Aung San Suu Kyi hosts Hillary Clinton in Burma

"Fear is a habit; I am not afraid."
-Aung San Suu Kyi

Burmese Opposition Leader, Nobel Peace laureate, and Nonviolent Revolutionary, Aung San Suu Kyi hosted U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton in Burma on Thursday. It is the first time in more than 50 years a diplomat from the United States has visited Burma (Myanmar). A couple of weeks ago, President Obama called Suu Kyi to ensure that she was supportive of Clinton's trip. (Obama Announcement)

Suu Kyi, who was released last year after having spent most of the past 20 years under house arrest, recently announced that she planned to have her party, the National League for Democracy, rejoin Burmese politics.

Clinton's visit comes at at a time when it appears the new civilian government of the repressive regime is looking to reform, although it is still clear there is still a long way to go.

The Guardian reports that before her meeting with Ms. Suu Kyi, Clinton met with Burma's new President, Thein Sien, saying,

"I am here today because President Obama and myself are encouraged by the steps you and your government have taken to provide for your people."

The video below is of Aung San Suu Kyi talking about her support of the visit:



As well as meeting with Ms. Suu Kyi, Secretary Clinton hand delivered a letter from President Obama. Noteworthy in the letter Mr. Obama comments that:

"I have long admired your brave and unwavering struggle for democracy..."

and

"Secretary of State Clinton's visit will explore how the United States can support efforts to foster political opening and respect for universal human rights, as well as demonstrate the seriousness of our commitment to helping the people of Burma achieve their democratic aspirations."

It is my hope that Ms. Suu Kyi takes this opportunity to remind Secretary Clinton that the world has been watching very closely how well the United States government is doing in regards to respect for universal human rights and helping people achieve their democratic aspirations.


Related Information:

Reuters: Video

Clinton's Visit To Myanmar Should Be Measured In Human Rights Improvement, Says Amnesty International

CBS News Article

The Guardian Article

The New Yorker: 'A Free Woman'

Burma Watch

Free Burma Coalition

Burma Campaign UK

Aung San Suu Kyi addresses U2 fans in Denver:



Aung San Suu Kyi adresses the World Economic Forum 2011 in Davos:

UC-Davis Students Embody Nonviolent Revolution

On Thursday, November 18th, Lieutenant John Pike of the UC-Davis Campus Police made the choice to pepper spray several nonviolent protestors on the UC-Davis Campus. As you can see, the response to this action by those who observed it was immediate and emphatic, but remained nonviolent, finally culminating with the growing group of people chanting, "You can leave! You can leave!", to which the security forces oblige.

Many have called for the resignation of UC-Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi for authorizing the clearing out of the protestors without a real understanding of how the orders would be carried out. Katehi has herself called the actions "chilling".

Then, on Friday, as the blog Second Alarm recalls:

A pretty remarkable thing just happened. A press conference, scheduled for *4:00pm* between the UC Davis Chancellor and police with local press on campus, did not end in an hour, as planned. Instead, a mass of Occupy Davis students and sympathizers mobilized outside, demanding to have their voice heard. After some initial confusion, UC Chancellor Linda Katehi refused to leave the building, attempting to give the media the impression that the students were somehow holding her hostage.

A group of highly organized students formed a large gap for the chancellor to leave. They chanted “we are peaceful” and “just walk home,” but nothing changed for several hours. Eventually student representatives convinced the chancellor to leave after telling their fellow students to sit down and lock arms (around 7:00pm).

Read Xeni Jardin's eyewitness account.

These have instantly become powerful moments in American history showing clearly how effective nonviolent protests can be by shedding light on how (and how not) to treat each other and resolve our differences.

UPDATE: Katehi apologizes

Thanks to the students of UC-Davis who have participated in these actions of nonviolent protest, whether standing up and chanting or sitting in silence, your actions are being felt far and wide! Thank you for your example and your active part in the Nonviolent Revolution!

