David Replies to Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Critic

Friday, August 18 2006 @ 10:08 PM EDT

Contributed by: davidslesinger

Thursday, August 16, 2006

We have plenty of problems with the police without merry pranksters going around provoking them. This is apparently a "for real" incident--- not a purposely fabricated phony "civil disobedience" one.

Jim Senyszyn

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Jim Senyszyn first raised Christopher Bollyn's report as a means of denigrating our nonviolent civil disobedience. This is a clever tactic for someone such as Jim, who opposes the example of Gandhi and King. If advocates on nonviolence deplore the police treatment of Bollyn, it's easy to assert that such commentators are enemies of police and civil order in general. If such nonviolent advocates distance themselves from Bollyn, they give the mistaken impression that the victim, Bollyn, is ultimately responsible for his abuse.

Gandhi would want those who aspire to satyagraha to hold fast to the truth.

  1. If the regime has embraced evil as deeply as many charge them, they will generate a full martial law state as soon as they can get away with it.

  2. The police treatment of Bollyn as described is profoundly unprofessional. He was detained and abused because he resented the behavior of police spying. He broke no law. He didn't perform civil disobedience because he didn't break the law.

  3. The 911Truth movement is unusual since it includes people who have been both left and right of center. All are anti-imperialist. All oppose a police state. All oppose wealthy individuals and corporations who profit from wars arising out of false-flag operations. Some important differences remain including the UN, environmental activism, racism, sexism and homophobia. However, the importance of preventing martial law is enough to justify such a coalition. The fact that I feel some such coalition brothers and sisters are misguided should be addressed with love as those brothers and sisters are able to discuss the issues.

  4. My role as an advocate of nonviolence is to make the case for nonviolence to anyone willing to listen. I feel much more comfortable making my case to people who either take a position on nonviolence like Jim or Webster Tarpley and his followers, than I do to a conservative like Bollyn who comes out a different tradition and never sought my advice.

  5. I do believe nonviolence is the best way to deal with the police. Witness how politely the police treated me during my arrest of 8/11/06. This in no way means I can know that if Bollyn had been able to achieve the ability to think of the police as misguided brothers that they would have treated him better.

  6. My comment upon sentencing in DC for my arrest with Cindy Sheehan and others at the White House in 10/06 was to say that in a democracy, police are considered by most citizens to be their friends. It should be that way. On the other hand, under martial law, relatives of the police will be ashamed to admit that they are related.

  7. I've had activists say to me privately that they hope the US military stages a coup against the Neo-Cons if and when they try to generate a false flag operation to excuse the imposition of martial law. Allow me to at least suggest nonviolence would be a better choice for the military in such an instance. If those who would stage such a coup were to instead take sanctuary with some legitimate news outlet, and have their warnings put out in real time, the public could rally in support in large numbers in real time, if the public is ready.

  8. If there are enough activists committed to nonviolence and willing to risk any sacrifice such a scenario described above in #7 could be prevented. If hundreds or thousands were willing to offer themselves for imprisonment, specifically to alert the public to likelihood of martial law, this may be a number large enough to seize enough public support to save the Constitution. Most crucially, the police must be treated as brothers and sisters deserving of the very legitimate role as peacekeepers in a democracy.

  9. Anyone interested in reaching out to the police should contact me at dslesinger@ alum.mit.edu or call at 240-221-3293. We should make a leaflet for law enforcement professionals.

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    http://911courage.org/article.php/20060818220858137