If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer… And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please.
The Origins of Totalitarianism
I was thinking of this quote while taking part in the NO KING’S MARCH in Eugene, Oregon, on Saturday. There were thousands upon thousands of people. The estimate has been 10,000. Quite a turnout for a municipal area (combined population of Eugene and Springfield) of around 239,000. The huge turnout indicated that there are still so many that have not collapsed under the horror, confusion and constantly shifting “realities” of the right, and their MAGA and billionaire nonsense; have not been shut down by the dangerous lies and dumbfuckery, incompetence and cruelty, of the Trump Administration.
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| Eugene, Oregon |
Those at the Eugene march, and those marching across the nation, had not lost their capacity to think and judge, had not fallen into collapse and apathy. They still have the capacity to act. My experience, from the atmosphere and listening to other marchers, was that this was only the beginning, that the resistance will continue to build.
This national march was a non-violent invitation for others to join. It is an invitation to a world that can encompass empathy, compassion, sorrow, and anger, expressed non-violently.
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| Eugene, Oregon |
I’ve always been amused by those on the right (and some on the left) who are confused by and so dismiss non-violent action as inconsequential and “weak.” I think of Gandhi and the Satyagraha (“Truth Force”) movements in South Africa and India; I think of the Civil Rights Movement in the US; I think of all the Friends (Quakers) I’ve been privileged to work with over the years. Non-violent movements create significant, and lasting, changes.
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| Disability Rights Action (Oregon) |
Non-violence also includes anger. It is a rejection of passivity and submission. This practice helps us hold and work with all our emotions, helps us learn how to contain the distress and dysregulation that comes up when dealing with an unjust and intentionally cruel system.
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| CECOT Mega-prison in El Salvador |
One of the issues that comes up when viewing the mockery (videos of immigrants in chains), threats of violence (see Trump’s numerous speeches) and actual violence (a Minnesota legislator was murdered this weekend), engaged in by the right, is that they are unable to work with the distress and dysregulation that they are inevitably feeling from these rapidly collapsing times.
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| January 6 Riots, Washington DC |
We’re all under massive amounts of stress and this causes the brain to shift into ‘survivor mode’, the lower brain stem, or what used to be called “the reptilian brain.”
It happens to us all. Some of the signs of being in survival mode are constant irritability, impulsivity, reckless behavior, and hypervigilance, with the constant urge to fight (violence in word or deed) or flee (constant state of restlessness).
When we’re in survival mode, we constantly feel threatened and so usually isolate ourselves or lash out.
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Non-violence includes anger. It acknowledges the toll that stress can take on our nervous system, and so encourages an ability to contain and channel that anger into action.
I saw a sign on the Saturday march that read: “This is what Joe Strummer trained you for.” (Or something to that effect). And it reminded me of Strummer’s words in the Clash song Clampdown from the album London Calling:
“Kick over the wall/'cause government's to fall/
How can you refuse it?
Let fury have the hour,/anger can be power
Do you know that you can use it?
Yeah, we’re furious. But we’re channeling it into marches, and many other forms of resistance. Because we understand the stakes. For ourselves and for others. People are needlessly dying here in the US and many other countries, due to the incompetence and cruelty of the Trump Administration and the Republican Party. And we understand this. Democracy is failing here and abroad. And we understand this. And we are outraged. The resistance is growing, is on the move.
*********
I’ve been working on a manuscript tentatively called “Rubble” since September of 2024. Here’s one from the manuscript. A persona poem: The dystopian vision of the right seen as paradisical.
Free
Free,
we meet in the parking lot. Cars
move around us, through us, give us
great value.
He says: History is bunk.
I say: Gravity is worthless.
He says: Money is the root.
I say: A glorious future.
He says: Will is as Will does.
And then we forget
why we are there. Cars move around
us, through us.
He says: Forgetting gives great value.
His words are shiny bubbles.
I say: Pop, pop. Trucks downshift.
Things are big and beautiful
and we turn, walk away from each other,
counting our steps.
We count our steps like we’re counting
corpses in a shallow trench.
We will soon forget what it was
we were counting.
It will bring us great value.
Everything is everything.
So big. So beautiful. Free.
**************
Some places that may be of interest:
Indivisible: https://indivisible.org/
Block the Bombs Act: https://www.blockthebombs.org/
Chop Wood, Carry Water: https://substack.com/@jesscraven101
Heather Cox Richardson: https://substack.com/@heathercoxrichardson
Chris Hedges Report: https://substack.com/@chrishedges
Thank you, Christien, but I wish you would remove the picture of that man.
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