Occupy Wall Street Must Be Nonviolent To Succeed

Occupy Wall Street has been a growing movement for a couple of months now, and during the past few weeks we have seen example after example of violence by law enforcement all over the country using force in an attempt to crush the spirits of the protesters. From Zucotti Park in New York City to Occupy Denver to Occupy Oakland, American citizens with weapons are using violence against unarmed American citizens (an 84 year old woman?) simply attempting to have their voices heard. However, this show of force by the powers that be seems to have only galvanized the movement, while also leaving many wondering what to do next, but knowing with a certainty that the movement must continue.

Regardless of what happens next, whether action is taken through continued protesting in the streets, voting, or choosing to hit Corporate America in the pocketbook, one thing is for sure.... for the Occupy Movement to continue to be taken seriously by the mainstream and ultimately succeed in it's goals it MUST be committed to nonviolence!

Why is nonviolence so crucial if the Occupy Movement is to truly be a revolution?

Rebecca Solnit recently brought some compelling insight to the subject with a piece entitled, 'Throwing Out the Master's Tools and Building a Better House: Thoughts on the Importance of Nonviolence in the Occupy Movement'. Solnit does a great job of shedding light on 'People Power' while also giving examples of the futility of violence that ultimately brings a movement down.

Randall Amster also evokes 'People Power', weighing in gracefully with an article entitled, 'Power To The Peaceful':

"No amount of force can deter people seeking survival, meaning, and the natural longings of hope for the future. “Holding one’s ground” becomes the operative premise — not in an aggressive way that replicates state power but with a presence of body and mind that demonstrates the unshakable force of “people power.” There is no single way to manifest this spirit; for some it is standing firm on the front lines, for others it is rebuilding after a sweep, and for still others it is remaining peaceful and compassionate even and especially in the face of extreme provocation. All are equally powerful tacks.

Holding space, inner and outer, is the fulcrum. In the wake of systemic assault, seemingly coordinated at the highest levels and indicative of the elites’ concern about the widening impact of the movement, the spirit of resistance is demonstrated with small acts of bravery and large mobilizations of open defiance. Individually and collectively, the movement bends but refuses to break, absorbing the system’s blows and transforming them into stimuli for evolutionary growth, popular support, and bonds of solidarity.

Successful movements throughout history have understood this. It is the essence of nonviolence, to “win over” undecided observers and even antagonists by virtue of courage and compassion. It does not mean that everyone in the movement agrees on tactics or that a pledge of nonviolence ought to be imposed, but rather that the movement as a whole is in fact nonviolent in seeking to overcome the structural violence of a dehumanizing and despoiling system based on avarice and aggression."

Amster goes on to mention Nonviolent Revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Ramos-Stierle, a peaceful protester arrested as he was meditating at Oscar Grant Plaza in Oakland. Ramos-Stierle now faces the possibility of being deported.

Amster is also quoted in an article in the Mercury News regarding Ramos-Stierle:

"There was an intentionality to what he was doing," said friend Randall Amster of Arizona. "He was attempting to bring peace to a space that had a lack of peace for the past couple weeks."

Amster called his friend a "very strong nonviolent activist" and a "force of love" involved in causes ranging from nuclear disarmament and environmentalism to immigrant rights and nonviolence in Oakland's Fruitvale district, where he lives.

For the Occupy Movement to succeed it must take a lesson from Mr. Ramos-Stierle, whose action of nonviolent civil disobedience was one of intentionally 'attempting to bring peace' and calm energy into an otherwise tense and volatile situation .

UPDATE: Pancho's Message For Occupy Wall Street, Pancho on 'Democracy Now!'

The movement as well has to learn from the great Nonviolent Revolutionary Mahatma Gandhi, as seen below, brilliantly explaining what it takes for a Nonviolent Revolution to succeed in this inspiring clip from the film 'Gandhi':

Finally, to be a legitimate revolution the Occupy Movement must recognize that every single person involved in law enforcement is a part of the 99%! It is critical for those in law enforcement to realize that they too are being duped by agenda of the corporate ruling class... and therefore make the choice to refuse carrying out further state sponsored violence against innocent people!

Just how does a movement of 'People Power' achieve this understanding? With a continued and relentless campaign of nonviolent direct action, that's how. Indeed, it is the only way.

