Op-Ed: No Refuge by Roger Burt

Every morning John Boehner has breakfast at a diner near his home in DC. It was fascinating to see him approached by two teenage Latino girls. Boldly and politely they expressed concern about immigration reform. Boehner, of course, was evasive.

The larger story was found, however, in the very fact of the confrontation. And now Latinos are staging vigils outside his home. There appears to be a stirring in America at every level which offers us hope that we can bring an end to the insufferable sedition and rampant racism of the right wing. Yes, I use those terms specifically. What we are seeing goes beyond something which can be dismissed as dysfunction of both parties. We are seeing undisguised racism and clear efforts by the right wing to bring government to a halt if not bring it down.

My attention has been grasped by indications that our world has a larger picture emerging. The End of Power by Moises Naim highlights a phenomenon which is stunning. In 1947 there were 67 sovereign states. As colonialism has declined we are now approaching 200. In 1977 there were 90 regimes considered authoritarian and the number has now shrunk to near 20. In America we are seeing a right wing that would visit authoritarianism on us but they are bucking a worldwide trend going in the opposite direction.

There is a companion book which highlights an important element of the process. Frank Lawlor brought to my attention a book called From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharp which is the most remarkable compendium of the means and the processes of bringing down autocracies with their dictators. The details are drawn from history and give activists a broad and detailed roadmap.

In this book, by implication, we can see the error that was made that led to the Syrian debacle and ruination. The opposition to Assad chose the worst possible way to oppose him and end his dictatorship. In contrast there were other countries where people who opposed dictators chose to place flowers in the barrels of the dictator’s forces and who talked to them as would their their wives and children. The case made by Gene Sharp is compelling overall and in its details.

And from his wisdom we can highlight the Latino girls and the people of the vigil giving Boehner no refuge. The people arrested as they tried to confront Cantor in his office are among the nonviolent activists who begin to compose a movement. Daily the indicators of a rising movement are made manifest. In these cited books are found the history of a worldwide process and the detailing of the essential nonviolent movement which will move us toward enlightenment.

I would contend the right wing nihilism will be ground away. Not attacked. Ground into dust by an evident movement across our globe. In the form of simple nonviolence we can leave these people no refuge. They cannot hide among their supporters when we appear as they begin and end their day. There must be no place to hide and certainly no refuge from the reality of the damage they do to their countrymen. In pervasive and diverse nonviolent confrontation we can make clear that we will not tolerate their lies and subterfuges nor their authoritarian, antidemocratic intent.

Roger Burt