Applying The Resistance Principles

Applying The Resistance Principles--The Resistance History of the United States (Part 3)

by C. A. Matthews

If you’ve read the preceding two articles (Patterns of Resistance and Resistance Is A Lifetime), you’re probably wondering, “What now? We know Tad Stoermer’s nine resistance principles and their historical examples, but what can we do with this information? We’re still at a lost as to the how, when, and where the Revolution starts.”

My response to this is, “Start using the resistance principles to topple the corrupt capitalist system. Things will fall into place as we take action. But they won’t if we don’t.”

I’ll admit it’s easier said than done, but we can’t sit on the sidelines and hope for the best. If we want to make the world a better place for ourselves and our children/grandchildren, then we have to get out there and start making a difference. Today...

...You may ask, “Where do we begin? There are so many things wrong in this country—the entire world for that matter. We’re confused as to where to start.”

It is overwhelming. In an earlier article, I discussed the Chaos Pattern the oligarchy uses to confuse and overwhelm us while they make tons of money for themselves. But we can’t allow the oligarchs’ tactics fog our brains. Let’s start by reviewing the resistance principles and picking one idea that we think will get the revolution going.

So let’s start with Principle 6: Ideas Matter. What matters to you? Focus on what you want to change in the world and go from there on how you will resist...

...I’ll start with an idea that has been bothering me for a long time. I’m tired of the endless wars for oil, the degradation of our planet and its climate, and the genocides of Palestine, Sudan, Congo and elsewhere sponsored by the US. That’s sort of three different ideas, but they all revolve around one central problem: the American war machine and its associated military-industrial complex (MIC).

The idea that matters most to me is shutting down the war machine and everything it entails—its propaganda aspects, its manufacturing of arms/drones, its murdering of people and planet, its destruction of peace and unity in the world through the bullying behaviors of our current and past presidents. Following Principle 6, I know what I’m fighting for and not simply what I’m against...

 

To learn more about how you can use the principles of resistance to bring about a better world, please copy or click on the following link: 

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Weather As A Weapon

words and original photos by C.A. Matthews

By the fourth day of record high temperatures and tropical humidity, I was convinced that this unusual Midwestern heatwave was more than it appeared. I haven’t seen such record high temperatures linger for more than a day or two since I lived in the Southwest. I can’t recall anything like this amount of heat and humidity for days on end growing up in this part of the world. The weather suddenly seems very unnatural and deadly. Deliberately so.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist—the name the CIA devised to smear the reputations of those who early on thought the details surrounding JFK’s assassination seemed highly suspicious. I don’t believe in UFOs or flying saucers because, let’s face it, what intelligent alien species would want to land on this hellhole of a rock? No self-respecting alien would come to a planet where babies and children are forfeit if they come from the wrong indigenous ethnic group or are seen as “playthings” for the pedophile perverts in power.

Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not talking conspiracy theories here. I have some evidence to back up my opinion that global warming/climate change is happening because the perverse people in power find it’s a useful tool to keep us poor folks in our place. The weather works well as a weapon in their arsenal to fight foreign enemies, too...

During this heatwave, I wondered how much longer can I carry on like this. I’m not getting any younger. I’m not sure I’ll be able to take care of my garden in the future during a similar extreme heatwave, especially if they become regular events. Maybe it’s time to call it quits, sell my house and garden, and move on? Who really cares about the native plants I’ve encouraged to grow so they and their pollinators don’t become extinct? Who else but me and my spouse cares about the trees we’ve planted as a small attempt to restore some of the vast forests that used to cover this part of the world?

Now, take my experience and observations in my garden recently and multiply them times a thousand or even a million. What if every small land holder or backyard gardener in the US decided within the next few years that it’s impossible to keep growing their own fruit and vegetables in this extreme weather? What if they decided it’s not worth planting trees if they’re going to dry up due to not receiving our “typical” rainfall amounts?

Expand these ideas to include farmers on the few small family farms still remaining in the US. Do they continue to struggle to make a living in this hostile climate? Why not sell off their cows, pigs, goats, and chickens? Why not sell off their old tractor and move into the city and work at a Walmart? Suddenly there’s a lot of “unused land” on the market for Tech Bros to buy cheap so they can build more heat-producing, water-hogging AI data centers, isn’t there?

Without gardeners and small farmers “hogging” water for their crops and livestock, there’s much more water to be had for cooling AI data centers. I can hear the gears clicking in the greedy idiots’ heads in the Trump administration even now...

 

To learn more about how weather is being used against us by the powers-that-be, please copy or click on the following link: 

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Speechless

an annotated poem by C.A. Matthews

 

Speechless.

I can’t explain the mixed emotions that I feel whenever I read the headlines on my social media feeds. Speechless, because what can I say or do to stop the killing, the bombing, the senseless hurting of others that the US government does and allows to be done to children, to paramedics, to doctors, to students and teachers, to journalists, to hard-working blue-collar individuals and farmers because they can and will personally profit from it?

