Wednesday Witness #2

Hump Day News

I had expected this would be entertaining, but it’s just gotten a bit depressing.

This week for the Wednesday Witness:

US Gov’t wants complete wiretapping ability on your Facebook, Emails & Skype –>

Greece’s got Nazis –>

Occupy Activists accused of terrorist plot –>
This one is a bit scary, because if the Gov’t has complete access to all of our internet history and is hell bent on giving Occupy a bad name, a whole lot of concerned Americans could end up as political prisoners real soon. Maybe they’ll take a hint from Palestinian prisoners and all go on Hunger Strike.

Over 2,000 Palestinian Prisoners on Hunger Strike,
Int’l Solidarity.
An Emergency rally was held in Union Sq. on Tuesday –>
There is an Intifada stirring in the Zionist jails –>

North Carolina comes out as Super Homophobic. World is shocked. –>

-_-

Free Syrian Army receives training in Kosovo — Civil War?
Continue supporting the Free Syrian Army –>

 

Karl Marx
Saturday marks Karl Marx’s 194th birthday

“Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks”

 

Week Two at Tedeschis
I’m starting to feel differently about my opportunity to work at Tedeschis. I thought it would be a kind of dreadful experience, working in a convenience store, but it’s a great opportunity to talk to my community. The people shopping at the store are the people who are suffering greatly from poverty and all of its symptoms, i.e., addiction, homelessness, mental instability, and I get to spend time with them all each day. These are the people that I believe the movement needs to involve, that the movement needs to make room for and listen closely to.

The only thing about my job that I really have a problem with is the Massachusetts Lottery.
Sometimes it feels as though I am not helping the people of my community, but am instead working for the Lottery.

People come in and spend hours playing scratch tickets and Keno every single day.
It gets really hard to watch.

If people win money then they spend double the amount in new tickets.

I said to my co-workers

“If we were bartenders then when people got drunk we would have a cut off limit for them. Why is it that there is no cut off limit for the lottery? It is also an addiction.”

I realize that if that were the case then perhaps these people would all go to another store, another gas station, until they ran out of money for the day, but it feels terrible and like I am enabling a massive group of people in their addiction.

Hopefully, through this job, I will find a way to better communicate with the people of Fitchburg and send them a message of Revolution that they understand.

Oh, and as a sidenote:

Living in Fitchburg I often make careless remarks about all of the crackheads living on my street. And I often laugh. Seeing these people come in every day — smelling them — seeing how they live, it’s something that I no longer find very funny at all.

 

Monday
I’m on a mission to find beautiful and inspiring things in Fitchburg instead of simply focusing on the trash, drugs, poverty, obnoxious college students and terrible public transportation.
On Monday, Yusuf and spent hours trekking around town. We stopped at … Stuff’N'Things (or something like that) a small, cluttered, second hand shop on Main Street. It has some gems. We were able to find a black tea set with tiny black cups (perfect for Turkish coffee) for only 10.00.

We found a huge abandoned building next to Longsjo school that used to be some kind of school or museum.

 

 

At about 3:00pm we made it to our one set destination, Coggshall Park.

We had never been, so we used the footpath on Old South Street and after some confusion (and an ice cream truck) we found our way to the lake and gazebo.

It’s a small park, and the lake is most likely man-made, but it’s a nice little area filled with ducks and geese and swans.

Despite all of the signs, families brought their children right to the water’s edge to spend time feeding the swans and ducks. It was a beautiful place.

After a nice afternoon we came back home we had dinner and watched an episode of Lost (which I used to be thoroughly enchanted with and now think is misogynistic, sexist, far too religious and often quite stupid but I watch because I’m addicted to the mystery and also there is so little on tv or even film that I can even tolerate anymore) and an episode of Misfits which is something I can tolerate and recommend highly.

 

So, thanks for checking out edition II of the Wednesday Witness. Sorry for the crap quality, hopefully the pictures of swans will make up for it.

Keep your heads up, comrades.
It could be much worse.

Wednesday Witness

Because they both start with the letter W.

Welcome to my first (and perhaps only) Wednesday Witness! This is my Hump Day report, some news to boost your spirits or invigorate your mind to help you get through the rest of the week.

We’re alive in one of the most interesting times in the history of the world.
Sure we’ve always had wars, political uprisings, communication and Revolution, but now we also have

THE INTERNET
So sit back
Grab a cuppa
rahatmisin

and enjoy this week’s edition of

HUMP DAY NEWS

May 02 2012

Yesterday for International Workers Day hundreds of thousands of people all around the world took to the streets. Over 100,000 people marched in Moscow including Vladimir Putin and his wife, thousands of people were in Spain and Ankara, and thousands of people were in New York. In Oakland, CA police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. In Massachusetts there were also several demonstrations. Unfortunately, what I saw of mainstream U.S. news did a fairly awful job of covering the gatherings and making them appear to be trivial acts, and much smaller than they actually were.
My colleague (and friend) Bruce Gagnon of the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space wrote today on his blog that he read a CNN article declaring that only 40 people turned up in NYC yesterday, a statement he posted under a picture of hundreds with a banner that reads “OCCUPY WALL STREET”.

Bruce has just returned from a month long speaking tour from Portland to Toronto, speaking about the situation on Jeju Island, drones, the Global Network and his own experiences in the peace movement. He’ll be speaking soon in Portland and Chicago and if you’re around I highly recommend you make the trip out to hear him speak. You are guaranteed to learn something new.

Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space –>
Organizing Notes –>
Save Jeju –>
Read the story –>

 

Toro Energy
The company that wants to open a new uranium mine in Wiluna, Western Australia has just gotten heat for having Canadian doctor Doug Boreham speak publicly in favor of radiation as not only safe, but ‘good for you’. The UN Scientific Committee on the effects of Atomic Radiation and other groups have refuted this bogus claim, and the Medical Association for the Prevention of War sent in a submission with signatures of 45 doctors demanding that Toro Energy stop promoting radiation as safe. This message comes at a time when the reactors from Fukushima are still leaking radioactive water and in my own state of Massachusetts, Pilgrim Nuclear is applying for re-licensing 30 years early, despite leaks and holes.

Doctors Slam Uranium Miner .. –>
Why Fukushima is Worse Than Chernobyl –>
2012 walk to keep WA Uranium Free –>
Pilgrim Watch –>
Oswego Walk –>

 

Mouncef Marzouki
This week, the third episode of Julian Assange’s The World Tomorrow features an interview with current president of Tunisia, Mouncef Marzouki. An outspoken human rights activist, Marzouki was imprisoned under the previous regime. Assange’s show is exciting, and comes at a time when such open conversation is sincerely needed. It is interesting hearing from Marzouki, keeping in mind that Tunisia is the country that started the Arab Sprin Revolutions when fruit vendor Mouhammed Bouazizi set himself on fire in 2010 after harassment from government officials.
The interview  includes questions about Marzouki’s cabinet and military members people who previously put him in solitary confinement in prison and were keeping actvists such as himself out of the public eye. Assange also compares Hezbollah’s relatively soft stance on al-Assad’s massacre in Syria and hard stance on Beruit prisons with Tunisia’s opposite stance and asks why that is. Another wonderful episode, Marzouki assures Assange that if anything happens to him he is welcome in Tunisia.
The World Tomorrow is the new ongoing video project of the Revolution, and if you haven’t seen it yet (what on earth are you doing with your life) then catch up on the first two episodes!
Full episode –>
Episode II: Horowitz – Zizek –>
Episode I: Nasrallah –>

 

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Parliament
Today Aun San Suu Kyi and 42 other members of her political party the National League for Democracy (NLD) made their first appearance in Parliament swearing to “Be loyal to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and citizenry and always hold in esteem the nondisintegration of the union”.  After a short hiatus of this ceremony (a boycott during which time Suu Kyi hoped to change the Constitution that allows 25% of Parliamentary seats to be held by members of the military) they were sworn in, in a historic event and after decades of house arrest, political and political unrest.
It is a powerful time for Burma and for Suu Kyi who, following in the footsteps of her father, the revolutionary Bogyoke Aung San will undoubtedly continue to create change for her country and her people.
Parliament –>
U.S. Campaign for Burma–>
All Burma Monks Alliance –>

 

American Nomads
Yesterday I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Jesse and Collin two travelers from Cleveland and LA, respectively.
I walked from my mother’s home in Gardner to the bus stop behind the post office in the cold drizzling gray, only to find it already occupied.
I walked in and met Jesse and Collin who had just come from Allston MA, by way of a freight train, a gondola, and several basement shows.
An old friend who was recently discharged from the army joined us, and by the time the four of us got on the bus to Fitchburg were debating violence vs. Non-violence, the role of France in World War II, human instinct and nomadic traditions.
It was a lovely bus ride and it was with some sorrow that I left Collin, Jesse, and Nick at the Intermodal station in Fitchburg to let them all go their separate ways. Nick was going to a party at one of the (goddawful) frat houses on my street, and Jesse and Collin were taking the Amtrak up to Portland, ME for work. I sincerely hope they’ve made it there by now and are safe somewhere, and warm, and preparing to get on the internet to read this sometime soon! I am sure our paths will cross again.

Jesse and Collin at the Post Office bus stop in Gardner, MA

 

Cries from the stall
Once in Fitchburg I walked to Market Basket to do my grocery shopping for the week. My first stop in the store was the ladies room. As I dried my hands and prepared to leave a woman walked in and told her daughter to go pick up, “Land O Lakes American Cheese.” She repeated the phrase several times before coming into the restroom, entering the stall I had just vacated, and sniffling several times before telling herself to hold it together. I asked her if she was okay. She said yes, through tears, and so I probed, “are you sure?”
“No” was her reply, and she came out of the stall and told me that her daughters 16th birthday had just passed. Her daughter who had been kidnapped by her ex three years ago, who someone had just kindly and ignorantly asked about. We talked and hugged before her younger daughter came in again, asking about the brand of cheese.

She wiped her face, blamed the tears on tripping, and walked out into the store with a smile plastered on her face and proceeded to talk to her step son and his friends for the next few minutes. Face red, holding in the pain. And I was struck by the sheer awesomeness of the sorrow that she has to carry around every day. Also, by her strength and her loss and by the realization that if I had simply walked away maybe she would never have had anyone to talk to. Before leaving I gave her my information and asked her to call me. “Do you talk to anyone?” I asked. “Just God.” She said.

It’s situations like hers that can make a person question the whole of human existence, and that make you certain that optimistic idioms like “everything happens for a reason” are sometimes so incredibly juvenile and false. All at once I realized that there are really things that just happen for no reason. Evil things that ,were there some benevolent God watching over us, would never occur.

It really made me glad that I had reached out to her, and I hope can serve as a reminder to all of us that we’re all simply human and are sometimes just looking for someone to talk to. Sometimes we don’t have anyone to share our pain with and if we can’t let it out it will simply implode, leaving us a shell shocked melancholy mess.

 

I Saw Ramallah

The fish,
Even in the fisherman’s net
Still carries
The smell of the sea

these verses I read today as I returned from my first day of work exhausted with my legs outstretched eating leftover from lunch. These verses are from Mourid al-Barghouti’s book, I Saw Ramallah. It is the story of his 30 year separation from Palestine and his confusing return to a home that is in many ways, no longer his. Mourid al-Barghouti is a beautiful and talented author who tells a story – his story – in such a way that makes things very easy to understand while repeating phrases and thoughts like, “until things become clearer” that reinforce the impossibility of this situation that so many people have been unwillingly thrust into. It’s a beautiful story on the authors life, on Palestine, occupation and displacement and war, and I sincerely recommend that if you are reading this now that you look it up and go take a copy out of your local library or bookstore as soon as possible.

