Taigen's Peace and Justice
Page
Taigen's Peace and Justice Archives - pre 7-21-11
Books by Taigen and others he recommends
7-22-11 - Thanks to David Chadwick for maintaining this Peace and Justice page. It has become about five years out of date, through my neglect, not David's. With David's help I now intend to keep it more or less up to date with messages about significant actions or issues, etc., and occasionally new media or book resources. Thank you and bows to David for maintaining this refreshed page.
As David mentioned previously, for about a decade or so, starting with the farcical impeachment of Bill Clinton and continuing through the two stolen administrations of G.W. Bush with his criminal invasions and torture program, both still ongoing, I regularly forwarded to a list of folks articles with information or commentary that seemed useful. Sometimes these were sent out weekly, at times daily, but I discontinued several years ago due to various factors, mostly technical. I now hope to renew such messages on an occasional basis. If you wish to receive these, e-mail me at: taigen108@gmail.com
on the American media:
I worked much of the 70s as a documentary film editor, which back then ended up meaning lots of work in corporate TV news, including ABC and NBC News in both NYC and SF, including local news but also the Today Show. I did manage to work on a few independent documentaries, including on Leonard Peltier, and Chinese-American immigration, and for Bill Moyers Journal on PBS.
But I saw inside TV News how easily mass views are manipulated, even though back then there was still some healthy investigative reporter context left over from Woodward & Bernstein. One example of manipulation was a story ridiculing Jerry Brown that I sabotaged. I also saw how the whole newsroom goes into high gear for calamities, with the unspoken "Oh boy another disaster," e.g. when I was in the TV newsroom when we were among the very first who heard about Harvey Milk's assassination.
Now it is just full-time corporate propaganda, almost no exceptions, from Fox News down to the NY Times and NPR, who still frame all issues very much in terms of the mainstream corporate profit interests. Prime examples are talking about them as tax cuts instead of social service cuts; taking seriously the American invasions and foreign occupations as part of a supposedly realistic "War on Terror"; and pretending that there is any serious debate about climate damage, visible to all these days. Such a debate is like debating the pros and cons of slavery, or of child abuse.
But it is still possible to find out what is happening outside the corporate media, if you work at it.
I depend for news on Democracy Now and Amy Goodman, a true Living National Treasure. Democracy Now is on many TV and radio stations around the country early mornings, or access it on the web.
Other good sources, in my opinion, include The Nation magazine <>; Truth Out dot org; or Robert Scheer's excellent Truth Dig dot com.
Overseas mainstream news, such as BBC news, also provide much more of a reality view than any U.S. mainstream corporate media.
Recommended books:
Reliable useful information is also available in many good books, many of which I have not yet read. But here are a sampling that are very helpful.
The Shock Doctrine, by Naomi Klein. A very important book with clear information about the devolution of our economy to the current Disaster Capitalism, in which corporate profiteers enrich themselves by exploiting and encouraging natural and man-mad disasters, e.g. the South Asian tsunami, Katrina, Haiti.
Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet [yes aa eaarth] by Bill McKibben, leading environmental scientist & climate activist. He details how our planet itself is already completely transformed in past 2 or 4 decades, much too late to stop it, and how we may best respond now. Very important, scientific information. Of course climate damage is obvious all round the world now, except in the claims of oil profiteers who've made vast personal profit from this devastation and mass-killing, and their shills in the congress and media.
JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why it Matters, by James Douglass (Touchstone Book, 2008).
James Douglass is an old-line Catholic Worker into Thomas Merton. The book is very thorough, and meticulously documented. This book reveals, with full documentation, that after the Cuban missile crisis almost led to nuclear war, JFK worked secretly together with Khrushchev, and had Decided to completely end the Cold War, and was about to End our role in Vietnam War when he got back from Dallas. Lots more fascinating details. After years of propaganda about his womanizing etc., I'd forgotten who JFK really was, and how courageous. A lot of this has never been revealed, though maybe as a whole we already knew. Douglass manages to end the book sort of upbeat. But reading it changed a great deal of how I see the last 50 years.
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins relates very clearly details of how US and multinational corporate dominance works, from one who was in the middle of it all over the world, from the Mideast to Indonesia to Latin America. This includes how airplane crashes are used to dispose of uncooperative heads of our client states.
Perkins has a second book, Hoodwinked, which I've not gotten to yet, but which has also been recommended by a reliable source.
