We The People
We, the subjects of Covidland, live confusing, even schizophrenic lives. Ordered to shelter in place, separated from our friends and families, we hunker down with our devices, feeding data, day and night, to the insatiable algorithms of our tech overlords.
On the other hand we are told that we are citizens of democracies, with inalienable rights to speak our truth and demand redress from our elected public servants.
It’s all rather contradictory, and citizens around the world are seeking clarity.
Here in the US, it fell to the citizens of Idaho to demonstrate to the rest of us how our first amendment right to petition our government works in a time of COVID. When Idahoans heard that their Emperor Brad Little had called a special, in person legislative session, the citizens flocked to the Boise state capitol.
Initially prevented from entering the public gallery due to COVID19 restrictions, the democracy crazed citizens of Idaho proceeded to literally bust their way in.
Then, in a lower chamber crammed with spectators, Idahoans did a beautiful thing: with 43 out of Idaho’s 44 counties in stage 4 and with most Idaho counties experiencing either no COVID deaths, or single digit fatalities, the citizens told their representatives they wanted their lives back. They wanted their businesses to open back up, their children to return to school. They wanted to visit their friends, go to churches and gyms, hug their loved ones and smile at one another in public.
For several days the law makers listened to the people and finally at the end of the third day the Idaho legislature voted by a margin of 48 to 20, to end their state lockdown. Lawmakers cited Section 46-1008, of Idaho Code that states "the legislature may terminate a state of disaster emergency at any time”.
The response from Idaho’s Emperor was swift. Scoffing at the impudence of his ignorant, uneducated subjects, he declared that only he, the governor, has the power to end the lockdowns. He reminded his peons of the $117 million in federal coronavirus aid that would evaporate with the end of the lockdown - providing a glimpse into a powerful incentive that keeps state governors renewing emergency regulations.
Cowed, the Idaho Senate passed their own bill the following day, acknowledging the “contradictions and shortcomings in the Idaho Constitution regarding emergencies” and stating that the Idaho state legislature had no power to “end the orders of unelected officials”.
Instead of backing the house bill, the Idaho Senate provided their emperor with a wish list for a kinder, gentler lockdown, that the governor has agreed to review in the new year.
So much for we the people’s inalienable rights here in the US.
Over in Europe, millions of citizens have been taking to the streets to protest the lockdowns, with Germans leading the way. Fascism is still part of that country’s living memory, so it is apt that Berlin is ground zero in this fight for freedom.
On August 1, a crowd estimated to be likely a million strong took to the streets of Berlin, a colorful parade fueled by music, poetry, singing and speeches.
Corporate media has attempted to tar this massive, largely peaceful rally as a Nazi gathering, but footage from the event shows a vast crowd of people who look like you and me: families, the old and the young, people of all races, hugging each other, dancing, singing and laughing.
The police attempted to shut down the protest, but were hopelessly outnumbered. Hundreds of thousands of people simply sat down and refused to move; an awesome demonstration of what people united can achieve. Footage from the event shows the police filing on to the stage, but they don’t have the manpower to shut anything down. They attempt to bark their orders into the microphone, but the roars from the crowd overwhelm them. Weaving through the crowd, police officers lunge at random protestors, tying them up and marching them away – token gestures in a sea of joyful, defiant humanity. As far as the eye can see people are standing firm, chanting in unison “we are staying here!”
The state knows that the moment they fire a bullet or teargas, the game is over. They will lose all credibility, and without the public’s trust, our emperors will stand naked and exposed before their former subjects.
I encourage you to watch the footage of these events, and the many others held across the world: in London, Dublin, Paris, Vienna, Zurich and many more cities, including here in our state capital Albany.
When the corporate media plaintively wails in unison that the police have shut these protests down, they are missing an important qualifier. The police have “tried to” shut down these protests: tried but failed. We the people have numbers on our side. History has shown us time and again that united we will always prevail.
To the lying corporate media I would like to repeat a quote that appeared on many of the sign at the Berlin protests, the words of humanist and anti-Nazi philosopher Karl Jaspers: “Peace is only possible through freedom and freedom is only possible through truth. Therefore untruth is the destroyer of peace.”
Idaho house resolution: https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sessioninfo/2020spcl/legislation/HCR001.pdf
Idaho senate resolution: https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sessioninfo/2020spcl/legislation/SR101.pdf
Music from the Berlin event: SchwrzVyce – Fake News Media Propaganda