I believe 100% in a stop paying taxes/banks until the war ends movement. however we need some kind of landing page/place with legalese to be able to redirect the moneys owed to. some kind of structure that makes it possible for millions of people to get on board. like a reverse go fund me.
There are organizations active in trying to do what you, and Charles, are talking about. The issue of what to do is vital. There are organizations we can support, here are a few, and there are more:
thank you for this. however if we are to use the power of the people it would be wonderful if we had a donation page to fund or keep in retainer a legal representative (maybe 10% of taxes owed) but anyway someone who would basically be the referral person when we politely decline to pay taxes…as in sorry i’m not paying this bill please speak to my legal team.
Everyone has a lot of fear around individualy being audited and sought out and then having to deal with authority alone. their needs to be a group to join. then maybe a collective would form.
and although i am generally for decentralized contextual land based law this is different. personally i have lived under the poverty line and avoided paying taxes and know many people who are “off grid” (all because of military and moral crimes of government) however this doesn’t present a collective might.
people whose taxes are automatically deducted from work should have an easy option to say no I’m paying my legal representative instead….or Im paying into this trust fund where the funds only get released if we we are not at war…..etc
There is a long history in the US of conscience objectors, religious freedom, and withholding paying taxes for war. Court cases go back to the recent past around the Vietnam era, although there are example of people withholding poll taxes around the Mexican-American War. One thing has been super consistent; Courts have ruled in every which way that individual persons can not legally withhold taxes based on moral or religious conviction nor can they claim immunity due to violating international law or war crimes.
Just saying that there has been a considerable effort to do this legally but not surprisingly it hasn’t gone very far. It would be interesting to keep pushing this in a different direction but it’s going to take more creativity.
Go fundme and others will just hand over the money…. That’s what they did in Canada during the trucker strike. The only money they couldn’t get at was bitcoin
This essays stirs me, touches me deeply. This Awakens my desire to participate in humanities healing. I hope and pray that many/enough people also feel this call to action.
I don’t follow the news Charles, I can’t. But I already feel all of the abuse, destruction, annihilation, degradation and madness in my bones. And often I just duck out. Separate myself as much as I can from all of it. But THIS. What you have written today.THIS I can get behind, get involved in, become an active participant with my fellow beings. THiS I can do. THIS is what is required . ❤️❤️
If the war ends right now, the islamic regime will take revenge on the Iranian people.
The mullahs will execute hundreds of thousands, on a scale that will make the January massacre pale in comparison.
The IRGC will seize civilian assets, properties and bank accounts to make up for the hundreds of billions lost.
It will go back to building missiles, launder money, export terrorism, while the people inside Iran will suffer even more under a beyond destroyed economy and infrastructure.
The current internet blackout will become permanent, they will implement North Korea levels of censorship to avoid any uprising.
This war must end with the death of the islamic regime. Anything less is sentencing possibly millions of innocent Iranians to their graves at the hands of the barbarians currently being bombed.
If you think the war itself scares Iranians more than the prospect of the war ending and being stuck with the same regime, you are OUT OF YOUR MIND.
War is messy, but it’s not always the worst option. Massive majority of the Iranians living inside and outside Iran are very grateful for the bravery it took for Trump to finally act, after having given the Mullahs many chances.
Let’s hope he dares to continue and finish this war as it should be finished. With the Islamic regime gone forever.
"gone forever" is a long time and humans haven't lost their lust for control yet. I would just like to see some freedom for these people , many have been friends of mine. It is easy for some of these people to shout "death to war" without having been physically, emotionally and mentally restrained. I wrote a comment to "Folkets too, Yashar.
Islam is not going away forever. Whatever happens in Iran will have no impact on the disaster unfolding in Britain, et. al. or what is happening here in the States.
Yes but can they keep it that way in a democratic Iran? My bet is no, they cannot. Tyranny has a bad habit of raising its head periodically and it seems to strengthen each time. We are doing far too little to keep a lid on religion.
Our bet is Yes. Iran is not like many other countries in the region, and we have a transitional government ready to take over, led by Crown prince Reza Pahlavi.
DD, "Substance" is a worthy trait, definitely. You had commented above: "Idealism isn't the attitude needed now..." So it just seemed as tho you had in mind a different attitude that is needed now, instead. Fear is at least one complicating element - it keeps us on the surface, ready to fight, instead of going deeper, open for insight.
Hey Yashar. What a paradoxical situation.. I agree with you on the Islamic regime. I can't say I have any idea how and I can't say I support any method of war or violence to bring it down.