 

 

As previously mentioned I did just recently get back from my first day of work training at a convenience store. A store which, I suppose is alright but where I was told today if someone fills out a money order greater than a few hundred dollar and “looks suspicious” I am to fill out a form that will be sent to Headquarters. And tell me exactly what kind of fascist and horribly racist statement is that? How do you define “suspicous” ? Is someone who fumbles with and drops their money suspicious? Someone with a serious look in their eye? Someone who is not white?
Can you tell if a person is suspicious by their clothes?
And what exactly is the point of filling out an entire sheet of paper on them — is the idea that they might be a terrorist and jotting down their details will help us save lives? More likely, a person is simply trying to send money to a family member, or to pay a bill.
Would someone who robbed a bank then come into a convenience store to exchange their cash … for a money order?
I think not.

Thanks for reading the Hump Day updates, and I hope if you are reading this you are somewhere where your nose is toasty, you are not regarded as suspicious, and you have the good company of an entertaining friend or a moving book with you.

V
Tumblr |  Twitter

Hana Matsuri in D.C.

katoSh, a photo by V.LaRevolucion on Flickr.

Approximately 30 people came out to the D.C. dojo on Saturday April 21st to celebrate Hana Matsuri, the Buddha’s birthday.

Hana Matsuri or flower festival is celebrated each year in April or early Spring to commemorate the birth of the Buddha.

On this day approximately 2,600 years ago Buddha was born and immediately following his birth took seven steps in each of the four directions and proclaimed that he would dispel suffering and bring peace to all sentient beings.

Hana Matsuri is celebrated by offering food and flowers to the Buddha and then bathing the baby Buddha in sweet tea.

After prayers and the bathing of the Buddha, Kato Shonin from the New England Peace Pagoda gave a Dharma talk followed by a hopeful excerpt of Nichidatsu Fuji’s read by Sister Clare. (Dharma talk)

Guests included members of the Dorothy Day DC Catholic Worker House, participants in the “No More Fukushimas Walk” from New York, cellist Benjamin Hundley and neighbors in the DC area.

The group shared a meal together before ending the day.

Jun san of the Grafton Peace Pagoda left with her group of veteran peace walkers to Tennessee to take part in the Atlanta dojo’s Hana Matsuri and a two week work camp to continue construction on the Smoky Mountains Pagoda (Atlanta dojo)

Kato Shonin and people from the New England Peace Pagoda drove back to Massachusetts.

Hana Matsuri will be celebrated in New York and Massachusetts on the weekend of May 27th. Anyone interested in volunteering or attending either ceremony should contact Vanessa Zorlu at 978 696 1312

Na Mu Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo

New England Peace Pagoda Facebook | No More Fukushimas walk Facebook | Photos from the event

BeforeDuringAft…

Before

During

After

We finished painting!
The entire portico needs to be replaced because there is too much wood rot from moisture, but we did the best we could. We patched up the big hole and scraped and re-painted the pillars, windows, and the front balcony.

We had an incredible amount of work to do in a really short amount of time and we did a beautiful job.

Micki & Arnie got here tonight and have been helping with food prep, yard work, and indoor decorations.

I spent the last several hours working with various people on unfolding and setting up the paper flowers that will be outside around the lanterns tomorrow.

It should be a beautiful day — Happy Vesak Eve!

paint.

paint., a photo by V.LaRevolucion on Flickr.

Day 2
Today Tim, George, and I scraped off much of the flaking paint and George built a small temporary filler to cover the rot/hole and make the portico sturdier.

Initially we planned on replacing the whole thing, but on closer inspection realized it would be impossible due to the small break in the curved metal pipe inside of the wood. As none of us know anything about metalworks we decided to saw it flat and create a makeshift cover.

Helen came over today to help out with some of the scraping and her friend Mike came by for a few hours in the morning.

Tomorrow we have a bit more scraping to do before we can start painting the primer.

Lewis has just gotten here, so tomorrow we’ll have another pair of hands to help out.

Kato Shonin might also take a bus down tomorrow — it should be a good work day.

I didn’t get to take part in any of the national or international protests today, but before the work day started I reminded everyone at the dojo that said actions were happening.

So that’s something.

