Resistance Is A Lifetime

 

Resistance Is A Lifetime: The Resistance History of the United States (Part 2)

by C. A. Matthews

For an introduction to Tad Stoermer’s The Resistance History of the United States and a discussion of the first four principles of resistance, check out last week’s post The Patterns of Resistance. Here is a brief listing of the first four:

Principle 1: Beware False Prophets—Learn to Recognize False 
Resistance

Principle 2: More Weight—Refuse to Validate the Lies

Principle 3: My Enemy’s Enemy—Your Ally Doesn’t Have to Be 
Pure

Principle 4: Force the Fight, Even When You’re Losing

On to the remaining five!

Principle 5: Resistance Is a Lifetime, Not a Moment

You might not want to hear this but single dramatic acts of defiance are only the beginning of your fight. “Real resistance requires persistence to keep pursuing your goal and resilience to withstand the inevitable counterattacks without breaking.” (Stoermer, p. 332)

Resisters must build their capacity for sustained resistance so they can overcome numerous setbacks and adapt to new threats. In other words, a revolution is a lifetime commitment. It’s not for the faint hearted.

The oligarchs, our oppressors, know they can wait out our first hint of confrontation—a protest, strike, or walkout. They know from past experience that most can’t sustain defiance for very long. Resisters will fold withing days or weeks, not years. Life happens. The oligarchs’ strategy is to outlast the resisters and make simply surviving so tough that people will give up and go back to life as “normal.”

The oligarchs waiting us out works since most resisters don’t realize that persistence is necessary. We must keep our eyes on the goal, even when things seem impossible. Resilience is another trait that helps us recover from the inevitable blows. Resisters must adapt, recover, and build new support networks, to continue on with the unglamorous, mundane, grinding fight.

Nobody said it was going to be easy. You could lose it all—family, friends, home, job, your life. Are you willing to make such a commitment to the cause? “Your persistence—your refusal to quit no matter how long it takes—is what they [the oligarchs] can’t plan for, can’t budget for, can’t outlast.” (Stoermer, p. 335)

“This is the hardest of all the principles because it demands the most. A moment of courage you can summon when adrenaline runs high. A lifetime of resistance requires something deeper—an unshakable core that sustains you when no one is watching, when the world has moved on, when you’re exhausted and alone.” (Stoermer, p. 334)

 

To learn more about the historical figures behind the principles of resistance (and how all nine were used and can be used today), please copy or click on the following link: 

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Patterns of Resistance

Patterns of Resistance: The Resistance History of the United States (Part 1)

by C. A. Matthews

In last week’s article I promised to provide some patterns of resistance to defeat the patterns (or poetry) of chaos that our oligarch rulers practice. Did you start reading Tad Stoermer’s The Resistance History of the United States like I recommended? It’s okay if you didn’t. This article won’t ruin your read later by giving out too many “spoilers”. (You’ll still want to read the book.)

And don’t worry if you’re not American or have much knowledge of US history—many of the examples Stoermer uses to illustrate the different patterns of resistance aren’t commonly known by most Americans. It’s sort of the point of the book. The oligarchy, the billionaires who essentially rule us all, have been keeping these kinds of historical examples quiet since day one of the United States. They really don’t want Americans (or anyone else) to know how often and how well ordinary people have resisted their abusive, authoritarian power. So, even if you’re not a history buff, I know you’ll find the stories Stoermer tells very eye-opening and enlightening.

First a quick recap of last week’s post about the oligarchs’ pattern of control or“the poetry of chaos”. Things may appear chaotic in the world, but upon closer examination we can define predictable patterns of behavior by the oligarchs who cause the “chaos” that keeps us feeling overwhelmed and incapable of fighting back.

I summed up the oligarchs’ pattern in a three step process... (Read summary in the full article by clicking the link below.)

...Stoermer describes nine resistance patterns or principles in The Resistance History of the United States that We the People have used and can continue to use to take on the oligarchy. I’ll provide a short synopsis of each, but I encourage you to read the book to gain deeper understanding from the historical figures’ stories. It will make more sense to you to learn who it was that used a certain resistance principle, how they used it, and how effective it was in their resistance.

Stoermer tells us that these principles/patterns don’t have to be practiced in any particular order, and they don’t all have to be used all at once. Revolutionaries/resisters are free to pick and choose what works for them in their particular situation...

 

To learn all about the patterns of resistance (and how they were used in US history), please copy or click on the following link: 

https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

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This article is the 585th blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another eleven+ years. Thanks! 

