A 'Nonviolent Army of Love' Rises in North Carolina to Face Down Rightwing's Assault on Progress

[Scuba]

Thank you North Carolina protesters!!!!!


http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/05/21-2

A 'Nonviolent Army of Love' Rises in North Carolina to Face Down Rightwing's Assault on Progress

"We’re going to continue our acts of civil disobedience because the General Assembly has made a cruel attack on the most vulnerable people in this state,” declared Rev. William J. Barber II, president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP.

A crowd of hundreds assembled outside the state's General Assembly building in Raleigh on Monday evening in a massive act of civil disobedience—the fourth consecutive week of demonstrations dubbed 'Moral Mondays,' spearheaded by the civil rights group.



"What started with tens of supporters and 17 arrests," reports the Associated Press, "has attracted hundreds of people of different age groups, races and professions to protest the policies of the General Assembly." The number of those being arrested has grown each week as well, with 57 protesters arrested during Monday's action bringing the total number to 153.

Individuals are risking arrest to draw attention to the policies of GOP Governor Pat McCrory and the conservative-run General Assembly—including cuts to social programs, education reforms, a rejection of federal funding to expand Medicaid coverage, and changes to voting laws—which protesters call "an assault" on the state's poor and unemployed. In response, the NAACP has amassed, what Barber refers to as, a growing "nonviolent volunteer army of love" to stand up against the "escalating Republican assault," writes local journalist, Bob Geary.

[clarice]

1. Go Go Go !!!! nt

[HappyMe]

2. Woohoo!

Good for them.

[cui bono]

3. k n r

[felix_numinous]

4. Way to go!!

Love, unity and non violence--the antithesis of fear divisiveness and hate.

[WillyT]

5. K & R !!! - THANK YOU !!!

[marions ghost]

6. I stand with these protestors

North Carolina

[octoberlib]

32. +1 !

[Politicub]

7. +1

[Skidmore]

8. It is about time the Sunday benchwarmers

Stood up for something.

[marions ghost]

9. huh?

[Skidmore]

19. How many years were these good Christians going to sit in pews and

politely listen to hate speech and endorse abuse of aged, poor, and disabled through their silence? How many years did they need to lend whatever voice they were willing to use to the endorsement of criminals like the Bush family and the Koch brothers just because they punctuate policies with the notion of god, capital "G"? I have not a lot a sympathy for these benchwarmers. Good, they finally got uncomfortable enough to decide to love their fellow man. Let's see what they can contribute. We wouldn't be in the mess we have found ourselves without them giving sanction to the dispensationalists, fundamentalists, and prosperity doctrinaires.

[marions ghost]

20. What are you talking about?

You are describing Rethuglicons maybe?

Half of the population of NC (at least) is in agreement with these protestors.

[Skidmore]

21. Were not the "Rethuglicons" the self-styled party of God in this nation?

Do you not recall those worshipful rallies for Bush? How much electioneering have we seen from the pulpits over the past couple of decades? We've talked about it here. How there always seems to be God's candidate and all else are heathens. We got two terms of God's candidate complete with God's Congress? I didn't vote for these idiots. Because a large group of Christians sudden discover their conscious and stand up when they should have been standing all along is not exceptional but something they should have been doing all along.

[marions ghost]

22. You think NC is nothing but rightwingers?

Uh no, the fundy Christians have NOT had a change of heart. (What, did Jerry Falwell come down on a cloud and tell em they're wrong?)

These Moral Monday protestors represent the large numbers of people in NC who have always been liberal in many ways & voted Dem. And they constitute over half the state. That's why the corporate Rethuglicons want to make sure that voting becomes harder and harder.

[Skidmore]

23. That "over half the state" isn't reflected in the election results when over half the state

voted Republican. NC always appears as a solid red state.

[marions ghost]

24. So you think

NC is a solid red state? How come it went for Obama in 2008?

NC is/was poised to go even bluer. That's why ALEC had to hijack it. And start rolling back all the voting reforms that people have worked so hard for years to achieve in NC. Read up if you don't believe me. NC is a battleground state & the stakes have never been more serious. These protestors are activist groups, NAACP, university professors, voting right advocates, progressive churches--NOT the tea party.

This thread from today has more background:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022877047

[ms liberty]

26. You' re off-base here, Skidmore...

NC had a dem majority in the state congress until 2012, and had it for quite a long time. We had dems as governors too, until this last election.
This is brand new territory for us.

[octoberlib]

31. Nc has had a Dem majority legislature for the past century and a Dem Governor for the past 30 years

until 2012. The Republicans won the legislature in 2010 and even though the Dems had more votes in 2012, because of gerrymandering Repubs got a majority of the seats.

[otohara]

10. Where Were They In The Special Election

60% voted against gay marriage.

Their fucked for a few election cycles if Dems continue to stay home during mid terms and specials.