Peace

DRVonSkillet

 

Khader Adnan released today

MA to DC – Day 1 at the Dojo

<<Why I’m in DC>>
A few days ago I got a phone call from Tim asking if I would be able to come to DC for a week to help him, George and Lewis with some repairs on the temple in Washington D.C. before the annual Vesak* ceremony. I agreed almost immediately, and Saturday Tim picked me up from my home in Fitchburg and brought me to Leverett, where I spent the night with Mira in her studio before going to the Pagoda the next day to drive with George and Tim to DC.

Cambodian New Year & Leaving MA

Yesterday morning Mira dropped me off at the Pagoda around 7:30 am. I was early enough to make it in time for the end of puja with Towbee Shonin.

After prayers and breakfast Towbee went back up to the top to wait for volunteers to show up to do work on the temple (it was a work day and there is still much construction to be done)

I heard the Cambodian monks praying into the microphone, and so, around 9:30 walked down the hill to see what everyone was doing for Cambodian New Year.

I didn’t stay for too long (partly because I don’t speak Khmer, mostly because Tim was on his way to get me). After a few minutes inside the temple I walked outside and went to go pay my respects to the big Buddha before going back up to the Pagoda.

Many of the people were still arriving and setting up food, so when I entered the path guarded by stone lions, I entered alone.

It was beautiful, I could hear the monks chanting in the background but no one was on the path with me.
The last time I came up into the Cambodian section to see their Buddhas was over three years ago when I first came to the Pagoda with Seeds of Solidarity.

I walked up and saw the Buddha guarded by the snakes, and then moved on to the Buddha on his side. I didn’t stay for too long because I knew Tim was coming soon, so I walked out and back up to the dojo.

It was really nice to see the Buddhas again, and especially on a day of celebration. The first time I walked up that hill I had no idea I would ever be back to the Pagoda, and now it has become such an important place in my life.

Sister Clare and Kato Shonin got back and had to rush out the door to go to the Cambodian New Year celebrations, and George and Tim arrived shortly after.
Finally, around 10:30 am, the three of us left the Pagoda and started driving to DC. We took George’s big construction truck in order to fit tools & supplies, but it only has two seats. George didn’t want anyone sitting in the back – he thought it was too unsafe, so he built this really cute, surprisingly comfortable  small wooden seat that he placed on the floor in between the two seats. We covered with cushions and that was my spot along the road to DC.

It seemed like an incredibly long drive, but it was a nice day.

Saturday, before I left, Yusuf and I stopped at the library in Fitchburg and I picked up a few books so I would have material to read along the journey. These books have been on my reading list for a while, so I figured it would be a great opportunity to read them.

I started Aung San Suu Kyi’s Freedom from Fear, an incredible documentation of her life during the first six years under house arrest, and how revolution came to Burma.

It’s an amazing book that gives good insight into how Burma came to be under military rule and presents stories of violent overthrow (her father, the Revolutionary General Aung San) and her own practice of non-violent revolution. I’ve already learned so much about Burma that I didn’t know and I’m only on the first chapter. I learned that Aung San Suu Kyi received her Nobel Peace Prize the month I was born. Pretty cool.

Philly Cheesesteaks & Tim’s Mom

I’ve traveled through Philadelphia several times en route to DC, but never really gone into the city. We drove through the museums district where we saw a few of the flags of countries from all over the world, and arrived at the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see the steps that Sylvester Stallone ran up for training in the movie Rocky.

“They used to have a Rocky statue.” Tim said as we were driving by, “Yeah, it’s still there.” He pointed out the right window and chuckled, “I don’t know why they have a statue of him when he’s not even real.”

I stopped singing Eye of the Tiger long enough to tell Tim him he was crazy and that Rocky’s rise to the top represented an eternal class struggle, and that Rocky was like a Jay-Z only instead of selling drugs he trained and used his physical body to generate fame and wealth and rose to the top! (I do realize he wasn’t real, but seriously how many times have you seen the Rocky movies in your life? Well – I was excited.)

I quickly snapped a picture with my phone to show my brother Evan, and we moved on down to Allegro’s where I finally ordered my first Philly Cheesesteak. We drove to Tim’s mother’s house and stayed for about a half hour, long enough to eat and say hello, and then we continued on for about three more hours until we arrived at the DC dojo.