On speaking about social issues in a Dharma context:
I have had to Work a lot at how to talk about current issues in Dharma contexts. But I feel I must do that, some of the time, as a Precept holder with responsibility to bodhisattva precepts. This is about basic morality, not politics.
Anger is a difficult obstacle. One Vinaya commentary says that Not being angry when it is appropriate violates the anger precept. But practically speaking, self-righteousness and stridency automatically stop people listening, maybe especially Buddhists. So the great energy of anger must be transformed, and breathing and other mindfulness practices can be used to transform the energy resource of anger into sustainable commitment, determination, resolve.
I believe in Preaching to the Choir. We need to keep talking about it all together somehow. I like the Buddhist slogan, "Awareness is Transformative" on many levels, personal and societal. Discussing what is happening in the world, informing folks, is important. How real change happens is mysterious, but it happens. "Suddenly"- Egypt!, and the possibility of democracy, even though it remains to be seen how that one will turn out.
We all do have the ability to respond to the suffering of our world, and we must use this response-ability if we are to do buddha's work. But it is important not to be self-righteous about tactics or strategy. How the current situation will be transformed is not at all apparent. So each of us can respond in our own particular ways; there is not one right approach. Though not sure I've ever met such a one, theoretically I can completely believe that the samadhi of one person sitting up on a mountain might somehow end the war in Afghanistan (though perhaps not so likely).
Surprisingly, a good guide for some of this comes from the US tax code. For Religious 501C3 nonprofit groups, you cannot advocate for a candidate or party, or particular legislation. But it is just fine to talk about the issues. I say that when I speak on issues in Dharma contexts, and that I actually have no desire to advocate for political parties, etc. At this point, both parties serve the corporate interests, with very rare exceptional people, and all of those have been driven out or are endangered by the free-spending on elections by the Koch Brothers from the John Birch Society, and their huge fortune, such election-buying recently sanctioned by the Supremes Court.
current issues and actions:
David has already posted about the hunger-strike around California state prisons, protesting the torture of prisoners at Pelican State Bay prison in Northern California. Prisoners now face death daily from hunger and need support. In addition to what David has already posted, See the powerful NY Times op-ed :
You can call Gov. Jerry Brown, as I have, at (916) 445-2841.
Or you can e-mail him, as I have also done, via: http://gov.ca.gov/m_contact.php
For more information on what you can do, See: http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/take-action/cdcr-and-california-elected-officials-contact-informaion/
Resource disparity in U.S., a couple of statistics:
The wealthiest 1% in the U.S. make 25% of the income.
The wealthiest 400 people have more assets than the lowest 50% of Americans, 150 million people.
Tar Sand Pipeline Nightmare
If you were in Chicago 68 or Woodstock 69, or if you were not yet born but wish you'd been at these cultural landmarks, the place to be in late August, 2011 is Washington D.C.
President Barack Obama will decide as early as September whether to light a fuse to the largest carbon bomb in North America. That bomb is the massive tar sands field in Canada’s Alberta province. And the fuse is the 1,700-mile long Keystone XL Pipeline that would transport this dirtiest of petroleum fuels all the way to Texas refineries.
The Keystone XL Pipeline is a climate and pollution horror beyond description. From August 15th to September 5th, thousands of Americans – including Bill McKibben, Danny Glover, and NASA’s Dr. James Hansen – will be protesting at the White House, day after day, demanding Obama reject this tar sands nightmare. Given the high stakes, many protestors will also engage in peaceful civil disobedience, day after day.
If built, the Keystone XL Pipeline would lock America into a future of planet-warming energy dependency. Indeed, Dr. Hansen – America’s top climate scientist – has said that full exploitation of Canada’s tar sands would constitute a "game over" scenario for efforts to solve climate change.
President Obama alone – without input from Congress – has the power to approve or reject the Keystone XL Pipeline. He will decide as soon as September whether to honor his campaign pledge to create a clean-energy economy – including wind power for the mid-Atlantic and beyond – or to lock us in as a nation that cooks and distills filthy tar sands for much of our energy.
There has already been a massive oil leak of Tar Sands oil from a pipeline in Montana last week. On many levels this would poison our environment.
For more information see:
http://www.thinkglobalgreen.org/keystone.html
http://climatechangepsychology.blogspot.com/2011/07/protest-keystone-xl-pipeline-protest.html
[see July 5 item]
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Stars+urge+protesters+fight+Canadian+pipeline/4997831/story.html
Taigen's Peace and Justice Archives - pre 7-21-11