelBlood.html#p3
Ernesto Che Guevara. http://www.geocities.com/glorybangla/cqtes.htm
Gregory Palast, The Observer, 23 April 2000
Albert Einstein. Why Socialism? http://www.geocities.com/glorybangla/eqtes.htm
Gregory Palast, The Observer, 23 April 2000
Nestor Paz. My Life For My Friends.
Albert Einstein. Why Socialism? http://www.geocities.com/glorybangla/eqtes.htm
Ernesto Che Guevara. http://www.geocities.com/glorybangla/cqtes.htm
Nestor Paz. My Life For My Friends.

Book Bibliography

Nestor Paz. My Life For My Friends. New York: Orbis Books. 1975.
Lee, Terence. Residential Water Demand and Economic Development. Toronto: Toronto Press. 1969.
Alexander, Robert. Bolivia. Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. 1982.
Raftelis, George. Water and Wastewater Finance and Pricing. New York: CRC. 1993.
Burns, Bradford. Latin America, A Concise History. New Jersey: Pearson. 2002.

Cited Endnotes

[1] BBC News: Violence erupts in Bolivia. 8 April, 2000.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/706770.stm

[2] PBS Frontline World: Timeline: Cochabamba Water Revolt. June 2002.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bolivia/timeline.html

[3] BBC News: Violence erupts in Bolivia. 8 April, 2000.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/706770.stm

[4] Shultz, Jim. The Democracy Center: BOLIVIA’S WAR OVER WATER http://www.democracyctr.org/bechtel/the_water_war.htm

[5] PBS Frontline World: Timeline: Cochabamba Water Revolt. June 2002.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bolivia/timeline.html

[6] Hylton, Forrest. ZNET: Popular Insurrection and National Revolution. October 2003.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=4429

[7] Hylton, Forrest. ZNET: Popular Insurrection and National Revolution. October 2003.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=4429

[8] Shultz, Jim. The Democracy Center: BOLIVIA’S WAR OVER WATER http://www.democracyctr.org/bechtel/the_water_war.htm

[9] Shultz, Jim. The Democracy Center: BOLIVIA’S WAR OVER WATER http://www.democracyctr.org/bechtel/the_water_war.htm

[10] Bolivia. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 20, 2006, from

Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://secure.britannica.com/eb/article-21670

[11] Bolivia. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 20, 2006, from

Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://secure.britannica.com/eb/article-21670

[12] Bolivia. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 20, 2006, from

Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://secure.britannica.com/eb/article-21670

[13] Bolivia. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 20, 2006, from

Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://secure.britannica.com/eb/article-21670

[14] Bolivia. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 20, 2006, from

Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://secure.britannica.com/eb/article-21670

[15] Víctor Paz Estenssoro. Wikipedia. 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%ADctor_Paz_Estenssoro

[16] Bolivia. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 20, 2006, from

Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://secure.britannica.com/eb/article-21670

[17] Bolivia. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 20, 2006, from

Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://secure.britannica.com/eb/article-218815

[18] PBS Frontline World: Timeline: Cochabamba Water Revolt. June 2002.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bolivia/timeline.html

[19] PBS Frontline World: Timeline: Cochabamba Water Revolt. June 2002.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bolivia/timeline.html

[20] PBS Frontline World: Timeline: Cochabamba Water Revolt. June 2002.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bolivia/timeline.html

[21] PBS Frontline World: Timeline: Cochabamba Water Revolt. June 2002.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bolivia/timeline.html

[22] Bechtel. Wikipedia. 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechtel

[23] Bechtel. Wikipedia. 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechtel

[24] Dhamee, Yousuf intreprets Adam Smith. http://www.usp.nus.edu.sg/victorian/economics/division.html

[25] Raftelis, 91

[26] Raftekis, 94

[27] PBS Frontline World: Timeline: Cochabamba Water Revolt. June 2002.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bolivia/timeline.html

[28] Shultz, Jim. The Democracy Center: BOLIVIA’S WAR OVER WATER http://www.democracyctr.org/bechtel/the_water_war.htm

[29] Multinational Monitor: The Fight for Water and Democray – An Interview with Oscar Olivera. June 2000.

http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2000/00june/interview.html

[30] Shultz, Jim. The Democracy Center: BOLIVIA’S WAR OVER WATER http://www.democracyctr.org/bechtel/the_water_war.htm

[31] Shultz, Jim. The Democracy Center: BOLIVIA’S WAR OVER WATER http://www.democracyctr.org/bechtel/the_water_war.htm

[32] Multinational Monitor: The Fight for Water and Democray – An Interview with Oscar Olivera. June 2000.

http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2000/00june/interview.html

[33] Multinational Monitor: The Fight for Water and Democray – An Interview with Oscar Olivera. June 2000.

http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2000/00june/interview.html

[34] Shultz, Jim. The Democracy Center: BOLIVIA’S WAR OVER WATER http://www.democracyctr.org/bechtel/the_water_war.htm

[35] Multinational Monitor: The Fight for Water and Democray – An Interview with Oscar Olivera. June 2000.

http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2000/00june/interview.html

[36] Shultz, Jim. The Democracy Center: BOLIVIA’S WAR OVER WATER http://www.democracyctr.org/bechtel/the_water_war.htm

[37] Shultz, Jim. The Democracy Center: BOLIVIA’S WAR OVER WATER http://www.democracyctr.org/bechtel/the_water_war.htm

[38] Shultz, Jim. The Democracy Center: BOLIVIA’S WAR OVER WATER http://www.democracyctr.org/bechtel/the_water_war.htm

[39] Multinational Monitor: The Fight for Water and Democray – An Interview with Oscar Olivera. June 2000.

http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2000/00june/interview.html

[40] PBS Frontline World: Timeline: Cochabamba Water Revolt. June 2002.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bolivia/timeline.html

The Slave's Revolution

2007-12-01T22:00:00.001-05:00

Through the four and a half centuries of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, more then 11 million slaves were transported to the Americas.[1] They savagely systemized a people; they, the American and European aggressors, have left behind a legacy of raping away the lives of men, women, and children. The stolen Africans were transformed into mere factors of production and no emancipation can ever quell the horrific screams of those destroyed by chattel slavery. As the institution of slavery soaked the fertile soils with the “blood of the slaves,”[2] men and women repeatedly resolved to fight back: “Mr. Convey seemed now to think he had me, and could do what he pleased; but at the moment—from whence came the spirit I don’t know—I resolved to fight; and, suiting my action to the resolution, I seized Convey hard by the throat; and as I did so, I rose.”[3] As Fredrick Douglas rose against his oppressor, so did many others against these larcenous institutions across the Americas.

The black communities, along with some white abolitionist tried to device methods to fight back. Some directly challenge their Masters; while others burnt down their plantations. Many others petitioned and lobbied for abolition, and some even braved escaping the slaves from their conditions. With so many different forms of resistances and with such diverse results, one comes to question the various factors that could have influenced this phenomenon. Perhaps it was the demographic surroundings or was it the more the socio-economical circumstances that influenced this diversity? In order to better analyze what happened through those dreadful years, we can sample two specific regions and compare the various components that influenced both the rebellions’ structures and its relative achievements. As such, two areas commonly identified when discussing slavery are South Carolina and Haiti.

South Carolina began as a royal charter from the King of England, Charles II in 1663. Its first permanent British settlements sprang up in 1669 by both English and Barbadian (Bajans) aristocrats[4]. By the early 18^th century the colonies’ cash crop had become rice, which was mostly cultivated by slave labor. By 1708 black men and women had become a majority in the colony, and in 1730 they outnumbered white settlers by two to one[5]. With the dramatic increase in the slave population and increasing attacks from the indigenous tribes of Yamasee and the Creeks, the Carolinians armed themselves with the slave codes which virtually “converted their colony into an armed camp.”[6] Further, their 34,726 square miles of land was bordered by other slave colonies and the ocean.[7] Even as the Carolinians fought against the imperial institutions in the name of liberty and justice, they held fast to both their ever rising numbers of slaves and their rising market share in the cotton industry. Although they did initially halt the slave trade during the war for Independence, but soon resumed it again from 1803 to 1808 until the national prohibition on slavery went into effect.[8] Thus slavery remained the key component and institution for this region for the next one hundred and thirty years. It did not cease until they were defeated in the American Civil War in 1865.

Comparatively, Haiti began its European settlement 171 years before South Carolina in 1492.[9] Columbus claimed the land for the Spanish empire and named it La Isla Espaňola. The Spaniards immediately began enslaving the indigenous to mine for gold and also began importing African slaves from the surrounding islands.[10] By the mid to late 17^th Century the French had gained control of a significant portion of the island and created Saint-Domingue in 1697.[11] The French developed a highly profitable trade based on their sugar plantations and continuously increased their slave population through out the 18^th Century. There were approximately a half of million slaves by 1789 in the French colony of 10,714 square miles, which was overseen by the approximately 32,000 Europeans and 25,000 mulattos (Afranchis).[12] This created a ratio of almost 10 slaves to 1 freeman, comparatively to South Carolina’s 2 to 1 ratio.

Additionally, even though the basic provisions were demanded for the slave according to Code Noir of 1685, “the plantation owner callously overworked his slaves, and to reduce overhead he frequently underfed them. An astonishingly high death rate testified to the brutality of the system.”[13] These awful conditions led to high mortality and low reproductive rates, which further created a need for constant replacement of slaves. Aside from awkward population ratios, there was a growing disparity amongst the free classes in the colony. In the later parts of the 18^th century, there was also tension from the Afranchis populations, who were looking for political equity from/with their white counterparts.