But as with civilization being a lie and a wolf dressed in sheep's clothes,, the same goes for religion and especially Islam.. The muslims are in my opinion completely brainwashed and well, just like citizens of western civilization, they don't think, and even less so than in the west, because if they do and if they speak up, it's over for them. Such an amount of fear and darkness there.
I would like to hear what you think of Islam since you clearly have a strong opinion about it. Thanks and be well
Thanks! Iranians have rejected political Islam after having experienced what it lead to. In fact it’s the First Nation that I think is going be almost completely de-islamized in the Middle East, and we’re all better off for it.
"political Islam"!? Islam is based on the Koran and that is where all of the problems originate regardless of which particular or individual sect is in power; when they're not killing each other, they go after all of us infidels in the West which is exactly what they are doing now.
There is a s*!t-ton of Muslims in Iran. Keeping them out of power, especially in a democratic society, will be impossible. We have not seen the last of Islam or Sharia in Iran.
Iran has changed dramatically during the last few decades. As an Iranian I can assure you that Shia Islam is in rapid decline in Iran. They regime only rule with guns, not through popular support.
I understand the anti-war sentiments Tony! It's not with easy hearts we Iranians watch as our homeland is getting bombed. We feel every detonation right down to our very bones. We're are saddened as we witness parts of our infrastructure being destroyed.
Despite all this, we are extremely grateful for this war / rescue mission. For us it's like painful chemo-therapy in order to get rid of a cancer that has spread throughout the body. Our only fear is that the therapy will be aborted before it has taken effect.
What Trump seems to finally have realized is that the disease that is fanatical islam can't be contained. Its poison will affect you all eventually. Don't pay attention to Trump's megalomaniac personality and boastful rhetoric, his instincts are spot-on and he's doing the right thing! If successful this operation saves countless lives, AND leads to economic prosperity in the region.
Please support us to liberate Iran! The human potential of a free Iran is enormous. You need us on the map as a great friendly nation instead of a rogue nation ruled by fanatics terrorizing the world.
Thank you for your words and perspective. Your opinion is important in that you live there and have friends and family that have been oppressed for decades.
This is a very selective reading of Trump. In September 2024 Trump threatened to blow Iran's "largest cities and the country itself to smithereens" and to target 52 of its cultural sites: https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-s-war-with-iran. The first Trump administration withdrew from the JCPOA -- the multi-lateral nuclear deal with Iran negotiated by the Obama administration that had aimed to peacefully prevent nuclear proliferation via diplomatic negotiations. Trump frequently put forward "deranged, truculent, juvenile, unhinged" statements and videos throughout the campaign. Here's him valorizing extreme militarism and stereotyping and deriding gay and trans people in this offensive and juvenile video from October 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-dpIHm8C1Y&t=3s. And here's an academic analysis of how war, militaristic and "othering" language permeated his campaign: https://www.dialoguestudies.org/article/the-language-of-political-war-how-donald-trump-integrates-war-into-mainstream-political-discourse/.
So well said, thank you Charles!! I would say: stop using OpenAI and ChatGPT. They support the Trump admin massively. Many have already moved to other AI providers.
AI is demonic and anti human. Using it gives the technocrats and globalists the A-Okay to keep it going and increase its reach into controlling our lives. We don’t need AI. Period.
You can take a stand against what’s happening in the dystopian world of high tech, specifically LLMs, such as ChatGPT, whose founding company, Open AI is openly working to integrate surveillance and automated weaponry into the US military. Here are two organizations that are working towards that goal:
The thing that is at the heart of what you are talking about, was also unspoken- community organizing.
Your critique of public protests isn’t valid in that the civil rights era protests arose out of large-scale community organizing- they were an expression of connection and clarity and formation- deep community organizing. The Black Panther Party, and SNCC, and all of those extremely effective groups were groups committed to community organizing.
Spontaneous digitally-organized protests without underlying community organizing won’t work- we have more than a decade of proof of that. But it’s not an issue with the protests itself, but the lack of organizing.
The extraordinary success of resistance in Minneapolis is the result of years of multi-racial community organizing that originate, in part, with the protests against George Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matter movement.
The kind of tax/financial revolt you are talking about is actually yet another arm of the civil rights era protesting, where economic boycotts (remember the Montgomery bus boycott?) were definitely enacted… through community organizing.
And, the kind of tax/financial revolt you're talking about will take… community organizing.
We need to organize, connect, weave ourselves together. There are groups already doing this (like the Working Families Party) among others.
To put it another way- relationships are the tapestry, the root, and the fruit of what needs to happen to engender change.
I don’t think it helps to say “this kind of protest won’t work, this kind of protest will.” Letter writing, street protests, financial protests, boycott’s, plus proactively creating realities of what we want to see… are all needed and all valid.
