In Richard Attenborough’s excellent 1982 film “Gandhi” there’s a scene (among many others) which we can all draw inspiration from.
In 1930 India was a British colony and had a legal monopoly on the manufacture and sale of salt. To fight this, Gandhi planned a march to the Indian Ocean where his followers could extract salt for themselves - defying British law. In the scene, Gandhi (Ben Kingsley) and Walker (played by Martin Sheen) are sitting by the sea talking. Gandhi invited Walker, an American reporter, to witness and report on the event. Gandhi talks about how his upbringing shaped him and the conversation continues…
Walker: Wait a minute. You know what you’re going to do don’t ya?
Gandhi: It would have been very uncivil of me to let you make such a long trip for nothing. (Gandhi starts walking) Come.
Walker: Where are we going?
Gandhi: I’m going back to the ashram and then I’m going to prove to the new Viceroy that the King’s writ no longer runs in India!
Now its 2025, the conservatives are in power on both a state and federal level. Atrocious acts are being made law. Oligarchy is here and we have as close to a dictator as we have ever seen in the White House. As MLK said, quoting St. Augustine, “an unjust law is no law at all”. The same holds true today. An unjust law is no law at all. We are not defeated until we stop fighting! They do not rule us. We rule us. If all I have is my mind and my balls I will not submit. Gandhi had it right. The King’s writ didn’t run in India and the Fascist’s writ won’t run us.
Hopefully we don’t have to resort to being beaten by clubs to preserve a right to vote. Hopefully SOME of the States get as pissed as the Canadians are and stand up to the federal lawlessness that the Supreme Court invited…
If you like historical movies about social change this is a great one. it’s about Gandhi and how he led the Indian independence movement in the early 20th century. It’s three hours long but worth every bit of it.
The situation in Ukraine is a product of American policy after the wall came down. Nixon himself (not a big fan, but he read this right…) pointed out that a thug would rise to power in Russia if there was not the equivalent of a Marshall Plan to get the Soviet states on their feet. There was enough money to do something during the Clinton years, but they just gave a slap on the back to the Russians and said: good luck with a free market.
The EU and the US have been left with a bad situation of their own making. And some crackpot Repubs want to think they have no obligation to HELP straighten it out…
