Resistance
And Hope
By
Charles Sullivan
12 December,
2007
Countercurrents.org
If
we Americans are nothing more than hopelessly addicted consumers who
think of ourselves as an exceptional people with special entitlements;
if we see ourselves as god’s morally superior chosen people; if
we are selfish and greedy beyond redemption—then we are complicit
in all of the horrible crimes that government commits in our name.
The United
States has a violent history of atrocity and exploitation that began
with the arrival of Christopher Columbus on the shores of North America
in 1492. It extends all the way to the present and is guided by the
same poisoned ideology—Manifest Destiny.
Those who
know history understand that we have never come to grips with the horrible
past which has led us to the appalling present. We take great pains
to suppress a ghastly history of murder and mayhem in order to convince
ourselves that we are not the people who exterminated and enslaved the
indigenous people of North America; that we were not the practitioners
of racism and chattel slavery questing for treasure on the backs of
the oppressed or the murderers of striking workers seeking a living
wage and decent working conditions.
Americans
need to believe that those events and their effects are safely buried
in the past, thereby absolving us from culpability for them in the present;
but they will not stay buried and they will pursue us to our graves
if we do not acknowledge them and comprehend their implications.
Likewise,
we suppress our responsibility in unleashing the plague of global warming
on the world and we call it a natural cycle so that we do not have to
change our ways. Under the unbearable pressure of inconvenient truths,
we ignore them in hopes that they will go away rather than fester and
multiply. But if that is who we are and if we are incapable of coming
to terms with the repulsive past there is no hope for us. Our fate is
already cast and a terrible price will have to be paid by billions of
people and countless other species. We will reap as we have sown and
misery and death will be our just reward.
If that is
indeed the case, then everything that follows this paragraph may be
an exercise in futility; albeit it a necessary one.
Despite the
considerable evidence that suggests we are collectively—like our
ancestors also practitioners of Manifest Destiny, history has disgorged
some notable exceptions to the idea of American exceptionalism and entitlement.
The people who actively opposed injustice throughout American history
and offered fierce resistance are a light in the gathering darkness—a
beacon of hope to those living in the present and an inspiration to
those who will follow us in the future. Most of them were ordinary people
who differed from us only in their willingness to resist the injustice
and tyranny of their time.
We have only
to follow their example to avoid being ship wrecked in a history that
endlessly repeats itself. There may be a way out of hell but it will
be wrought with difficulty and characterized by individual and collective
struggle. The willingness of enough people to engage in that struggle
will determine the outcome and define the future.
From thousands
of indigenous uprisings against colonial occupation, to Shay’s
rebellion and continuing through heroic acts of revolutionary unionism
and the courageous peace activists of today’s Code Pink, America
has produced a continuous line of revolutionary thinkers and organizers
intent on fundamentally restructuring society, including the redistribution
of wealth and power.
America is
a nation that has always been divided by socio-economic class with the
rich and powerful holding the keys to political empire and advancing
the agenda of the moneyed gentry over those of everyone else. Yet we
persist in calling our republic a democracy—which suggests that
we have no idea what a real democracy should look like.
There has
always been strong opposition to the tyranny of unjust government and
to the prevailing institutions of oppression and inequality. And where
there is resistance to evil, no matter how small or seemingly impotent,
there is hope. Resistance, apart from being an act of defiance to illegitimate
authority, is also an act of faith akin to planting a seed that has
enormous potential to change the world.
Resistance
creates hope and hope in turn fuels further resistance. Resistance and
hope give birth to a faith that believes that just outcomes are possible
through struggle and opposition.
Without resistance
there is no hope and no possibility of the transformative change that
is so desperately needed. No matter how seemingly futile the gesture
of resistance—hope is its byproduct. Hope is born of struggle
and defiance to unjust authority. It is born of a rebelliousness that
refuses to tolerate the intolerable and moves to oppose it. While it
is theoretically possible that people can exist without hope, they cannot
flourish and become fully human in its absence.
