Pedagogy of the Oppressed: Don’t feed the bad dog within!

Ryan Overly, happily supporting peace, safety, happiness AND JOBS at the Shale Gas Outrage rally in Philadelphia (Photo: Josh Lopez)

What strategies are used to raise humans’ level of awareness? Some strategies are coercisive, derisive, manipulative, and violent. Others are peaceful, loving, sacrificial, and dignified. The same action could be either loving or oppressive, depending on the human’s intent. The “oppressor within each human” wants to feed what I call the bad dog, but if humans did that, then they themselves would become oppressors, too.

And that just won’t change anything…

More about what the good dog eats and what “peaceful, loving, sacrificial, and dignified” activism looks like in future blogs– but, for now, you could simply refer to the Tar Sands Action 2-week rolling sit-in in which over 1,250 humans were peacefully arrested at the White House while thousands rallied in support across multiple nations.

Many humans are environmentally conscious– and they are aware of health and safety concerns posed to human-and-other beings. Tar Sands Action was followed a few days later by Shale Gas Outrage, and an equally vibrant rally ensued. The next day, a series of educational seminars was held for hundreds of attendees who wanted the facts on fracking.

Organized to the hilt, and in the face of tropical storms of historical proportion, both Tar Sands Action and Shale Gas Outrage have shown that barking is working. Other humans are paying attention. How do I know this? The evidence is in the fact that human opposition to this love has made itself clear through the words of Tom Ridge and Aubrey McClendon and Tom Corbett. When others try to silence you, you know they are hearing your bark!

The humans are moving, deeply. This means that power is moving. More humans will figure out that we are on the brink of a cultural crisis, and we may reach our goal of being able to communicate with our governments: stop unconventional shale gas development; stop the Keystone XL Pipeline; stop the Via Verde pipeline across the length of Puerto Rico… it’s an island for Pete’s Sake– they have ports!

And if nobody listens after hearing?

In the state of Pennsylvania, the citizens have constitutional rights:

Section 20. Right of Petition

The citizens have a right in a peaceable manner to assemble together for their common good, and to apply to those invested with the powers of government for redress of grievances or other proper purposes by petition, address or remonstrance.

Section 2. Political Powers

All power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority and instituted for their peace, safety and happiness. For the advancement of these ends they have at all times an inalienable and indefeasible right to alter, reform or abolish their government in such manner as they may think proper.

http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Constitution.html

Tar Sands Action Protest-- over 1,250 arrests. (Photo: Josh Lopez)

It is indeed time for the people to exercise these rights. The oil and gas industry dismisses its detractors as phony, hysterical. So, the real question is: How can humans lovingly abolish a corrupt notion of democracy? How can they exert rights without becoming corrupted themselves– and how can they be sure they’re not just being lulled into a false sense of having accomplished something?

True democracy is loving, so how does that happen? Your thoughts, below… (comment section moderated).