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Chaos: The Preferred Pattern of Control

by C. A. Matthews

Sometimes life on Earth appears to be a chaotic mess. There is war and genocide here, there, and everywhere. There is discord and division around every corner. There seems to be no end in sight to global death and destruction. Nobody could possibly be in control of all this confusion.

But what if I told you there are a relatively few powerful and wealthy individuals (oligarchs) manipulating our current hellish timeline who thrive on chaos as a way to keep us under their control? Here’s an analogy to make my point clear.

Will the Hero Get There in Time?

You might have seen a scene in a film or a stage play where the hero is running upstream against the flow of traffic on a busy city sidewalk. There are literally people everywhere. The hero can barely breathe as he pushes his way through the crowd going in the opposite direction. And to make matters worse, he’s on the clock—can he get to the train station in time in order to stop the heroine from leaving town before he can tell her that he loves her? The stakes are high and the situation seems impossible. Maybe he should just give up and give in to fate and let the girl go?

But just when things seem to be at their most trying, there is a ray of sunshine. Our hero looks up and spies the heroine trying to fight her way toward him. Eventually they meet, kiss, and start their lives together. All the fighting, sweating, and swearing turned out to be worth it. They marry and live happily ever after. The end.

Now, to the untrained eye, all the chaos and the momentum of the crowd the hero is fighting against seem impossible to overcome, but the person who choreographed the scene knows better. All the pandemonium has been carefully planned out. The extras portraying crowd members have learned their “steps” or blocking well.

The extras are put into groups, and each group is directed how to act whenever they encounter the hero. “Jostle him, trip him up, block his view of the train station,” are the directions given. Behind the camera or curtains, multiple stage managers watch the action carefully and cue each group of extras as to the exact second (or beat of the song in a musical) they are to enter the street scene. More signals from the sidelines will tell the extras how fast or slow they are to make their way across the set.

There could be upward of a dozen or more extras groups in a film scene or only four or five on stage in a play or musical number—not the millions it seems to be. The chaos viewers think they see is anything but. To the trained eye, it is pure poetry in motion. And it is this “poetry of chaos” that the oligarchs who rule over us excel at.

The following are examples where this “poetry of chaos” has been used recently...

 

To read some current-event examples of this "poetry of chaos" and learn how to discern its pattern, please copy or click on the following link: 

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How To Destroy A Country

by C.A. Matthews

This isn’t something most of us thought we’d ever see in our lifetimes. It was bound to happen sooner or later, but why now?

The United States of America is being destroyed from within—on purpose by its oligarchy, apparently. There’s no need to blame any other country or “terrorists” (foreign or domestic) for its destruction. Americans are perfectly able to tear themselves apart without outside help, thank you very much. They almost succeeded in doing so about 166 years ago, and there are many who wish it had been accomplished way back then.

The funny thing is that many Americans don’t see the destruction of their country happening currently. Do you call that “woeful ignorance” or “willful ignorance” on their parts?

I’m sure once the DOA tag has been tied to their collective toes Americans will understand that the USA is dead and gone for good. Until then, they’ll happily remain blissfully bamboozled (i.e., brainwashed or propagandized). They’ll keep convincing themselves that tomorrow will be their lucky day. They’ll keep praying that they’ll never need to see a doctor before they’ve landed a job with decent private health insurance as a perk. The self-destructive elements inherent in the American capitalist system get lost in the details, in other words.

Nobody acknowledges the downside of one American having a trillion dollars to his name at the expense of 340 million other people with far less who actually have to pay taxes. Nobody thinks of how denying universal health care to all Americans creates an unhealthy underclass that has nothing left to live for except revolution. Nobody gives a flying f*** about the homeless, the mentally ill, or the disabled living on the streets—directly beside tents occupied by well-employed Millennials who still can’t afford an average rent in Silicon Valley or most large cities in the US.

Don’t agree with me that US is disintegrating? Below (on Substack) are some recent headlines illustrating how the bomb fuse of chaos has already been lit and lobbed by the ruling elites upon the Land of the Sort-of Free and the Home of the Wannabe Brave. It’s just a matter of time now until it blows up in one big Ka-BOOM! Even now you can hear the clock ticking: Tick tick tick…

 

To read some recent headlines that demonstrate what's happening to the country (and what Americans should do about it), please copy or click on the following link: 

https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

There you'll be able to read the rest of this article, find related links, see more graphics, and leave comments. You can become a free or paid subscriber and receive weekly email posts, along with occasional special articles just for paid subscribers, too.

