Leah Henderson - Thank you Leah

This morning Leah Henderson was sentenced to 10 months in prison for herpolitical organizing against the G8/G20 Summits that took place in Torontoin June 2010. (1) Leah Henderson Statement to the Court(2) Leah Henderson Statemenent to her Community Both statements are at: http://conspiretoresist.wordpress.com/leah-henderson/

PLEASE POST WIDELY Group statement on the plea deal (Nov 22):

http://conspiretoresist.wordpress.com/about-2/

STATEMENT READ IN COURT AT SENTENCING HEARING

All you need to know about me is that I am a person of conscience, I came to this situation from a place of morality within myself, and I am amember of a community that shares that morality and a powerful vision fora future that is truly free. I stand here guilty of breaking your laws, not the laws of justice. The court has been told, “this prosecution is not political”, and thatthis has been done to protect society from danger. The truth is this entire prosecution is born from the politics of fear. Fear of our ideas, fear of what we represent: Freedom. A Freedom that your jails will not confine. I am not here for approval. I am here because this is what stands for justice on this colonized land. Though I stand here being judged by you, I am accountable to more, that is beyond these walls. I am accountable to the indigenous communities whose lands we are on. To the earth who we’re daily assaulting with saws, and chemicals. To theelders in my life and to the generations yet to come. The laws that govern our societies are not laws of community, or laws ofconsensus, they are laws of oppression. Laws that underpay and overworkmothers. That deport the poor and those of colour. Laws that robIndigenous Nations of their traditions, their land, their childhoods. Lawsthat blame the unemployed and rewards those that get rich on their backs. I have been deeply and profoundly affected by this process, but have notbeen changed by it. I have been moved by the incredible support that Ihave received, far beyond what I could have imagined. It has been mademore clear to me through this process that this vision for the future ispart of a groundswell. I want to say thank you to everyone that has supported me, thank you to myfriends, my family and my lawyer. I submit to your jails because today you hold many of the weapons, andmany people under your spell. A day is coming when that will not be so. A day is coming where the distorted mirror that hides the lies ofcapitalism and colonialism will shatter. Sometimes a cupcake, is just a cupcake.

A Letter to my community:

As most of you probably know by now, I have decided to plead guilty to the charge of counseling to commit mischief. Originally, I along with 20 others was charged with four counts of conspiracy in what was called the G20 main conspiracy group. I am writing because the past year and a half of facing these charges andliving under bail conditions has meant that I have not been able to talk as openly as I would have liked. My voice has been muzzled by the state, which has served as a powerful reminder of the many voices that are muzzled by the daily colonialism, patriarchy, racism and violence of the world. While the silencing of my voice has an end date, the work to hear the chorus of our grandmothers and the Indigenous Peoples whose land west and on is ongoing. I never considered that the people in power would see me, my community and our values as anything other than a threat -- because we are a threat. We are working to tear this system down and to make space for life-centered systems that make the 1% irrelevant. Those who benefit from the status quo have always tried to crush that. I want to tell you that I was arrested because I am seen as a threat. I want to tell you that you might be too. I want to tell you that this is something we need to prepare for. I want to tell you that the risk of incarceration alone should not determine our organizing. My skills and experience -- as a facilitator, as a trainer, as a legal professional and as someone linking different communities and movements --were all targeted in this case, with the state trying to depict me as a “brainwasher” and as a mastermind of mayhem, violence and destruction. During the week of the G8 & G20 summits, the police targeted legal observers, street medics and independent media. It is clear that the skills that make us strong, the alternatives that reduce our reliance on their systems and prefigure a new world, are the very things that they are most afraid of. I organize openly as an anti-colonial, anti-capitalist anarchist. My organizing is focused on movement building, and this commitment to buildskill sets and support other activists is another part of why the statehas targeted me. However, this attempt to deter me has failed, just as it has failed to deter thousands of others similarly facing police brutality and jail. I am strengthened in my resolve to build communities of resistance. We are building the structures of a new kind of society in the midst of the old, and we cannot do that without a commitment to skill-sharing, mutual aid and collective liberation. Since the G8 & G20 protests, Toronto (and beyond) has witnessed a wave of repression that has seen the justice system trap people and their communities in its jaws, using all of their time and energy to survive the resource-intensive and soul-sucking legal process. The state hoped that there would be no energy left to fight against them as they cut funding to essential services, ignored self-determination, and further criminalized poor people, migrants and people of colour. They were wrong. The awe-inspiring and humbling surprise in all of this is that we haverefused to be crushed and, in fact, we have grown in strategy, strengthand numbers: in Toronto, I've seen the anti-austerity movements grow with campaigns like “Stop the Cuts”; in Grassy Narrows, one day of powerful mobilization forced the government to listen to the community’s demands; globally, there has been a continued, intensified uprising that is showing collective dissatisfaction with the capitalist system and austerity agenda that the G8 & G20 per-petuate. I took this plea willingly. I consented today to confine myself to a cage, away from the people, work and struggles that I am connected to. I did this for a reason. As a group of accused, we come to organizing with different access to power. When the 17 of us found ourselves around a table facing a trial, continued disruption of our lives and livelihoods, possible convictions, jail sentences and deportations, it became essential that some of us plead guilty to ensure that the rest walk free. It was a decision that could not be and was not taken lightly. I was inspired, along with the rest of the 17, by a proud history of political trials, where people have chosen to plead guilty to end the legal process? if it resulted in the best possible deal for all involved. This plea is not a defeat. I am energized. I am hopeful knowing that we have each other's back and will take care of each other, even if it means that some of us go to jail. I am proud. I hope you are too. I am incredibly grateful for the people in my life who have been supporting me and who will continue to do so. To the women who have carried me through this -- you are my faeries with magick wands and combat boots; you've granted me wishes and kicked the crap out of anything I couldn't handle. Your care and support is revolutionary. May it become less invisible to the world. To my family -- every day I am grateful for your unconditional love and support; that I chose you when I came into this world is perhaps the greatest gift I have given to myself. To my community -- you have grown and expanded with me since my arrest; this growth is a testament to our strength. To my sureties -- you took me out into the world when no one else could; you housed me, sat on absurdly uncomfortable court benches while pregnant and while waiting to see if your own child would be released from custody. To the assistants, receptionists, lawyers, and legal workers that represented us -- thank you for your dedication and commitment. To my friends that stayed in to keep me company, moved me, brought me comfort and, most importantly, helped me to laugh and cry and rage-craft through this -- I hope that I can give half as much to you as I have received. To my co-evils (otherwise known as co-accused): "While I can’t have you, I long for you... I spin worlds where we could be together. I dream you." - Jeannette Winterson I've missed you, friends. After all this time, my heart still beats as one with yours. But things have changed, we have grown, my heartbeat sounds different -- I'm sure yours does too. Since we became wrapped up in this together, I have carried you with me everywhere I go. I'm excited to begin new relationships with you that don't have the state stuck in between us. Thank you for all that you have been through this process: fierce, vulnerable, honest, inspiring, loving, strong, and deeply committed to working collectively, challenging oppression and building communities of resistance. There is a complex combination of rage and inspiration that this experience has given me that cannot be summed up in one statement, let alone a lifetime of statements, but moving forward, I am energized andfilled with hope that we will continue to struggle together in creative, supportive and inspiring ways. I would say see you in the streets, but if you know me, you know that I'm more excited to see you in a meeting. With love, rage and solidarity,

Leah

Please write to me! If you don't know what to write, send my a copy of your favourite poem(s), recipes, you really like or short stories.

Leah Henderson

c/o Vanier Centre for Women
655 Martin Street, Box 1040
Milton ON L9T 5E6

Naomi Klein interview on Occupy Vancouver

Naomi Klein - interview with Occupy Vancouver from Ian MacKenzie on Vimeo.

Sit back and take it all in.

Resource Based Economy explained

The shocking truth about the crackdown on Occupy. - By Naomi Wolf

The shocking truth about the crackdown on Occupy
The violent police assaults across the US are no coincidence. Occupy has touched the third rail of our political class's venality.

US citizens of all political persuasions are still reeling from images of unparallelled police brutality in a coordinated crackdown against peaceful OWS protesters in cities across the nation this past week. An elderly woman was pepper-sprayed in the face; the scene of unresisting, supine students at UC Davis being pepper-sprayed by phalanxes of riot police went viral online; images proliferated of young women – targeted seemingly for their gender – screaming, dragged by the hair by police in riot gear; and the pictures of a young man, stunned and bleeding profusely from the head, emerged in the record of the middle-of-the-night clearing of Zuccotti Park.

But just when Americans thought we had the picture – was this crazy police and mayoral overkill, on a municipal level, in many different cities? – the picture darkened. The National Union of Journalists and the Committee to Protect Journalists issued a Freedom of Information Act request to investigate possible federal involvement with law enforcement practices that appeared to target journalists. The New York Times reported that "New York cops have arrested, punched, whacked, shoved to the ground and tossed a barrier at reporters and photographers" covering protests. Reporters were asked by NYPD to raise their hands to prove they had credentials: when many dutifully did so, they were taken, upon threat of arrest, away from the story they were covering, and penned far from the site in which the news was unfolding. Other reporters wearing press passes were arrested and roughed up by cops, after being – falsely – informed by police that "It is illegal to take pictures on the sidewalk."

