Friends,
Here is information on a big push today for HR 5680. There is a rally on the Capitol.
I might be in the minority here, but I still believe there is a way to help Speaker Hastert “save face.” A better tactic might be to encourage him to be a champion of HR 5680. Portraying him as a shill for K Street might seem politically expedient (don’t know how), but it has deleterious long term consequences. Statements such as “Ethiopian-Americans across the United States are dismayed and surprised that Speaker Hastert has decided to thwart freedom, democracy and human rights in their homeland” [emphasis mine] are seriously unhelpful.
My representative has promised to push for an HR 5680 vote. It is essential we get our reps to rally for HR 5680 as well.
Ethiomedia has the best how-to posted here. Following up on our exercise to get 10 non Ethiopian-Americans in our respective circles involved, ask 10 friends to write their representatives. Make it easy on them by finding out who represents them (enter zip code here), then print out a sample letter, have them sign it and fax it off yourself.
Vigilance.
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Here is an interesting article on the “do-nothing” congress (New York Times).
4 Comments:
emebete wonqitu, I've already called Hastert and had one of my friends who's a staffer for another congressman walk over to the office and plead our case. Now give me a non political post, dammit. Maybe about that Ethiopian Paleontologist whose discovery has the scientific world buzzing. We should set you on a schedule. Like the Thursday Styles in the Times. Every thursday you focus on non political issues; Like how's the new bambino?
Dubster, (may I?)
I've actually been thinking of parody Fridays.
What is your staffer friend saying is Hastert's position?
Perhaps the following quote from Martin Luther King Jr. might help shed light on the current campaign to push HR5680 forward
"You may well ask: 'Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?' You are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue."
Parody Fridays? I can't wait.
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