>From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: Message from Richard Cowan >Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 18:02:53 -0800 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > > >Pubdate: Fri, 24 Dec 1999 >Source: Marijuananews >Website: http://www.marijuananews.com/ >Note: From MAP's Sr. Editor: It is a pleasure to make an exception to our >'no web published only items' standard for this message from Richard Cowen. >For readers who may not know, Richard's website is one of a number >supported by MAP/DrugSense on it's servers. > >Note: In the spirit of the holidays, we are sending you a message of hope >and compassion for our future. Best wishes for a very liberating New Year! > >THE YEAR ZERO -- Analysis By Richard Cowan > >The coming year will hold the imagination in many ways, but there are >several points which are real and not symbolic. > >2000 will see the first DEAland Presidential election in which the Internet >plays an important part, and the last Presidential election in which the >Internet is not the decisive medium. > >One of the purposes of elections is to raise issues, and this will be the >first DEAland Presidential election in which medical marijuana is an issue. >It will be unavoidable for the candidates and the media, and the Internet >will be the dominant medium for this debate. This will require that the >candidates actually inform themselves and take and maintain coherent and >consistent positions. > >The old mass media will use the Internet as reference sources for the >issue. We must use this leverage to force them to start using the term >"marijuana prohibition" and call it what it is. > >Mapinc ( www.mapinc.org ) will increasingly be recognized as being more >than just "anti-prohibitionist" and will be seen as a model for future >social change in the Internet age. > >It and other anti-prohibitionist sites will also be seen as models for ways >to disseminate news about -- and without -- the conventional media. > >The Hatch-Feinstein Internet censorship bill will help bring attention to >the marijuana issue, and it will also bring the Internet industries and >communities into the struggle for freedom. > >Cyber-fascism demands cyber-disobedience. > >The prohibitionist establishment will be increasingly desperate and vicious >in its assaults on individual freedom and will also redouble its efforts ­ >as reflected in the Hatch-Feinstein bill. > >Prohibition in general will come under increasing attacks as a "failure" >which will draw in critics who cannot ­ for whatever reason ­ bring >themselves to deal with the specifics of the fraud of marijuana >prohibition. This will be of great help, in that the anti-prohibitionist >movement still has such limited resources. But it will have other dangers. > >Already the prohibitionist establishment is trying to co-opt this movement >and convert it into a drive for the therapeutic state. Even the Drug Czar >is saying things like "We canšt arrest our way out of this." He is also >advocating an increase in "treatment." > >The "moderates" will advocate very limited access to medical marijuana to >buy off the middle-class, and will advocate "decriminalizing" personal >marijuana possession under conditions that will allow for the "re-education >and treatment" of marijuana users. > >This may be accompanied by an increase in enforcement against the booming >marijuana growing industry. However, it is already much too large to be >suppressed. > >Similarly, the DEA will completely abandon its efforts to suppress hemp >cultivation. The only question is how long they will try to stall, thereby >alienating more and more farmers. > >We will also see the increasing anti-Canadian propaganda converted into >actions along the Canadian border, justified by genuine concerns about >terrorism. > >Primarily, this will be implemented in such a way as to focus on marijuana >smuggling, which will divert resources away from dealing with terrorism. >There has always been a symbiotic relationship between anarchic terrorists >-- under whatever banner -- and state terrorists, who use the former as an >excuse for more power. > >Anarchic terrorists then use the state-terror as an excuse for more >violence. We will have the task of making sure that the people understand >that resources spent on suppressing marijuana would be much better spent on >going after killers. > >Bombs or bongs, which is the greater threat? > >It will also force a debate in Canada on the marijuana issues. It will >further identify marijuana prohibition with DEAland narco-imperialism. At >some point the Canadian politicians will have to start paying more >attention to the people of Canada, and less to DEAland and its agents in >the Canadian police. Canada will face the choice of sovereignty and freedom >or subservience to DEAland prohibitionism. > >I have no doubt about the outcome. > > >From Australia and New Zealand to Europe, more and more countries are >trying to find their way out of this morass, so Canada will not be alone. > >The marijuana resistance movement will continue to grow, supported by the >anger of the people as the deceit and brutality of marijuana prohibition >becomes better understood. > >The greatest problem that the prohibitionists have is that anyone who pays >attention for very long discovers that marijuana prohibition is built on >lies. > >After the initial shock of this discovery wears off, people are empowered >to act by the Internet ­ the medium through which most have discovered the >fraud in the first place. That is the big difference between the Internet >and other media. In the past, learning the truth from a book or a program >still left the citizen without a way to act. > >That is no longer the case. > >The marijuana resistance movement exists both in cyberspace and in the real >world. > >The San Francisco Bay Area is already moving away from marijuana >prohibition. The Feds simply do not have the resources for low-level >enforcement and have already admitted as much. George W. Bush's endorsement >of a states' rights approach to medical marijuana, will also be applied ­ >de facto ­ to personal ­ non-medical ­ use in areas where the local >authorities choose to "de-emphasize" marijuana enforcement. > >A commitment to non-violence does not mean passivity in the face of >violence. To witness a crime in silence is to commit it, and in the age of >the Internet silence is all the more inexcusable. The email that I get >reflects a sense of outrage that cannot be appeased by cosmetic changes. > >On the campuses, organizing the most wired population in the world will be >the next test of the Internet as a tool for social change and activism. The >only question is when and how, not whether. > >All of this will be played out against the symbolically loaded backdrop of >millenarianism, in several senses of the word. It is a time that is more >than ripe for change. It is a time that identifies itself with change. > >We must take advantage of this unique ethos in the first decade and to use >it to advance the cause of freedom. > >It is inevitable that marijuana prohibition will end, just as Communism >collapsed of its own weight and excesses. However, our task remains to be >sure that this happens sooner rather than later, so as to minimize the >number of extra victims it can take before it ends. > >Marijuananews http://www.marijuananews.com will be both a chronicler of >and catalyst to this process. My objective in the coming year is for it to >be a better tool for you to use. > >Best wishes for the holidays and a very liberating New Year! > > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: