"I'm just a shrimper whose gonna stop eatin' to stop the war!"

So says Diane Wilson-- shrimper, peace & labor activist, and experienced faster-- in an interview with Medea Benjamin. Both women are co-founders of CODEPINK whose own efforts, as well as those of their supporters, will be the focus and political center of a fast scheduled to begin on July 4th, and continue until September 21st, International Peace Day. If by then, there is not a satisfactory plan in place to end the war, they will up the ante...
An excerpt, three questions from the interview:

Why don't you use other tactics, tactics that aren't
potentially damaging to your health?

We do. We've been marching, lobbying, getting arrested. I just did 3 months in jail for hanging a banner-120 days and $2,000 fine. We did a 4-month vigil in front of the White House. But it hasn't stopped the war, so we have to go further. We have to reach down into our souls. And during the fast, we're going to work with other campaigns-Voters for Peace, Cities for Peace, Declaration of Peace-and ask people to join these efforts.

The Declaration of Peace says that if there is not a satisfactory exit plan by September 21, International Peace Day, we'll engage in massive civil disobedience around the country to end the war.

How does the fast fit into this?

We will be encouraging people to commit acts of civil disobedience around the country that week. Fasting, engaging in civil disobedience, these are all "unreasonable" actions to ramp up the anti-war momentum. We've been too well behaved. I always say, "Reasonable women adapt to the world. Unreasonable women make the world adapt to them." It's well past the time to be unreasonable.

Will the fast really accomplish anything? Do you really think George Bush is going to bring the troops home because some people are refusing to eat?

I've seen throughout history how people have used hunger strikes. Gandhi won independence for India without firing a shot. The suffragists did a hunger strike to win the vote. Mitch Schneider fasted to call attention to the homeless. People in Belfast fasted till death to try to get the British out of Ireland.

Some fasts are successful, others aren't. You never know. There's certainly no guarantee of success. But I damn sure know that if we don't do anything, nothing will change. And I damn sure know that it's a time for action, not navel-gazing.

When you fish, you have to use your instincts. That's what the sea teaches you. I've learned to trust my instincts, my gut feelings, and my gut tells me that with this fast, we can create the space for change to happen. I don't know exactly what that will be. But I know that boldness can be magical. I believe that we can create miracles when we put the intent out there. And I'm willing to stake my life on it!

~*~ *~ *~

My own gut reaction is that such an action could have a huge impact... if publicized enough that GWB actually hears of it, and if enough people participate in it and/or support it. That doesn't mean that we will necessarily hear about the impact it has on Bush's psyche, but it will be there.

What makes me so sure? Even though we don't usually discuss astrology at this site, in this case it seems highly relevant, given that Bush's birthday, July 6, is just two days after the fast is scheduled to begin. What that means metaphysically is that the fast will start just two days before the Sun returns to the same place it was in the cosmos when Bush was born. A birthday is a sensitive cosmic event for each of us, essentially a personal New Year. His will be pre-empted by protestors fasting for Peace.

However, in Bush's case, there are many more factors at play. Cancer Sun Sign people often have a great fondness for food and drink. It is both security and a comfort for them, as well as nourishment. The very idea of someone refusing to eat is shocking... unless it is to manipulate someone else or to punish one's self, and perhaps these are the same. Whether young George ever manipulated his parents by refusing food, I have no idea, but his natal chart has three planets in his 3rd house-- the sector that includes siblings, early schooling & communication-- squaring his Sun in the 12th house.

The Square is considered a hard aspect, and, in fact, often requires obstacles, in order for the planets' energies to be made manifest. Astrologers often note that Bush's Cancer Sun is in the 12th house, and that its energy is not easily expressed; yet, others interpret this placement as someone who requires much private time. However, Bush's 3rd house with its stellium of three planets is very busy, and because it is ruled by Libra, a sign that constantly seeks to find balance and keep the peace, could easily create a lot of tension for him. Ironic, I know, but didn't I say that it wouldn't be easy for him? Actually, though, he has had, at least until the the second term of his presidency, a reputation (deserved or not) for communicating well with others. More likely, though, that had somethng to do with the natures of those 3rd house "planets:" Jupiter, Moon, and Chiron.

Jupiter here could help or hinder. My own observation is that a person's Jupiter placement often reveals an area where they tend to be overly generous, perhaps in a way that serves neither party in the long run. Yet, Jupiter is most often considered a beneficent body, and for Bush it might be the reason he has been able to connect so well with the public, which is also represented by the Moon.

The Moon, which is the key ruler of Bush's 12th house Cancer Sun is not especially helpful to him here, personally, simply because it is square to the Sun, an aspect that often represents parental conflict. Yet, it does bode well for communicating with both siblings and the public.

Chiron, more properly referred to as an asteroid, is the symbol of the wounded healer, and shows up for each of us in an area of our birth chart that represents a type of very deep wound, whether psychic or karmic. And... Bush did lose a younger sister to leukemia when they were both very young children. By all accounts he never really had an opportunity to deal with the grief, and, in fact, was actively discouraged by his parents from doing so. Over time, there can become a kind of strength in Chiron's placement, but it requires going through things, not around them.

What does it mean to Bush that this cluster of planets can represent the source of unresolved personal grief and yet provide him with the means to reach beyond his family? It sounds exceedingly painful to me, especially if you consider the rigidity of his personal schedule... early riser, vigorous daily exercise, and early to bed.

