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Seemingly somewhat similar approach to “monkeywrenching” ecotage (sabotage) of Earth Liberation Front originating in American Southwest…..not sure The Atlantic has done its homework–apart from the naivete of thinking that this would remain “controlled” it reads like a CIA-version of a faux activist plan.
Anonymous flyers provide practical and tactical advice for confronting riot police, and besieging government offices
Phi Beta Iota: Agree with Marcus Aurelius. A simpler plan is “be on the street, be respectful and non-violent at all times, be patient.” This is a word of mouth revolution, 26 pages is suspect and we have to wait to see the entire product as well as verification that this has gone anywhere other than The Atlantic. This is the kind of thing CIA would do (violate the law, feed this to The Atlantic) to try to get on the boards “virtually.” Fairly stupid to want to occupy buildings, the key is public presence, non-violent, nothing more. V-sign? Is this a 1960's annuitant on modern drugs? We wait with bated breath to learn who is actually behind what the UK Guardian calls “the slickly produced 26-page document.”
There is need for bright news on the democracy front — and, luckily, there is some. (I'm also working to create some in the background, but I've got nothing to announce yet. Cross your fingers.) So I thought I'd share a bit of it the good stuff I've seen.
The first article is an announcement that the Vermont legislature is planning to become the first state to ban corporate personhood statewide. This is a move in the right direction to balance social power — a topic specifically addressed by the most popular article on the Co-Intelligence Institute website, “Democracy: A Social Power Analysis“, written by my father, John Atlee. (Perhaps you'll get a sense of how my upbringing influenced my choice of career when you read it.)
The second article below is an interview with Frances Moore Lappé, one of my early mentors (see “Living Democracy“) exploring themes in her new book GET A GRIP 2. She invites us to both work wholeheartedly on the issues that concern us AND to work on changing the systems (such as money's influence in politics) that create the problems we are trying to solve.
In Egypt, a Facebook page administrator known only by the handle El Shaheeed, or Martyr, is one of the driving forces behind the historic protests. Mike Giglio tracks down the mysterious figure, who talks about his crucial role in organizing the demonstrations.
Iran’s Green Revolution had a martyr named Neda, a 26-year-old woman gunned down in the streets of Tehran. Tunisia’s was Mohamed Bouazizi, an unemployed university graduate who set himself ablaze outside a government building. Egypt’s is Khaled Said—because someone has been agitating under the dead man’s name.
A scientist at the network security company Arbor Networks has used data from 80 Internet service providers around the world to create an image of the Internet block in Egypt.
The graphic, which was compiled using anonymous traffic engineering statistics, shows traffic to and from Egypt dropping sharply around 5:20 p.m. ET. As of about three hours ago, traffic has not picked back up.
A large and growing body of knowledge exists about how to carry on powerful conversations — methodologies, facilitation know-how, dynamic understandings, and more. This knowledge informs professions ranging from therapy to diplomacy and conflict resolution, from organizational development to creativity and innovation, from community revitalization to activism and deliberative democracy, from family relationships to education and spiritual development.
At the leading edge of the deeper understandings of conversation's power are innovative contributions like Peggy Holman's recent book Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval into Opportunity, and her related earlier paper, Engaging Emergence — and the ambitious project to create a “pattern language” for group process now nearing its first stage release by Tree Bressen, Co-Intelligence Institute president John Abbe, and many others (including me).
Stepping back from the leading edge, we find a wealth of incredible knowledge, broadly useful in many aspects of life. Over the last year I've found some excellent resources about this, compilations of pathways into and around the world of powerful conversational practice. You'll find these resources in this email.
Click on Image to Enlarge
One amazing compilation is the “Best-of-the-Best Resources about Dialogue and Deliberation” compiled by Sandy Heierbacher, coordinator of the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD). Read over her list below and, if you find something interesting, go to the original URL. There you will find active links to virtually everything on her list.
Building on Sandy's work, I've developed an additional list, given first below: “The Best Online Compilations of Conversational and Participatory Processes”. Together, the sites linked there describe and link you to well over a hundred different processes.
May this information serve you well in your efforts to serve your groups, your community, your organization, your world and the unfolding future we all share.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As with Iran 30 years ago, American leaders again are wrestling with the moral conflict between Washington's demands for democracy among its friends and strategic coziness with dictatorial regimes seen as key to stability in an increasingly complex world, particularly the Middle East.
The turmoil in Egypt — and its potential for grave consequences for U.S. policy throughout the region — was inevitable. The recent WikiLeaks release of U.S. diplomatic reports showed that Washington knew what problems it increasingly faced with the regime of President Hosni Mubarak and his three decades of iron-fisted rule.
Phi Beta Iota: For decades we have been citing Will and Ariel Durant, who state in Lessons of History that morality is a priceless strategic asset. Max Manwaring et al nailed it in The Search for Security, identifying legitimacy as the sole basis for stable effective governance. Ambassador Max Palmer nailed it in Breaking the Real Axis of Evil, addressing the fact that the US Government has consistently chosen to support 42 of 44 dictators over the public interest. To the best of our knowledge this is the only website that has consistently stated that morality, legitimacy, and integrity are the essential foundation for a prosperous world at peace.
1. The US Government has no strategy and no standing. Obama and Clinton are puffery without a clue. What has been done in this region and “in our name” has been a Web of Deceit and a Legacy of Ashes. Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude.
2. Israel has lost all credibility as well as all practical power–Turkey and the publics will do to Israel what Gandhi did to the British. Israeli genocide (and Arab dictator neglect) of the Palestinians will stand as the modern Holocaust.
3. Saudi Arabia, not Jordan, should be the next regime to fall and fall hard. There are 60,000 “royal” perverts and thieves there that need to be exorcised, exiled or executed. Jordan is on the edge of the razor–our Queen Noor's Leap of Faith is central to the possibilities.
This is going to take a quarter century to play out. A fine beginning.
* MQM chief urges youth in Punjab to join hands with his party and asks army, rangers and police to support poor
* Says his party will support creation of more provinces, proposes referendum on it
By Masroor Afzal Pasha
KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has said that revolution has become the fate of the country.
In his telephonic address at the MQM’s Qaumi Yakjehti Jalsa (National Unity Meeting) at Jinnah Ground in Azizabad on Sunday, Altaf said, “Whenever I spoke about a revolution, I was criticised and questions were raised about revolution.”
“Revolution is unfolding in Tunis and Egypt which everyone can see. This assembly in which people from all ethnic and cultural entities are participating is a revolution in its own right,” he added.
He said, “I ask the journalists and intellectuals from Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir and other parts of the country that have come here to witness this public meeting to see for themselves if the people present here were brought out through force or at gunpoint.”
“MQM does not have guns that kill, but it has the guns and rockets of love, peace and brotherhood,” he added.
Only a revolution would usher in an era in which those looting the country and orchestrating kidnappings-for-ransom should be publicly hanged, he said, adding, “The properties of landlords and feudals will not be destroyed rather educational institutions and hospitals will be established on them.”
