Marcel M. Baumann writes: Dr. Martin Luther King taught us that nonviolence first transforms the person who
embraces it. Nonviolence is radical in the deepest sense of the word
because it changes the spirit behind attitudes. Once the spirit of
nonviolence is internalized, goals like domination, conquest or
retaliation no longer  drive behavior. When this happens the stage is
set for a dramatic transformation of the relationship.

We are challenged to experiment with applying his principles in our
daily lives, especially in resolving the conflicts that we encounter.
Dr. King taught that nonviolence is a powerful tool for revolutionary
personal transformation. As we begin to internalize these teachings, we
develop a greater sense of wholeness and meaning in our lives. We
cultivate virtues like love, truth, commitment, respect and courtesy,
courage, self-discipline, hard work, honesty and social responsibility.
These are the some of the core values involved in making nonviolence a
way of life.

Nonviolence as a way of life challenges us to rise above the
debilitating emotions of hatred and to purge our contempt and animosity
toward adversaries. Instead of returning anger with anger, we set an
example of emotional maturity. We educate the public and we win the
respect and support of the community. We acquire a moral and spiritual
power that can not be denied. To internalize the spirit of nonviolence,
we refuse to be bated into petty arguments. We challenge negative
energy and violence with a loving, positive attitude. This is how
nonviolence disarms adversaries. As Dr. King said, “Along the way of
life, someone must have enough sense and morality to cut off the chain
of hate by projecting  the ethics of love into the center of our lives.”

A commitment to study and practice nonviolence in our personal lives
gives us an edge in resolving conflicts and in achieving your goals
without making enemies. These teachings can help improve our family
relationships and our dealings with friends and our peers. Nonviolence
can help us more effectively communicate with our adversaries and
resolve disputes in a way that benefits everyone.

The way most people deal with a conflict is by first asking
themselves the question, “How can I get my way?” This is the normal way
of dealing with a problem. When we think this way, as we all do so
often, we let our egos manage the conflict.

But there is a better way. When we make nonviolence a way of life,
the first question we ask at a time of conflict is, “What is the most
loving thing to do?” When we think this way, we tap the power of the
soul. We overcome the narrow, selfish concerns of the ego.

We don’t want to destroy our opponent. We want to win their
friendship and understanding. We try to find a “win-win” solution,
which benefits everyone. This is how we create lasting peace. We
resolve the conflict, not with the attitude of a conqueror, but with
the motivation of a peace-maker. (01/19/09)
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Martin Luther King, Jr. said: Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we
stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came
as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had
been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous
daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years
later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.
One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled
by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One
hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in
the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years
later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American
society and finds himself an exile in his own land.

So we have come
here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a
sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the
architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the
Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a
promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was
a promise that all men would be guaranteed the
inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It
is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note
insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring
this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check
which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

But we refuse to
believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that
there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this
nation. … 

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the
true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident:
that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red
hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former
slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of
brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi,
a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression,
will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a
dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they
will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of
their character. … I have a dream today. (01/19/09)
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Johann Hari writes: Below the headlines about rocketing food prices and rocking governments, there lays a largely unnoticed fact: bananas are dying. The foodstuff, more heavily consumed even than rice or potatoes, has its own form of cancer. It is a fungus called Panama Disease, and it turns bananas brick-red and inedible.

There is no cure. They all die as it spreads, and it spreads quickly. Soon - in five, 10 or 30 years - the yellow creamy fruit as we know it will not exist. The story of how the banana rose and fell can be seen a strange parable about the corporations that increasingly dominate the world - and where they are leading us.

Bananas seem at first like a lush product of nature, but this is a sweet illusion. In their current form, bananas were quite consciously created. Until 150 ago, a vast array of bananas grew in the world’s jungles and they were invariably consumed nearby. Some were sweet; some were sour. They were green or purple or yellow.

A corporation called United Fruit took one particular type - the Gros Michael - out of the jungle and decided to mass produce it on vast plantations, shipping it on refrigerated boats across the globe. The banana was standardised into one friendly model: yellow and creamy and handy for your lunchbox.

There was an entrepreneurial spark of genius there - but United Fruit developed a cruel business model to deliver it. As the writer Dan Koeppel explains in his brilliant history Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World, it worked like this. Find a poor, weak country. Make sure the government will serve your interests. If it won’t, topple it and replace it with one that will.

Burn down its rainforests and build banana plantations. Make the locals dependent on you. Crush any flicker of trade unionism. Then, alas, you may have to watch as the banana fields die from the strange disease that stalks bananas across the globe. If this happens, dump tonnes of chemicals on them to see if it makes a difference. If that doesn’t work, move on to the next country. Begin again.

This sounds like hyperbole until you study what actually happened. In 1911, the banana magnate Samuel Zemurray decided to seize the country of Honduras as a private plantation. He gathered together some international gangsters like Guy “Machine Gun” Maloney, drummed up a private army, and invaded, installing an amigo as president.

The term “banana republic” was invented to describe the servile dictatorships that were created to please the banana companies. (01/19/09)
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