Popular Resistance Is Building Up, from Hunger Strikes to Democracy Protests Across the Planet
The paradox of power is that the real power is with us, if we have the courage to use it.
June 28, 2013
This week, there were many lessons in courage from people who overcame fears and created winning situations by turning power on its head and building the movement.
On Wednesday morning, attorney Lynne Stewart’s compassionate release from prison was denied. Stewart is suffering from breast cancer. Her husband, Ralph Poynter, stood vigil in DC to push for a decision, and then the decision came, with a result they did not want to hear. Stewart should not be in prison at all for her act of assisting her client with a press statement, but she continues to serve a 10 year sentence.
By her grace and strength Stewart turned a seemingly devastating decision into a victory. The abusive reality of the US government was laid bare as she responded with an open letter to her supporters entitled “ Disappointed, Not Devastated.” She included a photo of her in prison, obviously suffering from cancer, but smiling broadly. She showed her humanity, writing about her children and grandchildren, her Ralph and promised to continue the struggle. She concluded: “Fight On — All of Us or None of Us. An affront to one is an affront to all.”
She created a victory for all of us, pulled us together in a struggle for justice that affects each of us; she helped to build the movement.
Wednesday was also a day of inspirational protest in solidarity with Guantanamo prisoners. The shame of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp is pushing more and more Americans to stand with the prisoners, including Diane Wilson, a fourth generation shrimper from the Gulf Coast who was on her 57th day of a hunger strike. She was the first to begin a solidarity hunger strike with the more than 100 prisoners who have refused to eat in Guantanamo, some for 147 days. The contagious courage of her actions can be seen as there are now 13 long-term hunger strikers. Who knows how this will grow? Perhaps soon there will be one solidarity hunger striker for each Guantanamo prisoner on a hunger strike. Wouldn’t that be a message to the world that people in the United States are not in lockstep with their government? And, a message of support for the Guantanamo prisoners?
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