Dear RN, I have just finsihed reading Carolyn Ballard's latest "@ odds" column. My eyes are warm, because like Carolyn, I sense the wonder of our power to act non-violently for good, what author (_Allow the Water_) Len desroches calls dunamis. But it is also partly simply because of a strange coincidence. Carolyn describes watching the sunrise and her Easter thoughts... They parallel my own April 16 experience, for that is the day when I happened to be in quite a state emotionally and a local gas station owner told me of how he watches the sun rise and the rather mystical experience it is for him. A couple days ago I decided to use that story for a "column" I do for a local paper, called "Enviro-ideas". I'll copy it below too. all the best, Jan ************************************************************** From: "Carolyn Ballard" <•••@••.•••> Subject: Fw: @ Odds Column - May Issue Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 17:26:36 -0700 @ Odds In Washington, DC, the day dawned cool and overcast with sporadic light rain on Sunday, April 16. Known simply as A16 among the activist community, the day that was supposed to become an historic milestone for democracy was starting out inauspiciously, I feared. Like thousands of other concerned citizens, I had come to the nation's capitol to exercise my First Amendment right to speak out peacefully against the dangers and inequities of the steamroller of capitalist globalization. After driving through the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia in a steady torrential rain all night without sleep, my friend, her daughter and I arrived at the international youth hostel on 11th Avenue about midday to find that the hostel had been overbooked. The group of 11 Winthrop students with which we were affiliated had been sent to stay at a Lutheran church housing protestors several blocks away, we learned from the leader of the group from UNC-Chapel Hill. The Winthrop and UNC-C student groups had combined forces to plan and coordinate a joint effort for the DC protest. Discovering that his group had three hostel beds unspoken for, the UNC-C leader graciously gave us the option of staying at the hostel with his group or joining the Winthrop students at the Lutheran church. Exhausted and frazzled from our journey, we quickly decided that the first option was the most appealing. That decision proved to be a fateful one. Slithering cautiously from my top bunk before the first light of dawn the next morning, I quietly dressed as my 11 other roommates slept peacefully and then set out to find a very large cup of coffee. Ironically, my quest ended three blocks away at that icon of globalizing capitalism - McDonald's. Other ironies would soon follow. Feeding my dual addictions of cigarettes and coffee, I stood on the sidewalk outside the hostel and watched as the city awakened and came alive. The riot-geared police were everywhere, and the drone of police helicopters and sirens kept up a constant cacophony the entire weekend. I felt like I was in a police state rather than the capitol of the leader of the free world. As the morning wore on, I watched uncomfortably as buses with siren-blaring police car escorts in front and behind raced down the streets. And in the city that should be the "shining city on the hill" beckoning all the world's downtrodden with the hope of democracy and economic freedom, the hordes of Washington's homeless who were crawling from beneath their plastic and cardboard shelters that morning were perhaps the starkest irony. They were the witnesses to the lie that we and the thousands like us had come to protest. As the hours ticked by before the 11 a.m. rally at the Ellipse, I could feel my outrage growing at a System that would so brutally disenfranchise the most vulnerable, treat people and Earth's natural resources as mere commodities and grant prosperity and power to an elite minority. I felt even more justified in my outrage, when we learned that the Winthrop students along with more than 600 others had been arrested the night before for peacefully demonstrating against the Prison-Industrial System. In addition, a commando squad of DC police and federal marshals earlier that night had shut down the central command post of the demonstrators on the pretense of a fire code violation. As one frequently seen bumper sticker put it: "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention." By 10:30 a.m., my friends and I and the 20 or so members of our newly-adopted UNC-C group had assembled in front of the hostel in preparation for the march to the Ellipse. In anticipation of meeting with the same tear gas attacks from police as fellow protestors had met with in Seattle months earlier, we all carried vinegar-soaked bandanas to combat