Liberation Central
___ LEARN!
L Liberation
E Education
A Action
R Research
N Network
_Liberation Central is an educational website offering alternative news; social justice curriculae; and anti-imperialist educational materials from June Terpstra, Ph.D.. June is an activist educator and university lecturer in Justice Studies, Criminal Justice and Sociology. She has founded numerous programs for homeless, abused, youth and oppressed people in the USA. She is presently teaching courses on Law and Terrorism, Social Justice, Media and Politics, Human Rights, Resistance, and Revolution. She is a former Community Research Fellow and doctoral graduate of Loyola University Chicago.
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_________________ The World's Sickest Warrior StateBy Paul J. BallesWe have now reached a stage where our extreme horrors of brutality and cruelty have exceeded our past records.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24931.htm===The Untouchable BudgetDefense Department, Inc.By SAUL LANDAU and NELSON P. VALDESCongress taking from the have-nots and giving it to the have-mores. Indeed, the economic, political and military potentates depend on the federal budget to transfer taxpayer resources to them.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24936.htm===Mullen Wary of Israeli Attack on IranBy Ray McGovernAdm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, came home with sweaty palms from his mid-February visit to Israel. He has been worrying aloud that Israel will mousetrap the U.S. into war with Iran.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24939.htm===There Has Never Been an Israeli Peace CampBy Gideon LevyThe Israeli peace camp didn't die. It was never born in the first place.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24934.htm===Washington's Road to RuinUS - China: Provoking the Creditor, Hugging the Holy ManBy James PetrasDrones, military surges and surrogate puppet armies engaged in endless wars are no match for the surging investments, robust developing markets and joint ventures linking China with the dynamic emerging economies of the world.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24932.htm===Time for a U.S. Revolution - Fifteen ReasonsBy Bill QuigleyIt is time for a revolution. Government does not work for regular people. It appears to work quite well for big corporations, banks, insurance companies, military contractors, lobbyists, and for the rich and powerful. But it does not work for people.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24935.htm===Calling All RebelsBy Chris HedgesThere are no constraints left to halt America's slide into a totalitarian capitalism. Electoral politics are a sham. The media have been debased and defanged by corporate owners. The working class has been impoverished and is now being plunged into profound despair.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24941.htm===To Hell In A HandbasketBy David Michael GreenAmerican government is in the process of imploding, and it won't be long until the pathetically minuscule social safety net that we have will be shredded as well.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24933.htm===Bolivia, A Beacon of HopeBy Matt KennardThe inspiring example of Evo Morales's Bolivian government.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24940.htm===Socialized Medicine Saved MeBy Geraldine BrooksWhen Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks was diagnosed with cancer overseas, she didn't hightail it back home, to "the best health care in the world"-she stayed in Australia, home to a humane, rational system.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24938.htm===Proof that 9/11 Truthers Are DangerousBy Washington's BlogThis is a list of people who question what our Government has said about 9/11. The list proves - once and for all - that people who question 9/11 are dangerous.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24942.htm===Economist Lewis Black Tells It Like It IsBy Mike FernerADULT CONTENT WARNING: If you're not familiar with Lewis Black, I'd turn back if I were you.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24937.htm===Blasts Kill 12 in Northwest Afghanistan: Police spokesman Abdul Raouf Ahmadi said the first blast hit a civilian vehicle in Badghis province, killing 10 passengers. The second, minutes later nearby, struck a police car, killing two policemen.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=10038600===UK occupation force soldier killed in Afghan blast: The soldier is the fifth British serviceman to die in the region in the space of a week.
http://snipurl.com/upmvb===12 killed in bombing of spy agency in Pakistan: Twelve people were killed when a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a building housing the office of a state spy agency in Lahore Monday, security officials said.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\03\08\story_8-3-2010_pg7_9===8 Taliban killed in S Waziristan airstrike: Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen killed a local Taliban commander identified as Maulvi Noor Muhammad in North Waziristan. The Taliban commander was targeted on the outskirts of Miranshah.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\03\08\story_8-3-2010_pg7_9===Karzai offers families 'blood money' for sons killed in raid: The President paid relatives Afs100,000 (£1,300) for each of the victims - eight students from one family, a 12-year-old shepherd boy who was the family's guest and a farmer from a neighbouring compound.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7052982.ece===Iraqi PM's coalition seen leading vote: Early estimates from a range of Iraqi parties predict a coalition led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will take the lead in the parliamentary race.
