Tuesday, January 16, 2007

The Ride



In the course of history, there have been perhaps a handful of times when people have come together and peacefully made their voices heard so that history itself is altered.

Certainly, the great gathering of August 28 th, 1963 where Martin Luther King delivered his dream speech is a remarkable example.

Gandhi's salt march is another. Here, on the 12th of March 1930 ,Mahatma Gandhi, at age 61, started walking from Sabarmati Ashram with a band of 78 handpicked volunteers. Their destination was a beachhead 241 miles to the south, Dandi. Around the 6th of April, Mahatma Gandhi and his band of followers reached Dandi, along with the thousands who had joined him en-route.

It was at Dandi that the British Empire lost its moral high ground as wave after wave of unarmed nonviolent soldiors stormed the British lines. With each brutal hit of their sticks on the unarmed satyagrahas, the British soldiers lost their ability to inflict their violence.

There are many signs pointing to an expansion of the War and violence in the Mideast. Here is one more from China View.

This is not new. Scott Ritter has said an attack is imminent since 2005. Seymour Hersh has written and spoken often about it. Even this Russian MP believes it.

And the POTUS is no help either in quieting our worried minds.

Meanwhile, the liberal press continues to conflate Iran's legal processing of nuclear fuel with the creation of nuclear weapons.

The other night, while at a fund raiser for a truly progressive guardian of the truth, I found myself explaining to a reporter friend how such an attack would not seem so crazy in the eyes and minds of the military and corporate elite.

The price of oil would probably shoot up as Iran shuts down the straits in the Persian Gulf. That would mean that the big major oil companies could make huge profits. Simultaneously, the problem of peak oil would be temporarily solved as demand drops due to the price increase.

As a bonus, The POTUS and the VPOTUS change the dialogue away from their past failures to the future need for complete victory.

If all goes right, we end up controlling the 200 billion barrels of Oil in Iraq (including the western field), the 150 Billion barrels or so in Persia, and we keep the Saudis and Kuwaitis in our protectorate for a grand total of perhaps 600 billion barrels in our control. That would be perhaps 50% of the remaining oil reserves on earth.

That would look pretty good on paper.

Unfortunately, the game is not played on paper.

And it most certainly is not a game.

If our leaders move forward on this plan,

it will be a ride into hell.

This all leads me to this.

I'm thinking about another Ride.

I'm thinking about a Ride to Washington.

Imagine 2 or 3 million people of conscience,

Riding their bikes into Washington after gathering in Philadelphia.

Imagine Washington so full of bikes, the cars can't move.

Imagine a show of love and force that might actually change this.

I can.

Can You?


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7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for the mlk speech on the Monday blog, we lost so much when we lost him. Love as strength not weakness.

11:35 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think your idea is a good one. How do you intend to make it happen?

SP

11:36 AM  
Blogger SB said...

Awhile back, talking to Hill Able -- who owns Bicycle Sport Shop, and who organizes the Jingle Bell Ride every year in Austin, dozens of cyclists riding in Santa Hats, etc, bells on the bikes -- we talked about how wonderful it would be to have a Peace Ride. There aren't that many people who can ride the distance from where they live to DC -- I wonder how something like this might work?

SB

11:41 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I ride my bike about 3000 miles a year, so let me know when we leave for Washington. CHF

3:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We all should be
making phone calls, writing letters, etc.

Are you going to D.C. for the
national protest on january 27 I'm not but hope there are lots of protests everywhere, not that it will stop Bush.

Somehow we should be able to stop him and Cheney and Halliburton. Hey, if you are going I will donate some money to help pay expenses. If you don't need any, maybe somebody else does.

Lea and Mumtaz are in Pakistan and their friends and family there are afraid that it is the end. I said oh it is not the end.

We all just have to keep working on it.....

6:06 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great post. And loved your MLK post. He has always been an inspiration to me and I've always thought, as you stated, that the "Dream" speech is one of the greatest in all of history.

6:12 AM  
Blogger oZ said...

I'm not sure how this might work. Those who cannot make the whole trip can join anywhere along the line with Philadelphia being the main joining point.

If April is the war date, then the ride needs to happen in March.

Maybe the Ides.

I like the idea that very limited amounts of carbon will be emitted as we ride to call for the Peace of the Earth through a nonviolent technological revolution that allows the earth to move beyond carbon, and thus avoid the wars that must come from its coming depletion and its effects on the climate.

6:26 AM  

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