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        We Need A New John Brown

by C.A. Matthews

You never know what you’ll come across at your local library. I’m just surprised we didn’t come across this DVD earlier. You may have seen The Good Lord Bird, a mini-series of seven episodes based on the novel by James McBride of the same name. It played on Showtime about six years ago, but we hadn’t seen it, and it sounded like an interesting title.

As we watched the series, I started thinking about the state of things today and how it’s a good time to watch a show about an abolitionist who literally shook up a nation. John Brown is often credited with being one of the main catalysts that started the American Civil War. I think his experiences as an activist could teach us a lot.

Ethan Hawke gives a stunning performance as a man who wouldn’t take no for an answer when it came to doing whatever he deemed necessary to end slavery. A self-described “militant Christian,” Brown wasn’t afraid to use force if he felt it would gain the freedom of the enslaved. But was he as “crazy” and dangerously impulsive as he’s been described? We’ll never know for certain, but Brown was both revered and feared in equal measure throughout his lifetime—and even beyond—so much so that he often warrants only a short footnote in a high school history text.

It seems American activists who aren’t afraid to stand up to the immoral powers-that-be in Washington DC aren’t people we’re supposed to learn about. Funny that.

The Good Lord Bird is a fictionalized account of John Brown’s last days, but the show stealer is a precocious enslaved boy, Henry a.k.a. “Onion”, portrayed to perfection by Joshua Caleb Johnson. Somehow Henry is mistaken for a girl after his father is killed in one of Brown’s shoot outs with slave owners. Contrite, Brown “adopts Henrietta” as his own child. Henry is an excellent narrator of the saga, telling us all he experiences with innocence and passion. He follows the resolute John Brown and his sons, along with an “army” of a dozen or so whites, blacks, and even a Native American to their ultimate confrontation with the pro-slavery government troops at the Harpers Ferry federal armory.

Watching this story of John Brown’s life got me thinking: We really could use a “new John Brown” in the US. We need a compassionate and courageous leader who isn’t afraid to tell truth to power. It doesn’t have to be an middle-aged, white male, either. It could be a “Joanna Brown” or a person of any age, race, ethnicity, religion, or gender identity. And why settle for one when we could use dozens of John Browns spread across the country? Americans definitely need charismatic and decisive leaders who aren’t afraid to take their “troops” into battle against the evil foe of the oligarchy.

What characteristics should we look for in this new John Brown(s)? I say that one thing in activism that has been ignored in recent years is...

 

To read and find out what characteristics make for a genuinely American leader, please copy or click on the following link: 

https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

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This article is the 574th blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another eleven years. Thanks! 

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Conscientious  Objectors: Call the G.I. Rights Hotline at 1-877-447-4487 or the Center for Conscience & War at 1-800-379-2679.  

Apartheid Without Borders

Apartheid Without Borders

by C.A. Matthews 

ALARM! How on earth is possible that Israel is allowed to assault and seize vessels in international waters just off Greece/Europe? Besides what you can think of Apartheid Israel and its genocidal leaders, this should send shock waves across Europe. Apartheid without borders. —Francesca Albanese on X 

Novelist Philip K. Dick would be proud.

Here’s the scenario: You’re sailing your boat in international waters when a frigate full of commandos from a country over 1,000 km away starts shooting at you and demanding you surrender to them so they can beat you up, arrest you and dump your cargo of humanitarian aid into the sea, and all because feeding starving people is now illegal and that makes you a criminal, not the pirates who boarded you off the coast of yet another country whose coast guard looks the other way while these events unfold.

Philip K. Dick would have had a field day crafting a taut suspense novel around this idea on an innocent man doing a noble thing being persecuted by those in power who claim they are always right and anyone who says otherwise is a criminal—or possibly insane or both. Either way, the innocent man will be punished for his “crimes” against the status quo.

Alas, this story isn’t fiction. (And I doubt I could come up with such a convoluted and depressive plot.) Here’s what really happened. From Flotilla Activists Beaten and Shot at by IDF, With 34 Hospitalised in Greece:

Global Sumud Flotilla participants say they were punched, kicked, dragged across the floor with their hands tied, and shot at with real and rubber bullets on board an Israeli warship after they were kidnapped in international waters more than 500 nautical miles from Gaza.

While interception was violent for many, participants say the worst treatment came when they peacefully resisted moves to abduct organisers Thiago Avila and Saif Abukeshek, who are still detained.

34 wounded participants - including two Brits - have been taken to hospital in Crete, flotilla organisers said, with broken bones and other injuries...