Veteran journalist and author Chris Hedges puts it succinctly in his article 'This Is What Revolution Looks Like':

"The process of defection among the ruling class and security forces is slow and often imperceptible. These defections are advanced through a rigid adherence to nonviolence, a refusal to respond to police provocation and a verbal respect for the blue-uniformed police, no matter how awful they can be while wading into a crowd and using batons as battering rams against human bodies."

Quite simply, the 99% must recognize that every single police officer and law enforcement official who puts on the uniform is a human being, they have families, they have feelings, they have a need for dignity, they do not want to be dehumanized as 'pigs' or humiliated for what they perceive as doing their jobs.

For the movement to succeed, the 99% must be willing to empathize with the humanity in those they call oppressors and recognize that they are us... and we are them.

Noam Chomsky Accepts Sydney Peace Award

Nonviolent Revolutionary Noam Chomsky is the 2011 recipient of the Sydney Peace Award. He accepted the award in Sydney, Australia on November 2nd where he also delivered the City Of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture.

In his lecture, Chomsky calls on the idea of 'revolutionary pacifism' espoused by Nonviolent Revolutionary A.J. Muste:

"Can we proceed to at least limit the scourge of war? One answer is given by absolute pacifists, including people I respect though I have never felt able to go beyond that. A somewhat more persuasive stand, I think, is that of the pacifist thinker and social activist A.J. Muste, one of the great figures of 20th century America, in my opinion: what he called “revolutionary pacifism.” Muste disdained the search for peace without justice. He urged that “one must be a revolutionary before one can be a pacifist” – by which he meant that we must cease to “acquiesce [so] easily in evil conditions,” and must deal “honestly and adequately with this ninety percent of our problem” – “the violence on which the present system is based, and all the evil – material and spiritual – this entails for the masses of men throughout the world.” Unless we do so, he argued, “there is something ludicrous, and perhaps hypocritical, about our concern over the ten per cent of the violence employed by the rebels against oppression” – no matter how hideous they may be. He was confronting the hardest problem of the day for a pacifist, the question whether to take part in the anti-fascist war."

Chomsky then goes on to detail many examples of how because of "the violence on which the present system is based" things didn't really work out so well for U.S. foreign policy (or it's many, many victims), instead making a much worse mess with continuing consequences.

Read full transcript of Chomsky's speech here.

Congratulations to Mr. Chomsky for this well deserved recognition! Thank you for having the courage to continually and relentlessly speak up!

New Book Shows Violence Declines As Human Consciousness Evolves

Although violence is what usually grabs the headlines, a new book by Harvard Professor Steven Pinker argues that there has never been a safer time to be alive.

In a review of 'The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined' the Telegraph UK, asks, "Why has violence declined?" and answers with:

'Pinker does not need numbers for his answer. As Europe became more urban, cosmopolitan, commercial, industrialised and secular, it got safer. Perhaps as important is the increasing respect for women – “violence is a problem not just of too many males but of too many young males”.

He does not argue that there is a higher power sending our species in a beneficial direction. The human race has come to share the goal of finding ways of overcoming the universal appeal of aggression. The great social factors in reducing violence, he says, have been the end of slavery, the empowerment of women and the legalisation of homosexuality. Also, contraception has become cheaper, resulting in fewer children to unwilling parents.'

In an interview with Pinker, 'The Economist' posed the question "Is there any statistical evidence to suggest that violence doesn’t work to provoke political change?"

"A study that was published too late to include in my book by two political scientists, Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephen, looked at the success rate of violent and non-violent resistance movements. It found that the non-violent ones succeeded 75% of the time and the violent ones succeeded 25% of the time. So it’s not the case that violence never works, nor that non-violence always works, but that non-violence seems to have a better success rate." was Pinker's reply.

Read the Washington Post review of the book. Huffington Post posted this article, and Daily Beast has this nice write-up.

Pinker also made a recent appearance on the Colbert Report.

Here is a video Pinker speaking on the subject at the TED conference in March 2007.

Let there be no doubt that the Nonviolent Revolution is constantly progressing and moving steadily forward as more and more people grow to understand that it is far more beneficial to connect, collaborate, and empathize with one another than harm and destroy each other!

King Memorial Dedication A Great Day For Nonviolent Revolution

Today saw the formal dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C.

