Rise Up America, Rise Up!

Rise Up America, Rise Up!

The time has come when America must rapidly transform its values
through a more inclusive and spiritual vision, based upon a just
sharing of the world’s resources.

It is up to you, the youth of America, to lead the way by organizing
a non-stop demonstration in every state, until that nationwide
wave of peaceful protest eventually catches on globally.

By Mohammed Mesbahi
Common Dreams
October 30, 2014

What has caused the United States of America, such a great nation,
to sink to the depths of turmoil and confusion that it finds itself in
today?

A country that was founded upon the ideals of freedom, justice and
democracy, but that has increasingly lost its way and degraded
these noble concepts – to the extent that the Statue of Liberty
should really bow her head and reassemble her broken shackles,
and let go her flaming torch.

Those shackles should represent the ugly and imprisoning idea of
the American Dream as it manifests in a highly commercialized and
divided society, with such dire repercussions for the rest of the
world.

An idea that breeds more and more division, fear and injustice,
and that has led successive American governments to arrogantly
domineer other nations.

An idea that continues to debase the goodwill of ordinary
Americans and push the entire country towards catastrophe,
unless it dramatically changes course with all humility and
a sense of urgency.

"In love there is freedom in the truest sense – a freedom from
the old, from injustice, from the grand theft and corruption
that has blighted America’s profounder greatness for so many
years."

Why don’t most of us perceive the dangers inherent in pursuing
the American Dream?

Everyone understands its meaning in a general sense, in terms
of the desire to be successful, rich and happy.

But few of us reflect on how this dream has progressively misled
the people of America from sustaining the true values of their
nation - indeed a dream that was originally built on theft from
the indigenous peoples that rightfully inhabited the continent.

For underlying the American Dream is the drive for profit through
an ever intensifying path of commercialization, which is the
necessary basis for fulfilling America’s desire to have a wealthy
and superior way of life.

The American Dream was not abducted by commercialization,
but freely given to it ever since its inception.

And in that process the Land of Liberty has become the chief
proponent of a market forces ideology that it ruthlessly exported
throughout the world, leading to social upheaval in almost every
country and escalating international tension.

From an inner or psychological perspective the American Dream
should really be perceived as a self-centered and harmful concept,
in that it leads so many people to seek wealth and success as a
means to finding an ever elusive happiness, regardless of the
consequences for others.

It is a big lie that millions of young people continue to fall for, one
that poses a very effective tool for the forces of commercialization
to manipulate and misguide us.

Because in our desire to become a ‘somebody’, to become ever
more wealthy and perhaps even famous and powerful, it is not long
before our personalities are influenced by greed and indifference
which inevitably causes a dysfunction of our emotional intelligence.

When perceived inwardly it is greed per se that separates us from
the reality of the heart and its attributes, and directly influences
us to become indifferent to the suffering or well-being of others.

Even if we do not yearn to become rich and successful by dint of
our fame or achievements, the social conditioning of the American
Dream still causes us to distort our life purpose through the narrow,
materialistic and selfish pursuit of our individual happiness.

Rarely does the question then occur to us: what about the others
who didn’t make it? Does the American Dream mean that we have
to cancel them from America?

The Reality of One Humanity

The one who is heavily conditioned by the American Dream is
subject to a form of mental blindness in which they see only
themselves, and not the spiritual reality of our interconnected
lives among seven billion people.

Their love is often crushed in such a way that they are proud to
call themselves a patriotic American, even in the midst of other
people living in loneliness and misery all around them.

This pernicious conditioning also encourages children to grow up
with the idea that America is the most important country in the
world (if not the only continent that exists), leading them to enter
into adulthood with little awareness of the extreme poverty and
hardship that is experienced by the people of other nations.

It is not uncommon for those who live in the United States to have
absolutely no idea where Africa is situated on a world map, for
example, let alone any notion of how devastating American foreign
policy is for countless innocent people in far-away regions.

The very phrase ‘American Dream’ is divisive and divorced from
spiritual reality, a phrase that is sustained by a wrong devotional
attachment to an aspirational idea.

And that idea has always been nurtured by an emotional sense of
pride that has misguided generations of ordinary Americans from
perceiving the reality of One Humanity.

