(in 5 simple steps)
1. How to be a good organizer
a) Spend some time thinking about trees
b) Imagine what clear cutting looks like, sounds like, and feels like
c) Recognize that 80% of the world’s forests are gone
d) Be a good organizer
2. How to find like-minded comrades
a) Go to the beach
b) Smell the salty air and listen to the waves
c) Recognize that 90% of the large fish in the ocean are gone
d) Find like-minded comrades
3. How to plan a protest
a) 200,000 acres of rain forest are destroyed each day. Picture a planet devoid of rain forests. Picture a human body without lungs.
b) A woman is raped every 46 seconds in America. Visualize the terror and trauma of these experiences.
c) 29,158 children under the age of five die from preventable causes each day. Imagine the feelings of grief, sorrow, and loss.
d) Plan a protest
4. How to give a rousing speech
a) Find a quiet place
b) Close your eyes and breathe deeply
c) Think about animals in slaughterhouses and laboratories. Think about humans in prisons. Think about civilians in a war zone. Think about someone you love dying of cancer caused by corporate-created toxins.
d) Give a rousing speech
5. How to bring down the dominant culture
a) Ask yourself if you’re content with your relatively high quality of life being possible thanks to the poor quality of life of others elsewhere
b) Ask yourself if you’re content with your relative freedom being possible thanks to the oppression of others elsewhere
c) Accept that we are all accomplices to the perpetual global crime called “civilization”
d) Bring down the dominant culture
Mickey Z. is the author of two upcoming books: Self Defense for Radicals (PM Press) and his second novel, Dear Vito (The Drill Press). Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, he can be found on the Web at http://www.mickeyz.net