The new play “Rebel Voices” is based on the book, “Voices of a People’s History of the United States,” by historian Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove.” It features dramatic readings of speeches, letters, poems, songs and petitions of people like Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X, as well as contemporary voices such as Iraq war resister Camilo Mejía.

Read the transcript or watch the video of Democracy Now!’s interview with Zinn.

…. referring to what Chris said in the first comment of my post “animosity toward bikers,” he said, “I think history has shown that trying to bring about a desired effect through fear and the threat of violence generally doesn’t work in the end”

Actually, after thinking about it. I disagree. I think we have seen violence as being a very good tactic in achieving “desired affects.” This is a bit off topic, but, for example, when you think of our culture and it’s relationship indigenous groups, violence has been a very successful tactic in achieving a “desired effect” (which was access to more land with less indigenous). Further, deforestation is violence done to the forest, and dams similarly murder rivers. But the desired effect of this violence gives us more farmland and subdivisions as well as hydro power allowing us to smelt aluminum ..etc.

The threat of violence is also real. The threat of men’s violence has been successful in subjugating women, the threat of violence from cops keeps us all in line…even the threat of a bully on the playground keeps kids from being their true selves.

The point is, to bring it back to this topic on bikes (and Marcy, this is where Derrick Jensen is relevant again), those in power or those on the street who think they’re in power do not own violence. Just because I’m a peaceful person doesn’t mean that I’m never allowed to use violence, no matter how I might define it or when I think it is warranted.

Think about it: It would be pretty ideal for any power structure based on violence to rule over a population of pacifists. Nonviolent resistance has had its place in history and has helped to unite people and bring about positive and necessary change. Today, however, peaceful protesters are shot with rubber bullets and tear gas. Gandhi and MLK Jr. achieved a lot by promoting nonviolent resistance, but by instilling this tactic as the principle force against violence, I believe a disservice has been done in the wake of obviously crucial and positive necessities like civil rights and equality (or a move toward equality, anyway).

If I saw a woman being raped or a child being beaten, I’m not a big guy, but you better believe I’d step in. People often say, “if you use violence, you’ll be just as bad as them.” That’s crap. If I knockout a rapist, will I start raping women? If I knockout someone beating a child, will I start beating children? That logic just doesn’t make any sense. Now don’t be confused, I’ve never “knocked out” anyone, nor would I like to. But the point is, that doesn’t mean that option is closed to me. If I get hit on my bike by a beer bottle and don’t do anything, raise any hell, or do something to raise awareness, I remain a victim. And that is devastating to anyone’s self-esteem. Talk to any surviver of violence about that.

So, violence and the threat of violence has, indeed, been very successful in achieving “desired effects,” but, perhaps, nobody likes to admit that they’ve become, or become a part of, the “desired effect.”

Every biker who is on the road frequently has their own story of harassment on the road, whether it was intentional violence, unecessarily put in danger, or the threat of violence. Thumb through the bike blogs; we all talk about these things. Here is one of many examples.

Nearly a quarter century has passed since Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted and sentenced to die for the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, and in that time his case has become perhaps the world’s most closely watched death penalty case.

In December 2001, a federal judge overturned Abu-Jamal’s death sentence due to confusing jury instructions, but upheld his conviction.

Now, in an appeal to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, prosecutors are asking that the death sentence be reinstated and Abu-Jamal’s lawyers are asking for an entirely new trial, arguing that the conviction must be overturned because there is evidence that prosecutors improperly struck black jurors in his 1982 trial.

From the NY Times:

Kurt Vonnegut, whose dark comic talent and urgent moral vision in novels like “Slaughterhouse-Five,” “Cat’s Cradle” and “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater” caught the temper of his times and the imagination of a generation, died last night in Manhattan. He was 84 and had homes in Manhattan and in Sagaponack on Long Island.

Mr. Vonnegut suffered irreversible brain injuries as a result of a fall several weeks ago, according to his wife, Jill Krementz.

Mr. Vonnegut wrote plays, essays and short fiction. But it was his novels that became classics of the American counterculture, making him a literary idol, particularly to students in the 1960s and ’70s. Dog-eared paperback copies of his books could be found in the back pockets of blue jeans and in dorm rooms on campuses throughout the United States.

Like Mark Twain, Mr. Vonnegut used humor to tackle the basic questions of human existence: Why are we in this world? Is there a presiding figure to make sense of all this, a god who in the end, despite making people suffer, wishes them well?

From the Washington Post.

His books were teenager books, really: To fully appreciate them, it probably helped to perceive yourself as an alien being, forced by Fate to survive on a completely demented planet. To be 16 years old, in other words.

Vonnegut knew that human beings had invented extraordinary techniques for visiting ruin and death upon their world. He didn’t have to read about it in a book: He had survived, as a prisoner of war, the firebombing of Dresden. He and his fellow prisoners had huddled in an underground meat locker. He’s quoted in the AP obit that appeared in The Post saying that event didn’t explain his life or his writing — but of course it did, in part. His characters were so often caught up in bizarre fates, so often wandering in places as alien and tragic as the landscape he saw when he emerged from what the German guards called Schlachthof-funf — Slaughterhouse Five.

Don’t forget!

I’m doing the introduction on stage. It should be fantastic.

Here is the schedule: Today 1pm, we’re hosting a “conversation with Derrick Jensen” in one of the classrooms on campus. This is an invite only thing and it should be pretty rad. Then we’re having a pot-luck dinner with Derrick tonight at 5:30, just before his gig on campus at 7:30. I was told I can bring a few friends to these events, and I am bringing some people, but if you’re interested in going and meeting Derrick, let me know asap!

We changed the location because the Gardner Auditorium only seats a few hundred.

This is very good news for anyone who has been following Jeff’s case.

From Bombs and Shields:

Oregon, U.S. - The Oregon Court of Appeals has ruled that environmentaly motivated arsonist, Jeffrey “Free” Luers, will get a new reduced sentence that could be as much as 15 years shorter than his current one. Luers was sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2001 for burning and damaging three SUVs as a protest meant to call attention to global warming in Eugene.

Luers was convicted of three arson counts and three attempted arson counts. The sentences were ordered to be served consecutively but according to the appeals court Luers’ judge should have ordered that they be served concurrent. It’s possible that he could be released from prison as early as 2008.