http://snipurl.com/upmwi===Candidate calls for probe of Iraq election: Former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, trying to regain his job, called for an investigation of Iraq's election because of confusion at some polling centers
http://snipurl.com/upmy4===Iraq Inquiry: David Miliband says war has boosted Britain's reputation in Arab world: Britain is more respected in the Arab world because of its role in the Iraq war, David Miliband has told the Iraq inquiry.
http://snipurl.com/upmyr===Mottaki: US, Britain behind region's acts of terror: "Foreign (military) bases in our region have not been set up for stability and security purposes and military cooperation but are aimed at interfering in internal affairs of regional countries," he added.
http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120346§ionid=351020101===US wants Israel military dominant in Mideast: Biden: "I can promise the Israeli people that we will confront, as allies, any security challenge it will face. A nuclear-armed Iran would constitute a threat not only to Israel - it would also constitute a threat to the United States."
http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120350§ionid=351020202===Manufacturing Consent For Attack On Iran Biden's Israel visit is a year too late: With so much attention, it's a shame he's arriving a year late - a year which his boss, President Barack Obama, wasted on fruitless diplomatic moves that only further compromised the shaky stature of the United States in the Middle East.
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154836.html===Manufacturing Consent For Attack On Iran Barak: Iran not currently posing existential threat to Israel: "Iran is not currently an existential threat to Israel. However, Iran has to potential to develop an existential threat to Israel, and we are taking action to prevent this."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3859491,00.html===Manufacturing Consent For Attack On Iran Bolton: Israel's Options - Attack Iran or Accept Nuclear Power: Former United States ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton warned Sunday that Israel has just two choices: a strike aimed at Iran's nuclear facilities, or a nuclear Iran.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/136402===Iran ready to do uranium exchange with new countries, says ministry: Iran is ready to conduct its uranium exchange plan also with fresh countries, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Sunday
http://snipurl.com/upn0t===China Signals Defiance on U.S. Relations: China gave little hope that it would accommodate Washington on Iran and other thorny foreign-policy issues, despite the first real sign of flexibility in years over its exchange rate, which has been a growing source of friction with the U.S.
http://snipurl.com/upn1g===Israel to unveil plans to create nuclear generated power: Israel will unveil this week plans to produce nuclear-generated electricity, officials said on Monday, a move that could draw fresh international attention towards its assumed atomic arsenal.
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154921.html===Israel to build more illegal settler homes: Israel has given the green light for the building of 112 illegal new homes in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank despite a partial moratorium on such construction.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/03/20103874222169756.html===Interpol seeks arrest of 16 more suspects in Dubai hit: The international police agency Interpol on Monday issued arrest notices for an additional 16 suspects over the assassination of a Hamas operative in Dubai earlier this year, the AFP news agency reported.
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154922.html===Netanyahu: My father foresaw 9/11 attacks in 1990s: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that his father predicted the 9/11 attacks on New York's twin towers back in the '90s.
http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120347§ionid=351020202===Nigeria violence: Muslim-Christian clashes kill hundreds: As many as 500 people were killed Sunday in Nigeria violence that pitted Muslim herders against Christian farmers near the volatile city of Jos.
http://snipurl.com/upn29===Vatican: Nigeria violence not due to religion: The Vatican says that economic and social reasons, not religious hatred, are behind violence in Nigeria that has killed more than 200 people.
http://snipurl.com/upn2l===US to engage in 'hit and run' war in Somalia: The United States is involved in preparatory military operations in Somali for a 'major' offensive against Somali fighters, report says.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120260§ionid=351020501===UK Government attempts to keep torture case secret: Holding case taken by former Guantánamo detainees behind closed doors would set 'very dangerous precedent', says lawyer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/08/rendition-torture-case-secret===Ad campaign urges Obama to hold firm on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial: A prominent US rights group urged the Obama administration on Sunday not to back down in the face of fierce opposition to its plans to try September 11 plotters in a civilian court in New York.
http://snipurl.com/upn2t===US hunts for citizens training with Al Qaeda, other terrorist groups: The Obama Administration is gathering information with Pakistan and other governments to identify and locate people holding US passports who are receiving "terrorist training" then legally returning to commit violent acts, according to a top US diplomat.
http://www.littleabout.com/news/77460,us-hunts-citizens-training-al-qaeda-terrorist-groups.html===Official: Former Army intel officer to lead TSA: The administration official says President Barack Obama has chosen retired General Robert Harding to lead the federal agency charged with keeping terrorists and bombs off airplanes
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-03-07-tsa-nominee-named_N.htm===Pakistani lawmakers refuse "naked" body scan, cut short US visit: - A delegation of Pakistani lawmakers refused to subject themselves to a controversial full-body X-ray scan at a Washington airport, a media report said on Sunday.