"Are you doing yourselves justice when you lift your eyes towards Almighty God and call him Father, and then turn around, bow your heads before a man, and call him Master?”[14] This unnatural system of chattel slavery did not go unchallenged. Thus various forms of slave resistances could be found throughout both colonies, and it was stated that “Whenever and wherever slavery has existed there has been resistance to it, ranging from individual acts of defiance to well-organized, armed revolts.”[15] The most common structures of the slave resistances were found in both colonies and were centered on their ‘day-to-day’ activities. As such, there was the method of ‘slave vandalism,[16] where they destroyed property by mishandling the animals or by braking their tools and machinery.[17] They resisted by misplacing items, working carelessly in the fields and even by hiding rocks in the cotton they picked.[18] There was also a high percentage of theft, where slaves raided the master’s smokehouse, secretly slaughtered his stock, and killed his poultry. Slaves would often fake illnesses or injuries in order not to work.[19]

Slaves would often even trick their masters, as in the instance where the slave woman who was to be sold away from her family pretended to be blind.[20] In another documented case, “One master got the surprise of his life when his own slave sold him! This master took his very light-skinned black to the marketplace to be sold. Meanwhile he went to make arrangements for a hotel room. When the master returned he was bound in chains. While he was trying to prove that he wasn’t mulatto attempting to pass himself off as a white man, the real slave escaped.”[21] Slaves would often act as if they were “dumb” in front of the slave holders, who would then have the propensity to be less censored around the slave. Methods as such help eavesdropping and gathering information of the owner’s plans.[22] “They further even used songs, stories, and coded languages to confuse and bewilder their masters.”[23] These hidden rebellions also consisted of countless violent acts, as such as physical resistance, poisonings, stabbings, shootings, house and plantation burnings, and other acts of vengeance.[24]

Another prominent form of rebellion was to runaway. The slaves would often run away to various places for varying amounts of times. Some would try to make passage to freed black communities or maroon societies; others tried to take refuge with the indigenous; and a number of people tried to make their way up North to the non-slave states. Others would hide out for short periods of time; visiting other plantations or avoiding punishment but would ultimately return to the plantation.[25] Often abolitionists and freed blacks or whites would assist slaves to make their run for freedom, through means as such as the Underground Railroad. In two different cases, the slaves actually mailed themselves to freedom![26] One of the instances consisted of a man dubbed Henry “Box” Brown, mailed himself from the South to an abolitionist’s home in Philadelphia.[27] Slaves at times also made their run further south to Florida, where they would became a part of the Black Seminoles.[28]

Although the two colonies seemed to have much in common, they stood in stark contrast when it came to violent uprisings. As such, the Stono Rebellion took place in South Carolina Low Country in 1739.[29] It was under the command of an Angolan slave, Cato, that twenty brave men and women tried fight their way to freedom. [30] They were screaming “Liberty!” and held banners proclaiming it. The Angolan was leading the group towards St. Augustine in Spanish Florida; where the British’s enemy had promised runaway slaves freedom. They took advantage of the early Sunday morning and raided a small store to gather arms. They decapitated two men and left “their severed heads on the steps.”[31] “As they marched they beat their drums to attract other slaves to their cause” and soon the group of twenty had multiplied in to a group of hundred rebels.[32] By middle of the day the rebellion was suppressed and forced to surrender. In those few hours they managed to burn plantations, houses and kill as many of their oppressors as they could. They left the countryside “full of flames.”[33] Although it was the largest slave insurrection in South Carolina[34], and as heroic as their strife may have been: it proved to be an impotent against the institution of slavery and its brutal empire.

Although most slaves’ revolts were quickly dispersed, the slaves in San Domingo found greater success, “whose revolution against France… had led to the first nation run by blacks in the New World.”[35] Although they both arose in a time of political upheaval, the Haitian Revolution held a stark contrast to the Stono rebellion. There was an abnormal 10 to 1 ratio of slaves to freeman in Haiti, and their colony consisted of only one third the land of South Carolina. This slave revolt also began in the shadows of the French revolution, and moreover there had already been another set of revolts in their colony by the Afranchis. Further, the Stono rebellion lasted one afternoon between slaves and the whites; whereas the Haitian revolution lasted nearly thirteen years through a series of conflicts between factions across the colonies’ class structures and its various regional parts (i.e. the north, the south) and also between the empires themselves.[36] Although both of the slave uprisings had African men leading them (Cato in South Carolina and Boukman in Santo Domingo,[37]) they also found leadership in men as such as Toussaint L’Ouverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henry Christophe.[38] Stono Rebellion was successful at striking fear into the hearts of the plantation owners,[39] but did not help abolish slavery; whereas the Haitian revolution not only abolished slavery, but systematically ended colonial and slave rule through out the entire island. Although they were not able to maintain this status of sovereignty thru the generations, the revolution itself did completely change the course of history in the Americas. The slaves in South Carolina endured the shackles of slavery until the end of the American civil war in 1865.

Although the Haitians were able to initially fight off the slave holding colonizers, a century of civil war and civil unrest amongst the various class factions led the island nation to fall back into imperial rule. Although the United States has not officially colonized it, it has implemented harsh neo-colonial and neo-liberal policies in the area. America has since, consistently, secured its financial interests on the island with the use of military brute. The European world did not want to see a Black republic emerge in the West Indies, and made sure they suppressed the tiny nation at every given chance. Further, South Carolina reverted to a similar system of racism after the Emancipation Proclamation; from denying their black’s their essential civil rights, to even terrorizing them out of the region. Thus one can say that not only were the slave revolts ultimately not successful in the long run, but also widen the doors to other forms of oppression thereafter.

Only success found in history with challenging these brutal oppressors has been through aggregate nationalistic movements for ‘home rule.’ These nations found success by catering to the European economic trends and by allowing their ports and people to be continuously capitalistically victimized by them. To better understand this point, we too must follow their economic trends to see what happened. Through expansionism, colonialism and merchant capitalism their rose the middle class, which was creating an industrial revolution (through their increasing capital). The rise of the industrialists across Europe, especially in Britain, needed new markets and changed their existing equilibrium of the import based markets to new export ones. Thus no longer needing their existing relationships with the colonies. The end of slavery and old colonial ways were pre-emptive methods of the neo-imperialist stage. This was being prepared through the early parts of the 18th century; changing the worlds’ social, economical and political orders to suit the European financial needs. Therefore one can say slavery was never truly emancipated; there was just a shift in their status quo, as the old institution of colonialism shifted to the new political economy of the ‘New Imperialism.’

The Haitian and South Carolinian slaves were merely fighting their immediate circumstances, and both found the same fate through the coming centuries. Neither were ever paid reparations, neither were even given the respect as those who built the Americas. It is a shame that our societies are futile in paying tribute to those who cultivated our soils, and bore the true burdens of bearing the name “forefathers and mothers.” Allow us then to continuously review the men and women who stood up and fought against their enslaving oppressors and allow us to infuriate the torch of truth in an effort to illuminate the darkness of our academia. Allow us to also remember the times where Henry Highland Garnet addressed his brethren, for maybe the times for revolts and revolution are not over, “Let your motto be resistance! resistance! resistance!”[40]

Bibliography

Douglas, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. New York. Penguin

Putnam. 1997

Garnet, Henry Highland. Great Speeches in History. San Diego: Thomson Learning. 2002.

McKissack, Patricia. Rebels Against Slavery. New York: Scholastic Inc. 1996.

Cohen, Samuel. 50 Essays. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2004.

Pearson, Edward. ‘A Countryside Full of Flames.’ Heuman, Gad. The Slavery Reader. New

York: Routledge. 2003

Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. New York: HarperCollins. 2001.

Davidson. Gienapp. Nation of Nations. New York: McGraw Hill. 2006.

Stewert, Jeffrey. 1001 Things Everyone Should Know about African American History. New

York: Gramercy Books. 1996.

C.L.R. James, “The San Domingo Masses Begin,” from Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic

World. Found in Professor Petty’s Course Catalogue.

[1] Thomas, Hugh. The Slave Trade. Simmon and Schuster, 1997. http://africanhistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa080601a.htm

[2] Nas. Stillmatic. Columbia Records. 2001.

[3] Douglas, 79-80

[4] Haiti. ( 2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 11, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-217449

[5] ibid

[6] Davidson, 55

[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Carolina

[8] Stewart, 1996

[9] Haiti. ( 2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 11, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-217449

[10] Haiti. ( 2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 11, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-217449

[11] Ibid

[12] Ibid

[13] Burns, 2002

[14] Gibran, Kahlil. The Prophet. 1923.

[15] McKissack, 1

[16] Stewert, 28

[17] Ibid

[18] Ibid

[19] Davidson, 357

[20] McKissack, 19

[21] Ibid

[22] Ibid

[23] Ibid

[24] Stewart, 33

[25] Concept gathered from discussions surrounding Stuart Schwartz “Resistance and Accommodation in the 18^th Century Brazil”

[26] Stewart, 33

[27] Stewart, 37

[28] Stewart, 35

[29] Pearson, 569

[30] McKissack, 22

[31]PBS: The Stono Rebellion 1739. http://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/99406.html

[32] McKissack, 22

[33] Pearson, 569

[34] PBS: The Stono Rebellion 1739. http://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/99406.html

[35] Zinn, 303

[36] Haiti. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 13, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-217450

[37] C.L.R. James. “The San Domingo Masses Begin.” Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic World.

[38] Haiti. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 13, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-217450

[39] Pearson, 569

[40] Garnet, 46

Bapu's Satya

2007-12-01T21:57:00.002-05:00

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) was born during the days of the industrial revolution and by the age of 79, he had witnessed two World Wars and the birth of a free India. And amidst those days of changing winds; his life; his ideas; his virtues; his politics influenced the world around him and found him the greatest esteem amongst the intellectual communities of the world. As such, to study a man, in as much a dynamic world as he, effectively; one must understand that he was more than just out of the ordinary. Rather he was a political genius and a man with the ‘heart of gold.’ Who grasped the evolution of his generation and cumulated both the old and new wisdoms to guide the masses of people towards a more just world.

The legacy of Gandhiji’s satyagraha model is based on him being both a genius politician and a man of faith and it can thus withstand any oppressor whilst building a Rámarajya.

The mosaic of indigenous factions rising against both the specific and the aggregate injustices of foreign rule, combined with the massive shifts from rural India to Victorian socio-economics and the poorly administered periods of famine: set in sorts, a linear precedence for Indian Nationalism. Nationalism based on the mythical primordial[ii] captured the Hindu imagination and thus created nostalgia of the more just days of Ráma and Krishna.[iii] Thus the paradox of a “half-naked fakir”[iv] challenging the great British Empire is dispelled; for Mahatma Gandhi became the “prophet” who, at the least embodied their visions through Ram Rajya. That is not to say that this ideology found equivalent appeal amongst all, especially with the Elite, Muslim and Creole populations. Yet by championing the support of the millions of Indian peasants, Gandhiji found that even the unamused coalesced in order to achieve their more immediate goals and for the greater cause of Independence. The headway gained by such nationalistic coalitions, even in light of their intellectual differences meant that the Indian challenge was not merely against the Western hegemony; but also in maximizing India’s unity. Gandhiji, as a politician understood both the roots of Indian Nationalism and this necessity for unification in his campaign for Swaraj and thus unified the various peoples, cultures, religions and other miscellaneous factions through his methods of Satyagraha: non-violence and truth.