What will it mean to Bush to witness ordinary people, not merely letting go of their own lifes' structures, but literally starving themselves, out of a deep frustration with his unwillingness to listen to them? That people will be using such graphic means to communicate their grief so publicly-- remember, he is very private-- will truly shock him. Unlike the recent suicides at Guantanamo, a well-publicized fast or hunger strike by a critical mass of American citizens truly will be an act of asymmetric force.

We can only hope that the story reaches him.

OJ AND ANN PULL UP TO THE ALTAR

(By The Dromedary Syndicate) Author, commentator, syndicated columnist, one time lobbyist litigator, and all-round Queen Bitch Ann Coulter can add another name to her many titles—Wife. An unnamed source close to the action has revealed the revered-by-the-rabid-right and the lassie-lefties-love-to-hate 55-year-old fascistanista and iconic infotainment artist wed celebrity ex-murder suspect O.J. Simpson in an unnoticed ceremony at a drive-thru chapel in Las Vegas, while on a drunken spree celebrating the success d’estime of her new book, Godless. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his escort of the evening, along for the ride in the rented mirror-windowed black SUV, served as best man and bridesmaid.

"I've fallen in love with a very warm, gentle, understanding and focused person," said the clown princess of rightthinkery of Simpson, who she reportedly met the night of the wedding. "It was love at first sight. A new experience, a new day for me, ebony and ivory—I couldn't be happier!"

defending the Enlightenment...

Like Sara, I, too, am a fan of Digby and rarely disagree with him. I actually missed the post that she is writing about here, but was fascinated by her experience, and thought other Lyssa Strada readers would be, too. - Karen M.

"We progressives have to honestly deal with al-Qaeda, and what it represents. Humor and Cynicism don't do it."

Contra Digby By Sara, cross-posted from The Next Hurrah

Most of the time, I don't disagree or question much of what Digby posts, but today I got bothered by the tendency to deal with the challenge presented by Jihadist Islam with a mix of Cynicism and Humor. I don't think that is helpful, progressive, or enlightening. Much as I am a critic of things "western" or "American" -- I also am determined to defend the Enlightenment, and one really cannot do that without becoming anti-Jihadist. My point in earlier posts here [at The Next Hurrah] defending the something like 80% Majority in Denmark who believed Danes had rights to draw cartoons about any damn thing they wanted to draw about were essentially defenses of enlightenment rights. And we should know that the upshot of the Cartoons matter was 44 dead protesters, lots of cheese unsold, and lots of Danish Flags burned -- and not much more. But it was about much more.

The essential matter is the extension of Sharia Law to Muslim populations in Europe -- and beyond that, into the US by indirection. And beyond that -- it is about demands that such law be considered legitimate or valid.

Jihad has two meanings -- one, the understood notion of human perfectability attained through self examination and criticism, but the other, and the one that should concern us, is the idea that man can judge man (or know the mind of God) and kill in the name of perfection. That's what we saw on 9-11, and what many we encounter as belief. The first fits well into Enlightenment, the second, is way outside that idea set.

What bothers me about Digby's post is non-recognition of reality. We progressives have to honestly deal with al-Qaeda, and what it represents. Humor and Cynicism don't do it.

Let me be concrete. Back at the break between 1984 and 85 I was staying at Dean's Hotel in Peshwar Pakistan, between two archeological tours. Having spent 13 years taking care of parents, and having a small inheritance, I decided to spent part on a 3 month tour (or tours) in India and Pakistan. In the early 60's, (Kennedy Days) I had done some administrative stuff with the first Peace Corps in Pakistan, and in the 80's what I discovered (on site visit) was that our schools built with AID funds and staffed by Peace Corps had been turned into gun factories. Under Zia, our teachers run through an AID Funded teacher training academy in the 60's and 70's, could only do private tuition. They were political out's -- And they had to be very careful if they wanted to keep alive. But these are the guys who showed me the buildings which had become gun factories run by the Imams.

Between Archeological tours, I stayed at Dean's Hotel in Peshwar, and attended to interests from there. I had made early connections with two nurses who were funded by the World Council of Churches, WCC -- and were running a huge DOT (Directly observed Treatment) program for women and kids with TB in the Refugee camps around Peshwar. What I wanted was to observe, and I got much more. About a third of the women in the camps had TB, as did many kids, and what was on offer was 23 hundred calories and the proper drugs. But shortly after I observed, the TB Lab and X-Ray van was blown to kingdom come by Afghani Arabs. WCC did not replace.

When I was at Dean's Hotel in Peshwar in very early 1985 I came to understand that Doris Lessing, along with about a dozen Afghani women who had re-located to London and who were trying to found a magazine for refugee women, were also at the hotel. Now someone my age knows the "Golden Notebooks" and the rest of Lessing's importance, so an invite to tea with her and her women was something to be attended. Actually the Afghani women were mostly Doctors, who had managed re-training in GB and were not part of the National Health Service -- in Islamic Countries women are medically trained only to deal with women. If a woman has a breech birth and only a male MD is available, she dies most times. Anyhow the women with Doris Lessing had all been trained to British Standard, and that is not discriminatory.

It was the statements of these women who introduced me to what ultimately became al-Qaeda. They described how the Arabs were taking over the camps and defining the culture. They described how harsh it was. They outlined the religious-political motivation. Eventually Lessing wrote about it lightly in her book, "The Wind Takes Away Our Words" and while she notes, she says little. The point is that she said something about it in the 1980's, and in tune with the women she took to Pakistan and the camps -- supposedly refugees from the Soviets she was more than perceptive than the CIA -- but maybe somewhat more so.

[Originally posted at The Next Hurrah; click on the first link if you would like to read the comments.]

UPDATE: A passionate thread of comments/letters at Salon discusses, among other things, the nature of Islam.