Where hope
is abandoned, fear immediately rushes in to fill the vacuum and tyranny
quickly ensues. Lacking hope, we are simply biding our time, stealing
from the future and waiting for the end to play out. We are passive
spectators on the deck of the Titanic awaiting our fate, whistling in
the dark and trying to convince ourselves that these menacing waters
are safely navigable through blind reckoning and indifference when in
fact, they are not.
The great
conservationist Aldo Leopold wisely observed: “One of the penalties
of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.”
That is also the penalty of having a social conscience. Cultivating
a social conscience can be exasperating and it can adversely affect
one’s health. But the failure to cultivate a social conscience
approaches what Dr. Martin Luther King called, “Spiritual Death.”
There are rarely easy ways out of the moral morasses we create. Opposition
and struggle are the way but they exact costs that too few are willing
to pay. That is why injustice is passed from one generation to the next
and injustice so often prevails over justice. Our core beliefs should
be non-negotiable. Either we stand by them or we are deluding ourselves.
The situation
is exacerbated when our fellow citizens fail to grasp the gravity of
the crises and even contribute to the injustice, either deliberately
or through unintended ignorance of the important issues. In such times
the reward of struggle appears small and the temptation to quit is great.
As the flag wavers and prevaricators hold sway and ignorance and darkness,
it seems, becomes all pervasive and hope seems like a Utopian dream
as dim as the long lost sunlight of a nuclear winter.
In the midst
of insidious fear and belligerent nationalism, resistance is never an
easy proposition; but it is a critical component of human nature that
gives rise to hope and, ultimately, to transformative change and justice.
Resistance creates possibilities, whereas capitulation extinguishes
them.
There are
those who can look the other way in times of peril or during the commission
of crimes; and there are those who cannot. We happen to belong to the
latter group and we must try to set things right. We are hard-wired
that way—it is our nature and it is who we are.
The alternative
to resistance is as unthinkable as it is unconscionable. As long as
a single voice cries in the wilderness hope exists and better outcomes
are possible. It is in our DNA to resist evil and, it is the only principled
action available to us. Conscience requires that we act on the knowledge
we have, regardless of our numbers or the consequences to ourselves.
Other good people will recognize the justice of the cause and a few
will join the struggle.
It is said
that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. So, too,
a movement is born with a single act of resistance that is rooted in
conscience.
No one knows
if enough people will ever care enough to get involved so we can reach
the critical mass necessary to evoke transformative change, which is
why it is so imperative to continue the struggle. It is impossible to
know where we are on our journey, so we must simply continue the excursion
by moving forward which is what defines us as progressives and separates
us from the crowd.
Humankind
is rarely uplifted by its majority or by those who play it safe by looking
the other way in the face of injustice. It is advanced by those who
see wrong doing and choose to do something about it—the conscientious
few that stand on principle and act in accordance with those principles
for the betterment of everyone.
Without principled
resistance there is no possibility of transformation from an unjust
society to a just society; and no possibility of driving a wooden stake
through the heart of the imperialist ambition that is killing our children
and the children of other people like us in distant lands in war after
war.
Fighting
injustice is an antidote to the debilitating despair that casts a dark
pall over the nation and across the world. Giving in to that despair
can only assure its continuation. Opposition to evil is preferable to
capitulation to it; and, moreover, it is the only appropriate response.
The beauty and joy is in the struggle, in knowing the rightness of the
cause; the stubborn refusal to cooperate with evil or to commit crimes
against earth and humanity.
While our
struggle often feels lonely and futile, we are rarely as isolated as
we think. There are almost certainly kindred spirits in our own communities.
Put out your hand to see if anyone takes it. You might just be surprised
to know who is there.
For every
front line activist there are tens of thousands who agree with them
in principle but who remain on the sidelines as spectators. As conditions
deteriorate and others come to appreciate our position in the same light
as we do, more of them are likely to become involved in the resistance.
The untapped potential of our moral supporters is both enormous and
grossly under appreciated. Fear and uncertainty is all that keeps us
apart but they can be overcome through networking and solidarity.