No matter how the American Dream is defined in a dictionary, from
an spiritual point of view that idea will always be associated with
division and injustice as we have seen in evidence throughout the
twentieth century, and still continue to see.

It is in fact a peculiarly self-centered idea in that is only
unconsciously tinted with spiritual aspiration, for if it was
inspired by a truly spiritual vision then it would have been
the One Humanity Dream, and nothing else besides.

As a consequence the American Dream has always separated itself
from the highest ideal of the commons; that is, the common good
of One Humanity.

It’s natural for the people of America to love their country and
their way of life, if they find they can fit into that way of life
and close their minds to the world’s problems.

But the American Dream of individual prosperity and happiness is
not connected to reality anymore, not in light of all the crises and
mass injustices that plague the Earth today.

To carry on repeating the Pledge of Allegiance every morning is a
narrow-minded and meaningless gesture in this respect, so long as
America fails to open her arms to the rest of the world.

Can you imagine pledging allegiance to the flag of the United States
of America with your hand on heart, while your other hand holds a
copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – which declares
that everyone in the world has the right to liberty and justice, and
not only Americans?

Would that make any sense, and how would that feel knowing that
millions of people are needlessly dying from hunger and poverty
each year, while so much of the world’s resources are hoarded and
wasted in affluent countries, particularly within the United States?

Notwithstanding the dire poverty that is quietly experienced by
millions of people within America itself, who are mostly unheard
of and hidden as if they didn’t exist.

The true American Dream – a dream that represents the soul of the
nation as a whole – is to help and uplift the world in cooperation
with other countries.

But that is very different from the old idea of the American Dream
that has crystallized over many generations, and exists with its
polar opposite in the form of socialism and communism.

A true and noble concept should be inclusive and not exclusive, and
yet both the capitalist and communist nations have failed to live up
to their respective visions of equality and justice, and have instead
violated human rights on a colossal scale and instigated widespread
global conflict.

Despite all the pain and suffering these ideologies have caused
both before and after the two World Wars, none of the major
powers have learned the necessary lesson of sacrifice or adopted
a true path of multilateral cooperation and economic sharing.

And in the unique case of America, whose presidents still espouse
their role in leading the world towards peace and prosperity, it has
continually chosen to go the opposite way by pursuing an aggressive
self-interest that is thinly disguised as national security.

A Deceiving World Philanthropist

We may argue that the United States has given so much in overseas
aid, but it really assumes the role of a deceiving world
philanthropist by first exploiting other countries through unjust
trade and illegal wars, thereafter donating a tiny proportion of its
ill-gotten gains to help alleviate the suffering that it also caused.

And that aid represents utter hypocrisy when billions of dollars are
given to help poor or distressed foreign countries, while millions of
citizens within the United States are sadly ignored by their government.

Why has America recently given a billion dollars of aid to Ukraine
in Eastern Europe, for example, while it abandons the poor and
marginalized people of its own in Detroit?

As any activist knows, it is because the federal government
primarily serves its strategic self-interest and opportunities
for profit, which is the game of commercialization that has
gradually fused with the old idea of the American Dream until
both are now virtually synonymous.

For too long has America been guided by this harmful concept that
is sustained by the pursuit of profit and power, thereby damaging
the lives of other nations with scant regard for its self-professed
values of democracy, freedom and justice.

If nothing else, the sorry state of America today shows that political
and business leaders need a total re-education along more spiritual
lines, based on the principle of right human relationship.

America has to drastically change its priorities, towards itself and
towards the world, so that common sense, humility and compassion
become the shining hallmarks of its government and society.

Yet even to state this unavoidable truth sounds like a fantasy
when most of those in a position of power are held sway by the
forces of commercialization, in which context the basic spiritual
values of humanity almost appear to be utopian.

Unless America radically changes its ways it is about to go down
a dark and dangerous alley for some time to come, one in which
riots, violence and all kinds of social upheaval could increasingly
take place.

Such is the by-product of continuing to follow an individualistic
and divisive idea of progress, as evidenced in all the neuroses,
hatred and crime that has long been rampant across the nation.

The political process in the United States has become so corrupt
and profit-oriented, together with a national debt that is clearly
unpayable, that a prolonged period of financial turmoil will
undoubtedly worsen in the years ahead.

