A FEW THINGS ABOUT METHODS OF OPPOSITION

The disease of the body manifests itself in the symptoms of headache, fever, cough etc.

Similarly, diseases of society express themselves in the various problems of the people.

It is said that the sage Ashtavakar's body had 8 bends. Yet, from the burden of work, our bodies have 80 bends.

At each step, at every moment, our soul gets so many beatings that for our own protection, we often become crooked.

Today each soul experiences the pain of a body that has thousands of bends and breaks.

We are victims of lying, cheating, and manipulation. We are prey to muscle-power, money-power, intellectual power. Competition is like having a knife slowly cutting through us. One upmanship inflicts multiple cuts and wounds.

Working under someone, being ordered around bloodies us...

We Become What Subordinates Us

By joining together with supporters, we oppose all this in various ways. But...many times, it becomes a part of our daily existence to lie, cheat, manipulate a neighbor, a near one.

-At the workplace, we try to put reins on co-workers who increase production. In place of competition, we attempt coordination. Yet at home, we inculcate competition in our children. To be ahead of other children.

-In the workplace, we aspire to trim the boss's feathers. Whereas, we go to extremes to make our children into bosses.

Our anger against subordination in the workplace is correct. But, by the time we reach home, we ourselves become police officers-subordinators.

Our contradictory ideas and practices should be thought over. Every one has the capacity to lift a pebble with one finger. The present social relation is of a Himalayan load. Lifting pebbles through coordinations can change the present social relation. We bring down two stones from the weight lorded over us. But then we pick up one stone and place it back on ourselves!

Keeping in mind one's own and others' limitations and compulsions, it is appropriate to choose those paths that take us toward straight, truthful behavior. The cure for crookedness is straightforwardness. Our souls will blossom. Our 'enemies' soul will also yearn for straightforwardness.

"Butter cannot be drawn by a straight finger"- this is the saying of those who draw butter. Those who exploit. In entrenched warfare, where immediate results are desired, and there are either/or situations, to lie, cheat, manipulate becomes inevitable. To question, stop, or overcome crookedness by crookedness is to put ointment on a symptom that only increases the disease.

With the weaving patterns formed by intertwining straight fingers, souls will expand. Bodies will also become healthy. The yardstick to evaluate methods of opposition is whether they increase the space for straight, truthful behavior...

TERRORISM-TERRORISM

(New Series No. 166, April 2002)

*People were not willing to go to war. American gov't efforts to motivate people for war were failing. The matter is of 1941. Two years had passed in the mega-slaughter for divisions of the loot. In this situation, the President of America was informed by the government's secret organizations that the army of the gov't of Japan was preparing to launch a major surprise attack on American government's military base at Pearl Harbor. President Roosevelt hid this secret information from the Commander of Pearl Harbor military base so that Japan's government forces' attack should appear as sudden and American government's forces bear massive losses. So, it was...Thousands of American gov't soldiers and officers were killed in the "surprise" attack on Pearl Harbor. President Roosevelt became a great leader by playing the leading role in transforming the emotions of sadness, pain, and anger into emotions of "punishing the wicked deceivers." People were instigated into war. In that slaughter, 50 million people were killed throughout the world and the pain and sadness was fathomless.

*Another great leader in the rank of great leaders is Hitler. Those in top hierarchic positions were extremely worried by the increasing attitude of opposition to gov't and system amongst the people. The companies, chairmen, managing directors, and generals of not only those based in Germany but also those based in America- Ford, General Motors, IBM- prepared the ground for the great leader to put reins on the people. At that time, the beating and driving away not of "Muslims" but rather of "Jews" was presented as the simple solution. There is no difference between the truths and lies of those in top hierarchic positions. The reality that they both are the same was taken to new heights under the leadership of Hitler. The Parliament House of German gov't was set on fire by the head of gov't, Hitler's party. And by making the opponents responsible for the fire, Hitler emerged as a great leader. "Attack on Parliament" was used seventy years earlier in Germany to put reins on the people.

Hitler-ites' whirlwind of "Pure German," "Pure Aryan," the national interest, and patriotism played a leading role in the 1939 wars with Churchill-ites, Roosevelet-ites and Stalinists. But the more important fact is this-that when the German government's army was fighting on the fronts, then despite government's propaganda and extreme strictness, workers in Germany-based factories punctured the propaganda by dropping production by 35%. And...in the armies of countries at war, the number of such soldiers who refrained from killing- did not fire bullets, fired them in the air, dropped bombs in vacant places, was in the hundreds of thousands, otherwise...Not 50, but 500 million would have been slaughtered.

*One thing about the father figure. In the chain of hierarchy was the Russian government's head, the Czar in 1905. People higher up in the hierarchy used to propagate their head as Father of the people. The people in Russia were becoming more and more opposed to the Czar. To deal with such problems those in upper echelons of hierarchy often see the solution by using force. And more important than the use of force is justifying the use of force. More important than war is to motivate people to war, motivate them to work. Therefore, to generate consent for the necessity of force, the Czar got his uncle who was also the Minister of Interior to be murdered by the Secret Police and this act was propagated as "crime" committed by the enemies of the country. Only an 100 years have passed since this event.

*Deviousness is the character of hierarchic social systems. To be in the upper echelons of hierarchy, bribing, threatening, and deceiving are indispensable. Chanakya-Kautilya formalized this 2,500 years ago. but in the more than 100,000 years of its existence, hierarchic social formations in human society have merely a duration of 5 to 7,000 years. And in this short period, what they have inflicted! But yes, even today, what is of paramount important is the attitude to be adopted by the oppressed and the exploited...