http://snipurl.com/upnmw===It's terror check chaos as dozens miss US flights: Controversial anti-terrorist restrictions imposed on Britons travelling to the US have led to scores of people missing their flights since they were introduced six weeks ago
http://snipurl.com/upnna===New visa fee to visit the US: Aiming to reverse a steep drop in international visitors since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Congress last week passed legislation creating a non-profit corporation to promote the United States as a travel destination.
http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/new-visa-fee-to-visit-the-us/story-e6frfq80-1225838039571==='We will not offer Greece a cent': German economy minister deals hammer blow to Athens as rioters attack police on the streets
http://snipurl.com/upnnj===British civil servants hold strike: Hundreds of thousands of civil servants in Britain have begun a two-day strike over cuts to redundancy pay, that is likely to cause disruption to the country's ports and airports.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/03/20103891547748920.html===Paul Krugman: An Irish Mirror : "Almost all the apparent causal factors of the U.S. crisis are missing in the Irish case," and vice versa. Yet the shape of Ireland's crisis was very similar: a huge real estate bubble - prices rose more in Dublin than in Los Angeles or Miami - followed by a severe banking bust that was contained only via an expensive bailout.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/08/opinion/08krugman.html===Layoffs increase after four months of lower claims: Employers took 1,521 mass layoff actions in January, which resulted in 182,261 workers losing their jobs, said the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
http://www.optoiq.com/index/lasers-for-manufacturing/display/ils-wire-news-display/142190962.html===Retail gasoline prices match 2010 high: Average retail gasoline prices, continuing a surge that started last month, have now matched their 2010 high on the way to prices that many analysts believe will top $3 per gallon this spring.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i5TtajgUpSm7KY5jf-lCJGHBB-tAD9EAHQ3O0
News For March 07, 2010
More than 50 killed as Afghan factions clash: Zalmai Mangal, a local police official, said the fighting appears to have resulted from a power struggle between local Taliban forces and the Hezb-e-Islami faction loyal to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a powerful regional commander.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/03/2010379849966700.html===Five Afghan civilians killed in explosions: Five civilians, including two children, were killed in separate roadside bomb explosions in southern and eastern Afghanistan, the Afghan Interior Ministry said Sunday.
http://snipurl.com/upno3===Three NATO occupation force soldiers killed in Afghanistan: Three NATO soldiers were killed in Afghanistan on Sunday in separate incidents, the international force said, bringing the number of foreign troops who have died in the war this year to 117.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100307/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrestnato===3 top Pak Taliban men killed in single day?: Pakistani military dealt a crippling blow to Tehreek-e-Taliban by killing its three top commanders, including the group's deputy-chief Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, in Mohmand tribal region in the country's northwest, interior minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday.
http://snipurl.com/upnoa===U.S.-Born al Qaeda Arrest News Incorrect: CBS News' Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad writes that earlier reports the detained individual was Gadahn proved false. According to a Pakistan security official who spoke with CBS News on condition of anonymity, the arrested individual is in fact "a Taliban militant leader who is known as Abu Yahya."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/07/world/main6275953.shtml?tag=stack===Over 40 die as Iraqis defy deadly bomb attacks to vote : Regional officials for the Independent High Electoral Commission said in initial forecasts that voter turnout was 50 percent.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/pt/detail.php?newsId=9225===British forces accused of torture and murder as inquiry opens: The long-awaited public inquiry into the alleged torture and murder of up to 20 Iraqis by British troops in Iraq gets under way on Tuesday.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/87676==='US running intl. network of secret detentions': A United Nations report on the existence of secret detention facilities in countries around the world puts most of the blame on the US and its Central Intelligence Agency.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120288§ionid=3510203===Turkey rallies condemn US vote: A resolution by a US congressional committee branding the killing of Armenians during World War I as "genocide" has triggered protests in Turkey.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/03/20103661914779817.html===Iceland rejects bank payback deal: Some 93.1 per cent of voters cast ballots opposing the deal, partial results showed after 32 per cent of ballots were ounted, RUV public broadcaster, which compiles all electoral statistics, said.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/03/201036224143997328.html_________________________
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24931.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24936.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24939.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24934.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24932.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24935.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24941.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24933.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24940.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24938.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24942.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24937.htm