And the prospects are dire for a nation that still trains its citizens
to believe in, with pride, their right to achieve an extravagant level
of personal wealth and material comfort, no matter what the cost
in terms of environmental ruin and the exploitation of poorer
countries.

Now that the prospect of indefinitely sustaining the American way
of life has become a palpable absurdity, many citizens across the
nation are beginning to question with a sense of deep foreboding:
‘where is the hope that our leaders vainly promised, and what is
the fate that will soon befall us?’

There is no question that the people of goodwill throughout
America must rise up in unison together, and peaceably resist
against the government’s polices as it profits from wars and
defends corporate interests, instead of helping ordinary people
in their approaching time of greatest need.

Who is going to help Detroit now that it is bankrupt, for example
will it be the Pentagon or the CIA, who usurp so much of the
nation’s income and resources?

America has become like a dysfunctional family in which,
by analogy, the children are being abused and neglected
until they are eventually forced to leave home and look
after themselves.

In a similar way, the government in Washington is like the parent
who is failing to look after all her children – namely the fifty states,
many of whom like Detroit may soon fall into crisis as the economy
melts.

Is it not inevitable that many of these states will ultimately
abandon Washington completely?

Because it is the people of Detroit who made Detroit, the people
of New Orleans who made New Orleans, and not Washington.

The popular demonstrations that spread across the United States in
2011 revealed how many intelligent young people have had enough
of the American Dream and all it represents, even if that awareness
is felt unconsciously.

And that act of demonstrating as one in peaceful protest is actually
an expression of love and maturity, as well as intelligence.

Because in love there is freedom in the truest sense – a freedom
from the old, from injustice, from the grand theft and corruption
that has blighted America’s profounder greatness for so many years.

Those who stand in the streets and uphold the real meaning of
liberty and justice are the ones who Americans should be duly
proud of, instead of clinging onto a false pride in the so-called
American way of life.

The Real Heroes of America

Many of the Occupy protesters perceived with common sense how
the American Dream has misled and divided an entire nation, and
given America a vulgar reputation on the global stage.

They are the real heroes of the nation, the ones who should be
standing on top of the Statue of Liberty and lighting her torch.

They are the ones who want to live with maturity and
responsibility, rather than allowing their free will to
be constantly manipulated by big corporations and self-
serving politicians.

They are the ones who are denouncing the forces of
commercialization that hide behind the American Dream,
and that incessantly try to misdirect our attention by
telling us what to think and what to do, instead of
allowing us to live freely in the moment of now with
honesty and detachment.

Of course there are many others who still strongly believe in
the American Dream with a misplaced sense of pride, and who
therefore looked at the tents in Zuccotti Park with bewilderment
and misunderstanding, and even felt that the protesters were
betraying the American way of life.

But the hour is coming when all the people of America will have to
ask themselves: what is the meaning of this way of life, and where
is it leading us?

The government and police may believe that they have eliminated
those tents from public areas, but they do not realize that they
cannot eliminate all the tents that remain in the hearts of
America’s youth.

The politicians are gravely mistaken if they believe those tents
will not return, because they are already multiplying more and
more, silently and gradually from heart to heart.

It may seem as if nothing is happening right now, but it is
foreseeable that sooner or later there will not be just one
encampment of tents in a city park, but an entire nation of
tents that cannot be dismantled by even the national guard.

Thus perhaps the hour is also coming when the police must ask
themselves what justice really means, and what is the meaning
of law and order.

Perhaps they should set up a special body within the Department of
Justice to study the political causes of social unrest, and then tell
the government to stop causing that unrest through their harmful
policies and wrong priorities.

For if the government is creating disorder and injustice, does it
make any sense that it calls on the police to bring back order and
stand for justice?

When the many people on the streets are compassionate
and intelligent, and out of love they leave their homes to
demonstrate for justice in accordance with its true meaning?

Should the police continue to arrest and bully their fellow citizens
who valiantly march with such goodwill, or should they turn their
attention towards the government and say: enough is enough!

We are human beings and not machines, and we will no longer
follow your corrupt orders to stand against our own people!

For the time being, the predominant laws of commercialization
have swept away those tents and protests from our towns and
city squares.

But if we look carefully within ourselves, we can see that
a planetary tent has begun to vibrate in our consciousness.