the effects of the acidic-based gas. A legal advisor assigned to our group by the national organizing team went through our ranks and wrote the phone number to call in case of arrest in indelible marker on our forearms. I couldn't help but observe that we looked more like escapees from a Nazi concentration camp than peaceful protestors. Almost magically, the cloud cover and rain rapidly gave way, replaced by a cloudless sky and warm sunshine. It seemed like an auspicious omen. With the huge brown-skinned papier-mache face and hand of an anonymous Third-Worlder borne by students at the head of our group, we began our six-block march to the Ellipse to join the gathering thousands. The signs we carried spoke to the inequities of the one System that we were protesting: "Women of Faith Against the Greed of Capitalism," "Jobs with Justice," "The WTO Rapes the Planet," "Stop the War Against the Poor." Slowly, as the energy of our march and the certain knowledge of the justness of our cause built, a student drummer began to tap out a cadence for the chant that we took up: "Ain't no power like the power of the people, and the power of the people don't stop!" It was a chant that was to be heard over and over again, as the assembled thousands began the long protest march around the perimeter of the Ellipse three hours later. Teamsters and turtles, church groups, environmentalists, political and social activists of all stripes, veterans, young and old . we were all there to put the System on notice that we are paying attention, and we are outraged by what we see - a world order being constructed on the principle of greed. On the Sunday following A16, I found myself once again greeting the dawn of a momentous day. Standing on a boardwalk on the beach of the Isle of Palms, SC, another friend and I had come to celebrate our own private Easter sunrise service. As the blood red orb of the sun burst forth over the vast horizon of the sea, the beauty and grandeur of Creation moved me like no sermon could. Contemplating the deep meanings of resurrection, my thoughts turned to the events of the previous weekend, the words of our chant reverberating through my mind. The power of people is unique in Creation. We alone have the power to think and act rationally and logically. The economic and political system that we have created is based on the power and appeal of greed. Such a system will ultimately destroy people morally, spiritually and physically. With its innate imperative for unlimited growth and profits, it will surely destroy our habitat. "The power of the people don't stop" . until it is taken away by the tyranny of the few or runs headlong into the power of Creation. The hope then becomes the hope of resurrection. That was the message of A16 that I contemplated on Easter Sunday. The old system must die that a new might live. The power of the people is the power to choose. (c) Carolyn Ballard (2000) - Republication permission granted for non-commercial and small-press use under "fair use" ************************************************************** ENVIRO-IDEAS (for Clare Shopper) APPRECIATING nature is crucially important. Mayflowers are in bloom; bend down & smell... but if you pick, take care to leave lots behind & especially not rip out the roots. Art Rice of Weymouth on the sunrise: "Just in case you might feel agnostic, then watching rising of the sun [with a welder's helmut to protect your eyes!] might change your mind... I look at it and appreciate where I am. I also look at it as a miracle... These are quiet times that teach you not to take things for granted." ****************************************************** APPRÉCIER la nature c'est d'une importance cruciale. Les fleurs de mai nous offrent une odeur sans pareil, mais si vous en cueillez, n'en prenez pas trop et surtout, n'arrachez pas les racines. Art Rice, de Weymouth, commente le lever de soleil : "...Je le regarde [avec un casque de soudeur pour me protéger les yeux!] et j'apprécie où je me trouve. J'y vois également un miracle... Ce sont des moments de tranquilité quand on apprend à ne pas prendre le monde pour aquis." *********************************************************** Creo que el mundo es bello, que la poesía es como el pan, de todos. (I believe the world is beautiful and that poetry, like bread, is for everyone) Roque Dalton Jan Slakov, Box 35, Weymouth, NS, Canada B0W 3T0 (902) 837-4980 --- CDR (Citizens for a Democratic Renaissance) home page -> http://cyberjournal.org ~================================================~ To subscribe to the cyberjournal simply send an empty message to: <•••@••.•••> ~================================================~ To keep posted on the democratic renaissance send an empty message to: <•••@••.•••>.