You raise an important point about the power of money- but we can’t pull that lever in formation, in connection, in a concerted fashion without community organizing.
It’s person-by-person, conversation-by-conversation, reweaving of the communal tapestry. It works, but it takes work.
You are so spot on with this. EVERY conversation in real time, with real peope, matters. Whether we're standing in the check-out queue, at a bus stop, at an event,.out for a walk, no matter where we are, it is these real, live, authentic interactions with other human beings, that literally weave the tapestry as we go. Make the most of each one because they actively create the future...
Mark, You forgot to mention the funneled money to pay for these protests. There have always been people shipped into these events to cause violence of many different forms. I question the "extraordinary success" in Mpls. (where I live). The Black Lives Matter movement has been called into question and has been around since 2013. With the corruption of our local leaders, the legitimacy and the money behind these movements always needs to be seriously investigated. And, peaceful community organizing is difficult these days because of the lack of cohesion and agreement about non violence.
If you mean cops as undercover agitators, I agree- that’s a problem. However, there are no people being shipped in by organizers to create problems. I know many people personally involved in the minneapolis actions, and in Portland, and in Los Angeles, and the protestors themselves have been overhwelming peaceful, and willing to get training to be legal observers. In Mpls, there have been I think over 10,000 ordinary local citizens trained as legal observers.
So, this “paid people shipped in” has been a right wing talking point, and doesn’t carry any water.
I suggest looking deeper into the people who show up for these events. I have read quite a bit about this from sources I trust. The minute I infer something like this there is a knee jerk reaction, I am hardly "right wing".
After reviewing many assorted articles and writings (on X / Eric Schwalm, Green Beret) and the Signal Chat group using aliases and funded by various groups. Stand With Minnesota directed to Tending the Soil on Chuffed. There is more to be questioned.
Thank you Charles, you are talking to my heart; I have been thinking along these lines for a long time. The only thing that matters to them in power and keeps them in power is money. Let us stop paying taxes, but in a significant number, otherwise we will be crushed. I am from Europe, Amsterdam and I must admit, I do not know anyone who would go along. I fear, the spirit of revolt, to refuse to take part in these crimes and show it, to take responsibility for our own is lacking. Sorry, maybe it is up to me to beat the drum and get people together, my recent experiences since 2020 is holding me back.
I understand what you are saying as I too was disappointed in the abuse I have received from some of the general public when discussing vaccine harms, geoengineering etc. However, many people are now catching on and are open to change - unfortunately you have to accept that there will always be some people you cannot reach and you have to forget them and move on to others that are more open.
Claudia, Creativity and imagination can be powerful and contagious...and lawful. Breaking laws sets people up for incarceration - a short career path. Did you happen to ever see that photo back in the '60's/'70's war protests showing a row of soldiers holding their rifles ready, and a young girl, smiling at them as she placed a daffodil in the barrel of each rifle? That photo spread all over and made the central, intended statement without saying one word.
Dear Charles, I feel the suffering that comes from your beautiful heart. What you suggest would indeed be wonderful if our society had not fallen, as you yourself have expressed so well, into such deep separation — including within ourselves. I fear that today not enough people would engage for it to have the effect we would hope for. Yet there may be another perspective that can bring us inner freedom and a more peaceful outlook, and perhaps allow us to act in a way that is even more powerful.
Wars have always existed, and politicians doing the opposite of what they promise in order to be elected has become such a classic pattern that hardly anyone is surprised anymore. What is perhaps more surprising is that so many people still believe them. The entire system is deeply perverted, as you have pointed out is so many ways. In that sense, maybe it has little to do with Trump alone.
A deeper truth, perhaps, is that politicians and wars do not hold the real power. They are manifestations of what WE, as humanity, have collectively created through our thoughts, fears, and divisions. The true power is ours. But for it to manifest properly in the world, it requires inner work. That is where the real power lies, because it is there that we are all truly interconnected. One person sincerely working toward greater consciousness can influence the world in a potentially unlimited way.
I remember an African elder (a San man from the Kalahari) who said to me, with tears in his eyes: “Why do people have bad thoughts? Why do they have those bad thoughts? If they could stop doing this, the world would change immediately.” I have never forgotten the simplicity and depth of that wisdom.
And then, of course, there is a deeper layer: those lands have been at war for thousands of years, and the people in power now may just be pawns of a much deeper energy that is in the land — an old story of destruction for the renewal of humanity, not by chance on important vortexes of our origins : Israel, Persia. So that stands energetically for all the planet and all us, especially the most sensitive, receive the message in our hearts.