In New York, a state supreme court justice and a New York City council member were beaten up; in Berkeley, California, one of our greatest national poets, Robert Hass, was beaten with batons. The picture darkened still further when Wonkette and Washingtonsblog.com reported that the Mayor of Oakland acknowledged that the Department of Homeland Security had participated in an 18-city mayor conference call advising mayors on "how to suppress" Occupy protests.

To Europeans, the enormity of this breach may not be obvious at first. Our system of government prohibits the creation of a federalised police force, and forbids federal or militarised involvement in municipal peacekeeping.

I noticed that rightwing pundits and politicians on the TV shows on which I was appearing were all on-message against OWS. Journalist Chris Hayes reported on a leaked memo that revealed lobbyists vying for an $850,000 contract to smear Occupy. Message coordination of this kind is impossible without a full-court press at the top. This was clearly not simply a case of a freaked-out mayors', city-by-city municipal overreaction against mess in the parks and cranky campers. As the puzzle pieces fit together, they began to show coordination against OWS at the highest national levels.

Why this massive mobilisation against these not-yet-fully-articulated, unarmed, inchoate people? After all, protesters against the war in Iraq, Tea Party rallies and others have all proceeded without this coordinated crackdown. Is it really the camping? As I write, two hundred young people, with sleeping bags, suitcases and even folding chairs, are still camping out all night and day outside of NBC on public sidewalks – under the benevolent eye of an NYPD cop – awaiting Saturday Night Live tickets, so surely the camping is not the issue. I was still deeply puzzled as to why OWS, this hapless, hopeful band, would call out a violent federal response.

That is, until I found out what it was that OWS actually wanted.

The mainstream media was declaring continually "OWS has no message". Frustrated, I simply asked them. I began soliciting online "What is it you want?" answers from Occupy. In the first 15 minutes, I received 100 answers. These were truly eye-opening.

The No 1 agenda item: get the money out of politics. Most often cited was legislation to blunt the effect of the Citizens United ruling, which lets boundless sums enter the campaign process.

No 2: reform the banking system to prevent fraud and manipulation, with the most frequent item being to restore the Glass-Steagall Act – the Depression-era law, done away with by President Clinton, that separates investment banks from commercial banks. This law would correct the conditions for the recent crisis, as investment banks could not take risks for profit that create kale derivatives out of thin air, and wipe out the commercial and savings banks.

No 3 was the most clarifying: draft laws against the little-known loophole that currently allows members of Congress to pass legislation affecting Delaware-based corporations in which they themselves are investors.

When I saw this list – and especially the last agenda item – the scales fell from my eyes. Of course, these unarmed people would be having the shit kicked out of them.

For the terrible insight to take away from news that the Department of Homeland Security coordinated a violent crackdown is that the DHS does not freelance. The DHS cannot say, on its own initiative, "we are going after these scruffy hippies". Rather, DHS is answerable up a chain of command: first, to New York Representative Peter King, head of the House homeland security subcommittee, who naturally is influenced by his fellow congressmen and women's wishes and interests. And the DHS answers directly, above King, to the president (who was conveniently in Australia at the time).

In other words, for the DHS to be on a call with mayors, the logic of its chain of command and accountability implies that congressional overseers, with the blessing of the White House, told the DHS to authorise mayors to order their police forces – pumped up with millions of dollars of hardware and training from the DHS – to make war on peaceful citizens.

But wait: why on earth would Congress advise violent militarised reactions against its own peaceful constituents? The answer is straightforward: in recent years, members of Congress have started entering the system as members of the middle class (or upper middle class) – but they are leaving DC privy to vast personal wealth, as we see from the "scandal" of presidential contender Newt Gingrich's having been paid $1.8m for a few hours' "consulting" to special interests. The inflated fees to lawmakers who turn lobbyists are common knowledge, but the notion that congressmen and women are legislating their own companies' profitsis less widely known – and if the books were to be opened, they would surely reveal corruption on a Wall Street spectrum. Indeed, we do already know that congresspeople are massively profiting from trading on non-public information they have on companies about which they are legislating – a form of insider trading that sent Martha Stewart to jail.

Since Occupy is heavily surveilled and infiltrated, it is likely that the DHS and police informers are aware, before Occupy itself is, what its emerging agenda is going to look like. If legislating away lobbyists' privileges to earn boundless fees once they are close to the legislative process, reforming the banks so they can't suck money out of fake derivatives products, and, most critically, opening the books on a system that allowed members of Congress to profit personally – and immensely – from their own legislation, are two beats away from the grasp of an electorally organised Occupy movement … well, you will call out the troops on stopping that advance.