Now is the time for us to begin constructing this planetary tent in
a collaborative endeavor, and to build it in such a way that finally,
when we look up into its dome, we can see the reflection of all the
faces of every human being around the world.

Now is the time for the youth of America to show us the way, and
to call upon the youth of other nations to help build this planetary
tent together.

Let the youth of America seize upon the old idea of the American
Dream, and transform it by aligning their hearts and minds with a
more inclusive and spiritual vision.

Let them take it to the river of freedom and justice, and like
a child that places a paper boat on a running stream, let them
release the American Dream onto its destined course.

It can be done, it should be done, and it must be done with
urgency! For the world is changing now with rapid speed, and
a new hope for humanity is emerging.

It is up to you, the youth of America, to show us the way by
organizing a non-stop demonstration in every state, until that
nationwide wave of nonviolent protest eventually catches on
globally.

All those groups who seek a just and sustainable society based on
right human relationship should quickly come together, mindful
of the fact that it will take time to structure a common vision of
change.

Do not be discouraged by the pundits in ties and suits who speak
on television about your marches and sit-ins, saying that you have
no leadership or clear demands.

Most of those complacent critics have no idea what is taking
place in the hearts and minds of America’s youth today.

And it is to be expected that an inclusive call for justice and freedom cannot be structured to begin with, because the forces of commercialization are like a powerful magnet that constantly overwhelms and pulls us in different directions.

So do not worry about how to structure your call through formal demands or institutional arrangements, but instead continue untiringly with your creative demonstrations, and in this way try to inspire the rest of the world to join you.

Perhaps this is the surest way to structure love in the minds of all of us, where common sense and goodwill will be the norm in our relationship to each other and to the world.

Sharing Is The Master Key

Through the unification of our efforts we may quickly realize that the principle of sharing is the master key for structuring our expression of love in society.

One of the foremost attributes of this mistaken and neglected principle is to bring people together in freedom and joy, which was beautifully if transiently realized in the spontaneous protest movements of recent years within many cities worldwide.

Compared to many violent revolutions witnessed throughout modern history, we can feel that something new has arisen in the expression of these huge demonstrations in their togetherness and joyful celebration, away from all the ‘isms’ of the past and the divisive poison of commercialization.

And that new factor is the releasing of the heart en masse among many thousands of people, by simply allowing the heart to speak and express itself into the world.

If we empty our minds of intellectual content and look at the world through the perception of the heart, the first thing we see is not injustice but solely a lack of love.

Indeed it is the non-expression of love in a body politic that brings about the expression of injustice per se, which can only be remedied through human processes and governmental policies that are predicated upon the principle of sharing.

The youth of America must know that freedom has never, and will never exist without love and sharing.

Today we live in such complex and commercialized societies that even love has become a wounded, sorrowful and meaningless word.

And yet our lives together could be so joyful, liberated and creative if only we shared the world’s resources more equitably among us all.

Therefore it is imperative that we set aside some time to reflect upon the meaning of sharing in relation to the political economy and our everyday lives, for sharing is our trustiest guide to the expression of a healthy, sustainable life with justice.

We are not talking about socialism, or communism, or any other political ism; we are talking about the universal principle that, when implemented into social and economic policies by our governments, can finally heal our ailing societies and solve so many of the world’s problems.

Why are we demonstrating after all, if not for the love and joy that has been taken away from all of us?

Why are we demonstrating, if not for the extremes of poverty and wealth that has divided us from one another in a world of plenty, where millions starve while only the few live in excessive luxury?

Why are we demonstrating, if not for the ideologies and isms that are constantly thrown at us in such a polarized and demoralized society, where each day feels the same as every other day in its soullessness and anxiety?

Surely the occupy protests were not only initiated to change politics and reform the economy, but also to regain our joy of living and spiritually re-occupy our hearts.

Are we only fighting for the sake of our children and future generations, or also because we yearn for something better for ourselves – to live each day afresh and new with a sense of connectedness and purpose, free from the constant stress and money-making that suppresses who we truly are?

Even from a strictly rational perspective it is strategically advantageous to be among masses who call for the principle of sharing to be implemented by our governments, rather than to engage in an endless fight against capitalism or the system.

