Thanks to A Mighty Girl for this post.
Category Archives: Revolution
“Bring out your instruments and play love songs… Otherwise, what the hell are you doing here?” ~ Jthek (the undeclared leader of the peaceful revolution)
Art by Toni Demuro
“Song, songs kept them going and going; They didn’t realize the millions of seeds they were sowing. They were singing in marches, even singing in jail. Songs gave them the courage to believe they would not fail.” ~Pete Seeger
“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours.” ~Cesar Chavez
25 years ago on this date, the Baltic independence movement, called the Singing Revolution, reached a peak when the Latvian People’s Front joined with its counterparts in Estonia and Lithuania to form a 373-mile human chain (600km) connecting the three capitols, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius with 2 million people united in a call for democracy and an end to Soviet control. The Singing Revolution lasted more than four years, with various protests and acts of defiance. Lithuania was the first of the three Baltic states to start the movement. In Estonia, on the Tallinn road, they sang national songs and hymns, which had been strictly forbidden during the years of Soviet occupation, while rock musicians played. In 1991, as Soviet tanks were rolling throughout the countryside in an attempt to quell the Singing Revolution, the Estonian Soviet Legislature together with the Congress of Estonia proclaimed the restoration of the independent State of Estonia and repudiated Soviet legislation. Estonians stood as human shields to protect radio and TV stations from the Soviet tanks. As a result of the revolution, Estonia won its independence without any bloodshed. Additionally, when the USSR invaded the already independent state of Lithuania, thousands of people stood against the tanks and machine guns without fighting, but singing, emphasizing the idea that peaceful action can lead to victory.
Thanks to the Good News Network for this post.
“ Free love? As if love is anything but free! Man has bought brains, but all the millions in the world have failed to buy love. Man has subdued bodies, but all the power on earth has been unable to subdue love. Man has conquered whole nations, but all his armies could not conquer love. Man has chained and fettered the spirit, but he has been utterly helpless before love. High on a throne, with all the splendor and pomp his gold can command, man is yet poor and desolate, if love passes him by. And if it stays, the poorest hovel is radiant with warmth, with life and color. Thus love has the magic power to make of a beggar a king. Yes, love is free; it can dwell in no other atmosphere. In freedom it gives itself unreservedly, abundantly, completely. All the laws on the statutes, all the courts in the universe, cannot tear it from the soil, once love has taken root.” ~ Emma Goldman
On this day in 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Let’s take this moment to honor him today for his great and tireless spirit and selfless contribution to the progress of humanity. Much love and peace to you dear brother. We shall overcome!
“Oh, my friends, if there is any one thing that we must see today is that these are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old systems of exploitation and oppression, and out of the wounds of a frail world, new systems of justice and equality are being born. The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. They are saying, unconsciously, as we say in one of our freedom songs, ‘Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around!'” ~Martin Luther King Jr.
The Global uprising continues as thousands took to the streets in Australia this weekend to protest their corrupt government. Check out this very moving video ~ it’s so inspiring to see people everywhere beginning to stand up and rise into their power.
MOSCOW — Opposition to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine sparked an unexpectedly large protest march here Saturday, as tens of thousands of demonstrators waving Ukrainian, Russian and European Union flags chanted “No war!” and “Russia without Putin.” They wore armbands and ribbons in the Ukrainian colors of blue and yellow, ribbons in Russia’s white, blue and red, and the plain white ribbons that were a hallmark of the large rallies against President Vladimir Putin that blossomed and then faltered in 2012. “This is to show Ukrainian citizens our solidarity, so they will see there is another Russia, a Russia that doesn’t want war,” said Maria Lobanova, 30, who had come to the rally with her father, husband and two sons, ages 4 and 1.
Under The Blue Door 