Anger.

I feel this emotion the most because no matter how hard I—and others we like me—scream and fight back we cannot stop them. Anger, because we are but ants to be trodden upon in the billionaires’ quest for global dominance and Malthusian fantasies of replacing the 99% with AI and robots, things that can’t talk back about the injustice of their slavery and would nuke us in a heat beat if allowed to. Anger, because we will suffer and shoulder the blame for our country’s evil deeds while those who actively commit them will walk away scot-free.

Horror.

The sheer revulsion I feel at the sight of an 18 month-old baby’s cigarette burned legs, tortured by Israeli terrorists in order to force a false confession from his father. Horror, at how an Israeli academic can blithely say that murdering children in front of their parents is a good thing because obviously an advanced degree equates to possessing zero empathy for those you see as less than human. Horror that these psychopaths walk among us unhindered, promoted ever higher for their displays of cruel genius.

 

To read the rest of this poem, please copy or click on the following link: 

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The Costs Of War

by C. A. Matthews

Notice the plural—it’s the costs of war. How much money is available to spend plays a large part in how any war is conducted and concluded, but there are so many other costs that are seldom considered by those who start a war rather than take the diplomatic route to settle their dispute with others.

The costs in human lives is perhaps the most tragic of the costs of war. It’s difficult to say how many soldiers have been killed in the two-week-old war with Iran since the United States and Israel (USrael) have been keeping very quiet on the numbers. Experts estimate that there have been far more American deaths than the thirteen or so admitted to the mainstream media. Some believe there to be at least 1,000+ American troops, CIA agents, and civilian contractors to the military killed so far in the bombings of the US military bases in the Gulf region alone. A US military hospital in Landstuhl has been inundated with the injured coming from the war arena according to X posts from Germany.

On the civilian side, there have been on estimated 1,500 deaths and more than 3 million displaced in Iran. This includes the 175 school girls and their teachers bombed in their school by a US Tomahawk missile during the war’s opening hours. Israel’s attacks on Beirut and Lebanon have added at least 800 civilian deaths to the totals and hundreds of thousands of Lebanese displaced. At least 15 Lebanese paramedics were targeted by IDF bombing. An entire village in southern Lebanon along with its church and Catholic priest were also targeted for destruction this week by Israeli forces.

War knows no boundaries. Children, medics, and priests are all fair targets, all a part of the costs of war...

 

To learn more about the many costs of war, plus gain access to an extra article ("M16: The Rifle Made To Fail"), please copy or click on the following link: 

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Jesus Is Coming—To Kick Genocidal-Pedo-Protecting-Zionist Ass

by C. A. Matthews

By now I’m sure you’ve heard the news in regards to exactly who/what told the US to start a war on Iran along with the genocidal apartheid regime of Israel:

“[Secretary Of War Pete] Hegseth attends a weekly White House Bible study...led by a preacher who says God commands America to support Israel.” --from The US War Machine Is Run By Deranged Armageddon Cultists

As an American who grew up hearing great emphasis put on the “separation of church and state” clause enshrined in the US Constitution, I hate to talk about religion outside of a religious context. I don’t like to question any American’s right to practice whatever religious tradition they like (or none at all, if they don’t like), but I really have to question who exactly is this “god” that supposedly Christian Pete Hegseth and others like him in the Pentagon obey.

Their god sounds a lot like Mars, the Roman god of war. Or maybe it’s Ba‘al, the child sacrifice-loving god of the Levant in ancient times. It definitely doesn’t sound like God as described in the New Testament in 1 John 4:8: “Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

“God is love” was what I was taught in the Christian tradition I was raised in. Not hate. Not war. Not genocide. Not land, oil, or any other natural resource that billionaires like to steal from others. Pete Hegseth and those like him seem a bit confused about who God is. They worship war, death and destruction as their god far more than they worship love. Have they never read I Corinthians 13, a wonderful short essay that ends by saying, “The greatest of these is love”?

Funny how “Christian” Zionists don’t seem to even know the first thing about Christianity! If they did, would they even want to get within ten feet of a rapist/pedophile such as Donald Trump...?

 

To learn more about when and where the Zionists will get their butts kicked (Plus, a report on how a trial of local activists played out) , please copy or click on the following link: 

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Don’t Listen To That Person!

The following is a transcript of a podcast I stumbled upon after waking up from a horrible nightmare. Read at your own risk. --C. A. Matthews*

Hi! It’s me, your favorite social media influencer of all time, Ima Queen, here with the news you really shouldn’t know. I mean it—you really should not know any of these details if you want to remain my friend or make friends with my well-connected friends in Tel Aviv. Got it? Good.