The Civil Rights Leader and Nonviolent Revolutionary was enshrined on the National Mall, establishing his rightful place as one of the greatest leaders in the history of the United States of America.

How Dr. King lived his life serves an example to us all.

He refused to give up amidst great tribulation, he refused to hate in the face of great ignorance and mortal danger, and he refused to back down regardless of the multitude of reasons to be afraid.

This Memorial is not just a tribute to to the Civil Rights Movement or how much can be accomplished with nonviolent direct action.... it is most importantly a vibrant and lasting testament to the power of love. Dr. King did not view those who hated him and would do him harm as his enemies, instead he referred to them as 'brothers and sisters', ending his sermon about loving your enemies by saying,

"So this morning, as I look into your eyes, and into the eyes of all of my brothers in Alabama and all over America and over the world, I say to you, "I love you. I would rather die than hate you."

Although the King Memorial is located a short distance from the Pentagon, Dr. King also made it very clear that he opposed war as a viable solution for the United States to resolve or reconcile its foreign affairs.

Distinguished guests of the Dedication included Civil Rights leaders Andrew Young and Dr. Joseph Lowry and singer Aretha Franklin.

President Barack Obama gave an eloquent speech saying,

"Dr. King refused to accept what he called the "isness" of today. He kept pushing towards the "oughtness" of tomorrow."

.... I just hope the President remembers those words and considers the legacy of Dr. King the next time he assesses the cost of our current wars or how well assassinations and drone strikes are working to help forward Dr. King's dream.

Nader Gets Behind Occupy Wall Street

Nonviolent Revolutionary Ralph Nader cheers on the Occupy Wall Street Movement!

"When the corporate and political bosses hear the rising roar from the people, they start sweating. Now is time to turn up the heat without pausing." -Ralph Nader




Rumble From The People

October 12, 2011

by Ralph Nader

Inside the barricading bubbles surrounding the Wall Street plutocrats and the Washington oligarchs who service them, there must be worry. After three years of disclosed “lying, cheating and stealing” as one prosecutor put it, with nary a visible stir from the masses, suddenly the barricades are beginning to quiver.

Could this “Occupy Wall Street” challenge in New York City that is spreading to hundreds of communities from Prescott, Arizona to Hartford, Connecticut, be the real thing they have dreaded? Could this be the revolt of the multitudes, the “reserve army of the unemployed?”

It is remarkable what a little more than 100,000 Americans, showing up and staying awhile have done in three weeks.

They’re rattling the corporate supremacists. They have become a mass media story with columnists, editorials and cartoonists grinding out the ever increasing commentary.

There is fascination and curiosity about people who call themselves “The 99 percent!” People are organizing their little societies and 24/7 necessities - food, first aid, shelter, legal advice, music, posters - all without leaders.

The demonstrators are deliberately nonviolent but are angry over deep inequities and entrenched greed and power that are impoverishing and harming millions in need, including hungry children and those without health care. The protesters are keeping the pundits and pontificators guessing about their “real agenda.”

Perfect, so far! Keep expanding the numbers of Americans who show up all over, who stay, who discover each other’s talents and the emerging power of the powerless. Go to 300,000, then 800,000, then 2 million and onward. There are 25 million Americans who want work but cannot get it to pay their rent, their debts, their mortgages and their multiplying student loans. While big corporate profits, bosses’ bonuses and tax loopholes for the wealthy proliferate.

Read the rest at Common Dreams

Visit Occupy Wall Street

Three courageous women awarded Nobel Peace Prize

Congratulations to these Nonviolent Revolutionaries making it happen in Liberia and Yemen! The courage of these women can't be understated! Thank you, ladies, for representing yourselves as inspiring leaders of the Nonviolent Revolution.


The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 is to be divided in three equal parts between Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work. We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society.

Read the full press release at Nobelprize.org

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is Africa’s first democratically elected female president. The committee said that since her inauguration in 2006, Johnson-Sirleaf had "contributed to securing peace in Liberia, to promoting economic and social development, and to strengthening the position of women".

"We are dancing," Bushuben Keita, a spokesman for Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf's United Party told The New York Times. "This is the thing that we have been saying, progress has been made in Libera. We've come through 14 years of war and we have come to sustained peace. We’ve already started dancing."