And the upper layer of understanding is that we must recognize humbly that we do not have access to the master plan of the long-term evolution of humanity, so it hard for us to judge. Judgment may cloud our higher understanding. But we do know one thing: we must go through the most difficult trials on the path toward transformation. "Suffering is the path to enlightenment" says the Budha. If we look deeper, we may see that the hard-core things that are happening in the collective, just as in our personal lives, as well as the purpose of evil in the world, serve one deeper function: force us to look inward and assume full responsibility for our own transformation. And then, embody the change we wish to see in the world.
Thank you for this. I feel so much resonance with what you say here. I also don't feel like there is enough momentum for a tax or debt resistance to create the change Charles describes here, although I'd open to that movement if it began to swell.
All that is happening is a reflection of human consciousness, and I sense that our greatest power in addressing these currents is in our own consciousness, in the interactions and movements of our lives, in the energy we cultivate and sustain in our own being.
I've wondered if there were a way that US Citizens could put our taxes into an escrow account to be held until the war ends. That way we have issued payment, we didn't keep that money, but it doesn't go to fund the war either. If we were all able to put it in one place, it would be a quantifiable number and carry weight, showing the value of our opposition. However, with the ability for the government to print as much money as they want, I'm not sure even an action like this would end the war. What would it mean for US Citizens to reject the US Dollar? After all, it is the debt-based monetary system that makes such things possible. Corrupt money = corrupt government. How seriously and quickly can we initiate an alternative system? That actually lets people get food and gas, heat their homes, etc... THAT is a worthy question to consider.
Yes, Although I am not a US citizen. It is a global concern. We need to say No to the darkness and killing machine. If it is time for action, Yes I want to be in.
I wish you, the American citizens, a lot of strength and all the courrage it needs to make these steps. Stop paying taxes inorder to stop these terrible wars! In Europe, we might be soon in a similarly challenging situation...
Love the idea, but if we all helped bring any institution to its knees using financial methods, wouldn't governments just bail them out (and in doing so, hurt us even harder by fueling inflation)? Governments are complicit and will work against the people.
Superb wishfulness..Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Not a peep. Trump has said nothing about the horrors of the Zionist West Bank human violations. Not a peep about the Gazan attrocities, unspeakable and continue to this day. Those the opposed, Campus protesters, were charged with shameless anti-semite charges and expelled. AIPAC has a strangle hold on our Congress.
Is the issue Trump? or is it the Zionist state? The problem as I see it, since Trump has endorsed, is that The Zionist State will drop the A bomb. And no one will say a word, except The Graham types who will say of course it was necessary 'to end the war"
We allowed the Qatar strike, we allowed the heinousness of the 12 day war, Let us be blunt: the Holocaust blackmail is still alive and well. But thsi has nothing to do with Jews, but a reckless State that knows and has no opposition, the reason what and need to eliminate IRan.
Scott Galloway has started a consumer driven movement called Resist & Unsubscribe. I think he’s onto something. Go to resistandunsubscribe.com to see the details
I've not bought from Amazon for over 10 years - being in the tech industry for 35+ years I saw how it changed in the last 20 years and closed all my social media accounts and try and buy locally with cash. My phone always stays at home like the good old days. I endeavour to teach my kids about the evil social media and online stores like Amazon.
I believe 100% in a stop paying taxes/banks until the war ends movement. however we need some kind of landing page/place with legalese to be able to redirect the moneys owed to. some kind of structure that makes it possible for millions of people to get on board. like a reverse go fund me.
There are organizations active in trying to do what you, and Charles, are talking about. The issue of what to do is vital. There are organizations we can support, here are a few, and there are more:
https://www.warresisters.org/
https://nwtrcc.org
https://www.resistandunsubscribe.com
https://notaxforwar.com
thank you for this. however if we are to use the power of the people it would be wonderful if we had a donation page to fund or keep in retainer a legal representative (maybe 10% of taxes owed) but anyway someone who would basically be the referral person when we politely decline to pay taxes…as in sorry i’m not paying this bill please speak to my legal team.
Everyone has a lot of fear around individualy being audited and sought out and then having to deal with authority alone. their needs to be a group to join. then maybe a collective would form.
and although i am generally for decentralized contextual land based law this is different. personally i have lived under the poverty line and avoided paying taxes and know many people who are “off grid” (all because of military and moral crimes of government) however this doesn’t present a collective might.
people whose taxes are automatically deducted from work should have an easy option to say no I’m paying my legal representative instead….or Im paying into this trust fund where the funds only get released if we we are not at war…..etc
Agree, Natasha. And "somebody" has to start this effort. Perhaps it is us?! I would love to brainstorm this with somebody. 🙏🏽💚
Thank you, Joy!