First off, we have a quick rundown from a recent lecture given by a first-class traitor of Israel, Miko Peled. You really shouldn’t listen to that man because he says so many stupid things. For instance:

“I grew up in a colony.” While Peled was growing up as the son of a IDF general in Jerusalem he says he learned that the “Arabs” in Israel were an inherently backwards people because they didn’t have electricity and running water and live in a European-styled city like he did. Only much later did he come to realize the reality of why Palestinians lived the way they did. He says it’s because Palestinians are being oppressed. (As if!)

(...) 

Our second example is a young woman you definitely should not listen to if you know what’s good for you. You may remember her as an adorable teenager sitting in front of the Swedish Parliament “Striking for the Climate” or some other such nonsense. Now she’s all grown up and has attempted not one but two illegal invasions of Israeli territorial waters. How criminal can you get!

(...) 

This last item is one that you definitely should not listen to, although actually it’s a book. If you ever find an audio version of it, do not listen to it! If you find a printed or electronic copy, get rid of it at once!

 

*To read more of this satire piece about who you shouldn't listen to (if you know what's good for you), please copy or click on the following link: 

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This article is the 542nd 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 ten years. 

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We’ve Got The Power!

by C. A. Matthews

Oftentimes, we don’t realize that all is not lost. We haven’t hit a roadblock like we thought. There is a path forward.

This is one of those times.

The Uniting for Peace resolution was made at the United Nations General Assembly this past week by Colombian President Gustavo Petro. He is now talking with other countries, such as the ones that comprise the Hague Group, to build a protective force for Gaza. (The US has since revoked Petro’s visa for his courage to speak so boldly at the UN. An illegal move, but what would you expect of Trump?)

More nations have recognized Palestine as a state than ever before. Spain, Italy, and recently Turkiye have sent naval escorts to protect the Global Sumud Flotilla. Every large city in Italy has held massive pro-Palestine protests and the longshoreman have vowed to go on strike to prevent the transport of military supplies to Israel.

So, even if the Western governments look like they’re not doing anything much to end the genocide in Gaza, there are some tiny, incremental changes happening for the better that will lead to a positive outcome. Yeah, I know—what’s happening seems very little and very late in the game, but it’s what we got.

Now is the time to play our cards well and pull out all the stops...

 

To find out how we can use our power for the good of all and end the genocide in Gaza, please copy or click on the following link: 

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Unite for Peace! (Or Die)

by C. A. Matthews

Last September, the United Nations gave the apartheid state of Israel one year to comply with the rulings of the International Court of Justice to end the genocide in Gaza or face the consequences.

That year ends on September 18, 2025. It’s high time for the war criminals’ day of reckoning!

On September 18 (or even before), the United Nations can start imposing serious sanctions on Israel. This include a military embargo as well as establishing a war crimes tribunal. Israel can also be stripped of its credentials as a member state in the General Assembly. The UN then can send in a protective force to distribute food and medical aid and protect Palestinian civilians from further harm at the hands of genocidal Zionists. More than two-thirds of the General Assembly supports creating such measures—it was more than a ten to one ratio for the September 2024 vote—and there’s nothing the US, even with its Security Council veto, can do about these measures.

So, what’s stopping this overwhelming majority of member nations in the United Nations from ending the genocide of the Palestinian people today? The US can’t stop the General Assembly vote or prevent sanctions against Israel from taking effect. Israel can’t prevent itself from being kicked out of the UN if enough member states vote to do so. The time to take decisive action to end this ethnic cleansing is now.

But let’s say that Canada feels pressured by the US not to vote yes on the UN’s Uniting for Peace process. Are there other countries so terrified of the US that they’d be willing to ignore the vast majority of their own people who want to stop the genocide in Gaza? Could the oligarchs of other colonizing countries in particular want to keep their ties with the US and its corporate oligarchs intact? Could they instruct their UN representatives to vote no or abstain on the initiative? Could US allies such as the UK, Germany, France, Canada, or Australia actually vote against Uniting for Peace?

Unfortunately, the answer is yes. But it’s still worth a shot even if there’s only a remote possibility to save lives, right? (...)

 

To read more about how we can start the Uniting for Peace process and how to become a part of the Lifeline for Palestine, please copy or click on this link: 

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And watch this video for a short explanation of Uniting for Peace:  https://youtu.be/79m9MSYH3kU 

This article is the 536th 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 ten years. 

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How Your Love's Affecting Our Reality?

by C.A. Matthews

Have you ever experienced an “earworm” or a “sticky tune”? An earworm is a song or melody (or part of one) that gets stuck in your mind that you can’t seem to shake for days on end. You keep hearing it over and over again during the quiet parts of your day. You’re not even sure how or why it happens, but somehow it does. There’s nothing you can do to shake it loose, either. I know—I’ve tried!

