TRANSCRIPT:
Martin Luther King, Jr.: “We have come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism…. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges…. I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom…”
On the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, April 4, 2014, the spirit of MLK will rise again. We will engage a worldwide wave of action, “from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city. From every mountain side…”
We will “let freedom ring.”
Anonymous, Occupy and the 99% Movement have set up the dominoes for an unprecedented worldwide wave of action. The tipping point is near.
We are calling on all Anons, nonAnons, collectives, organizations and conscious individuals to take autonomous nonviolent direct action throughout the global spring.
For a sustained three-month cycle, we will swarm corrupt targets and rally around solutions to the vast problems we are confronted by.
This time, we will not have stationary targets for the police state to crush. We will be everywhere, fluid and evasive. The movement will be an unstoppable crowdsourced, decentralized and autonomous revolutionary force.
You lead, in your own way. Engage in a diversity of nonviolent tactics, from large-scale mobilizations to small daily acts, knowing that millions of people throughout the world will also be engaged at the same time you are, in whatever way they can.
Without revealing too much strategic information, here are some action ideas to get a fire going in your mind:
• Mass gatherings, demonstrations;
• Marches, parades;
• Flash mobs, swarms;
• Shutdown harmful corporate and governmental operations;
• Worker Strikes;
• Hunger strikes;
• Sit-ins;
• Strategic defaults, debt strikes;
• Foreclosure prevention;
• Boycotting corrupt corporations;
• Move your money out of the big banks and the stock market;
• Use alternative currencies and economic systems;
• Cancel your cable television and support independent media;
• Use independent online tools that don’t sell your info and protect your privacy;
• Online civil disobedience, Anonymous operations;
• Leak information on corruption;
• Use alternative energy;
• Build your own urban and hydroponic farms, or get your food from them;
• Support local businesses;
• Join local community organizations;
• Take part in food banks and help develop community support systems;
• Start or join intentional and autonomous communities;
• Experiment with new governing systems, Liquid Democracy;
• Host teach-ins;
• Organize socially conscious events;
• Make conscious media;
• Guerrilla postering, messages on money;
• Help inspiring groups and organizations spread their message;
• Random acts of kindness and compassion;
• Mass meditations, prayer sessions and spiritual actions.
You know what you can do to play a part. Do whatever you feel inspired to do. Amplify what you are already doing. Think about what you are willing to do to be the change that we urgently need to see in the world, and then do it.
Don’t get bogged down in infighting and caught up in negativity. Ignore the saboteurs. Collaborate with people who inspire you. Keep moving forward with an indomitable will, a compassionate spirit and radiate a positive attitude. Moods are contagious. Be passionate and have fun!
Create a culture of transformation.
If we begin preparing now, a massive Spring offensive will lead to a Summer of transformation, a Fall of the empire and the birth of a new era.
United we will blaze a contagious nonviolent wave of action through mass consciousness.
United we will signal the end of the old world.
United we will usher in a new paradigm.
Now is the time.
Ride the Worldwide Wave of Transformation
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
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