Part I: Evaluating Bapuji through Hind Swarajya

The feeble image of Gandhiji donning the indigenous garb of times long past, can quickly mislead the contemporary reader to dismissing him as a silly quixotic figure with no real world experience. On the contrary, Bapu was both an experienced attorney and a sophisticated statesman; for he was a public advocate on three different continents: Europe, Africa and Asia. Further as a British educated barrister, Gandhiji’s initial politics placed great emphasis on Britain’s moral accountability and its judicial system. Although during this stage he did mobilize against unjust laws; he sought reforms: not Independence. As noted in a Gandhi study guide: “The Empire, he felt, embodied the principles of equality and liberty that he believed in, and he regarded the racist policies of the South African states as an aberration, rather than a defining trait, of British rule. Indeed, he saw the Raj as benevolent rather than tyrannical; despite its flaws, he believed that the Empire had been good for India, and that the ideals of the British constitution merited the loyalty of all British subjects across the globe, white, black and Indian alike.”[v] Yet as he matured, Gandhiji slowly graduated from the conventional English methods of governance and shed the Emperor’s New Clothes.[vi] As he had discarded his foreign manufactured garbs, he also reallocated his political faith from the British Administration to home rule: Swaraj.

In the following years, further incited by the events of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, he began condemning his English counterpart: “The condition of England at present is pitiable. I pray to God that India may never be in that plight. That which you consider to be the Mother of Parliaments is like a sterile woman and a prostitute. Both these are harsh terms [,] but exactly fit the case.”[vii] Thus Swaraj was not solely based on ousting the imperialists, but also debarring the implications of imperialism: for “imperialism means not merely the loss of the nation, but also, more intimately, the loss of control over one’s physical and spiritual identity or selfhood.”[viii] At the heart of this argument for Swaraj was to curb the advent of industrialism and urbanization. In sorts using Vedic arguments against Modernism,[ix] Gandhiji proposed self-sufficient villages, “characterized by interdependence and cooperation rather than the bitter class divisions of modern industrial society.”[x] Further Gandhi noted that the spinning wheel would be “the panacea for the growing pauperism of India,”[xi] since it would break the dependence on foreign or mass manufactured goods and “anything that helped India to get rid of the grinding poverty of her masses would in the same process also establish Swaraj.”[xii] This was also essential in the Swadeshi and Khadi movements. “Strategies of the Swadeshi movement involved boycotting British products and the revival of domestic-made products and production techniques.”[xiii] As Gandhi outlined in his essay found in The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi: “Much of the deep poverty of the masses is due to the ruinous departure from Swadeshi in the economic and industrial life”[xiv] and “I refuse to buy from anybody anything, however nice or beautiful, if it interferes with my growth or injures those whom Nature has made my first care.”[xv]

His first cares were the Indian villagers, which proved to be an essential component in the greater unification. These politics of maintaining and further developing rural India was founded in who he was as a man and his personal life.[xvi] He was born into a political family in 1869, in the port city Porbandar of Gujarat. His father and uncle had both been Prime Ministers of that city and of which their father (his grandfather) had once been the Diwan of.[xvii] Gandhi’s father, Karamchand, had also been the Prime Minister in both Gujarati cities of Rajkot and Vankaner.[xviii] Further, they belonged to the Bania caste and more commonly known as Vaishnavas, whom were traditionally attributed to being merchants/ businessmen.[xix] Of which the main deity is Vishnu, who is attributed as the ‘Preserver’ amongst the three main Hindu Gods.[xx] He is worshipped amongst Hindus in many forms and amongst which is India’s revered Lord Ráma from Valmiki’s Rámayana.[xxi] In Gandhiji’s An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, he recalls his first encounter with a public reading of the Rámayana: “I must have been thirteen at that time, but I quite remember being enraptured by his reading. That laid the foundation of my deep devotion to the Rámayana. Today I regard the Rámayana of Tulasidas as the greatest book in all devotional literature.”[xxii] In the last few couplets of the Rámayana, Valmiki described Lord Ráma’s successes as a Democratic Monarch; as one who brought lasting peace and bliss to his kingdom of Ayodhyá. Gandhiji was inspired by this Canto CXXX: The Consecration, and later based much of his political ideology on it: Ráma Rajya.

“Ten thousand years Ayodhyá, blest

With Ráma's rule, had peace and rest.
No widow mourned her murdered mate,
No house was ever desolate.
The happy land no murrain knew,
The flocks and herds increased and grew.

The earth her kindly fruits supplied,
No harvest failed, no children died.
Unknown were want, disease, and crime:
So calm, so happy was the time.”[xxiii]

Thus Ráma Rajya is an essential component to understanding Gandhiji both as a man and as a politician; for what was sown from an early age blossomed into his revolutionary visions. This was the ideology of returning India to its primordial heyday, to a time of saintly kings who justly served their kingdoms. Gandhi marked it as: “Here there is room for a king, but a king means a protector, a guardian and a trustee, the best servanet, the servant of servants. A king subsists on the leavings of his subjects; hence he should sleep after making his subjects sleep, eat after feeding them and live after enabling them to live.”[xxiv] The system he envisioned embodied equality and justice for all through the democratic process of public opinion; albeit there was no electoral process or constitution involved.[xxv] Non-violence; peace; and justice (truth) were large components of this ideology. As such Cecil Evans noted “The two supreme values for Gandhi were truth and nonviolence. One of his greatest insights was to understand that violence was linked to poverty and injustice… He opposed poverty and injustice because to do so was a condition for peace, a pre-condition for peace.”[xxvi] And although India did celebrate marked periods in which the doctrine of non-violence was influential (i.e. medieval India); the constituent of ‘opposition to war’ was a relatively new idea.[xxvii] Thus marking the confluence of Hindu and other philosophies. As such, he attributed his thoughts on pacifism[xxviii] to Tolstoy and the Sermon on the Mount.[xxix]

Additional influences may have been his family belonging to the Vaisyas caste from Gujarat. For they had a history of opposing war, given that it affected their trading ventures and stood to lose much in prolonged campaigns.[xxx] Additionally it can be noted that “the volatile history of Gujarat was also to instill in native son Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi the longing for ahimsa (nonviolence)…”[xxxi] Also, whilst nursing his father in his earlier years; Gandhiji had the privilege of listening to his fathers’ religious conversations with men of different faiths: Islam; Zoroastrianism; and Jainism.[xxxii] Thus dismissing any religious bigotry he would have otherwise developed and allowed him the wisdom to develop healthy ideas on religions and the equality amongst them; universal truths. He is noted for unorthodox statements as such as, “we must go on uttering the names: Rama—Rahim, Krishna—Karim.”[xxxiii]

Yet he proposed a name symbolic to Hindus; for what was the central part of the Swarajya movement: Rámarajya. This has often been termed both contradictory and self-defeating, especially in popular media: in terms of unification. This only exemplifies that his teachings have been misunderstood and one must review a few words of his speech from 1947 at a Hindu Temple in New Delhi to better understand them:

“…while observing silence you should bring it to your mind that Rama and Rahim are but one. In other words, Hinduism and Islam are both great religions and there is no difference between them. I fail to understand why any two religions should be at logger heads. Hence I wish that your mantra while observing the silence should be: ‘Thou art God, million are thy names.’ I had told you that in Hinduism the recitation of Vishnusahasranama1 is very much in vogue. I even believe that God has as many names as there are human beings in the world. Ishwara, Bhagawan, Khuda, God, or Ormu-zd— whatever name you prefer to say—these are all His names. And, He is over and above all these names.”[xxxiv]

With Rama and Rahim interchangeable, and Rahim meaning “womb” in Hebrew and “compassion” in Islam: Gandhiji did not want a Hindu Rajya; rather he sought a kingdom of God. He desired a kingdom of truth and justice, with high moral and ethical standards.[xxxv] He even explicitly stated that, “By Rámarajya I do not mean Hindu Raj. I mean by Rámarajya Divine Raj, the Kingdom of God. For me Rama and Rahim are one and the same deity. I acknowledge no other God but the one God of truth and righteousness.”[xxxvi] Thus one can conclude that he scribed justice as the key component of democracy and was far removed from both contradicting and self-defeating sectarian ideologies for India’s future. Rather Gandhiji was a political genius who chooses a nostalgic name which captured the Hindu majorities’ imagination. This was partly necessary, for the fact that the Indian National Congress was retaining a European styled governance of which the majority equated with oppression. Thus by employing a name containing reference to Lord Rama, the indigenous would welcome it; rather than viewing it as a switch of hands amongst different oppressors. Furthermore, by championing the support of the millions of Indian peasants; Gandhiji anticipated the unamused to coalesce in order to achieve their more immediate goals and for the greater cause of Independence. Although at face value it would seem that this was a political suicide for causing disunity; he actually secured the exact opposite.

“In consultation with my co-workers I had decided that nothing should be done in the name of the Congress. What we wanted was work and not name, substance and not shadow. For the name of the Congress was the bete noire of the Government and their controllers the planters. To them the Congress was a byword for lawyers' wrangles, evasion of law through legal loopholes, a byword for bomb and anarchical crime and for diplomacy and hypocrisy. We had to disillusion them both. Therefore we had decided not to mention the name of the organization called the Congress. It was enough, we thought, if they understood and followed the spirit of the Congress instead of its letter.”[xxxvii]

One must additionally review Gandhiji as a man and his lifelong affinity with Harishchandra. Whilst still in his younger years, he was deeply moved by a play enacting the legends of the aforementioned and thus found himself a role model in who was held “as a benchmark for an ideal life [and] was renowned for his piety and justice.”[xxxviii] He recalls: “To follow truth and to go through all the ordeals Harishchandra went through was the one ideal it inspired in me”[xxxix] and consequently began asking himself: “Why should not all be truthful like Harishchandra?”[xl] Thus reaffirming that his affinity was not to a particular religious doctrine or faith; but it was rather to specific virtues (i.e. truth): which were essential to democratic state governances.