We could begin the discussion with the attack on the American government's military headquarters at the Pentagon and the World Trade Center Towers being struck by passenger planes but it seems to us that this will be concentrating on the symptoms. We'll talk something about this event at the end. To begin, let us talk about ourselves so that attention is focused on the disease and we can help in the churning that looks for its cure.

-It seems that each one of us is ready to burst out. Among mother-son, father-daughter, husband-wife, brother-sister, sister-siser, brother-brother, and between friends, viciousness and bitterness in conversations have become very widespread. The power to tolerate has diminished. Some say consideration for others is no longer there.
-To be extremely cautious with family members, with neighbors, co-workers and others we come into contact is growing.
-Showy get-togethers or minimal relations, or just blatant disrespect for others are all increasing today. It is said this is how the times are.
-I am right. You are wrong. I am superior to you. We all seem to be bowing down to this attitude which is transforming the fragrance of life into stink.
It is obvious that each one of us has shrunk-become withdrawn. But this shrinking has not reached its end with a withdrawal into "I." Rather, each "I" is divided up into may peices and has become the arena of mutually opposite,contending desires and sentiments. Each one is filled to the brink with explosives. Each person has become a bomb. And in front of each is the choice of destruction or new creation.

The development of hierarchic social systems has brought us to this turning point. Most of those in the higher echelons of the hierarchy are trying to take us into the paths of destruction. To generate conflicts on the basis of caste, religion, gender region is part of these efforts. In this process, the new formula of identity-politics, opposition to "anti-terrorism" and "pro-terrorism" seem to be opposite to one another but in reality it is a double-kick to push us on the path of destruction.

Identity Politics

Even with sisters by birth, sister-brother by birth, brothers by birth, distances are known to be so wide that talking of extended family, homogeneity feels odd. Much less larger units like the factory...In such a situation, caste, religion, color, gender, region, and country rule, contain millions in their hold. What would we call claims of homogeneity on their basis...To identify someone on the basis of his caste, her religion, his color,her gender, his region, or her country...But what does the use of a label tell us? These labels provide a basis for what kind of relations? In whose interest is it to know or recognize others in this way? It is true that the limiting and shrinking of human beings has given birth to such a level of loneliness that many a times any type of community-feeling seems comfortable. But by looking away at the increasing lack of humaneness and attemting to build relations on the basis of caste, religion, country is like trying to gain pleasure from scratching at the itches cased by leprosy.

In fact, picking up two or four facets out of the thousand facets of human beings and discriminating on their basis suits hierarchic social systems. Inequality and discrimination are two sides of the same coin. To discriminate on the basis of gender, color, height, and build, fraternity, caste, set, religion, region, language, citizenship etc. is a normal activity in hierarchic social systems. And instead of daily life, discussion of events is the language of these systems. In this situation, event-like discriminations have gained some wide circulation. It is this growing lack of community, growing loneliness, and facts of discrimination circulated and propagated that discrimination became the basis of identity-politics. In this politics, exercises are undertaken to make changes in the hierarchy by highlighting a few facets out of the thousand facets of a person. A black man as the President. A woman becomes a fighter pilot jet. Untouchable becomes Superintendent of police...And the juggernaut of identity-politics proceeds anew, crushing people.

Therefore, instead of the question being "who should rule over us?" the question should be "why should anyone rule over us?" But to stop these questions being raised on a wide scale, there is the chain of bomb-blasts and identity politics with ever new disguises. To do, to have get done, to let it happen. We return to the event of September 11th.

Some facts:
-Secret organizations of the German gov't BND had in June 2001 told the secret organizations of the America gov't CIA, plans were underway to hijack passenger aircraft and strike them at imporant targets in America.
-From July 4, 2001, Osama Bin Laden had himself treated in the American hospital in Dubai and there on July 12, a CIA officer met him. It is claimed that Laden was on the "Most Wanted" list of the American government.
-In August 2001, President Putin of Russia had bluntly, without mincing words sent the information about the imminent attacks.
-President Bush's father and ex-President Bush Sr. is the senior advisor to the Carlyle group. Contractor for military hardware, the Carlyle group makes billions of dollars in a war.
-In July 2001, the gov't of America had decided to launch a military attack on the Afghanistan gov't in mid-Otober 2001. In this context, before September 10th, the gov't of America had sent 23,000 soldiers to Oman.
-New Democracy magazine in Boston, U.S.A. gives many other facts of this kind. It is said that in an investigaton of a crime, the first question is "who benefitted from the crime?" According to New Democracy, the maximum profit from the event of September 11 has been the gov't of America, mlitary, and manufacturing industry and oil industry.

It is well-known that after the break-up of the Soviet Union, "enemy-less" American gov't has created "terrorism." By fostering "terrorism," "Islamic terrorism," the American gov't has created an extremely dangerous enemy. In fact, to deal with the increasing opposition of people, every country's gov't has created "an enemy" in the form of "terrorism."

There are no limits to the deviousness of those in the higher-up echelons of hierarchy. Therefore, to limit oneself to the exposure of conspiracies is no solution. In hierarchic social systems, ever new conspiracies, innumerable conspiracies are taking place. Yes, instead of limiting ourselves to two or four aspects of a person but rather accepting the reality of thousands of faces of each one of us, we'll put a rein on identity politics. This impedes slaughters which are instigating people in the name of caste, religion, country. Whether it be the drumming of terrorism or the bleating of religion, our refusal to give consent is the beginning and the end of hierarchic social system.

Respect for persons stops the diminishing of person. Respect-based coordinations by bringing to fore community formations is providing an opportunity for the expansion of the personality of every person. These are initial steps for the creation of a new society.

fms January 2011

fms Jan 2011 by baatein1 on Scribd