[Lex]

16. You *they* were the ones who didn't vote?

I. don't. think. so. Not the ones fighting now. They were fighting then too.

[otohara]

18. Numbers Don't Lie

General Election - 2,178,388 votes for President Obama
Special Election - 832,219 yes votes for gay marriage

A whole lot of Dem folks stayed home in 2012 - 1,346,169

[marions ghost]

25. So many people worked hard for this in NC

too bad it had to be a special election.

[MoreGOPoop]

11. Yes, indeed!

Rainbow Power! We the People don't want your Fascism.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

12. Radicals!

First Look: Moral Monday brings more than 50 arrests | 05.20.13
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/21/2906828/first-look-moral-monday-brings.html#storylink=cpy

The speed in which Republicans are destroying this state is astonishing. And, yes, I voted.

[patrice]

13. Oh!! Such GOOD News! I'm very happy about this. Love & SOLIDARITY! nt

[freshwest]

27. +1

[hue]

14. Indeed NC has become another "battle ground"! K&R!!!

[northoftheborder]

15. This could catch on in other states.....

.....such as Texas......for most of the same reasons!

[marions ghost]

34. Other states

that are actively fighting this:

VA, FL, TX, WI, MI, OH, PA, MS, CO, IN ---and NC---We need to stick together.

These are the main "battleground" states.

Guess what-- the battles go on between elections.

[lastlib]

41. Democrats would do well to pay more attention to state politics!

It's how the Republikkkanz have gotten much of their power..

[xtraxritical]

17. Occupy should get involved. You rock NonViolent Army of Love!

[sheshe2]

28. Go North Carolina!

Thanks Scuba!

[RainDog]

29. k&r n/t

[Skittles]

30. I'll admit it: I am impressed

[octoberlib]

33. Thanks for posting, Scuba! nt

[mnhtnbb]

35. Happy to see fellow residents of NC responding. Hubby attended

an info session targeting health care folks led by an internationally known doc from UNC who was
arrested a couple of weeks ago. I also know two other people who are planning to rent a bus
to bring folks to Raleigh if they can get enough people interested.

The movement is definitely growing here.

[marions ghost]

36. If you run across anyone

who does NOT know "how it was done" in North Carolina, I recommend this article:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer

"In the spring of 2010, the conservative political strategist Ed Gillespie flew from Washington, D.C., to Raleigh, North Carolina, to spend a day laying the groundwork for REDMAP, a new project aimed at engineering a Republican takeover of state legislatures. Gillespie hoped to help his party get control of statehouses where congressional redistricting was pending, thereby leveraging victories in cheap local races into a means of shifting the balance of power in Washington. It was an ingenious plan, and Gillespie is a skilled tactician—he once ran the Republican National Committee—but REDMAP seemed like a long shot in North Carolina. Barack Obama carried the state in 2008 and remained popular. The Republicans hadn’t controlled both houses of the North Carolina General Assembly for more than a century. (“Not since General Sherman,” a state politico joked to me.) That day in Raleigh, though, Gillespie had lunch with an ideal ally: James Arthur (Art) Pope, the chairman and C.E.O. of Variety Wholesalers, a discount-store conglomerate. The Raleigh News and Observer had called Pope, a conservative multimillionaire, the Knight of the Right. The REDMAP project offered Pope a new way to spend his money...."

(The rest of this excellent, very readable New Yorker article is at link)---

[G_j]

37. I bet nobody has seen this story in the corporate media

it's been going on for a while. But in the meantime lets cry crocodile tears for the poor Tea Partiers..

[marions ghost]

42. Some local media covering

http://www.wral.com/49-arrested-at-moral-monday-protest-at-state-legislature-/12441971/

Nothing but arrogance and disdain from the Legislators who call it a "fringe group."

Excerpt:

"Is it worth the risk of being arrested or losing your job? For me, entirely," Ashton said. "The struggle is not only about the arrest, that is one part of a much larger plan that has a legal side and many other elements. The arrests are really important in drawing the nation's eye to North Carolina and what is going on here."

Republican leaders have dismissed the protests as the voice of a fringe group angry over the Republican takeover of the General Assembly. The Republicans won the state legislature in 2010, the first time in more than a century.

"They're just a disturbance. We know how they feel, and they know how we feel," said Senate Rules Chairman Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson. "It's just a lot of strain on our law enforcement guys and gals. We know how they feel already. It's not like our heads are in the sand."

[G_j]

43. I feel ill

words can't describe how disgusting that statement is..

[marions ghost]

44. They have no shame

--the arrogance of big money domination.

[gopiscrap]

38. Love this!!!

[lark]

39. Off topic

I soooo relate to your message "my governor (sic) is a criminal". I live in FL., so that is very true of the citizens of this state as well. In fact, ever since he bought the election, I almost always refer to him as our Criminal Governor except when I'm occasionally calling him Voldemort.

[marions ghost]

45. Solidarity

Florida & NC in the same boat

[lastlib]

40. God, I wish I could join 'em!!

I applaud these people!!

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