Quislings, or an Aikido-Based Eco-Resistance

If we don’t act effectively and convincingly, we will be witnesses to our own oblivion. Life, the planet, and many of its species, will survive even this. Maybe even some of us will. But we are on the cusp of a great loss.

Good morning. Enjoy the beautiful planet, the snow in Northern New Mexico, the festooned trees and puffed-up birds. Life, in every case, is ephemeral, for many causes; some are preventable, some are not. We are coming face-to-face with the death within us. It has always been there, will always be there in one way or another, as with every living thing. It needn’t depress or distress us, except as grief will, for a season, and then it is a natural thing to go on with our lives and enjoy them.

But if, in your everyday life, aware of death, dying, and grief, joy, birth and happiness, you find in yourself a ferocity for a worthy, noble fight, a natural inclination toward preservation of self, family, and the landscape and creatures you love, and you have a sword near at hand, now is a good time to do battle for those things. With others if you can. Alone if you must. The odds are against winning. But most battles are undertaken under threat, without any certainty of winning, but with certainty that many in the battle will die trying.

Even with institutionalized violence against our health and our future bearing down on us, few view this as a real battle to the death. We resemble a woman in an abusive relationship who believes that this is the way the world is, and that she can redeem or reform her tormentor or die trying. Her life is being threatened: “Earl’s Gotta Die.” We’ve been colonized by corporate and governmental powers that are literally killing us and many other species, and we are trying to fine-tune the conditions of our oppression rather than seeking to liberate ourselves.

We have a right not to be harmed, and to use the amount of force – and no more – that ensures that those who mean us harm, and mean to profit from our harm, are stopped. Period.

Happy Human Rights Day.