The youth should also know that when we assume a position of anti-capitalism, we immediately fall into the mouth of the wolf that is commercialization.

The system wants us to adopt the mind-set of ‘anti’ and ‘isms’, because capitalism itself is a very clever and sophisticated ism that voraciously feeds off our opposition and antagonism.

While we have the right to express anger and oppose the systemic causes of injustice, it is futile to fight against the system because the forces mobilized to defend it are so formidable and apparently within the law.

The moment we oppose those forces they will immediately bring us down and humiliate us, and cunningly push us towards violence.

And that violence will beget further violence, which is exactly what the system wants in order to defend and perpetuate itself.

We should therefore be very cognizant of falling into this trap, and should not even entertain a thought in our minds of being ‘against’ or ‘anti’ the inequities of our society.

We should rather work with our heart, because this is where the forces of commercialization cannot get in.

It is the heart and not the idea itself that unites us, for within the wisdom of one human heart lies the wisdom of all humanity.

A revolution that is instigated via ideology invariably leads
to further social division and violence, but a revolution that
originates via the engagement of the heart will naturally lead
to common sense, togetherness, sharing, and of course love.

Could it be that through millions of people coming together and
calling for sharing as the means to achieving justice, even the
establishment pundits and the police will eventually come and
join us?

Sharing, Freedom and Justice For All

So let’s permanently gather in the streets and wisely articulate
the yearning of our hearts, away from all the isms and our wrong
education of the past.

Let’s not demand that our government restructures itself and the
economy in the name of socialism, capitalism or any other ism,
but rather in the name of who we are – that is, in the name of we
the people who are born with an equal right to evolve in freedom,
dignity and peace.

This is the shift in consciousness that is necessary to change
America and the world, which can only arise in the absence
of any thought of ideology or personal self-interest.

We know that all the problems in society are escalating day by day,
and it is impossible to go on living as we did before: we are tired
of those selfish and materialistic ways, we don’t want to return to
that bygone era, and besides we can no longer afford to.

So let’s demand a just sharing of resources and not be concerned
when the pundits call us naïve, knowing that the call for sharing
comes from the heart when fused with common sense and reason.

Let’s refuse to conform any longer to the maleficent game of
commercialization, and instead let’s demonstrate for a new
way of life, a new world and a new dispensation.

We don’t need to stand against this or that, but only for sharing,
freedom and justice.

This should be the triangle of our demands, in that same order:
for the sharing of wealth and power, freedom in every meaningful
sense - political, economic and civil, and thence social justice for
one and all.

A new era for America will never begin with a complicated list
of policy demands, however, but only through a concerted and
continuous call for everyone in the country to be fed, sheltered,
educated and protected with universal access to the basic
necessities of life, including healthcare and social security.

Such is the straightforward nature of the demands that we can ask
our governments to meet on a nationwide level: to prioritize the
daily concerns of ordinary people, and to stop acting like private
accountants who preside in office merely to negotiate contracts
for big corporations.

Which means, at the very least, that our elected leaders must stop
pouring billions of dollars into the machinery of war, and instead
redirect the nation’s resources towards securing peoples’ essential
needs and creating useful employment.

What demand can be more simple: to serve the populace in its
entirety, or to immediately get out and make way for those who
will!

At the same time let’s be aware that there is no such thing
as an American justice, but only justice per se.

And the concept of freedom does not represent or belong
to America alone – it represents life, wherever you are, and
belongs to love itself.

Such has it always been, and always will be.

In this way our demands should not be confined to American
national interests, which was a crucial mistake of the Occupy
movement in its first manifestation.

Why don’t we also uphold a vision of sharing, freedom and justice
for our brothers and sisters in other countries?

Why say we are the 99% of all the people in America, and not the
99% of all the 7 billion people throughout the world?

We have already focused on our national priorities for as long as
we can remember, but now is the time for our shared concerns to
embrace the needs of the world as a whole.

It’s time to ennoble ourselves with dignity when we go out in
peaceful protest, and to expand our consciousness to the global
level on the basis of our morality, empathy and compassion for
those who are less fortunate than ourselves.

Clearly the problems that are happening in America are also
happening across the world, as reflected in the mass protests
that are now periodically erupting in diverse countries on an
unprecedented scale.

