Michael Olschimke

Stupid FBI

Michael Olschimke — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:02:18 +0000

Argh, how stupid. This fat bastard will get away.

Just another example how stupid the feds are.

Humorous Skits and Pranks

Michael Olschimke — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:41:42 +0000

Another method to express dissatisfaction, with nonviolent action can be done with humorous skits and pranks. They can get the attention of the public and appeal to the entire populations sense of humor. To accomplish such, you must consider, many different topics. Several of which are as follows:

Know your subject. What is your skit or prank trying to say? Careful thought given to this is essential. Your intent is you want remembered for the pure humor of the situation. Appeal to the public intellect to see and understand just the point. Do not risk it taken any other way than for your intention. You are saying to the public, your views of the policies of the government. You do not wish to offend, be it political, ethical or racial.
Research. This is important, as it gives you background and information into the point that you are trying to get across. You can use this to plan a prank or to outline a skit based on facts and not hearsay. Could be very unfortunate to have a great prank labeled as unfounded in the news? There are sources on-line for this information.
Location and timing. Perhaps the single, most important steps to putting together a successful presentation. Effort put into calculating the perfect event time and location either for a skit or prank, is crucial. You are after the largest audience and exposer that are possible, here timing really is everything.

Examples of humorous skits and pranks are many, imagination and the law being the only limiting factors. Below are just a few ideas, which could be done.

As a skit.
George Washington crossing the Delaware with a boatload of Revolutionary Patriots. In parody replace with Bill Clinton crossing the Rio Grand with a boatload of American jobs, while he is signing the National Free Trade Agreement.

As a prank.
Running a crutch up a flag pole, under the American Flag.
Putting Lady Justice in a wheelchair with one side of her blindfold lifted up.
Attaching a sling to the Statue of Liberty’s arm.

The possibilities are endless to nonviolent ways to express your opinions and frustration.

Continue reading the 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action.

Performances of Plays and Music

Michael Olschimke — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 07:29:25 +0000

Drama and music have often played important roles in political and social movements. Normally, music and drama serve as popular entertainment, but as parts of a non-violent movement they can also be used to make a point to the general public, or to inspire people already involved in the movement.

Sometimes this is simply a matter of writing a song about a certain issue. The purpose is to bring the issue to the public’s attention, but there usually is no explicit call for popular action. Some examples of this include “Biko” by Peter Gabriel, “Jimmy Newman” by Tom Paxton, “Neun und Neunzig Luftballons” by Nena and “I am Woman” by Helen Reddy. The music helps to make the issue visible to a wide range of people, but there is a risk that the message of the music gets lost in its entertainment value.

Drama can also be used to educate the public about issues and movements. Sometimes these can be plays that are written specifically to be performed in a theater in front of an audience that is there to see the play. An example of this was the controversial “Cradle Will Rock,” produced briefly by the Federal Theatre Project in the United States in the 1930s.

A theater and stage are not always necessary though. Back in 1990 in Washington, D.C., at a march organized to protest the first war between the United States and Iraq, scores of people walked in formation wearing brown robes and clay masks, representing the innocent casualties of war. One potential drawback to theater as an educational device is that, if not planned well, it can alienate the audience rather than educate it. In this example, while some of the other marchers appreciated the performance, many onlookers were put off by it.

Music can also be used to encourage people already involved in a movement. During the American civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s, songs like “We Shall Overcome” and “Give Peace a Chance” helped to keep up morale for people involved in the movements, but such songs have been around for much longer. “La Marseillaise” and the “Internationale” have both been used to inspire people engaged in political struggles.

The key thing to keep in mind is the purpose of the music or play. If it is intended to educate people and win them over, then it may be more likely to be successful if it takes the sensibilities of the audience into account, as long as it can do so without contradicting the aims of the movement. On the other hand, if its aim is to inspire people already involved in the movement, then the sensibilities of the target audience are likely to already be the same as those who are writing the song or play.

