No Image

Look at what politicians & powerful people ACTUALLY DO. Don’t be fooled by their glib platitudes.

January 29, 2022 GlenAnderson 0

Politicians, businesses, and other powerful sources keep doing bad things but try to fool people by saying glib platitudes.  Do NOT believe at face value what they say.  Look at what they ACTUALLY DO. For four years the U.S. was ruled by someone who said he would “Make America Great.”  His actual policies did the opposite. Politicians and businesses keep saying things that the people want to hear, but their actual policies violate the public’s interests. Platitudes and hypocrisies have been around for a very long time.  Jesus kept denouncing people who kept trying to impress people with their religiosity, […]

No Image

On Sat. Jan. 22, 2022, Olympia celebrated the FIRST ANNIVERSARY of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

January 25, 2022 GlenAnderson 0

On January 22, 2022, the Olympia Coalition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (OCANW) joined with other peace groups all over the world and celebrated the first anniversary since the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) went into effect.  Now 59 nations have ratified the TPNW.  See information after the next paragraph’s report on a victory at the local government level.   City of Olympia’s proclamation: Bob Delastrada, Bob Zeigler, and other members of OCANW reached out to Olympia City Council member Clark Gilman, and during the Council’s regular meeting on Tuesday January 18, they adopted a proclamation supporting the […]

No Image

SEE THIS IMAGE: We’ve banned OTHER kinds of WMDs. Now let’s ban NUCLEAR weapons too.

January 25, 2022 GlenAnderson 0

People can indeed solve problems! Do not get discouraged! In recent decades we have banned SEVERAL KINDS of Weapons of Mass Destruction: In 1972 the world banned BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS. In 1993 the world banned CHEMICAL WEAPONS. In 1997 the world banned LAND MINES. In 2008 the world banned CLUSTER MUNITIONS. NOW LET’S BAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS TOO. Click this link to see the inspiring, persuasive image: We banned OTHER KINDS of WMD. Now ban NUCLEAR weapons   The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) went into effect on January 22, 2021, for the nations that have ratified it.  Since […]

No Image

Gandhi quotation encourages underdogs pushing against the Establishment

January 21, 2022 GlenAnderson 0

Mohandas Gandhi (the “Mahatma”) was a very savvy and strategic organizers of nonviolent grassroots movements. He knew first-hand what it was like to organize against a powerful Establishment, such as the racist, oppressive, exploitative British Empire. See this brief quotation, which all of us underdogs should find encouraging as we organize uphill against powerful political, social and economic oppressors: Gandhi quotation encourages underdogs fighting the Establishment                  

No Image

FLYER / FACT SHEET on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

January 21, 2022 GlenAnderson 0

The Olympia Coalition is joining the WORLDWIDE CELEBRATION of the first anniversary after the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) went into effect on January 22, 2021.  I sent our Saturday celebrations to ICAN, and they posted the information to the ICAN events calendar: https://www.icanw.org/106247/bannering_and_sign-holding_at_olympia_wa_usa Also, I wrote an EASY-TO-UNDERSTAND ONE-PAGE FLYER/Fact Sheet that succinctly explains the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, why it’s important, and how people can get more information.  I promote our Olympia group, our statewide WANW coalition, and ICAN. It needed a 14-inch page, so – if you want to print it […]

No Image

Bridging the gap between strategic and principled nonviolence

January 17, 2022 GlenAnderson 0

Some people think nonviolence is nice and ethical, but not strong enough to win results in the real world. Actually, “people-power” movements that are strictly nonviolent have been proven to be much more effective than movements that include some violence.  Nonviolence is a powerful methodology, especially when the organizers develop savvy nonviolent strategies to activate their principles. See this article about bridging the gap between strategic and principled nonviolence Stellan Vinthagen’s 2015 book “A Theory of Nonviolent Action” develops a new theoretical framework for what nonviolence is. https://wagingnonviolence.org/rs/2019/05/stellan-vinathagen-book-theory-nonviolent-action-review/          

No Image

Martin Luther King urged a “Radical Revolution of Values” — Learn about this here.

January 17, 2022 GlenAnderson 0

Our society and our whole world are in several serious crises all at once. Powerful forces keep making things worse.  They want to intimidate us — to make us sit down and shut up so they can continue to oppress us. But better values do exist, and nonviolence is actually more powerful than The Establishment.  (My free online workshop series “Nonviolent Grassroots Organizing” helps us understand and use nonviolence in clever, strategic ways.)  Ever since the Civil Rights Movement’s era, I have appreciated Martin Luther King’s strong, bold, radical message and his methodology.  I have read his books and studied […]

No Image

Martin Luther King recognized very serious problems, but he remained hopeful. We can be hopeful too — and keep pushing ahead!