Part II: The Legacy of Bapuji’s Satyagraha

Bapuji’s name is world renowned, and he is often referenced to as the Indian man who fought the British through peaceful means, and secured his country’s independence. Some even use his name to poke fun at the Indian Diaspora and confuse his efforts for passivity. Despite the great collection of misunderstandings; a few still correctly capture his essence as both a virtuous politician and as a “practical idealist.”[xli] Also, as one who aspired to free his nation from tyranny: by only employing methods consistent with the utopian democracy he sought. For any untruthful methods exercised would only seal the new sovereignties’ fate; thus the clichéd idiom: ‘you reap what you sow.’ Moreover, Gandhiji required the freedom struggle to completely expunge the imperial methods of governance and thus wanted a slow transitional process. A lengthy effort against the oppressor would allow the Indian populous to mature and earn the necessary characteristics of self-sovereignty: i.e. the desirable qualities of satya (truth) through tapasya (penance.) Besides, Gandhiji did not solely want independence; he wanted a complete political and socio-economic revolution: whereas otherwise “it [would] be called not Hindustan but Englishtan.”[xlii]

“By political independence I do not mean an imitation to the British House of commons, or the soviet rule of Russia or the Fascist rule of Italy or the Nazi rule of Germany. They have systems suited to their genius. We must have ours suited to ours. What that can be is more than I can tell. I have described it as Rámarajya i.e., sovereignty of the people based on pure moral authority.”[xliii]

Accordingly, he modeled his struggle for freedom on the same virtues of Ram Rajya: Satyagraha “(Sat=truth, Agraha=firmness.)”[xliv]

His conception of Satyagraha created an ideal model to remedy injustices for both pre-independent India and for the future generations to come. Understanding that “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,”[xlv] he laid a more sound foundation of warding evils with truth. In addition to satya, Satyagraha consists of two other basic tenets: ahimsa, and tapasya. These three are systems of belief within themselves, as much as they are integral parts of the Satyagraha movement. Within this essay, satya has already been expounded upon, thus only a concise definition is provided. It is defined as truth and is a paralleled to justice and knowledge of self. Although ahimsa is translated as non-violence; this is an understatement in light of the lengthy discourses from which this term is derived: i.e. “Ahimsa or non-injury, of course, implies non-killing. But, non-injury is not merely non-killing. In its comprehensive meaning, Ahimsa or non-injury means entire abstinence from causing any pain or harm whatsoever to any living creature, either by thought, word, or deed. Non-injury requires a harmless mind, mouth, and hand. Ahimsa is not mere negative non-injury. It is positive, cosmic love. It is the development of a mental attitude in which hatred is replaced by love. Ahimsa is true sacrifice. Ahimsa is forgiveness. Ahimsa is Sakti (power). Ahimsa is true strength.” [xlvi] Such is the case again with Tapasya, which is “the principle and practice of physical and spiritual austerity and discipline to achieve a particular aim.”[xlvii] Tapasya encompasses both the methods of attaining and practicing the other two tenets of satyagraha.

Another major component of tapasya is self-suffering, and in such we find Gandhiji’s fascination with Harishchandra. For this superman had humbly endured such suffering that he found truth (God) and achieved moksha (release from rebirth.) As such was the premise of Bapuji practicing Brahmacharya, since he wanted “the vindication of Truth, not by infliction of suffering on the opponent but one's own self.”[xlviii] Noting that a Brahmacari practices “strict celibacy, a life of moral restraint and devotion to meditation,”[xlix] Madhu Kishwar stated:

“Mahatma Gandhi who tried to transcend his sexuality in order to make it contribute to forging the powerful, modern political weapon of satyagraha. His sexual abstinence was part of a larger tapasya through which he attempted to discipline his life for devotion to the cause of freeing India from political slavery. His rigorous austerity, various fasts and dietary experiments, vows of silence, and giving up material possessions altogether, were all essential components of his tapasya. He believed that the spiritual force of even one fully formed satyagrahi could set right the world's wrongs.”

Ideologically this meticulous system is be able to over come any non-just power; yet pragmatically, many wonders how Gandhiji or his methods would have faired against a system that was not vulnerable to morally accountability and/or public opinion. Bapuji is often charged with that “nonviolence could have done nothing for the Jews of Hitler’s Germany…”[l] Perhaps not, considering that it takes a strong will and a genius to understand and successfully employ his model of satyagraha. For truth is truth, it will never waver; but the human error in utilizing it, can fail to secure immediate positive results. In his methodology, the individual who is fairing for justice must first realize his/her own unjust thoughts and methods and thus solving a portion of the problem. With the methods of Brahmacharya; tapasya; and ahimsa observed, satyagraha could withstand any force. Further it must be noted that Jews are of a religious doctrine and they acknowledge the existence of God, their eternal Soul and life hereafter; thus death should not be feared by them.

“From Judaism's perspective, our eternal soul is as real as our thumb. This is the world of doing, and the "world to come" is where we experience the eternal reality of whatever we've become… Ultimate justice is found in another dimension.”[li]

Whilst atheists may shrug at this notion and remark on its absurdity; they fail to realize that it was this same affinity the Jews had with God, which marked them as Jewish in the first place. Gandhiji notes: “…as the Jews attribute personality to God and believe that He rules every action of theirs, they ought not to feel helpless.”[lii] He further urges the Jews to unite and employ the methods of satyagraha against their oppressors, in an article he composed for the Harijan in 1938:

“If one Jew or all the Jews were to accept the prescription here offered, he or they cannot be worse off than now. And suffering voluntarily undergone will bring them an inner strength and joy which no number of resolutions of sympathy passed in the world outside Germany can. Indeed, even if Britain, France and America were to declare hostilities against Germany, they can bring no inner joy, no inner strength. The calculated violence of Hitler may even result in a general massacre of the Jews by way of his first answer to the declaration of such hostilities. But if the Jewish mind could be prepared for voluntary suffering, even the massacre I have imagined could be turned into a day of thanksgiving and joy that Jehovah had wrought deliverance of the race even at the hands of the tyrant. For to the god fearing, death has no terror. It is a joyful sleep to be followed by a waking that would be all the more refreshing for the long sleep.”[liii]

He had notably examined the Jewish condition leading up to World War II and even addressed those who thought that satyagraha would be futile in Germany. He had called upon the Jews to use their collective identity to create a mass movement based on Civil-Disobedience.

“…the Jews of Germany can offer satyagraha under infinitely better auspices than Indians of South Africa. The Jews are a compact, homogeneous community in Germany. they are far more gifted than the Indians of South Africa. And they have organized world opinion behind them. I am convinced that if someone with courage and vision can arise among them to lead them in nonviolent action, the winter of their despair can in the twinkling of an eye be turned into the summer of hope. And what has today become a degrading man-hunt can be turned in to a calm and determined stand offered by unarmed men and women possessing the strength of suffering given to them by Jehovah. It will be then a truly religious resistance offered against the godless fury of dehumanized man.”[liv]

We must also consider that the Nazi party itself arose out of a faction in the population and did not embody the views of the entire nation. The Jews would have had to collect as did their opponents and gather the Germans who were dissatisfied with the tyranny of unjust conditions. The momentum for change was there and although the odds were against them; it was up to them to win the hearts and minds of the both the German and international masses. Thus power politics and strict adherence to faith was necessitated: for it is the power vested in the opinion of the whole that determines the future of nations. Some later resolved that “It is true that great violence was used, but we did get rid of Hitler and the Nazis.” Gandhiji thus further rebutted “that one could have got rid of the Nazis by non-violent methods if we had known how to use political warfare.” Furthermore, before the war began; Gandhiji warned about international hostilities against Hitler, which he suggest may consequently lead to further retaliations against the German Jews: “The calculated violence of Hitler may even result in a general massacre of the Jews by way of his first answer to the declaration of such hostilities.”

At the least, one can realize that Gandhiji resolved to his methods of satyagraha regardless of circumstance and modeled a system for both Indians and the world alike to fight oppression and injustices on the basis of truth; justice; non-violence; love; discipline with both physical and spiritual austerity; and self-suffering. With these tools at hand; he was able to orchestrate successful campaigns of non-cooperation and civil-disobedience against the imperial forces. Thus it can be said that one of the greatest contributions of Gandhiji to the world was, his model of Satyagraha. “Time Magazine named Gandhi the Man of the Year in 1930, the runner-up to Albert Einstein as "Person of the Century" at the end of 1999, and named The Dalai Lama, Lech Wałęsa, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, Aung San Suu Kyi, Benigno Aquino Jr., Desmond Tutu, and Nelson Mandela as Children of Gandhi and his spiritual heirs to non-violence.”[lv]

Part III: A Gandhian Model in Israel

As our last century faced two World Wars and new national boundaries; the imperial nations laid the foundation for another century of turmoil. As a direct result of World War I, the “…war for dividing the spoils of the exploitation of weaker races-otherwise euphemistically called the world commence...” the Muslims of Palestine found themselves at polar ends with the Zionist factions. Today, nearly a century later; military and legal disagreements still rage over where the borders should stand and who can reside where in the Palestine/ Israel area. As the Arab refugees long for their homeland and the Jews further develop their American “mini-me” empire; the question arises on how would Gandhiji set out to resolve this drawn out affair?

With Bapuji’s convictions with satyagraha, he would automatically ascribe brahmacharya to the Arabs and promote tapasya to both rebuild their consciousness and to rekindle their spirit. With such, he would make an accord with them to employ ahimsa and for them to immediately seize all acts of terrorism and violent forms of freedom fighting. Thus to lay the foundation of satya, he would clearly define the problem and lay out the injustices. In an effort for us to do the same, allow us to review a simple parallel model of the events that unfolded in this region. Although vague, it supplements us with a quick birds eye view. The initial stage is set at mid-19^th century:

Once upon a time, there was an extended family of about 20 members residing on a plot of land. Amongst who; 14 were right handed; 4 were ambidextrous; and 2 were left handed.

They knew they lived on a land that was deeply disputed in the yesteryears amongst their kin of hand oriented ancestors. For history held that their once was a large amount of left handed people living there; whom were consequently overtaken by various other differing hand and even feet orientated people.

Thereafter, it remained primarily a disputed land amongst the ambidextrous and the rightists; over which the rightists eventually availed.

For a few centuries thereafter, the rightist family lived in relative peace. Then one day an over zealous cousin, a “ring bearing rightist,” decided to invade the land and gained control for a short while. Ultimately, the rule was return to the rightists and they assumed normal life. Unfortunately, while the cousin had ruled, he had invited some of his ambidextrous friends in and although the left, they still had a lust for the land.

As the years passed, some of the members of that land began questioning their loyalty to the distant kingdom to which they paid tax to. Although they were a part of this kingdom; they decided to ally with another distant kingdom (of the ambidextrous who were still interested in the land) and fought against them.

As they were prevailing, a separate leftist movement from a distant land made a deal with the ambidextrous kingdom. Thus as the rightists thought they won against their own kingdom; they soon learn that had only gained a new oppressive kingdom over them: of which had promised the leftists some space on their land!

The rightist were angered for they realized they just changed ownership of their land from one imperialist to another and now had a new problem with immigration.

As the family grew (for they were all still distant relatives, with just different hand orientations,) the populations of the leftists were increasing proportionately faster than the rightists and so they (the rightist) grew angrier. The leftist and the rightist of that big family began fighting amongst themselves; whilst the ambidextrous kingdom seemed to be further inciting it - whilst donning the mask of a mediator.

The rightist were angry that these distant leftist cousins were moving in and changing the way things used to be. On the contrary, the leftist cousins were angry because they felt they rightfully belonged there, especially since their great; great; great grandfathers once used to live there as well.

There was a lot of fighting and bickering, and finally the family split up. Most of the rightists were kicked off the land. They leftists won with the help of their Uncle Sam and his big sticks. Meanwhile, the ambidextrous stood aside giggling, while watching everyone fight.

Eventually, the rightist stood landless and leftist were ready to beat them up if they tried to come home. The rightist began working out and throwing random water balloons to try to scare them away. So now the leftists want to build a big wall to stop them, just like their Uncle Sam wants to in his backyard.

Thus it is evident that the rightist made bad alliances and mistakes, but it was the leftist and the ambidextrous who were dealing with injustices. In order for the rightists/ the Arabs to regain their land; they would have set forth a strong satyagraha against the Israelis and its allies. They would need to legitimize their plight to their international community whilst hosting mass movements.

In order to successfully achieve justice through the Gandhian model, they would have to change their present stance. Initially, a research would be initiated to determine if they have any economic bearing on Israel and any of its allies, to see what they can stop doing; using; wearing; or at the least promote the boycotting of in a just manner. Meanwhile, satyagrahis’ would begin forming self-reliant village communities and reintroduce his rural based ideologies. While optimizing the land and its immediate resources, the Palestinians can restore some normalcy to their lives. For them to develop their strips of land and to justly show their necessity for a larger space; the hearts and minds of the world’s people would soon hear their cries. For them to abstain from all violence, even in the face of any and all aggression will only gain them additional sympathy. In the process they would gain additional character; begin finding greater peace in their hearts; and thus begin reaping the fruit they sowed.

Their active stance in organizing themselves and making themselves would build greater unity amongst them. When they have become a unified front based on virtues: they can begin with massive hunger strikes and employ other nonviolent methods. How could the international public turn a deaf ear to 50,000 people, who are living in peace and solidarity on a hunger strike? As they gain experience and success; a greater unity would form and perhaps even a 100,000 would strike. The author of this essay would be moved by such an act and would join them in their fast to symbolize solidarity in their cause. As such many would do the same across the world. With increased momentum, how could the world ignore them, if they; the entire Palestinian population observed a hunger strike; with international supporters? “Israel, like Britain in Gandhi's time, is a nation that views itself as morally accountable and is therefore a perfect target for nonviolent resistance.”[lvi]

As time passes, their neighboring countries and other Islamic nations would definitely work in conjunction with their cause. For Islam holds a strong brotherhood, and by using satyagraha they would also find a brothership with the masses of so many other religions; especially in the East and amongst the Non-Aligned Nations. If at this point, they conducted large scale non-cooperation and practiced civil-disobedience with the support of all those that find solidarity with them: they could shut down entire countries for a day. People would be able to influence their own nations to persuade the Israelis and thus leaving them with no alliances. This is not say that Israel itself is so heartless that they would not be moved by such efforts; they would probably invite the Palestinians home. If not, eventually as all evil does; Israel itself would fall due to it being isolated. This is to assume all have pursued a ure form of satyagraha and the most powerful forces a nation can employ: the power of love; the power of truth; the power of non-violence; and to live in peace amongst all. The final solution would be for the Jews and Muslims to share that land, neither as Palestine nor Israel, but rather as home. A peaceful home, thus a true Holy Land; kingdom of God; a Rámarajya.

Thus the legacy of Gandhiji’s satyagraha model is based on him being both a genius politician and a man of faith and it can thus withstand any oppressor whilst building a Rámarajya. It arose out of the midst of the chaotic factions in India and has blossomed in the hearts of the revolutionaries across the world. The plight of the masses for more just social democracies was answered with a method: first, find knowledge of self; second, assertively resist injustices through humble and nonviolent methods; third, offer a method for the other to concede without losing face. For anything less than this, would only breed injustice. Lastly, we can only hope that the words of Gandhiji shine beyond those who are the oppressed onto those who are oppressing:

“I DO suggest that the doctrine [of non-violence] holds good also as between States and States. I know that I am treading on delicate ground if I refer to the late War. But I fear I must, in order to make the position clear. It was a war of aggrandizement, as if have understood, on either part. It was a war for dividing the spoils of the exploitation of weaker races-otherwise euphemistically called the world commence... It would be found that, before general disarmament in Europe commences, as it must some day unless Europe is to commit suicide, some nation will have to dare to disarm herself and take large risks. The level of non-violence in that nation, if that every happily comes to pass, will naturally have risen so high as to command universal respect. Her judgments will be unerring, her decision firm, her capacity for heroic self-sacrifice will be great, and she will want to live as much for other nations as for herself.”[lvii]

[lviii]

NOTES

[i] Image is from: http://www.dylangreene.com/custom/dylan/images/Gandhi.png

[ii] Bhatt, 7

[iii] Mitra, Ashok. Rotten Roots.

[iv] A term derived from the 1930 statement of Winston Churchill in regards to Gandhi “It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr. Gandhi, a seditious middle temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the east, striding half-naked up the steps of the viceregal palace, while he is still organizing and conducting a defiant campaign of civil disobedience, to parley on equal terms with the representative of the king-emperor."

http://www.kamat.com/mmgandhi/churchill.htm

[v] Douthat, Ross. SparkNote on Mohandas Gandhi.

[vi] In referring to the ‘Emperor’s New Clothes,’ the point is made that Gandhi shed his foolishness.

[vii] Gandhi, Mohandas. Hind Swaraj. Chapter 5

[viii] Arnold, 67. This excerpt is in regards to views expressed in Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj.

[ix] Modernism. (n.d.). Britannica Concise Encyclopedia.

[x] Arnold, 68.

[xi] Gandhi, 489.

[xii] Ibid.

[xiii] Swadeshi movement. (n.d.). Wikipedia.

[xiv] R. K. Prabhu & U. R. Rao. The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi’s Views on Swadeshi and Khadi.

http://www.mkgandhi.org/momgandhi/chap87.htm

[xv] ibid

[xvi] Although, it can be and has been argued that to focusing on the peasants classes was political move. Further

it must be noted that these arguments primarily focus on the urban areas rather than the rural; for that is where the momentum for the reactions to the poor industrial conditions was building; as such was the case in the French revolution. For more information on the subject refer to Dr. Kalia’s Gandhinagar or Arnold’s Gandhi: Profiles in power.

[xvii] Gandhi, 3.

[xviii] ibid

[xix] ibid

[xx] Trimurti : The three main Gods: Brahma (Creator), Vishnu (Preserver), and Shiva (Destroyer)

[xxi] Valmiki. (n.d.). Wikipedia.

[xxii] A 16^th Century poet, Tulasidas poetically renditioned a version of Valmiki’s Rámayana into

Rámacharitamanas. The quote is from: Gandhi. 32

[xxiii] Válmíki. Canto CXXX

[xxiv] Gandhi, 320. Anarchy of Thought. Collected works of Mahatma Gandhi online. September 1, 1929 to

November 20, Page 280. PDF version:

http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL047.PDF

[xxv] These thoughts were paraphrased from: Dr. Kumar, Ravindra. Mahatma Gandhi: Ramayana and Justice.

[xxvi] Evans, Cecil. Redressing The Balance Between Rich And Poor.

[xxvii] Basham, 123

[xxviii] One should not confuse Pacifism for Passivism – for the former opposes violence and war; whilst the latter

consists of inaction and being passive.

[xxix] Basham, 342

[xxx] Ibid

[xxxi] Professor Kalia, 8.

[xxxii] Gandhi, 33.

[xxxiii] Gandhi, Mahatma. Speech at Prayer Meeting. June 13, 1947. Prarthana-Pravachan—Part I, pp. 154-160

Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. Online: Vol. 95: 30 April 1947 to 6 July 1947. PDF Version:

Page 274: http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL095.PDF

[xxxiv] Gandhi, Mahatma. Speech at Prayer Meeting. May 4, 1947 Prarthana-Pravachan—Part I, pp. 66-72

Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. Online: Vol. 95: 30 April 1947 to 6 July 1947. PDF Version:

Page 20: http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL095.PDF

[xxxv] Professor Lindley, The Hebrew and Islamic translations of Rahim and the concept of a non-secularist

kingdom of God was adopted from:

[xxxvi] Gandhi, Mahatma. Speech at a Public Meeting in Bopal. Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. September

10, 1929. Volume 47, Page 41 at Gandhiserve.org:

http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL047.PDF

[xxxvii] Gandhi, 412

[xxxviii] "Harishchandra." Wikipedia.

[xxxix] Gandhi, 7.

[xl] Ibid

[xli] “I am not a visionary. I claim to be a practical idealist.” Gandhi, Mahatma. R. K. Prabhu & U. R. Rao.

[xlii] Gandhi, Chapter 4. [would] was used instead of “will” in order to hold consistency with the surrounding text.

[xliii] This quote is from “Harijan :(1933-1956) English weekly journal founded by Gandhiji and published under

the auspices of the Harijan Sevak Sangh, Poona, and from 1942, by the Navajivan Trust, Ahmedabad. The weekly suspended publication in 1940 during the "Individual Satyagraha"; resumed in January 1942, but stopped appearing during the Quit India Struggle. It reappeared in 1946.”

This source for Gandhiji’s Quote may be found at:

http://www.mkgandhi.org/momgandhi/sources.htm

The Article may be found at Mkgandhi.org under Definition of Independence.

http://www.mkgandhi.org/momgandhi/momindex.htm

[xliv] Gandhi, 319.

[xlv] A common quoting of Gandhiji and one can purchase its bumper sticker at:

http://carryabigsticker.com/eye_for_eye.htm

[xlvi] Swami Sivananda. Bliss Divine. Online version of book and does not list information regarding year of

publication or publishers. It can be inferred from further research that The Divine Life Society’s Sivananda Publication League may have done so. The text, including this particular quote may be found at:

http://www.dlshq.org/teachings/ahimsa.htm (Quote)

http://www.dlshq.org/books/es19.htm (Main page of Bliss Divine, with table of contents)

[xlvii] Tapasya. (n.d.). Wikipedia.

[xlviii] Gandhi, Mahatma. Satyagraha.

[xlix] Brahmacharya. (n.d.). Wikipedia.

[l] Tharoor, 19.

[li] Rabbi Shraga Simmons. Afterlife in Judaism. About.com

[lii] Gandhi, Mahatma. A Non-Violent Look at Conflict & Violence. Navajivan Trust. 1987.

Article written on November 20, 1938 and published in Harijan on November 26, 1938.

A copy of this article is found in the form of a email at Sustainable Agricultural Research and

Education Website:

http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0109&L=sanet-mg&P=31587

[liii] Ibid.

[liv] Ibid

[lv] Mohandas Gandhi. (n.d.). Wikipedia.

[lvi] Weiner, Eric. http://www.gandhiinstitute.org/NewsandEvents/NewsItem.cfm?NewsID=4088

[lvii] R. K. Prabhu & U. R. Rao. From the section: The Way to Peace.

[lviii] Image is from http://mgf.uncsangam.org/images/gandhi1.gif

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Books:

Mohandas, Gandhi. Translation by Mahadev Desai. Gandhi, An Autobiography: The Story of

My Experiments with Truth. Beacon Press: Boston. 1993. Chapter 39. Page 489.

Radhakrishan & Charles A. Moore. Indian Philosophy. Princeton University Press: New Jersey.

1989.

Books Online:

Gandhi, Mohandas. Hind Swaraj. 1909. Online Version designed and compiled by Miss Hinal

Kariya. Nagpur.

http://www.mkgandhi.org/swarajya/coverpage.htm

R. K. Prabhu & U. R. Rao. The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi. Navajivan Trust: Ahmedabad. 1960.

Gandhi’s Views on Swadeshi and Khadi. www.mkgandhi.org

http://www.mkgandhi.org/momgandhi/chap87.htm

Válmíki. Rámáyan. Translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith [1870-1874].

Internet Sacred Text Archive: Hinduism: The Epics: Ramayana. Online version:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/index.htm

Internet Sites:

Gandhi, Mahatma. 320. Anarchy of Thought. Collected works of Mahatma Gandhi online.

September 1, 1929 to November 20, Page 280. PDF version:

http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL047.PDF

Gandhi, Mahatma. Speech at Prayer Meeting. June 13, 1947. Prarthana-Pravachan—Part I,

pp. 154-160 Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. Online: Vol. 95: 30 April 1947 to 6 July 1947. PDF Version:

Page 274: http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL095.PDF

Gandhi, Mahatma. Speech at Prayer Meeting. May 4, 1947 Prarthana-Pravachan—Part I, pp.

66-72 Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. Online: Vol. 95: 30 April 1947 to 6 July

1947. PDF Version:

Page 20: http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL095.PDF

Gandhi, Mahatma. Speech at a Public Meeting in Bopal. Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi.

September 10, 1929. Volume 47, Page 41 at Gandhiserve.org:

http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL047.PDF

Gandhi, Mahatma. Satyragraha.

http://www.members.tripod.com/knik_alaska/id81.htm

Gandhi, Mahatma. A Non-Violent Look at Conflict & Violence. Navajivan Trust. 1987.

Sustainable Agricultural Research and Education Website:

http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0109&L=sanet-mg&P=31587

Secondary Sources

Books:

Arnold, David. Gandhi: Profiles in Power. Pearson: Great Britian. 2001.

Basham, A.L. The Wonder That Was India. Rupa and Co: New Delhi. 1967.

Bhatt, Chetan. Hindu Nationalism: Origins, Ideologies and Modern Myths. Berg: U.K. 2001.

Chakravarty, A. Freedom Fighters of India. Crest Publish House: New Delhi. 2000.

Professor Kalia, Ravi. Gandhinagar: Building National Identity in Postcolonial India.

University of South Carolina Press: South Carolina. 2004.

Tharoor, Shashi. India: From Midnight to the Millennium. Arcade Publishing: New York. 1997.

Books Online:

Swami Sivananda. Bliss Divine. Online version of book and does not list information regarding

year of publication or publishers. It can be inferred from further research that The Divine

Life Society’s Sivananda Publication League may have done so:

http://www.dlshq.org/books/es19.htm

Internet Sites:

Andersen, Hans Christian. The Emperor’s New Clothes. 1837

http://deoxy.org/emperors.htm

Douthat, Ross. SparkNote on Mohandas Gandhi. 28 Jan. 2007

http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/gandhi

Dr. Kumar, Ravindra. Mahatma Gandhi: Ramayana and Justice. The Danish Peace Academy. 2005.

http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/library/kumar/kumar9.htm

Evans, Cecil. Redressing The Balance Between Rich And Poor. 30 January 1999

http://www.mkgandhi.org/richpoor.htm

Mitra, Ashok. Rotten Roots. Communalism Combat. September 2002.

http://www.sabrang.com/cc/sep02/mitra.html

Professor Lindley, Mark. Gandhi’s Last Words. Journal of Peace and Gandhian Studies III/1;

Malayalam translation, Asayadeepam, 1999.

http://www.bfg-muenchen.de/rahim.htm

Rabbi Shraga Simmons. Afterlife in Judaism. About.com

http://judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi_o/bl_simmons_afterlife.htm

Tertiary sources

Internet Sites:

Brahmacharya. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved February 01, 2007, from Answers.com Web site:

http://www.answers.com/topic/brahmacharya

Modernism. (n.d.). Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 27, 2007, from

Answers.com http://www.answers.com/topic/modernism

Mohandas Gandhi. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved February 02, 2007, from Answers.com Web site:

http://www.answers.com/topic/mohandas-gandhi

Swadeshi movement. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved January 28, 2007, from Answers.com

http://www.answers.com/topic/swadeshi-movement

Tapasya. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved January 31, 2007, from Answers.com Web site:

http://www.answers.com/topic/tapasya

Valmiki. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved January 29, 2007, from Answers.com

http://www.answers.com/topic/valmiki

Illustrations

Internet Sites:

1. Gandhi being pulled by his grandson. National Gandhi Museum, Rajghat, New Delhi

http://www.gandhimuseum.org/libraryservices.html

2. The Legend of Harishchandra. Wikipedia.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Harishchandra_RRV.jpg

Animal Center of Queens Needs HELP!!!!!!

2007-12-01T20:23:00.000-05:00

This is Lonnie and she needs a home. She is less than a year old and has been abandoned twice already. She is a sweetheart and needs a home with an experienced dog owner.

She is currently incarcerated at the Animal Center of Queens.
http://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=9242321

Please feel free to contact them or me directly for more information.

Peace and Blessings.

Democracy’s Redemption Song

2007-12-01T20:16:00.000-05:00

Hip Hop; Politics; and Democracy

Hip Hop has ‘come under fire’ many times through these past years. And as such, in light of the Don Imus’s case: Hip Hop has once again been brought into the limelight as the infamous voice of gangsters; drug dealers; and womanizers. In response, B.E.T. has begun airing its highly publicized 3 part series on Hip Hop vs. America. This debate is in tune with the democratic spirit of Hip Hop and allows members of various panels and the audience to address their ideas on various issues confronting the Hip Hop community. This forum has brought light to the fact that Hip Hop is a large culture that encompasses various artistic forums and as such it gives voice to many different factions of society. Subsequently, it also might be silently pointing out the underlying reasons why Hip Hop has been getting all this attention. Being that it has become a powerful medium for the people’s voice, it becomes a risk to the government and the big businesses. There is a threat because public opinions and ideas can begin to sway public policies and governance in general. Perhaps this is the real reason why Hip Hop is risking censorship? Thus adding more censorship could eliminate this threat and drown the truest essence of Hip Hop: the voice of the people. This idea raises many questions on what exactly is a democracy; what’s Hip Hop got to do with it; and how could this happen in America? The answers lay in the understanding of what a democracy is and how hip hop has become its redemption song.

The term ‘redemption song’ was coined into the mainstream media by the legendary reggae singer Bob Marley. In his album Uprising, he introduced his Redemption Song. Within this song he urges people to awaken to the injustices around them: “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds” and “How long shall they kill our prophets, while we stand aside and look?” While this song remains a classic, it does not stand alone in the message it shares. For redemption; the act of redeeming; has often been the subject matter of artists. Rhymes on deliverance from oppression have been and are still commonplace within the hip hop community. Countless rappers have lyrically charged their governments of being corrupt and biased against them and their respective communities. Nas outlines his struggle with the governing bodies in his lyrics: “Vote fo who now? You're red, white and blue? I'm American too, but I ain't with the president's crew. What you peddlin' and who you peddlin' to?” The artists as such as these have essentially challenged their nation’s core legitimizations and moral accountabilities. In effect, this generation’s songs vibrate the necessity for atonement through democratic ideals and have accordingly composed Democracy’s Redemption Songs.

The term democracy is heard constantly in our music; class rooms; general discussions and on the TV – but do most understand what it is or how it applies here in the U.S.? Democracy is a form of governance in which the power is vested within the people – where the majority rules. Hence it is a government ‘by the people, for the people.’ This open definition of democracy has left space for various interpretations of it (i.e. direct; representative; parliamentary; liberal; and totalitarian democracies…) Many of the democratic forms of government are held to have stemmed from ancient Greece; with Athens usually attributed as the focal point of direct democracy. In the hip hop song When Democracy Equals Empire, Mumia Abu Jamal’s voice quotes C.L.R. James about democracy in Athens: “Perhaps the most striking thing about Greek democracy was that the administration… was organized upon the basis of what is known as sortition, or, more easily, selection by lot. The vast majority of Greek officials were chosen by a method which amounted to putting names into a hat and appointing the ones whose names came out… What worked for them, was direct democracy, which means that they believed that all were capable of governing the society in which they lived.” These Greeks also produced many classical arguments surrounding the subject. The famous philosophers Socrates; Plato; and Aristotle, each opposed both direct and participatory forms of democracy. They favored strong centralized states with the power vested in a few elites, as did America’s founding fathers. Although the ancient Greeks have had great influence in molding democratic ideas; the various democracies that exist today are a confluence of post-colonial indigenous cultures. As such there is a fallacy in solely attributing the American forms of democracy to the antiquities of Greece; being that the founding fathers were also heavily influenced by the native Iroquois – “the oldest living democracy.”

The Republic of the United States of America was also formed around democratic ideals; even though it rejected the idea of a direct democracy. Its foundation was based in republicanism because the founding fathers felt that governance should be left to the educated elite. A republic is “a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.” Thus in theory the power is still vested in the people; but the power is truly retained by the elite. As such, citizens’ vote from a small selection of political parties and their chosen candidates/ slates during primaries (only those who are registered with a specific party can vote.) When election time comes these citizens do not directly vote for candidates; rather they cast their ballot letting their parties’ elector know who they would prefer to be President. Although this is democratic in theory, there is far from direct voting. There is space for vote dilution; which created serious issues during with the Bush elections. The citizens also do not vote on policies or public issues. Essentially, all the citizens have are polls and ballots – thus shifting the responsibility of self-governance to an overseer. They do not have the power to veto government action: for instance a war they may disapprove of. At best, citizens have to hope that there is a political party that best represents their interests. In America there is a two party system – the whole population chooses between these two parties. If citizens want to have some say in governance; then they do have the option to lobby for certain policies – granted they have the financial means too. Factions, as such as large businesses, which usually have the funds to both lobby and help finance candidate campaigns are more likely to have better opportunity to vote to their likings and have their interests met. Other than that, there is no real way that the general population can legitimately have say on any real issue – this power is entrusted to the politicians who were elected into office.

How could of this happened; how did a country that fought a revolution for the people lose its power to the elite? After the revolutionary war, America was signed in as a confederacy with loosely knitted states. The citizens still had reasonable amount of voice within this structure. Consequently, many of the founding fathers petitioned for a strong centralized federal government which would oversee the states; interstate issues; and collect federal taxes to develop a stronger military. In support of this new constitution proposing a federal government, James Madison; Alexander Hamilton; and John Jay wrote a series of articles in a New York journal. In the Federalist Paper #10, Madison wrote in depth about how he feared factions would arise within a system of direct voting that had no strong centralized form of government. He believed that people could be moved by whims and passions and would have too much opportunity to harm the state with their irrational decisions. The bottom line is that he did not think that the people were able to govern themselves intelligently. He described factions as pocket interest groups that did not have the majorities interest at heart - but which could move a large enough population to get themselves elected. These essays swayed the popular vote amongst the founding fathers and thus his contemporaries drafted safeguards as such as the Electoral College to act as buffers against shifting tides of public sentiment. For reasons as such, the power has always been distributed amongst the elite - while appeasing the population who believe the power is vested within themselves.

This is where democracy’s redemption songs come to play. Hip Hop has been screaming that the government is not concerned with the people’s needs – this concern can be heard in Immortal Technique’s 4th Branch: “Democracy is just a word, when the people are starvin'.” Hip Hop has been discussing how the system rooted in republicanism has been failing them. Mos Def lyricizes this in Katrina Clap, “You betta off on crack, dead or in jail, or with a gun in Iraq , and it’s as simple as that, no opinion my man it’s mathematical fact, listen, a million poor since 2004, and they got illions and killions to waste on the War, and make you question what the taxes is for, or the cost to reinforce the broke levee wall, tell the boss he shouldn’t be the boss anymore” Hip Hop has been conversing on its communal wellness and how it is rooted in a more direct democracy. As such Nas professes, “See, it's all about community, let's help ourselves… It's our turn, it's 'bout time we win. Need somebody as the hood as my councilman, uh.” As mentioned earlier, Hip Hop calls upon citizens to be able to function at various levels of governance. It understands that the people are not involved enough and need more education. Immortal Technique points this out in his songs Poverty of Philosophy: “Most of my Latino and black people who are struggling to get food, clothes and shelter in the hood are so concerned with that, that philosophizing about freedom and socialist democracy is usually unfortunately beyond their rationale.” Hip Hop has embraced the idea of public discourses; discussions; and debates with rappers as such as the Roots calling out, “They said one vote equals one voice… Every now and then you gotta stand up and shout about it. And I'll be shoutin' it too, as if a shout'll count.” Hip Hop embraces a societal model that would naturally nurture individual liberties - where one may find independence from oppressive bodies of government. Here, those as such as Kanye West, who do not approve of the current government (“George Bush doesn’t care about black people,”) would no longer have to adhere to its unfair governance. At the end of the day, Governments are instituted to act on the population’s behalf and if the government fails to do so; they loses their legitimacy and their right to exist.

Thus hip hop – the voice of the people - is democracy’s redemption song and as such Hip Hop is setting a precedent that could harm the present government and its big corporate sponsors. Perhaps these are the reasons why Hip Hop has been called upon to be censored. One must consider that once Hip Hop as an industry has been censored – rap will still live amongst the people as it has since the conception of this nation. What then or rather who will the governance censor than? The Brand Nubians present this understanding as they call on the people to wise up soon - “Proper Education Always Causes Elevation… It's time for liberation, we gonna put this plan in activation…”

Biology in the Antiquities

2007-12-01T20:01:00.000-05:00

Biology, the study of life, did not stem solely from the antiquities of Greece.

In a day and an age where multicultural education is becoming more of a reality and less of a simple ideal; western scholarship still voids the merit deserved by the antiquities of other civilizations outside of the ancient Greece. As such the subject of Biology, that which is termed to encompass the study of life: still focuses on the achievements of a few. Herein does not lay a thesis to demerit the achievements of ancient Greece; however it does focus on the achievements of ancient civilizations whilst debarring institutionalized racism. For instance a sounder multicultural curriculum would mention the scientific contributions from at the least of the four river valley civilizations: Nile valley of Egypt; Yellow Valley of China; Euphrates Valley of Babylonia; and the Indus Valley of the Saraswati civilization. As such we review a few basic scientific treatises found both within Imhotep’s papyrus scrolls of the Nile Valley and the Rig Veda of the Indus Valley and further discuss the influences of these valley civilizations on the Greeks. All this whilst giving the reader an opportunity to learn more of his own personal history; not stakes to raise nostalgic primordial in an effort to support further nationalism: but solely to allow all to know equity in heritage.

To undermine the primary reasons why American textbooks have both systematically left out medicinal history encompassing global contributions and have downgraded the value of well known facts: would only allow this thesis to be an “antibiotic” rather than be a holistic healer. The reasons are laid in the taboo subject of racism. Racism is not a natural occurrence which has been prevalent since the antiquities as most scholars claim; rather it was an institution which was developed to marginalize the risk factors of wide spread oppressive methods of capitalism. There is much authorship on this subject, and one may be referred to those as such as C.L.R. James; Eric Williams and even Frederick Douglas. This racism, which was created to better facilitate the institution of African slavery, did not find its demise with the Emancipation Proclamation: for it had founded deep roots into both the governance and into the social mindset of the American. More importantly racism was still bred as a capitalistic tool and later as an asset to reach consensus for imperialistic endeavors. Thus the nurturing of supremacy into a student’s mindset becomes absolutely essential to capitalistic institutions. As the socialist writer Alex Taylor claims in his The Roots of Racism, “Similar to the slave societies of antiquity and of the early U.S., under capitalism today, a small, wealthy minority exploits and oppresses the immense majority of people. Racism is the main division among workers today, and it provides a convenient scapegoat for problems created by the system.” Hence the reason why too many scientific text books fail not only to elaborate on the achievements of the global antiquities but also fail even to mention them!

The failed mention of our African heritage from the Nile Valley essentially subtracts an opportunity to learn about what once existed before the aggressive accession of the Greeks; Romans; and other European imperializers (i.e. Dutch; French; and the British Empire.) The student is once again falsely reminded that he was nothing more than a mere savage until he was opportune with “civilization” after being freed from slavery. He is not taught of his own history; which consists of Imhotep’s advancements or the great wisdoms taught within classical texts as such as The Egyptian Book of the Dead. Even the pyramids are taught to be of a mystery and more of a discovery than actual historical artifacts: which are underlined with many Egyptian scientific achievements. As such, names as such as Imhotep should be common place in all biological textbooks. For he has been even been called the God of medicine: “The design of this is attributed to Imhotep, the first figure of a physician to stand out clearly from the mists of antiquity. “In priestly wisdom, in magic, in the formulation of wise proverbs, in medicine and architecture, this remarkable figure of Zoser's reign left so notable a reputation that his name was never forgotten, and 2500 years after his death he had become a God of Medicine, in whom the Greeks, who called him Imouthes, recognized their own AEsculapius.”” Imhotep’s papyrus scrolls have not been named after he who composed them; but rather has been by he who bought them from vandals : Edwin Smith Papyrus. These scrolls containing forty eight medical cases, has been summarized as this by Dr. Robert H. Wilkins :

1. The seventeen columns on the recto comprise part of a surgical treatise, the first thus far discovered in the ancient Orient, whether in Egypt or Asia. It is therefore the oldest known surgical treatise.

2. This surgical treatise consists exclusively of cases, not recipes. The treatise is systematically organized in an arrangement of cases, which begin with injuries of the head and proceed downward through the body, like a modern treatise on anatomy.

3. The treatment of these injuries is rational and chiefly surgical; there is resort to magic in only one case out of the forty-eight cases preserved.

4. Each case is classified by one of three different verdicts: (1) favorable, (2) uncertain, or (3) unfavorable. The third verdict, expressed in the words, 'an ailment not to be treated,' is found in no other Egyptian medical treatise.

5. This unfavorable verdict occurring fourteen times in the Edwin Smith Papyrus marks a group of cases (besides one more case) which the surgeon cannot cure and which he is led to discuss by his scientific interest in the phenomena disclosed by his examination."

To further elaborate the case for ancient Egyptian achievements lays in their influence over the ancient Greek mind. The Greeks are accredited as to have set the basis for science and such scholarly quotes are commonplace: “It is true that many civilizations had very impressive technologies but that is quite different from science. No one fails to recognize the contributions of the Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Chinese but it was the Greeks who crystallized science. It was in Ionia - where opportunity to learn about the wisdom of the Near East was close at hand - where inquiring Greeks first began to speculate what the real nature of the world was and what its destiny might be. This analysis was called philosophia, or 'love of wisdom', and included what we today distinguish as philosophy and science.” The absurdity of such a quote is distinctly ready to an educated eye, whereas the average biology student is “MisEducated”. For the Greeks studied in Alexandria (Egypt) and mysteriously began coming to profound understandings? As Williams quotes from the classic epic The Odyssey, “a country producing an infinite number of drugs . . . where each physician possesses knowledge above all other men." He additionally paraphrases from the same, “Herodotus tells that Darius had at his court certain Egyptians, whom he reckoned the best skilled physicians in all the world, and he makes the interesting statement that: "Medicine is practiced among them on a plan of separation; each physician treats a single disorder, and no more: thus the country swarms with medical practitioners, some under taking to cure diseases of the eye, others of the head, others again of the teeth, others of the intestines, and some those which are not local.”” Yet the Egyptians are accused of lacking medical philosophy, in sorts saying that these Egyptian medical practitioners were of absent mind and were not practicing a version of scientific method. The case as presented simply describes a difference in philosophy, and further amplifies PLAGERISM on part of the Greeks: those who did not attribute anything outside of original thought to those who had innovated those original ideas. As such, this is perhaps why Ptolemy dedicated a temple to Imhotep on the island of Philae; more than two millennia after his death.

To further redress western scholars on their belief that the ancient Greeks were the first to make attempts at “distinguished” philosophy and science, one must examine Dr. Radhakrishan’s statement in reference to the antiquities of India, “The Europeans are apt to imagine that before the great Greek thinkers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, there was a crude confusion of thought, a sort of chaos without form and void. Such a view becomes almost a provincialism when we realize that systems of thought which influenced countless millions of human beings had been elaborated by people who never heard the names of the Greek thinkers." As such allow us to examine the conversation between Alexander “the Great” and King Porus in the Punjab (326 b.c.) as recorded by Greek historians in K.R. Malkhani’s Alexander’s Waterloo in Sindh: “Porus put him on the spot when he told him: ``To what purpose should we make war upon one another. If the design of your coming to these parts be not to rob us of our water or our necessary food, which are the only things that wise men are indispensably obliged to fight for? As for other riches and possessions, as they are accounted in the eyes of the world, if I am better provided of them than you, I am ready to let you share with me; but if fortune has been more liberal to you than to me, I have no objection to be obliged to you.'' Alexander had no reply to the questions posed by Porus. Instead, with the obstinacy of a bully, he said: ``I shall contend and do battle with you so far that, howsoever obliging you are, you shall not have the better of me.”” From this conversation one can clearly hear both philosophy and wisdom from the Punjabi king and lacking in the infamous Greek. Aside from western scholarship lying about who won that war, it is quite evident that they are certainly mistaken whilst speaking of the antiquities of Greece as the only region with both philosophical and scientific foundation. Finally allow us to review Arthur Schopenhauer’s statement: “Older than Plato or Confucius, the Upanishads are the most ancient philosophical works and contain the mature wisdom of India's intellectual and spiritual attainment. They have inspired not only the orthodox system of Indian thought but also the so-called heterodox schools such as Buddhism. In profundity of thought and beauty of style, they have rarely been surpassed not only in Indian thought but in the Western and Chinese philosophical traditions as well.”

If Greek’s are accredited with founding science in its modernity; as a tool to observe reality: hence those they learnt from should be additionally accredited as well. Why give credit to a student for an idea that he learned from his teacher? It is ludicrous and yet historians have not attempted to correct American textbooks as of yet. There is no mention of Vedas either, which is an extensive set of volumes containing not only the history of the Indus valley but also contains both mathematical and scientific treatise. Although western scholars have speculated the date the Vedas to approximately 1500 B.C., it has been scientifically proven false. Since science has proven the Saraswati River to have dried up around 1900 b.c. and its constant mention as a flowing river (plus additional variables) place the Vedas to at the least 3000 b.c. One must note that Vedas were of oral tradition and were not written in Sanskrit until a much later date; according to the Vedas themselves they were composed approximately 10,000 b.c. The profoundness of the Vedas are self evident, for instance we find in Yajur-Veda 6.21 "Through astronomy, geography, and geology, go thou to all the different countries of the world under the sun. Mayest thou attain through good preaching to statesmanship and artisanship, through medical science obtain knowledge of all medicinal plants, through hydrostatics learn the different uses of water, through electricity understand the working of ever lustrous lightening. Carry out my instructions willingly." Further we can find in Atharva-veda 20.4.1-3 "The atomic energy fissions the ninety-nine elements, covering its path by the bombardments of neutrons without let or hindrance. Desirous of stalking the head, ie. The chief part of the swift power, hidden in the mass of molecular adjustments of the elements, this atomic energy approaches it in the very act of fissioning it by the above-noted bombardment. Herein, verily the scientists know the similar hidden striking force of the rays of the sun working in the orbit of the moon." In Dick Teresi’s Lost Discoveries, he outlines both: “Two thousand years before Pythagoras, philosophers in northern India had understood that gravitation held the solar system together, and that therefore the sun, the most massive object, had to be at its center " and "Twenty-four centuries before Isaac Newton, the Hindu Rig-Veda asserted that gravitation held the universe together. The Sanskrit speaking Aryans subscribed to the idea of a spherical earth in an era when the Greeks believed in a flat one. The Indians of the fifth century A.D. calculated the age of the earth as 4.3 billion years; scientists in 19th century England were convinced it was 100 million years." As such, the point is thus reiterated that the profoundness of the Vedas are self-evident and it is absurdly denied its place in textbooks. It is further absurd to claim Greek roots in the Indus Valley and to say at the least that the Greeks were the sole philosophers and scientists.

The roots of racism have yet to be rooted and this powerful political tool will not find its demise until people understand its dynamics. As such institutional racism is nurtured within our academia to insure its survival; whilst denying its students facts about their dynamic past. To teach solely of Greek achievements only handicaps the student; for he is not introduced to the additional resources to reference his life’s decisions from. Further it must be stated that the field of biology has had great success; especially since both the scientific and industrial revolutions: but perhaps can find even greater success by re-examining what the antiquities outside of Greece have offered. Moreover, just as western scholarship demerit technological advances of the “Orient” in support of Greek philosophy and scientific reasoning – perhaps it is we who need to realize this in our own modernity and world of technology. A multicultural education in its entirety would help us realize that vision.

Bibliography
Primary Sources:
1. Sir Hunter, William. History of Nations: India and Persia. Collier and Son. New York, 1916.
Secondary Sources:
2. Muthu, Chowry. The Antiquity of Hindu Medicine and Civilization. Milford
House. Boston, 1972.
EBook Primary Sources:
3. Griffith, Ralph [translator]: The Rig Veda. Motilal. 1896.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/index.htm
EBook Secondary Sources:
4. Osler, William. The Evolution of Modern Medicine: A Series Of Lectures Delivered At
Yale University On The Silliman Foundation in April, 1913. Ebook #1566
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1566/1566-h/1566-h.htm#2HCH0001
5. Malkani, K.R. The Sindh Story. Allied Publishers. New Delhi? 1984
http://yangtze.cs.uiuc.edu/~jamali/sindh/story/
Online Tertiary Sources:
6. Hinduwisdom.info/index.htm
7. Dr. Wilkins, Robert. Neurosurgical Classic-XVII: Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. Reprinted
on Cyber Museum of Neurology with the permission of Journal of Neurosurgery,
March, 1964.
8. Taylor, Alex. The Roots of Racism. The Socialist Worker Online. November 2002.
http://www.socialistworker.org/2002-2/431/431_08_Racism.shtml
9. The Mystery of Science. Hyperhistory.com.
http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/connections_n2/science_essay.html
Video:
10. Scientific Verification of Vedic Knowledge. Devavision Productions.
http://devavision.org/html/scientific-vedas.html. This video may be watched at:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7678538942425297587&q=scientific+proof+of+veda&total=2&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

Reawaken my soul

2007-12-01T19:45:00.000-05:00

This is something I wrote a while back and it seems fit to re-read it today. Its inspiring me to work harder and to live a more balanced healthy life.

April 12, 2005

The depths of hell are as deep as your own shallowness….. You create your own existence within the greater manifestation of the universal soul. You illuminate the illusion with your foolish notions and with your vulnerability to get caught up in your daily living. So enraptured with striving for economic and overall security – we lose sight of path of enlightenment. We savagely indulge into life’s little pleasures trying to seek escape from our own emptiness and to soothe our sorrows – in an excuse trying to make the most of this day.

Is it only in times of trajedy – times of deep isolation do we truly bond with our higher power, is it only during times of desperation do we bond with our own self?

When we struggle, face great adversaries – when our body, mind and soul are tested – we turn for inspiration to the greater soul, and find these untapped energy resources from deep within. We take deeper breathes – and try to find solace in simple things like a nights sky – or a simple memory.

Where is my passion now? I have a home. A woman to love me. Food to eat. Freedom to travel about. Enough money to get where I wanna go. Friends to comfort me. And a heart and soul left to be neglected by me.

I remember trying to understand that my soul and I are one – and my physical body just temple to my light. Just a vehicle to my soul.

Knowledge of self is being lost……………….

Awaken that fire again – that made me fierce – but in a time of peace. Come to life my spirit when all is well and help me strive while the waves are calm. Let me be my own master when I do not have to fight against being enslaved. I am my own destiny, my own king, and ruler – and as my own leader I will lead me to where I need to be.

Peace to self.

2007-05-15T20:53:00.000-04:00

A Conversation with Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now!
From U Tube posted by Anticonsumer.

(The sound is low; you may need external speakers.)