Resuming After a Forced Hiatus

In the process of a recent move, I have not been able to keep to the regular schedule readers here have come to expect. Fortunately, I am prepared to resume at least more frequent postings.

I begin this resumption with a link to the Occupy Oakland web site. I believe this is the best way to get an overview of what the group is doing constructively to move the effort for a more democratic and just economy forward. The actions of both police and protestors there this past week-end have become a source of controversy. In coming days I will be monitoring this controversy and plan to have more to say.

For now, there are several legitimate news organizations which have reported on the situation there, with varying degrees of fairness. This web log has long advocated non-violent methods along the lines of Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King in addressing social ills. Unfortunately, in the U.S. inequalities have grown so quickly in recent years there are those who have felt a sort of emergency response to the crisis must be given. The police for their part have been organized in quasi-militaristic ways which has not seemed to help matters.

Facts about Oakland are still emerging and I want to take the time to try to sort through fact and allegation before commenting further. For now, let us hope all violence can be avoided. Realizing this hope will require a higher level of good will and tolerance, especially on the part of those who are supposed to be mature individuals and in authority -- as well as the most careful kind of thought possible on the part of protestors who, admittedly, are thrust into a most important and decisive political moment of history.

http://occupyoakland.org/