There is a long history in the US of conscience objectors, religious freedom, and withholding paying taxes for war. Court cases go back to the recent past around the Vietnam era, although there are example of people withholding poll taxes around the Mexican-American War. One thing has been super consistent; Courts have ruled in every which way that individual persons can not legally withhold taxes based on moral or religious conviction nor can they claim immunity due to violating international law or war crimes.
Just saying that there has been a considerable effort to do this legally but not surprisingly it hasn’t gone very far. It would be interesting to keep pushing this in a different direction but it’s going to take more creativity.
I agree! and I feel like with holding taxes in a trust collectively, paying the lawyers from the interest etc could be creative approaches.
Go fundme and others will just hand over the money…. That’s what they did in Canada during the trucker strike. The only money they couldn’t get at was bitcoin
Good point that certainly a dimension of the problem to consider.
Funny I wrote about a similar concept
This is solid. I like it.
This essays stirs me, touches me deeply. This Awakens my desire to participate in humanities healing. I hope and pray that many/enough people also feel this call to action.
I don’t follow the news Charles, I can’t. But I already feel all of the abuse, destruction, annihilation, degradation and madness in my bones. And often I just duck out. Separate myself as much as I can from all of it. But THIS. What you have written today.THIS I can get behind, get involved in, become an active participant with my fellow beings. THiS I can do. THIS is what is required . ❤️❤️
If the war ends right now, the islamic regime will take revenge on the Iranian people.
The mullahs will execute hundreds of thousands, on a scale that will make the January massacre pale in comparison.
The IRGC will seize civilian assets, properties and bank accounts to make up for the hundreds of billions lost.
It will go back to building missiles, launder money, export terrorism, while the people inside Iran will suffer even more under a beyond destroyed economy and infrastructure.
The current internet blackout will become permanent, they will implement North Korea levels of censorship to avoid any uprising.
This war must end with the death of the islamic regime. Anything less is sentencing possibly millions of innocent Iranians to their graves at the hands of the barbarians currently being bombed.
If you think the war itself scares Iranians more than the prospect of the war ending and being stuck with the same regime, you are OUT OF YOUR MIND.
Idealism isn't the attitude needed now, you are spot on.
War is messy, but it’s not always the worst option. Massive majority of the Iranians living inside and outside Iran are very grateful for the bravery it took for Trump to finally act, after having given the Mullahs many chances.
Let’s hope he dares to continue and finish this war as it should be finished. With the Islamic regime gone forever.
Tough talk. You sign up yet to be deployed ?
"gone forever" is a long time and humans haven't lost their lust for control yet. I would just like to see some freedom for these people , many have been friends of mine. It is easy for some of these people to shout "death to war" without having been physically, emotionally and mentally restrained. I wrote a comment to "Folkets too, Yashar.
Islam is not going away forever. Whatever happens in Iran will have no impact on the disaster unfolding in Britain, et. al. or what is happening here in the States.
I meant the Islamic ruling class in Iran. They will be gone one way or another. If the US helps, it will go much quicker with less bloodshed.
Yes but can they keep it that way in a democratic Iran? My bet is no, they cannot. Tyranny has a bad habit of raising its head periodically and it seems to strengthen each time. We are doing far too little to keep a lid on religion.
Our bet is Yes. Iran is not like many other countries in the region, and we have a transitional government ready to take over, led by Crown prince Reza Pahlavi.
DD, Interesting point. Then I'm wondering - how might you describe/identify what is the attitude needed now?
I wouldn't call it attitude. I would go even deeper, and call it substance.
DD, "Substance" is a worthy trait, definitely. You had commented above: "Idealism isn't the attitude needed now..." So it just seemed as tho you had in mind a different attitude that is needed now, instead. Fear is at least one complicating element - it keeps us on the surface, ready to fight, instead of going deeper, open for insight.
Hey Yashar. What a paradoxical situation.. I agree with you on the Islamic regime. I can't say I have any idea how and I can't say I support any method of war or violence to bring it down.
But as with civilization being a lie and a wolf dressed in sheep's clothes,, the same goes for religion and especially Islam.. The muslims are in my opinion completely brainwashed and well, just like citizens of western civilization, they don't think, and even less so than in the west, because if they do and if they speak up, it's over for them. Such an amount of fear and darkness there.
I would like to hear what you think of Islam since you clearly have a strong opinion about it. Thanks and be well
Thanks! Iranians have rejected political Islam after having experienced what it lead to. In fact it’s the First Nation that I think is going be almost completely de-islamized in the Middle East, and we’re all better off for it.