DC dojo

We arrived around 8:30 and were met by Marilyn who is currently maintaining the temple.

I think she was happy to see us and talked to us about the state of the house briefly, before launching into an explanation of her job at USAID.

I’ve personally never really heard of them, so if anyone has any information I’d be glad to hear it.

This building – the DC dojo used to be the Embassy for Chad. Maybe 30 years ago? It’s an incredibly beautiful building, but needs a lot of repairs. For the next week we will be working on the portico, and sanding and painting the pillars in the entrance of the house.

The DC dojo

Today’s schedule was not too strict, and after sleeping in late (8am) we bought some groceries and the wood we would need to re-build a portion of the portico.

After lunch Tim and George went out to meet with Helen, a neighbor and friend of Nipponzan Myohoji, to go pick up the scaffolding.

We set up one tower and after a more thorough inspection, figured out where we would start working tomorrow.

Helen and Tim talk about tomorrow and George poses for the camera

It was in the high 70s today, so the weather will most likely be equally beautiful tomorrow. I’m a little sad I won’t be home tomorrow for Tax Day as there are several incredible events taking place all over.

I believe tomorrow is the day Khader Adnan, the man to do the longest ever Palestinian hunger strike, is to be released. It has also been deemed, “Palestinian Political Prisoner’s Day” and there will be actions happening globally in solidarity with people being held under administrative attention, hunger strikers and all political prisoners of Palestine. Tomorrow is also tax day, so the War Tax Resistors will be leafleting all across the country, telling people exactly how their tax dollars are supporting the military & endless war.

Maybe if we go into town for something tomorrow I’ll get a chance to do some guerilla advertising?
Anyways, I will be doing important work tomorrow also. But if anyone is reading this tonight, then you should definitely take the Iran Pledge of Resistance and sign up for updates from the Electronic Intifada to find out more about the daily work that activists all around the world are doing to put an end to the illegal Israeli occupation, and this militaristic way of living at large.

Neyse.

Kato Shonin might come down Wednesday to help with the repairs, and Sister Clare & everyone else should arrive Friday or Saturday evening.

I am excited to have the opportunity to help out at this dojo, and celebrate the Vesak ceremony* here.

The last time I was at the DC dojo was for the end of the Longest Walk 3 and it was filled with walkers who had just spent the last 6 months on the road. It was a totally amazing group of people, and I hope that this Vesak will bring a similar energy.

Hermm… Long day tomorrow so I should head up.
Iyi gecelar everyone!

*Vesak:
The Vesak is an important ceremony in Buddhist practice. It commemorates the birth of the Buddha and is also called the Flower Festival. People come and read aloud verses from the Lotus Sutra, say prayers and enjoy the beauty of spring – the rebirth of the earth (I suppose).

Nipponzan Myohojo monks & nuns also chant and everyone has a chance to offer incense and prayers. Then people usually share a meal together and the day is finished!

More info on Vesak ceremonies & pictures from 2011 Hana Matsuri at the New England Peace Pagoda

Occupy is Back

New Englanders came out in full force yesterday refusing to accept a 23 percent increase in fares and cuts to bus routes all across Boston.

On the 44th year since Dr. King’s death a year after his speech, “Beyond Vietnam” activists stood in solidarity with the sanitation workers of Memphis that Dr. King was working to organize years ago.

April 4th actions took place in over 27 cities in the United States.

Occupiers held a People’s Hearing inside the State House before making a train of people up to speaker DeLeo’s office and using the People’s Mic to ask for an audience. The group moved on to the bottom of the staircase near Gov. Deval Patrick’s office and offered him an open invitation to use the public transportation with the 99%, and asking him to work together towards a progressive solution.

Speaker DeLeo agreed to speak to a few people but occupiers chanted, “ALL OF US OR NONE OF US!” before heading outside to the front of the State House.

After hearing 99% stories, offering free food, and music organizers read aloud the declaration that was bring read aloud all across the country and declared the steps of the State House “Camp Charlie”, promising a physical re-occupation of the streets until April 10th, or until the decision to cut back on public transportation was reversed.

More photos at Demotix