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=10038600
http://snipurl.com/upmvb
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\03\08\story_8-3-2010_pg7_9
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\03\08\story_8-3-2010_pg7_9
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7052982.ece
http://snipurl.com/upmwi
http://snipurl.com/upmy4
http://snipurl.com/upmyr
http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120346§ionid=351020101
http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120350§ionid=351020202
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154836.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3859491,00.html
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/136402
http://snipurl.com/upn0t
http://snipurl.com/upn1g
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154921.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/03/20103874222169756.html
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154922.html
http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120347§ionid=351020202
http://snipurl.com/upn29
http://snipurl.com/upn2l
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120260§ionid=351020501
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/08/rendition-torture-case-secret
http://snipurl.com/upn2t
http://www.littleabout.com/news/77460,us-hunts-citizens-training-al-qaeda-terrorist-groups.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-03-07-tsa-nominee-named_N.htm
http://snipurl.com/upnmw
http://snipurl.com/upnna
http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/new-visa-fee-to-visit-the-us/story-e6frfq80-1225838039571
http://snipurl.com/upnnj
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/03/20103891547748920.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/08/opinion/08krugman.html
http://www.optoiq.com/index/lasers-for-manufacturing/display/ils-wire-news-display/142190962.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i5TtajgUpSm7KY5jf-lCJGHBB-tAD9EAHQ3O0
News For March 07, 2010
More than 50 killed as Afghan factions clash:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/03/2010379849966700.html
http://snipurl.com/upno3
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100307/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrestnato
http://snipurl.com/upnoa
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/07/world/main6275953.shtml?tag=stack
http://www.pakistantimes.net/pt/detail.php?newsId=9225
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/87676
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120288§ionid=3510203
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/03/20103661914779817.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/03/201036224143997328.html_________________________
1/12/10
Lessons LearnedBy June C. Terpstra
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Lessons-Learned-by-June-Terpstra-100114-626.html
I have recently been called to answer the question of with whom, when and where to align oneself as a warrior for social justice. These questions come up regularly in my teaching classes about resistance and revolution in a Justice Studies department in the USA. However, a more troubling and persistent call also comes from relationships with family members, neighbors and colleagues.
For some time now, a growing number of people, whether they call themselves right wingers, left wingers, Republicans, Democrats, liberals, conservatives, moderates, independents or libertarians, are vocalizing their anger and the need to resist the system which creates the political and material conditions of their lives. Many of these people who did not agree with resistance or revolutionary discourse in the past are articulating agreement with notions of rebellion and revolt now. But revolt and rebellion for what purpose? Self-interest? Survival? A Judaeo-Christian theocracy? A new and improved capitalist system in "populist guise? A return to white supremacist Protestant screeds of master/slave work ethic, replete with racism and sexism? To what extent are they accompanied with an extreme fear and hatred of the poor and a self-loathing in the middle and working class? All of these themes are prominent in the popular discourse of the media, entertainment, faux news and radio ranting spheres. These programmed narratives also manifest in student's reflections in the classroom, relatives' blogs and friends' Facebook, Twitter and Digg spaces.
While the predictions of and possibilities for resistance are more concrete today as more people rise-up to fight the oppressive political and economic conditions that are worsening all over the globe, many of the people who rise up do not want freedom for everyone. In fact, like their American forefathers whose white supremacist and patriarchal ideologies of freedom were born in the blood of genocides while perpetually sinking into deeper debt slavery to a handful of bankers they hunger for a narcissistic dream of white male capitalist entitlement to be consummated.
What then does the student of social justice, liberation, self-determination and freedom have to do with people who do not want a world where the political and material conditions of freedom are secured for everyone? Let us be clear. We cannot "agree to disagree". We must disagree and recognize that the fight for liberation from exploitation, resistance to injustice, and freedom to be a self-determining human being is on, on many fronts with many enemies.
History teaches that a fundamental rule of social justice is to work for a world where the political and material conditions of freedom are secured for everyone. By their nature capitalism, imperialism, fascism, totalitarianism, militarism, globalism, patriarchy and organized religions structure inequalities economically and socially deprive and divide people on the basis of class, sex, race, and creed. Under these systems there is freedom for some people: freedom for capitalists, "Americans", "Brits", Christians, Zionist Jews, select whites, upper-class men and women of acceptable creeds and colors, but definitely not freedom for all people everywhere. That was never the intent of their framers.
