Towards a new US
A Call to Action….
To the old, the young, the rich, the poor, to women, men, and children; To the workers, laborers and farmers; To the artists, intellectuals, teachers and students; To the bankers, policy makers, the convicted and the free, the dark-skinned and the light; To the Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, followers of indigenous shamanic paths, monotheists and polytheists and secularists; To the tired and the frightened, the inspired and apathetic, to the patriotic and the anti-patriots, to the immigrants and the citizens of this blessed and cursed country…
DEAR AMERICANS!
We live in the most powerful nation on the planet. What does this mean?
This means responsibility, responsibility to hold our government accountable for its actions and to hold each other accountable for ours. Responsibility to speak our minds, speak our hearts, speak our visions. We have a responsibility to revision and rebuild America. An America that can adequately provide Life, Liberty and Happiness for all whom are affected by U.S. policies and in whatever forms Life, Liberty and Happiness take for the diverse populations that are affected by the U.S.; there are many ways to live and many belief systems to believe, and they are all of equal value. We must revision and rebuild policies at home and abroad. While we revision international policies as our government polices and bullies the world, we must act locally, we must confront the oppression within our boarders, RACISM, CLASSISM, SEXISM and all other ISMS which create hatred, division, oppression and inaction. We must struggle to strengthen our education system from elementary through the graduate levels. We must strengthen our health care system, providing care for all those in need. While we must support our troops, we must weaken the military machine. While we must support safety in our communities, we must weaken the prison industrial complex which includes prisons of the mind constructed by propaganda in the media, and popular entertainment, movies, magazines and TV as well as propaganda in our education systems and text-books. We must weaken prisons of the mind created by drugs and crime planted into our poor communities.
We shall free our minds of fear and hatred through the vehicle of the arts, through conversation and debate, we must not be afraid to debate with those whom with we disagree. Most disagreements lie within how we think, not what we think. We must bring the arts into education for the purpose of empowerment of voice. We must not only oppose the system, but infiltrate it. Infiltrate the media, the government and big business. We must not just talk about these actions, but engage in ongoing dialogues and projects as to how to make these accomplishments; if one project fails, we must find another approach.
While i believe we must actively revision a new unifying sentiment in the U.S., i believe that we must reevaluate the use of the terms “ a new America” and “a new Americanism” as what we mean is a new U.S. and a new patriotism for this country, not a new North and South America. The term “a new Americanism” is only an alternate action of imperialism and U.S. domination; the people of one country defining the ideologies of two continents simply through the power of language. Words are powerful as they manifest not only thought and how thought is packaged; words also package action. Perhaps we need to rename this country as we redefine it along with its patriotism.
i tend to call this nation by the acronym U.S., not USA for this is not the united states of America as the American land mass extends far beyond our boarders with Mexico and Canada. The acronym U.S. spells “us”, and who are “we”? We are a country full of people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. It is not simply our economic wealth as a government entity that makes us the most powerful nation on the planet, it is also our diversity, however, it is not with respect to diversity of thought and belief that our government acts.
{While what i am speaking of is in many ways democracy, no one asked the Iraqi people if a democracy is what they want. It is one belief system of many and it is one born out of western thought. It is time for the west to stop enforcing its values on the rest of the world.}
As part of a movement to redefine this country, we must not reflect the actions of our government, we must be open to all peoples and beliefs, we must not alienate each other or assume that we all agree. We must unite as U.S., “us”, as United States, united states of being, united states of mind. We must unite and we must speak both our similarities and our differences.
We reside in the most powerful nation on the planet, an Empire, perhaps in the process of being strengthened, perhaps an Empire about to fall. As the U.S. government acts violently out of greed i fear that we are moving into an age of increased violence, violence as a method to oppose violence, and fear only creates more violence. It is thus not with fear, but with hope, humility and grace that we must revision a world of peace and our place within it.
To my fellow young adults,
This job falls heavily on our shoulders as we are soon to be the next generation in power and our actions now will greatly effect the next era on this planet. What future do you want to live in? What do you want to leave behind for your children? What have your parents left you? What of their actions do you value and what do you protest? We must learn from the accomplishments and mistakes of the past and ACT NOW to create a brighter future. As we build a movement, we must ask, “What are we moving, and what is the style of our motion?” We must not let these questions keep us from mobilizing.
In this time of war, which stimulates fear and anger, we must find peace in ourselves and amongst each other, we must support each other. We must not create conflict in our personal lives, we must not act out of fear and anger as fear and anger only create violence, and i believe that it is the cycles of violence that we need to break. It is through fear that our government controls and dominates the minds and lives of its citizens. We must be stronger than fear; we must act with humility and patience. We must not be frantic but efficient and direct, we must remember to breathe, we must BE hope, we must BE unity, and we must remember that unity does not mean uniformity, but rather the coming together of difference.
i beg you all…UNITE and RE-VISION!
……..Saria Idana
2005