Continue reading the 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action.

Protest Meetings

Michael Olschimke — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 07:26:24 +0000

All over the world, protest meetings act as non-violent action for communicating grievances. These are gatherings by people with a common concern against the public or an opponent. Often the assemblies could be in support of an issue or against it. People meet in public squares to protest unlawful or illegal terms and conditions in their environment. Such groups could feature two people or tens of thousands. They could be open-air street meetings, small local meetings, and mass protests. These involve different kinds of actions including speeches, hunger strikes, and other causes. As people, express their views they use meetings to meet their goal.

In the US since the 1770s, mass meetings have characterized political reactions to unfair conditions. Used against colonialism, the British constitution, forced taxation, and oppressions, the meetings served as effective tools for public demonstrations. This was similar in South Africa against the brutalities of the apartheid regimes. Usually a leader of the opposing side calls for the gathering with a call to action against their oppressors. Adults and young people participate in such moves through actions for change. In other parts of the world, the trend was the same. England UK 1961-62, had both small and large meetings to support policies through forums.

The anti-government protests will in most cases lead to the prosecution of leaders involved in the civil disobedience. Such meetings can also be peaceful. Student rallies like China’s 1957 protest meeting geared against the communist suppression contributed to the growth of democracy and freedom in the country. The meetings held during a student’s anniversary celebration involved nationwide gatherings of students for a legal cause. When a regime is tyrannical, the protests are held under the disguise of an approved cause. Such camouflage meetings come in different avenues for other causes like sports, amusement, art, or religion. This happened in France between 1847 and 1848 with banquets being centers for protests meetings. This campaign of banquets was against famine conditions in the country. The same applied in Imperial Russia during the 1905 Revolution. These political banquets were avenues for political speeches against the regimes.

Protests meetings have been in society for a long time. Often they feature public speeches and demonstrations against an opponent. Such gatherings have an audience and leaders with a common cause. They could have:

Peaceful
violent revolt
camouflaged intentions

The protest meetings express opposition through words or actions and could be walk out demonstrations, strikes, marches and rise ups.

Continue reading the 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action.

Protests in #Syria

Michael Olschimke — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 20:10:14 +0000

Camouflaged Meetings of Protest

Michael Olschimke — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 07:28:19 +0000

Ofen through out history for one reason or another and sometimes for no reason at all government has made it difficult if not impossible for protesting citizens to hold gatherings of protest or meetings to disscuss political affairs among themselves at all. This tyrannical behavior has made it nessessary in many cases to hold non-violent camoflaged meetings of protest in the guise of more policially acceptable and legal gatherings for concern citizens to be able to meet and discuss certain aspects of government policies that need to be changed and to decide on plans of action against certain governmental actioins and policies.

Camoflaged meetings of protest are axactly as the name says, “camoflaged meetings” perhaps taking on the appearance of a sports event or a religious affair. It’s not uncommon for all persons involved to know about the guise. Today in most countries one would think that with the freedom of speech rights that there would be little or no need for camoflaged meetings of protest but, that is not always true, and the government is not always the problem. There are other organizations that can cause serious trouble for others if it is found out that one is conspiring against the other.

In France during the 1800s meetings of protest were of any type were strictky forbidden. So, when the people wanted to have meetings to gather information about the publics opinion on certain topics or to inform the public of certain situations involving government it was nessessary to have camoflaged meetings of protest. In 1847 a guise of very successful campaing of banquets began and lasted until 1848 helping to start the 1848 Revolution.

Camouflaged meetings of protest are still used today and are as productive as they were then. To have a camoflaged meeting of protest today would work the same as it did in 1848 or1905. A group or organization that feels as though a meeting under its true name or with its real reasons revealed would be oppressed or dominated by another group or person may choose to have a camoflaged meeting of protest instead.