The lesson should not have to be learned over and over. When a resistance group or revolution does not adhere to this fundamental principle to work for a world where the political and material conditions of freedom are secured for everyone, the people will continue to suffer injustice, inequality, exploitation and oppression. Another major lesson learned is this: the structuring of freedom into a new society is no easy task and nothing can be proscribed
(especially not by Euro-American Judeo-Christian imperialists and their military forces). The conditions for freedom are unique to each locale and culture and must be decided by the people concerned. This is the essence of freedom, involving self-determination and responsibility for the choices that are made and acted upon.
Many revolutions and resistance movements ultimately failed in their goals for freedom in this context and most of these movements excluded groups of people on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity and creed. The French Revolution prioritized the middle class and ultimately rejected the poor, the working classes and the women who fought for the revolution. The Russian Revolution attempted to rectify some of the wrongs against the workers, peasants and even women but still hated certain ethnic groups while re-instating a new version of imperialism and the old stratified class system. America wound up amplifying the Imperialist brutality and extending the world domination practiced by its one-time colonial master Britain, creating an entity founded on and sustained with the genocides against a large number of peoples and nations, beginning with the Red Indians and the Black slaves. Additionally, many global nationalist and independence movements, past and present, mistreat and abuse women, certain ethnic tribes and people of various religious creeds, social milieus and cultural backgrounds.
Thus, we must distinguish ethical from unethical liberatory projects. It is very clear; if they are not for the freedom of all people than we do not support the work, group, organization, reform, resistance or revolutionary project. For the record, all of these projects must recognize and include the freedom of women. Let us affirm that the goal of participation in any work, project, art, reform, resistance and revolution is to end oppression in mutual recognition of each other as free human beings with the right to self-determination.
What are the principles of revolutionary relationships? Certainly, this recognition of each other as free and equal human beings is one fundamental principle. Revolutionary relationships are mediated through our common commitment to shared goals and values of a world that is structured to foster political and material freedom. If the goals and values of a group are to rid a nation of invaders, occupiers and despots it necessarily follows that men and women must support each others' projects as equal self-determining human beings rather than determined beings based on creed, culture and gender. Women and men of all creeds and cultures are equally qualified to become guerrillas and guardians against injustice. The standards of equality, courage, strength and fortitude cannot be based on the male body, the "American" entity, the "Christian spirit" or the capitalist system.
As women, indigenous, poor, black, brown, red, occupied and colonized, all of our identities must be central to liberation struggles. When one's identity houses multiple or all of those constructs there stands before us a well informed individual with countless contributions to make to the struggle. The struggle shapes our commitment to the recognition of freedom at every stage be it mobilization, the war itself, or postwar political and material relations. In the past a blind compliance and obedience was fostered by many movements under the guise of supporting the revolution for the independence or the nationalist struggle. Inherent racism, sexism and ethno-centrism were embedded and injurious to many in the struggles. This was and is a grave error in liberation struggles as no person by virtue of their race, class, sex, age, ethnicity, religion, or orientation is inessential or secondary in liberation struggles.
How then do we transcend isolation to create a community and network of allies across our families, neighborhoods, communities, nations and world? We must be clear that evil resides in the denial of freedom. We are responsible for ensuring the existence of the conditions of freedom for all the people: the women, the aged, the poor, the invaded, the occupied, the exploited, and the people of the world. We must learn our lessons from the past. My freedom is dependent on yours and yours is dependent on mine. This is the inescapable human bond.
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Your Most Powerful Self
January 4, 2010
June C. Terpstra
I had a teacher who often asked her students to envision our most powerful selves. My response at the time was that we would be killed if we lived being our most powerful selves. History proves the point, does it not? Our fears, rage, and disappointments keep us from being our most powerful selves. Yet, the alternatives of the work-consumption cycles numb us, dumb us and rob of us our spirit, passion and life. Servitude for safety sucks.
What a state of freedom it would be to experience the conscious and deliberate letting go of the fears, the defenses, and the complex armor in which we are embedded? I have that vision of me as powerful now: I see myself wearing a moral vest that keeps me clear. I see myself hearing my inner voice of wisdom guiding my choices. I am excited to be an elder that fights oppression with humor, grace, understanding and love for comrades and allies. I have a resolute knowledge of who are the enemies of life and love, social justice and planetary well being and understand the extent to which I must understand this enemy. The inner voices of doubt and loathing will be permanently replaced with organic critique, music, dance, art, literature and philosophies inspired and open to expanding my understanding of how to end injustice. I refuse to be distracted. I will no longer be disappointed. I seek no longer to be sucked
into the vortex of addictions. My intellect and intelligence are expanding and growing every second. I become a brilliant force for goodness!