Gbowee, 39, has long campaigned for the rights of women and against rape, organizing Christian and Muslim women to challenge Liberia's warlords. In 2003, she led hundreds of female protesters – the "women in white" – through Monrovia to demand swift disarmament of fighters who continued to prey on women even though a peace deal ending 14 years of near-constant civil war had been reached months earlier.

"I know Leymah to be a warrior daring to enter where others would not dare," Gbowee's assistant, Bertha Amanor, said to the AP. "So fair and straight, and a very nice person."

It said Yemen's Karman, known as 'the Mother of the Revolution', had "played a leading part in the struggle for women's rights and for democracy and peace in Yemen" in what was described as the "most trying circumstances both before and during the 'Arab Spring'".

"Tawakkol is one of the bravest people in this country," said Khaled al-Anesi, a lawyer and pro-democracy activist. "It is not easy for a woman to fight and go to the streets demanding change in a country like Yemen."

“I am so happy,” said Karman, speaking by telephone in broken English from inside her tent in Change Square, the nexus of the uprising in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. “I believe that this award is a victory for the peaceful revolution. It’s a victory for our revolution, for our methods, for our struggle, for all Yemeni youth, and all the youth in the Arab world — in Tunisia, in Egypt, everywhere. I am so happy.”

“This makes us stronger in the fight for our freedom, for our dignity,” she added. “This will give the people more strength, and to recognize that peace is the only way. That making a new Yemen must come without violence.”

Karman was briefly detained in January, but protests forced authorities to release her. Since then, Yemen’s uprising has engulfed the country, drawing in hundreds of thousands of Yemenis from all walks of life. Not all youth activist leaders like Karman’s tactics, and some have criticized her openly in recent months. But she nevertheless remains a central figure in the uprising, a loud voice that has called for a peaceful struggle even as government loyalists have fired upon unarmed protesters, killing and injuring hundreds.

Related articles and videos at Al-Jazeera and the Huffington Post

Rest in PEACE- Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Steve Jobs

Today we mourn the passing of two great Nonviolent Revolutionaries of our time. Two remarkable lives contributing in their own powerful ways to the Nonviolent Revolution!


Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth

"They had a white section and a colored section. Fred and his wife bought tickets, and they sat in the white section," Huntley said. "That was revolutionary for Birmingham of the 1950s."........

The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a pioneer of the civil rights movement, died Wednesday in Birmingham, Ala. Shuttlesworth led Birmingham's battle against segregation — a battle that focused the national spotlight on the violent resistance to equal rights in the South and forced change. He was 89.

Listen to the story on NPR

See a timeline of the life of Rev. Shuttlesworth.

In Memorium

Nonviolent Revolutionary Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth spent his live standing up with love. He was beaten, he was bombed, he was threatened, he was hated for the color of his skin... and through it all continued to be an example of love. Thank you, Rev. Shuttlesworth, for the integrity with which you lived and legacy of how be nonviolent without being passive.

Steve Jobs

"Death is the destination we all share, no one has ever escaped it, and that is as it should be because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent, it clears out the old to make way for the new." - Steve Jobs

Steven P. Jobs, the Apple Inc. chairman and co-founder who pioneered the personal computer industry and changed the way people think about technology, died Wednesday at the age of 56.

Read the article at Wall Street Journal

Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

Steve Jobs was a visionary unafraid, he lived his life as a Nonviolent Revolutionary and we are the better for it. Thank you, Steve Jobs, for your contribution to my creative process.

I have used a Mac for the duration of my career as an artist with a computer. This was composed on a Mac.

'Darkness cannot drive out darkness...'

This image is of Martin Luther King Jr. speaking in Alabama for the Get-Out-The-Vote Campaign in 1966. Accompanied by a quote of his, this poster is hanging in my art studio, it feels an appropriate post to launch this blog.

The quote is:

'The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral
begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.
Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.

Through violence you may murder the liar,
but you cannot murder the lie,
nor establish the truth.

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,
adding deeper darkness
to a night already devoid of stars.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.'

Martin Luther King Jr.