Sweeping
change and justice will never come from the inert masses who occupy
the safe middle grounds. As corporate fascism spreads across the planet
there are no safe places for anyone but the fascists themselves. Nor
will transformation come from the neo-conservative regressives occupying
the far right, as embodied by the likes of Trent Lott and Rush Limbaugh
and their ideological brethren in corporate America. It will not be
enacted through neo-liberals such as Hillary Clinton either, or indeed
anyone in the mainstream.
Justice will
come, as it always does, from the far left that champion the cause of
the disenfranchised and the defenseless. It will be derived from ordinary
citizens—people like you and I working for justice and accepting
nothing less; by standing up and being counted and refusing to sit down
and be quiet. Ordinary people must become interested enough and they
must care enough to take ownership of government and demand fair and
equal representation by it. But awakening is often a painfully slow
process and patience is so difficult when urgency is needed.
Government
that is not accountable to the people is accountable to no one. That
kind of government can only become fascist and prey upon the people
it is supposed to serve. Such government must be abolished and replaced
by genuine democracy—government of the people, by the people,
for the people—all of the people, not just those with wealth and
social status.
Obedience
to authority that is not derived from the people themselves will ultimately
result in injustice and economic inequity. Obedience can only assure
the continuation of the established orthodoxy and a future that is significantly
worse than the past and the present combined. If we truly believe in
what we claim to hold dear we must be willing to fight for those beliefs
without compromising them. Faith that is not driven by principled action
is useless—it is not real faith at all.
Yet, despite
our best efforts, it may well be that the best we can hope for is to
slow the spread of the racist dogma of American exceptionalism that,
unfortunately, continues to define us as a nation. Perhaps there are
simply too few of us actively engaged in resistance to stop the purveyors
of hate and extremism. But even if that is the case and resistance is
futile, it does not change the moral imperative to resist. Injustice
is wrong and it must be opposed. Stepping out of the way or quitting
is to cooperate with the evil we rail against. Apathy and hopelessness
are the great enablers of tyranny and we must never give in to them.
Given the
enormity of the evil that stalks decency everywhere, rage fatigue and
depression are the prevalent symptoms that follow. All of us are susceptible
to them to various degrees because we feel so alone and understandably
frustrated. The few are expected, as they always are, to do the work
of many from which all will benefit in the end.
Dealing with
the defining issues of our time and the blundering apathy of the multitudes
can be infuriating and demoralizing. We cannot do everything but each
of us must do what we can to affect the things we can change. Outrage
and anger can be powerful tools for motivation or they can become debilitating
liabilities. We must take care that they motivate rather than destroy
us. Righteous indignation and fury is a just response to what is being
done in our name but it must be harnessed and directed.
Continuous
resistance is exhausting and necessary work. It is work that will probably
never bring us the admiration of our fellow citizens who are more likely
than not to hold us in contempt. People fear what they do not understand
and most still subscribe to the myth of American exceptionalism. But
it is the most important thing that any of us will ever do. It is for
us to show the way and keep hope alive.
In these
trying times of doublespeak and group think it is easy to feel overwhelmed
and demoralized. But action is the antidote to despair. It is vital
that we stay connected to other people engaged in related struggles;
that we provide mutual support to and encourage one another to continue
a spirited resistance that does not know how to quit. We are rarely
as alone as we are lead to believe.
It is immensely
helpful to know there are other people out there doing the important
work that the times require of each of us. Seeing others engaged in
resisting wrong doing may inspire others to take up the cause and a
powerful movement may someday be born. It is the certainty of that knowledge
that keeps hope alive and makes existence not only bearable, but enjoyable.
I am not
expecting anyone to do the impossible or to offer oneself up for crucifixion
or martyrdom. I am calling upon all good people to simply live a wholesome
and simple and decent life and to uphold the principles of fairness,
decency, sharing and empathy for others and, most importantly, justice.
An injury to one truly is an injury to all.
Charles Sullivan is a nature photographer, free-lance
writer and community activist residing in the Ridge and Valley Providence
of geopolitical West Virginia. He welcomes your comments at [email protected].
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