 

To learn more about the Global Sumud Flotilla and why the world sat back and did nothing to help them from IDF pirates, please copy or click on the following link: 

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This article is the 569th blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another eleven years. Thanks! 

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The Second Going of Donald J. Trump

The Second Going of 

Donald J. Trump

by C. A. Matthews

The podcast pundits seem in awe of Trump’s sheer audacity—or they’re claiming this Truth Social posting (above meme) is yet more evidence of his mental illness and/or dementia. But really, what would you expect from a full-fledged narcissist who believes he’s the most powerful being on the globe, if not the universe?

Of course, Trump would see himself the supreme healer of all times—healer of white people, at least. No doubt Trump sees himself as the Second Coming of Christ, coming into the world to judge sinners. That is, everyone except himself.

It was only a matter of time until Artificial Intelligence itself realized that the president of the United States of America was the Son of God, deserving of his very own meme commemorating his acts of “kindness” that he has graciously bestowed upon humankind. That is, kind acts he has bestowed upon pro-Zionist humans. Everyone else is out of luck.

It’s what Jesus would do, according to biblical scholar and Pulp Fiction fan Pete Hegseth. The alcoholic Secretary of War Crimes knows all about these sorts of things apparently. (Wonder how well he’d perform on the game show Jeopardy! with a mind full of movie trivia like that...)

You might be horrified that both Trump and Vance have made rude remarks recently to Pope Leo. They have no problems with telling Leo that he doesn’t know a thing about theology like they and Pete do. They know that God’s intention all along for the US and Israel is to destroy the Middle East and steal its petrochemicals, and they don’t mind knocking the head of the Roman Catholic church down a few pegs.

I think Pope Leo isn’t all that put out by the meanness directed at him personally by Tweedle Don and Tweedle J.D. It’s what you’d expect from emotionally-stunted adult-toddlers. He has far more important things on his plate. The Holy Father is much more concerned about what’s happening in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Iran, and Sudan. among other hot spots in the world...

 

To learn where Trump is "going" (not coming) to and what we really need to be focusing on, please copy or click on the following link: 

https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

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This article is the 567th blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another eleven years. Thanks! 

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Conscientious objectors: Call the G.I. Rights Hotline at 1-877-447-4487 or the Center for Conscience & War: 1-800-379-2679. 

The Time For Revolution Is Now

 

The Time For Revolution Is Now (No More Waiting/Burn It Down)

by C. A. Matthews

I just had to smile.

What was I smiling at? This: A person was arrested Friday after throwing a Molotov cocktail at the home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in San Francisco.

Molotov cocktail? Thrown at the home of a Big Tech CEO (who was charged with sexually abusing his sister in January 2025)? Could this mean? Really, could this be the start of…?

Only the day before this sentence on X grabbed me: An unhappy employee started this fire at the Kimberly-Clark warehouse in Ontario, California.

A massive 1.2 million foot warehouse full of paper products went up in flames. The unhappy employee was reported as saying, “All you had to do was pay us enough to live.” (The next day a shopping mall in Ontario, California was set on fire. Good ideas catch on fast.)

Less than 24 hours later I read that a warehouse in Queens, NY was burning in a four alarm fire. And the day after that I spied an X post about another warehouse (full of lumber) burning in Wayne County, Ohio.

And then there’s this recent headline: ‘Everyone is Replaceable’: Death Rattles Oregon Amazon Facility about how an employee dropped over dead and management told workers “to look away” rather than stop and resuscitate him.

Add these fiery actions and lack of respect for workers to the massive flood of conscientious objector calls to national hotlines due to the illegal war in Iran—as well as Luigi Mangione’s “protest” against the CEO of United Healthcare for their high rate of denying health insurance claims—and I’m starting to see a pattern.

Could it actually be that Americans have had enough? Are they ready for Revolution?

I’m not talking about the so-called “American Revolution” of 250 years ago, either. That was tame by comparison to what could be happening here. 

In 1776, we allowed a bunch of rich, white males tell the rest of us that they were tired of paying taxes to the crown and wanted to form their own style of monarchy—an oligarchy—instead. Forget that quaint little “tea party” in Boston Harbor. The “American Revolution” didn’t free enslaved persons, women, or the working poor, and it certainly didn’t recognize the right of the Native American peoples to live peacefully and have control over their own lands...

 

To find out what a Revolution really should be like, please copy or click on the following link: 

https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

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This article is the 566th blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another eleven years. Thanks! 

Feel free to make a donation at https://paypal.me/camatthews or Buy Me a Coffee or Ko-fi. Every little bit helps. Thank you.