"political Islam"!? Islam is based on the Koran and that is where all of the problems originate regardless of which particular or individual sect is in power; when they're not killing each other, they go after all of us infidels in the West which is exactly what they are doing now.
There is a s*!t-ton of Muslims in Iran. Keeping them out of power, especially in a democratic society, will be impossible. We have not seen the last of Islam or Sharia in Iran.
Iran has changed dramatically during the last few decades. As an Iranian I can assure you that Shia Islam is in rapid decline in Iran. They regime only rule with guns, not through popular support.
No they will not.
Interesting and I would like to know more about what you are looking at, pointing to.
Yashar, I pray that wiser minds than yours prevail, or we're all doomed.
More war, more war, more war, says you (just as the IDF propaganda urges).
I understand the anti-war sentiments Tony! It's not with easy hearts we Iranians watch as our homeland is getting bombed. We feel every detonation right down to our very bones. We're are saddened as we witness parts of our infrastructure being destroyed.
Despite all this, we are extremely grateful for this war / rescue mission. For us it's like painful chemo-therapy in order to get rid of a cancer that has spread throughout the body. Our only fear is that the therapy will be aborted before it has taken effect.
What Trump seems to finally have realized is that the disease that is fanatical islam can't be contained. Its poison will affect you all eventually. Don't pay attention to Trump's megalomaniac personality and boastful rhetoric, his instincts are spot-on and he's doing the right thing! If successful this operation saves countless lives, AND leads to economic prosperity in the region.
Please support us to liberate Iran! The human potential of a free Iran is enormous. You need us on the map as a great friendly nation instead of a rogue nation ruled by fanatics terrorizing the world.
"The patient" is begging for your help.
Sincerely,
Y
Thank you for your words and perspective. Your opinion is important in that you live there and have friends and family that have been oppressed for decades.
I don’t think Trump is realizing anything. Trump may be trying to divert from the Epstein file and that’s about it.
This is a very selective reading of Trump. In September 2024 Trump threatened to blow Iran's "largest cities and the country itself to smithereens" and to target 52 of its cultural sites: https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-s-war-with-iran. The first Trump administration withdrew from the JCPOA -- the multi-lateral nuclear deal with Iran negotiated by the Obama administration that had aimed to peacefully prevent nuclear proliferation via diplomatic negotiations. Trump frequently put forward "deranged, truculent, juvenile, unhinged" statements and videos throughout the campaign. Here's him valorizing extreme militarism and stereotyping and deriding gay and trans people in this offensive and juvenile video from October 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-dpIHm8C1Y&t=3s. And here's an academic analysis of how war, militaristic and "othering" language permeated his campaign: https://www.dialoguestudies.org/article/the-language-of-political-war-how-donald-trump-integrates-war-into-mainstream-political-discourse/.
So well said, thank you Charles!! I would say: stop using OpenAI and ChatGPT. They support the Trump admin massively. Many have already moved to other AI providers.
AI is demonic and anti human. Using it gives the technocrats and globalists the A-Okay to keep it going and increase its reach into controlling our lives. We don’t need AI. Period.
You are so right! AI isn’t here to help us.
You can take a stand against what’s happening in the dystopian world of high tech, specifically LLMs, such as ChatGPT, whose founding company, Open AI is openly working to integrate surveillance and automated weaponry into the US military. Here are two organizations that are working towards that goal:
https://cancelchatgpt.com
https://quitgpt.org
Or don't use AI, if you are in a situation where you don't have to.
The thing that is at the heart of what you are talking about, was also unspoken- community organizing.
Your critique of public protests isn’t valid in that the civil rights era protests arose out of large-scale community organizing- they were an expression of connection and clarity and formation- deep community organizing. The Black Panther Party, and SNCC, and all of those extremely effective groups were groups committed to community organizing.
Spontaneous digitally-organized protests without underlying community organizing won’t work- we have more than a decade of proof of that. But it’s not an issue with the protests itself, but the lack of organizing.
The extraordinary success of resistance in Minneapolis is the result of years of multi-racial community organizing that originate, in part, with the protests against George Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matter movement.
The kind of tax/financial revolt you are talking about is actually yet another arm of the civil rights era protesting, where economic boycotts (remember the Montgomery bus boycott?) were definitely enacted… through community organizing.
And, the kind of tax/financial revolt you're talking about will take… community organizing.
We need to organize, connect, weave ourselves together. There are groups already doing this (like the Working Families Party) among others.
To put it another way- relationships are the tapestry, the root, and the fruit of what needs to happen to engender change.