A camoflaged meeting of protest can be arranged just like any other meeting as long as people from the opposing organization don’t find out. Keeping the real reason for the meeting for the meeting is top priority. If the secret is let out then the meeting is simply turned into the type of meeting that it was suppposed to be to begin with.

Continue reading the 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action.

Teach-ins

Michael Olschimke — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 07:24:34 +0000

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, the Eleventh Edition, defines teach-ins as “an extended meeting usually held on a college campus for lectures, debates, and discussions to raise awareness of or express an opinion on a social or political issue.” Teach-ins are slightly different from protest meetings. They are much larger in scale, having more speakers, and their duration is significantly longer. The main objective of a teach-in is to provide as much relevant information as possible on the topic of protest, along with information on subjects loosely related to the main idea. Opinions and discussion are encouraged allowing different viewpoints to be better understood. The goal is for the attendees to develop their own opinions regarding the main issue based on the information provided and the resulting discussions.

The most well-known teach-ins were held in 1965. They were held in both the United States and Europe during the Vietnam War, the largest of which was held at UC Berkley on May 21 – 23, 1965. It lasted 36 hours and approximately 30,000 people attended. It was organized by the Vietnam Day Committee, or VDC. Interestingly, the State Department was asked to send a representative, but the department rejected the offer. In response to the decline, the VDC set an empty chair to the side with a sign taped to the back of it that stated “Reserved for State Department.” (Rorabaugh, pp. 91–94).

More recently, teach-ins have been implemented by environmental educators and to protest capitalist society and policies. One of the most recent environmental teach-ins was held in 2007, called the “2010 Imperative: A Global Emergency Teach-In.” It took place at the New York Academy of Science. The event reached an unprecedented quarter of a million people in 47 different countries by using a webcast.

The Occupy Wall Street protests have utilized many teach-ins to educate the population about the corruption in capitalist society. Some of these teach-ins have utilized the internet to spread their message by posting the “classes” online. Many of these classes were lectures in regards to money, specifically jobs, taxes, and debt. These teach-ins are currently being held all over the world, including Egypt and Greece.

Teach-ins are an excellent form of nonviolent protest. Their dual purpose of education and protest creates an opportunity for those attending to broaden their knowledge on the subject matter while opening their minds to the opinions of others.

Continue reading the 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action.

Political Mourning

Michael Olschimke — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:16:16 +0000

As many as 30,000 Argentineans may have vanished between 1976 and 1983 during a period of violence, sanctioned by that country’s ruling military regime that has come to be called the Dirty War. Among those who disappeared were 172 children. In 1977, mothers of these missing children and their sympathizers began holding mourning vigils at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires. The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo’s insistence upon confronting those in power with the memories of the dead gave rise to a powerful social organization that garnered international attention and respect, and remained active inside Argentina until 2006.

Political mourning is an act in which an unnecessary death or commission of violence against an individual or individuals is used as an argument for political or social change. The Mothers of the Plazo de Mayo may be one of the best-known examples of the use of political mourning as a means of political protest, but they are hardly the only example. In the U.S., the American Civil Rights movement may be the most effective group of political activists to organize around mourning, effectively using the deaths of Emmett Till and Dr. Martin Luther King, and police brutality against Rodney King, as a strategy to advance the agenda of social transformation.

It might be argued that any organized display of grief that marks the death of a person or people is essentially political in nature. Quite frequently the outpouring is emotional, the political impact unintended. Grief and outrage can also become the basis for deliberate political action.

What guidelines should a political activist use when mourning a death?

Be Positive: Every life contains contradictions, and those individuals, who spearhead political and social justice campaigns, whether in life or death, are no exception. A political activist’s role is not to write biography but to inspire others to action. A martyr’s negative qualities may humanize that person in the eyes of history, but do little to advance the causes that his or her name is associated with. Political activists using mourning as nonviolent protest should concern themselves with the positive attributes and acts of the deceased they are commemorating.