This state of liberation of which I dream means that I know with whom, where and when to expend energy for justice. I build and find the cracks to fix, I travel on paths new and old, I practice because perfection is an ideal, I play to heal, I laugh at my getting up and falling down again and again, I love and learn, I self-determine in relation to the humane and honorable ways to be in the universe. I fight all the ways in myself and others in which we allow ourselves to be abused, tricked, manipulated, invaded, and occupied, internally or externally. I learn and maintain the skills of the resistance fighter, the revolutionary, the teacher, the lover, the friend, the mother, the grand-mother, the artist and I pass them on with delight and patience. This is my vision.
I may live in the empire but I am not of the empire.
Articles by June Terpstra
FOURTH OF JULY
By Husayn Al-Kurdi and June C. Terpstra
7/4/09http://www.uruknet.de/?p=55690
INTRODUCTION
Americans are programmed to be an ignorant and arrogant people whose culture is mainly derived from three key factors: money, media, and an ignorant, violent, racist version of Christianity. No adequate understanding of American culture and cultural celebrations such as the Fourth of July is possible without first examining these three major elements and the pervading impact they have had on the people.
Did you ever notice how most major USA holidays celebrate genocides and holocausts? The first official Thanksgiving Day celebrated the massacre of native American men, women and children during one of their religious ceremonies.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=49097
The Indigenous Holocaust
On yet another U.S.A. manufactured “holiday,” where schools close to honor the savage conquistador, Christopher Columbus, who ushered into history the holocaust of approximately 11 million native North American “Indians,” I propose a mandate for indigenous holocaust education, K-12. Like the new federal legislation introduced in Congress to mandate education of the Jewish holocaust, I also propose we replace not only senior citizen arts and crafts but pre-school arts and crafts with education workshops developed to examine the denial of Indian genocide, the denial of African Diaspora genocide, past and present and the genocide occurring in Palestine today.
http://www.seeingblack.com/article_309.shtml
| Barbarism By Dr. June C. Terpstra and Professor Husayn Al-Kurdi |
U.S. President George W. Bush recently stated that he would be remembered for liberating 50 million people from the clutches of barbaric regimes. Bush represents a lineage of liars whose expert propaganda turns truth on its hinder for the sake of promoting the power interests which they serve.
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3451.shtml
Hollow women of the hegemon
By June Terpstra
Visible token women leaders clucking sanctimoniously over “women’s rights” as bombs are being dropped on their “sisters” are examples of Western feminist “success” within the hegemon; women such as Margaret Thatcher, Corazon Aquino, Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton.
Mar 10, 2008, 00:39
Reform, resistance and revolution
By Dr. June Scorza Terpstra
I invite all allies to act now to stop the war and end imperialism. Many of us have been discussing and organizing online and offline for a long time.
May 30, 2007, 00:18
Arrested
By Dr. June Scorza Terpstra
On Thursday evening, March 8, International Women’s Day, I was arrested by Evanston police. This occurrence came on the heels of a controversial article I wrote for which I received hate mail and death threats.
Apr 17, 2007, 01:34
What Dick really means . . . Neocon terrorists have ambitions of empire, says Cheney
By Dr. June Scorza Terpstra
The US War of Terror’s ultimate aim is to establish “a stronghold for the New World Order, covering a region from Spain, across North Africa, through the Middle East and South Asia, all the way to Indonesia -- and it wouldn’t stop there,” US Vice President Dick Cheney warned yesterday. He said the war of terror ”had ambitions of empire.”
Mar 6, 2007, 01:30
“Fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here”
By Dr. June Scorza Terpstra
The tired old slogan “We’re fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here” is being parroted once again by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Feb 21, 2007, 01:17
Killers in the Classroom
By Dr. June Scorza Terpstra
During a heated debate in a class I teach on social justice, several US Marines who had done tours in Iraq told me that they had "sacrificed" by “serving” in Iraq so that I could enjoy the freedom to teach in the USA. Parroting their master’s slogan about “fighting over there so we don’t have to fight over here”, these students proudly proclaimed that they terrorized and killed defenseless Iraqis. They intimated that their Arab victims are nothing more to them than collateral damage, incidental to their receipt of some money and an education.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17074.htm
http://revver.com/video/601236/irrelevant-election-delusion-begins-fkn010408/
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“To be radical is to grasp the root of the matter. But for man, the root is man himself...The demand to give up illusions about the existing state of affairs is the demand to give up a state of affairs which needs illusions.” Marx