January 17, 2022 GlenAnderson 0

The people reading this blog know a lot about the many problems — the many VERY SERIOUS problems — that endanger our world, our nation, and ourselves. It would be easy to sink into cynicism and despair.  Powerful forces want us to do that and to give up. But even while Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., recognized the horrible problems, he remained hopeful that we can indeed solve the problems.  We also need to stay hopeful — and stay strategically focused and active — until we win. I appreciate King’s “Testament of Hope.”  It still sounds as relevant today […]

No Image

The U.S.’s “democracy” is seriously weakening!

January 17, 2022 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S. likes to think of itself as the best democracy in the world — and a beacon and role model for other nations. American politicians like to brag about this. But ACTUALLY, the U.S.’s democracy has been SERIOUSLY WEAKENING for a number of years — and in several ways. Our nation suffers many serious problems, but extremely rich people and big businesses profit from those problems (pollution, low wages, racial injustices, an out-of-control and constantly escalating war machine, elections that are dominated by Big Money, news media that favor the Establishment, Republicans’ many deliberate actions to cheat in elections […]

No Image

“America First” is morally wrong, cruel, stupid, dangerous, and counter-productive in many ways

January 16, 2022 GlenAnderson 0

Trump pushed an “America First” dogma, but the slogan pre-dated him by nearly a century.  Isolationists tried to pretend that the U.S. could exist by itself without regard to the well-being of the rest of the world.  They believed we could get away with being selfish. Also, that was the English language translation of Hitler’s slogan, “Deutschland uber alles,” which meant Germany over everybody else.   Selfishness and contempt for other people are morally wrong for reasons any decent person should immediately understand.  The “America First” dogma leads directly to cruelty toward other nations. The “America First” dogma also leads […]

No Image

Let’s Recognize Legal Rights for Nature

January 2, 2022 GlenAnderson 0

The January 2022 episode of “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” provides a fresh perspective — and proposes a fresh solution — for some environmental problems that are serious but are not being solved by conventional methods. Glen Anderson interviewed two experts — Kai Huschke and Elliott Moffett — who have savvy insights and practical experience working to protect environments and establish legal rights for nature. Very often, when people want to protect the environment by filing appeals in governmental hearings or in courts, the environmentalists’ cases are dismissed because – even though the environment is being hurt – those individuals themselves are […]

No Image

Links to very smart articles to help us communicate more effectively about the climate — and other issues too

December 26, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

Smarter ways to communicate — instead of “the seven deadly sins of politi-speak”: https://www.nationofchange.org/2021/06/30/the-seven-deadly-sins-of-politi-speak/     Users’ Guide: Climate Messaging 1. Start with people, stay with people. Say why it matters (to you and your audience). Connect with values—family, community, working together for good. 2. Use facts wisely. Talk facts not science. You lose people with jargon and too many numbers. A memorable fact from a trusted source is far more powerful.  3. Make it concrete. Keep language vivid (wind and solar, not “alternative energy”). Start with personal (what we see at home), scale up to global. 4. Focus on […]

No Image

Christmas Eve & New Year’s Eve: Yes, Olympia’s peace vigils occur as usual both Fridays!

December 23, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

Olympia’s weekly peace vigils occur all year around, regardless of holidays and regardless of weather!   We warmly (!) invite you to join us FRI DEC 24 and FRI DEC 31 (and every Friday) from 4:30 to 6:00 (or as much of that time as you can spare) at the SW corner of 4th & Water downtown (across the street south from the Kissing Statue).  (This is for 2021, and our vigils will continue every week in the future too.) I’ll bring a good, varied selections of signs, or you may bring your own.  We support peace, human rights, nonviolence, […]

No Image

Smart insights for strengthening our organizing for the climate

December 23, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

My notes here summarize some main points of the article I’ve linked below – and add some of my own thoughts:   The article I’ve linked below says that – although 70% of the public is worried about the climate – this has not translated into real organizing.  Instead of playing politics (nice words and political wheeling-dealing, but falling short of making the bold changes that are necessary, the article says we need to deepen the public’s concern with a profound “change of heart.” Instead of “transactional” politics, we need “transformative” politics.  Without a profound change of heart we’ll be […]