Be Nonviolent: Unnecessary death promotes outrage, and outrage can incite violence. It’s vitally important not to give in to these kinds of emotional reactions. Nonviolence is not just a useful strategy for bringing about social change, it is a moral imperative for those who are committed to it that leaves open the possibility of conversion rather than continued entrenchment on opposite sides of an issue.

Continue reading the 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action.

Fraternization

Michael Olschimke — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:15:06 +0000

Fraternization means turning people into brothers or making them as if they were brothers. There is, of course, no way to biologically make two people related that never were to begin with. A symbolic brotherhood, however, can be just as powerful. In fact, a fraternity can often be even more powerful because it is a matter of choice and selection rather than just one of circumstance. The strength and emotion behind this type of organization makes it a powerful political tool. Although many may be worried about violence from a group banded so closely together they are just as effective at taking non-violent action.

There is a power in numbers when it comes to brute force but many people fail to see that same strength can manifest just as much in a peaceful setting. When people come together united to reach a goal peacefully, it can have just as much effect as an army with soldiers and weapons. We live in a society that glorifies conforming to the norm because it is what is comfortable. Fraternization can help bring people with similar ideals and beliefs together in a bond that is nearly impossible to obtain by any other means. Only once people are unified can true change begin to be seen.

Every time there is a significant change that takes solid root it can almost always be traced to a strong unification and, often, a fraternal organization. Fraternization played a big part in the foundation of this country in the first place and is likely to play a big part as the changes happen around us now. Many of our founding fathers were members of the fraternal organization called the Masons as well as a number of other fraternities. Although their discussions did eventually lead to the Revolutionary War against Brittan, the original talks simply outlined a non-violent way to present grievances and new ideas to the king. It was only after they were forced to take whatever means necessary to stand up for their beliefs and make a change.

Peaceful organization through fraternization is the strongest weapon that anybody has when it comes to making changes. Although it is possible to make changes through violence, much bigger and more positive changes can be made through non-violent means. If people with similar beliefs band together to make those ideals into reality they have a good chance of breaking the mold and bringing change for the better.

Continue reading the 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action.

Pilgrimages

Michael Olschimke — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:14:11 +0000

Pilgrimages are a non-violent way of expressing support or condemnation for an ideal and are a well established form of protest in many countries. What makes a pilgrimage is the destination, and the need for travel. By choosing a location important to the cause at hand, protestors (or supporters) are able to raise awareness of the issue by traveling to that location en masse. The amount of travel required can vary from days to months. A pilgrimage is most effective when it achieves its goal of raising awareness for its purpose, and to do that it must be properly announced and organized for any who might wish to undertake the journey.

While traveling a popular method of spreading the message of the movement in question is the passing out of leaflets. With the use of modern technology sites such as Facebook are also useful in organizing or beginning a pilgrimage, because of their ability to spread the word to as many supporters as possible at no monetary cost to the movement. This also aids the movement by making support as visible as possible, in much the same way as the actual travel involved serves to make the supporters visible in multiple locales.

It should be noted that a Pilgrimage can be composed of as many as hundreds of thousands of people, or as few as a single activist. However, as the goal of awareness is the ultimate purpose of the pilgrimage, larger numbers are often more effective in modern society unless the singular activist is a person of much influence or popularity. Because of this it is important to properly organize, or at least properly announce, the pilgrimage with a significant amount of advanced notice. The longer a base of supporters has to prepare for an event the more likely they are to turn out in any substantial numbers, and the more likely the public and government at large are to take notice of the pilgrimage and its meaning.

In essence, a pilgrimage is comprised of any number of people traveling to a place significant to their cause. To maintain both the spirit and purpose of the endeavor, effort must be expended to spread the word of the pilgrimage and organize its members for maximum effectiveness. Having said that, it is important to remember that even one individual on a lone journey can make a difference, with the proper convictions.

Continue reading the 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action.