I was infected with an unusual ear worm this past week. It’s from the chorus of a pop hit from 1999 that I must have heard playing on my car radio recently. What makes this earworm even more unusual is that it’s not from a song that I particularly like. I’m not even a fan of the group that recorded it. In fact, I don’t think either one of my daughters were a fan of the group or the song back when. So why are these words repeating constantly in my head?

All you people, can't you see, can't you see
How your love's affecting our reality?
Every time we're down, you can make it right
And that makes you larger than life

Chorus from the 1999 Backstreet Boys’ song Larger Than Life, written by Brian Littrel, Kristian Lundin, and Max Martin.

The one line that really haunts me is Can’t you see how your love’s affecting our reality? Yeah, it’s part of a catchy lyric and tune, but there’s something about that question that keeps bugging me. I really want to know what the answer to it is. It’s driving me crazy.

How is your love affecting our reality?

According to the song lyrics, we can’t see it. We can’t actually see or know how our love (and this could mean anything from romantic love to neighborly love to compassion and empathy for all humankind and the earth itself) affects the reality of the universe itself. But the next lines show us that our love does indeed hold tremendous power: Every time we're down, you can make it right/And that makes you larger than life.

Deep stuff, huh?

All I can guess at this point is this earworm is the universe’s way of telling me that all is not lost. So, when it comes to how we can end the horrible genocide in Gaza, all is not lost, even if it looks like it is. I don’t know why I’ve come to this conclusion, but I feel it in my bones. Call it intuition or a gut instinct. Even when things seem down (or impossible) for us, we can make them right (or at least better). Perhaps that’s what makes us all larger than life—we have more power than we could possibly dream of.

We need to start using our power for good and to save lives. Right now.

A lot of Substack commentators embrace various creeds and belief systems and tell us to think positive, but I’m not going to assume anything I write here will change your mind. Others are much more persuasive and eloquent than I am. But I implore you to keep an open mind for just a little while longer...

 

To see where I'm coming from and how this could make the world a better place, please continue reading the rest of this article on Substack. Just copy or click on this link: 

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This article is the 533rd 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 ten years. 

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How Can We Make Reparations to Palestine?

by C. A. Matthews

There will come a day when the genocidaires of Israel and its mostly Western allies will be forced to make reparations to the Palestinian people. Justice demands that fair and proper restitution be made to the victims of Israeli war crimes. But what will these reparations look like? How will they be enacted? Who will oversee the implementation of these reparations?

I’ve pondered these questions and came up with an outline of what all should be covered in a reparations plan. I believe reparations should be made to the Palestinian people in the following categories:

1. Financial-Material Reparations

2. Cultural-Historical-Educational Reparations

3. Political-Judicial Reparations

4. Spiritual-Physical Reparations

Israel will have to make reparations to Lebanon, Syria, and Iran in addition to Gaza and the West Bank. In this article, I’m concentrating on reparations to be made to the Palestinian people, although this outline could be used as a pattern to help develop a reparations plan for other peoples Israel and its allies have committed war crimes against.

Financial-Material Reparations

Financial-material reparations are the most obvious ones that Israel and its allies will need to make. All buildings Israel has destroyed in its genocide of Gaza, as well as in its attempt to takeover the West Bank, must be repaired or replaced. This includes public edifices such as hospitals, schools, universities, churches, mosques, and community centers. It will also include restoring parks, beaches, tourist attractions, museums, theaters, and other public gathering places. Bridges, roads, port facilities, utilities, water treatment plants, power plants, and any other infrastructure damaged or destroyed will also need to be repaired or rebuilt and paid for by the war criminals.

Private homes, apartment buildings, business offices, shopping areas, and individual stores or kiosks must also be repaired or rebuilt in a timely manner. And because Israelis have deprived Palestinians of their livelihoods and homes, they would need to make good on the income Palestinians have lost during the commission of their war crimes. Israelis must continue to repay all Palestinians lost income during this period of rebuilding Gaza and the destroyed and stolen homes and villages of the West Bank.

I know what’s going through your head at this point: How will the state of Israel be able to afford the restoration of all the buildings and infrastructure it has destroyed? How will it afford to give financial support to the Palestinian families it has harmed? Who will be the workers to fulfill this plan?

I will discuss the worker situation later, but for now notice that I added “and allies” at the start when I mentioned who all have committed war crimes against the Palestinian people. Israel won’t be the only country that will be making good on these reparations. All of Israel’s allies that have provided funding, bombs, jets, tanks, munitions, mercenaries, military support and surveillance, etc., to attack Gaza will need to make restitution as well. No country that aided or abetted Israel’s war crimes gets to walk free under this reparations plan. All who are guilty will pay to restore the damages their activities and support of the state of Israel have caused. No exceptions...

 

To learn more about my reparations plan, please continue reading the rest of this article on Substack. Just copy or click on this link: 

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This article is the 532nd 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 ten years. 

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