By hailing our common demands from a truly international
perspective of justice and equality, we will therefore be more
encouraged to see other groups doing the same in other cities
overseas, and vice versa.

Together we will galvanize each other to carry on participating in
around-the-clock demonstrations, which is why we must protest
with an urgent sense of global priorities in order to gain more and
more support.

This is how the youth of America can inspire the rest of the world
to join them, and how the call for sharing can rapidly grow on a
worldwide scale: by upholding the concerns not of the 99% of 300
million people in America, but of the 99% of 7 billion people with
whom we share our planetary home.

Resurrecting Article 25

From this understanding we should adopt as our slogan Article 25
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which will naturally
structure our uprisings at home and light the way for
demonstrations in other countries.

As the venerable Article states:

“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the
health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food,
clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services, and
the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness,
disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in
circumstances beyond his control.”

Nowhere in the world are these basic rights fulfilled for everyone,
and for the evident reasons we have acknowledged above such as
the laws that protect the interests of elite privilege and
commercialization, and the politics of international competition
that effectively renounces the founding vision of the United
Nations.

The covert manoeuvrings of American foreign policy is, in itself,
the denial of Article 25 for many millions of the world’s people,
in conjunction with the self-interested and divisive economic
strategies of all the other major powers.

Yet still the United States government shamelessly professes that
it stands for global justice and human rights, in the midst of 40,000
people dying every day from preventable diseases and poverty.

Do they take us for fools, or shall we continue to remain silent
while this daily massacre endures?

If we identify ourselves with the common good of One Humanity,
it is thus appropriate that we uphold Article 25 as a slogan that
represents the hearts and minds of everyone in the world.

We all want peace, we all want justice, we all want a clean and
safe environment; but before we ask for that peace and justice for
ourselves, we want to see an irrevocable end to the blasphemy of
hunger and penury in a bountiful world.

It is not only a question of morality and justice, but of strategy
and common sense in relation to our awareness and intelligence.

We’ve been fighting capitalism and the system for hundreds of
years, and yet the situation is getting worse and worse for the
majority poor and excluded: hence now is the time to change
our tactics by advocating for Article 25 as a universal approach
for transformative world change.

With millions upon millions of people in every country calling for
this Article to be guaranteed by our respective governments, we
cannot underestimate the uplifting effect it will have on our
societies and our collective consciousness.

Never before have we witnessed vast numbers of people in the
street calling for the abolition of extreme poverty, as expressed
in ceaseless worldwide actions of solidarity and massed goodwill.

Can we envision what may happen if American activists lead the
way in advocating, by this means, for international governmental
policies based on the principle of sharing?

We can be sure that New York City will be full of tents and non-stop
protest activity, because the poor will also join in and strengthen
the call for their basic rights to be fulfilled.

And above all, billions of people will heed the call in other
continents, from Africa and Asia to South America, because
then we are talking about their lives too.

So let this be our resounding call: not to instigate a revolution
‘against’ this rotten system we live in, which becomes a nonsense
when our voices get lost in the interminable fighting of ideologies
and isms.

The system is here to stay, in one form or another, so we should
rather transform it through a wholly inclusive, indefatigable
demand for what is most urgent and important: which is to
immediately guarantee the human rights in Article 25 for every
man, woman and child in every nation.

Just imagine how easily this could be achieved if our governments
were impelled by overwhelming public pressure to completely
reorder their priorities, and to work in genuine cooperation with
other nations to share the resources of the world.

As history has often revealed, even a handful of people can create
unbelievable changes on this Earth if they are in the right place at
the right time with an idea whose time has come.

And now is the time for us to breathe life once again into The
Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World, until she drops her
torch in protest and holds up a giant banner that reads:

“Article 25: The True American Dream!”

RISE UP, AMERICA, RISE UP!

I miss those tents and those occupiers who lifted my hopes upwards
into the light.

Where are you people?

I can still feel your pain and your aspirations.

I can still hear your voices in the heat of the night.

I miss your faces, your joy, your call for a new life. I miss you all.

Where are you people?

For you are the hope of all the world, if only you knew.



Mohammed Mesbahi is founder and chair of Share the World's
Resources, a London-based independent civil society organization
campaigning for a fairer sharing of wealth, power and resources
within and between nations.

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/10/30/rise-america-
rise