The eastern European countries never had violent revolution to overthrow
anything. They all fell into the orbit of the Soviet Union after World War II,
and the rule of those communist parties existed because, and only because of
the Soviet union. When the Soviets lost their stomach for violent repression of
eastern European’s, good stuff happened. But I’m not so sure how all those
things actually turned out. Look at Polin for instance. And the mess in the
Ukraine, which of course was actually part of the Soviet union. And those are
also small countries. The Soviet Union fell apart basically nonviolently, which
I think was a surprise to a lot of people. But look what they have now,
Vladimir Putin, no friend of democracy and a very very rich oligarch in his own
ride who still remembers how to act like the KGB agent he was.
So maybe peaceful revolutions are possible on the small scale. But I’m not sure
I see it happening where there is lots of power in lots of wealth at stake. I
would love to be wrong of course.
Mary
Mary
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 25, 2018, at 9:31 AM, Evan Reese <mentat1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
There have been some peaceful revolutions. The ones in Eastern Europe in 1989
come to mind. Not all of them panned out as well as they should have. Romania
is a good example of that, where the moderate wing of the Communist party
came out all right and became the new elite class. But overall, they were
peaceful revolutions. So they can and do happen.
Evan
-----Original Message----- From: Mary Otten
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2018 10:58 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: New member
Well, I am definitely very much to the left of center, especially what passes
for center in the United States today, on social and economic issues. And I
most definitely do not support the current economic system. On the other
hand, I can’t support violent revolution, although when the doors to peaceful
change are slammed shut, eventually, there will be violence and it will not
be pretty. I would much prefer peaceful change. But people with a lot of
power don’t tend to give it up easily, all you have to do is look around at
voter suppression attempts throughout this country and various other
shenanigans on the part of the party in power in all three branches of th
well, I am definitely very much to the left of center, especially with passes
for Center in the United States today, on social and economic issues. And I
most definitely do not support the current economic system. On the other
hand, I can’t support violent revolution, although when the doors to peaceful
change are slammed shut, eventually, there will be violence and it will not
be pretty. I would much prefer peaceful change. But people with a lot of
power don’t tend to give it up easily, are you have to do is look around at
voter suppression at times throughout this country and various other
shenanigans on the part of the party in power in all three branches of the
federal government today. Who was it that said power corrupts. And absolute
power corrupts absolutely? That seems to have been born out and all manner of
systems throughout history. The Soviet union. Communist China. Fascist
Germany and Italy. And certainly do United States of America today.
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 24, 2018, at 1:48 PM, Evan Reese <mentat1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I would like to add my voice to the welcomes, Mary.
I've seen you on other lists. You seem pretty tech savvy, which is cool.
I am also new here. I joined last week. On social issues I'm definitely left
of center, but on economic issues I'm in the center, or maybe even a bit to
the right. I support the current economic system. I defend the "capitalist
running dogs" around here. (Yes, some people actually talked like that in
the 20th century. Fortunately, humanity has moved on since then. Mostly that
is.)
Seriously though, I am more than happy to talk about shortcomings of the
current economic model and how to fix them, but I'm not interested in
revolution. I'm with John Lennon:
But when you talk about destruction,
Don'tcha know that you can count me out.
So once again, welcome. I hope you enjoy it here.
Evan
-----Original Message----- From: Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2018 11:50 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: New member
Hello and welcome, Mary.
If you have a natural curiosity and a sense of adventure, you've come
to the right list. We do try hard to stay on target and not fall into
name calling, as happens on the ACB chat list at times. But a good
sense of humor and a moderately thick skin, and you'll soon be right
at home.
As for me, besides being Carl Jarvis, I am a self proclaimed
Progressive, an Agnostic, and 83 years old. My wife and I provide
services to older blind and low vision folks on the Great Olympic
Peninsula, through our organization named, Peninsula Rehabilitation
Services. We've been at it almost 24 years and have worked with well
over 3,000 clients. I'm totally blind...for the past 55 years. Cathy
and I work as a team since living here in the deep, dark forest does
not allow a blind man the ability to travel to many of our clients
alone.
And just for the record, eating, sleeping, working, vacationing and
breathing the same air day after day finds us still deeply in love
with one another.
Carl Jarvis
(PS. Cathy's horse is down this morning. She's called the vet and is
trying to get him up and moving. I was going to buy a new keyboard
today, but it's looking as if I'll have to make do with these sticky
keys for a while longer.)
On 10/23/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hello Mary,
This list is suddenly becoming busy. We've acquired two new members and
will, I believe, be acquiring another one. It's an ill wind that blows no
good, they say. I do believe we can thank Mr. Trump for the rejuvenation of
this list. At any rate, I'll forward one of the Real News Network digests to
the list. It's a website which has excellent little news videos that you can
listen to and also, there's a text of each one, I believe. I'll forward one
of the digests. You go to the heading of the story in which you're
interested, which is also a link, and then, you move down until you find a
play button and press enter. If you find the website, you can sign up for
your own digests. The website is in Baltimore. Its founder, Paul Jay, comes
from Canada, and it does national, international, and local Baltimore news.
Some of my favorite people are on there: max Blumenthal, Ben Norton, Dean
Baker, etc.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Mary Otten
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2018 8:44 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] New member
Hi folks,
I just joined this list, of whose existence I had no idea until a friend
forwarded me a book recommendation from one of the BARD lists, where this
list was mentioned. I recognize Miriam's name from the bookshare list of
many years ago. We liked lots of the same books on political/historical
topics. Anyway, I joined out of curiosity to see what the list was like.
I've seen a couple posts, one of which mentioned the real news network, with
which I am not familiar. what is it?
Mary