I don’t think it helps to say “this kind of protest won’t work, this kind of protest will.” Letter writing, street protests, financial protests, boycott’s, plus proactively creating realities of what we want to see… are all needed and all valid.
You raise an important point about the power of money- but we can’t pull that lever in formation, in connection, in a concerted fashion without community organizing.
It’s person-by-person, conversation-by-conversation, reweaving of the communal tapestry. It works, but it takes work.
This comment is spot on. Real change in the real world can only come through organizing and gathering in the real world.
You are so spot on with this. EVERY conversation in real time, with real peope, matters. Whether we're standing in the check-out queue, at a bus stop, at an event,.out for a walk, no matter where we are, it is these real, live, authentic interactions with other human beings, that literally weave the tapestry as we go. Make the most of each one because they actively create the future...
Mark, You forgot to mention the funneled money to pay for these protests. There have always been people shipped into these events to cause violence of many different forms. I question the "extraordinary success" in Mpls. (where I live). The Black Lives Matter movement has been called into question and has been around since 2013. With the corruption of our local leaders, the legitimacy and the money behind these movements always needs to be seriously investigated. And, peaceful community organizing is difficult these days because of the lack of cohesion and agreement about non violence.
If you mean cops as undercover agitators, I agree- that’s a problem. However, there are no people being shipped in by organizers to create problems. I know many people personally involved in the minneapolis actions, and in Portland, and in Los Angeles, and the protestors themselves have been overhwelming peaceful, and willing to get training to be legal observers. In Mpls, there have been I think over 10,000 ordinary local citizens trained as legal observers.
So, this “paid people shipped in” has been a right wing talking point, and doesn’t carry any water.
I suggest looking deeper into the people who show up for these events. I have read quite a bit about this from sources I trust. The minute I infer something like this there is a knee jerk reaction, I am hardly "right wing".
I have, and this isn’t a knee-jerk reaction.
After reviewing many assorted articles and writings (on X / Eric Schwalm, Green Beret) and the Signal Chat group using aliases and funded by various groups. Stand With Minnesota directed to Tending the Soil on Chuffed. There is more to be questioned.
I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of organizing? of course people are funding what they are doing.
Anyway, I think you are throwing up spurious arguments that make no sense whatsoever. Either bring the receipts, or go home.
Thank you Charles, you are talking to my heart; I have been thinking along these lines for a long time. The only thing that matters to them in power and keeps them in power is money. Let us stop paying taxes, but in a significant number, otherwise we will be crushed. I am from Europe, Amsterdam and I must admit, I do not know anyone who would go along. I fear, the spirit of revolt, to refuse to take part in these crimes and show it, to take responsibility for our own is lacking. Sorry, maybe it is up to me to beat the drum and get people together, my recent experiences since 2020 is holding me back.
I understand what you are saying as I too was disappointed in the abuse I have received from some of the general public when discussing vaccine harms, geoengineering etc. However, many people are now catching on and are open to change - unfortunately you have to accept that there will always be some people you cannot reach and you have to forget them and move on to others that are more open.
Claudia, Creativity and imagination can be powerful and contagious...and lawful. Breaking laws sets people up for incarceration - a short career path. Did you happen to ever see that photo back in the '60's/'70's war protests showing a row of soldiers holding their rifles ready, and a young girl, smiling at them as she placed a daffodil in the barrel of each rifle? That photo spread all over and made the central, intended statement without saying one word.
Dear Charles, I feel the suffering that comes from your beautiful heart. What you suggest would indeed be wonderful if our society had not fallen, as you yourself have expressed so well, into such deep separation — including within ourselves. I fear that today not enough people would engage for it to have the effect we would hope for. Yet there may be another perspective that can bring us inner freedom and a more peaceful outlook, and perhaps allow us to act in a way that is even more powerful.
Wars have always existed, and politicians doing the opposite of what they promise in order to be elected has become such a classic pattern that hardly anyone is surprised anymore. What is perhaps more surprising is that so many people still believe them. The entire system is deeply perverted, as you have pointed out is so many ways. In that sense, maybe it has little to do with Trump alone.
A deeper truth, perhaps, is that politicians and wars do not hold the real power. They are manifestations of what WE, as humanity, have collectively created through our thoughts, fears, and divisions. The true power is ours. But for it to manifest properly in the world, it requires inner work. That is where the real power lies, because it is there that we are all truly interconnected. One person sincerely working toward greater consciousness can influence the world in a potentially unlimited way.
I remember an African elder (a San man from the Kalahari) who said to me, with tears in his eyes: “Why do people have bad thoughts? Why do they have those bad thoughts? If they could stop doing this, the world would change immediately.” I have never forgotten the simplicity and depth of that wisdom.
And then, of course, there is a deeper layer: those lands have been at war for thousands of years, and the people in power now may just be pawns of a much deeper energy that is in the land — an old story of destruction for the renewal of humanity, not by chance on important vortexes of our origins : Israel, Persia. So that stands energetically for all the planet and all us, especially the most sensitive, receive the message in our hearts.
And the upper layer of understanding is that we must recognize humbly that we do not have access to the master plan of the long-term evolution of humanity, so it hard for us to judge. Judgment may cloud our higher understanding. But we do know one thing: we must go through the most difficult trials on the path toward transformation. "Suffering is the path to enlightenment" says the Budha. If we look deeper, we may see that the hard-core things that are happening in the collective, just as in our personal lives, as well as the purpose of evil in the world, serve one deeper function: force us to look inward and assume full responsibility for our own transformation. And then, embody the change we wish to see in the world.
Thank you for this. I feel so much resonance with what you say here. I also don't feel like there is enough momentum for a tax or debt resistance to create the change Charles describes here, although I'd open to that movement if it began to swell.
All that is happening is a reflection of human consciousness, and I sense that our greatest power in addressing these currents is in our own consciousness, in the interactions and movements of our lives, in the energy we cultivate and sustain in our own being.
Charles - did you take responsibility yet for originally endorsing this administration? Own it.
What, really, what, was the alternative? Warmongering Brat Summer?
I imagine your saying that Charles Eisenstein is a narcissist is that true?
Now you're talking. For the record, it really isn't that hard.
I've wondered if there were a way that US Citizens could put our taxes into an escrow account to be held until the war ends. That way we have issued payment, we didn't keep that money, but it doesn't go to fund the war either. If we were all able to put it in one place, it would be a quantifiable number and carry weight, showing the value of our opposition. However, with the ability for the government to print as much money as they want, I'm not sure even an action like this would end the war. What would it mean for US Citizens to reject the US Dollar? After all, it is the debt-based monetary system that makes such things possible. Corrupt money = corrupt government. How seriously and quickly can we initiate an alternative system? That actually lets people get food and gas, heat their homes, etc... THAT is a worthy question to consider.
Yes, Although I am not a US citizen. It is a global concern. We need to say No to the darkness and killing machine. If it is time for action, Yes I want to be in.
To which killing machine are you referring? We have done FAR less damage to the Iranian people than has Islam.
I wish you, the American citizens, a lot of strength and all the courrage it needs to make these steps. Stop paying taxes inorder to stop these terrible wars! In Europe, we might be soon in a similarly challenging situation...
The issue of what to do is vital. There are organizations we can support, here are two, and there are more:
https://www.warresisters.org/
https://nwtrcc.org
https://notaxforwar.com
Love the idea, but if we all helped bring any institution to its knees using financial methods, wouldn't governments just bail them out (and in doing so, hurt us even harder by fueling inflation)? Governments are complicit and will work against the people.
Yes, of course they will try exactly that, which is when you double down.
Good point!
Superb wishfulness..Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Not a peep. Trump has said nothing about the horrors of the Zionist West Bank human violations. Not a peep about the Gazan attrocities, unspeakable and continue to this day. Those the opposed, Campus protesters, were charged with shameless anti-semite charges and expelled. AIPAC has a strangle hold on our Congress.
Is the issue Trump? or is it the Zionist state? The problem as I see it, since Trump has endorsed, is that The Zionist State will drop the A bomb. And no one will say a word, except The Graham types who will say of course it was necessary 'to end the war"
We allowed the Qatar strike, we allowed the heinousness of the 12 day war, Let us be blunt: the Holocaust blackmail is still alive and well. But thsi has nothing to do with Jews, but a reckless State that knows and has no opposition, the reason what and need to eliminate IRan.
I was Maga to the core, but now cored.
Peter, And then, what would it take for China to drop the Big Bomb? And then...
Scott Galloway has started a consumer driven movement called Resist & Unsubscribe. I think he’s onto something. Go to resistandunsubscribe.com to see the details
This is great!
Who still buys from Amazon?!
I need to disentangle myself from WhatsApp (the ditch the dirty iPhone altogether)
V inspiring thanks for sharing 😊🙏
I've not bought from Amazon for over 10 years - being in the tech industry for 35+ years I saw how it changed in the last 20 years and closed all my social media accounts and try and buy locally with cash. My phone always stays at home like the good old days. I endeavour to teach my kids about the evil social media and online stores like Amazon.
Wonderful! Yes - always use cash - another easy way to resist 👍