So, when you connect the dots, properly understood, what happened this week is the first battle in a civil war; a civil war in which, for now, only one side is choosing violence. It is a battle in which members of Congress, with the collusion of the American president, sent violent, organised suppression against the people they are supposed to represent. Occupy has touched the third rail: personal congressional profits streams. Even though they are, as yet, unaware of what the implications of their movement are, those threatened by the stirrings of their dreams of reform are not.

Sadly, Americans this week have come one step closer to being true brothers and sisters of the protesters in Tahrir Square. Like them, our own national leaders, who likely see their own personal wealth under threat from transparency and reform, are now making war upon us.

Original

G20 Toronto 2010 - The nightmare continues

GROUP STATEMENT BY 17 PEOPLE CHARGED WITH CONSPIRACY DURING THE G20 REGARDING A PLEA DEAL

**Individual statement by all 17 will soon appear on our website**

November 22, 2011

As people across Turtle Island look towards theglobal wave of protests against the austerity agenda, the memory of the2010 G20 protests in Toronto looms large as both inspiration and caution.We are seventeen people accused by the state of planning to disrupt theleaders summit – the prosecutors call us the G20 Main Conspiracy Group. This alleged conspiracy is absurd. We were never all part of any onegroup, we didn't all organize together, and our political backgrounds areall different. Some of us met for the first time in jail. What we do havein common is that we, like many others, are passionate about creatingcommunities of resistance. Separately and together, we work with movements against colonialism,capitalism, borders, patriarchy, white supremacy, ableism,hetero/cis-normativity, and environmental destruction. These are movementsfor radical change, and they represent real alternatives to existing powerstructures. It is for this reason that we were targeted by the state. Although these conspiracy charges have been a big part of our dailyreality for the past year and a half, we have been slow in speaking outcollectively. This is partly because of the restrictive bail conditionsthat were placed on us, including non-association with our co-accused andmany of our close allies. In addition, those of us who did speak out have been subjected to a campaign of intimidation and harassment by the policeand prosecutors. We are writing now because we have negotiated a pleadeal to resolve our charges and to bring this spectacle to an end. The state's strategy after the G20 has been to cast a wide net over thosewho mobilized against the summit (over 1, 000 detained and over 300 charged) and then to single out those they perceived to be leaders. Beingaccused of conspiracy is a surreal, bureaucratic nightmare that fewpolitical organizers have experienced in this country, but unfortunatelyit is becoming more common. We can't say with any certainty if what we didwas in fact an illegal conspiracy. Ultimately though, whether or not ourorganizing fits into the hypocritical and oppressive confines of the lawisn't what's important. This is a political prosecution. The governmentmade a political decision to spend millions of dollars to surveil andinfiltrate anarchist, Indigenous solidarity, and migrant justiceorganizing over several years. After that kind of investment, what sort ofjustice are we to expect? We have not been powerless in this process; however any leverage we've hadhas not come from the legal system, but from making decisionscollectively. This has been a priority throughout, particularly in thelast several months, as the preliminary inquiry gradually took a back seatto negotiations for a deal to end it. The consensus process has been attimes a heart-wrenching, thoughtful, gruelling, disappointing, and inspiring experience, and in the end, we got through it together. Of the seventeen of us, six will be pleading and the eleven others will have their charges withdrawn. Alex Hundert, and Mandy Hiscocks are each pleading to one count of counselling mischief over $5,000 and one count of counselling to obstruct police, and Leah Henderson, Peter Hopperton, Erik Lankin, and Adam Lewis are each pleading to a single count of counsellingmischief over $5,000. We are expecting sentences to range between 6 and 24months, and all will get some credit for time already served in jail andon house arrest. Three defendants in this case had their charges withdrawn earlier and onehas already taken a plea to counselling mischief over $5,000 that involvedno further jail time. This means that out of twenty-one people in thesupposed G20 Main Conspiracy Group, only seven were convicted of anything,and none were convicted of conspiracy. The total of fourteen withdrawalsdemonstrates the tenuous nature of the charges. This system targets many groups of people including racialized,impoverished and Indigenous communities, those with precarious immigrationstatus, and those dealing with mental health and addiction. The kinds ofviolence that we have experienced, such as the pre-dawn raids, thestrip-searches, the surveillance, and pre-sentence incarceration happenall the time. The seventeen of us have moved through the legal systemwith a lot of privilege and support. This includes greater access to "acceptable" sureties, and the financial means to support ourselves andour case. While the use of conspiracy charges against such a large groupof political organizers is noteworthy, these tactics of repression areused against other targeted communities every day. There is no victory in the courts. The legal system is and always has beena political tool used against groups deemed undesirable or who refuse toco-operate with the state. It exists to protect Canada's colonial andcapitalist social structure. It is also deeply individualistic andexpensive. This system is designed to break up communities and turnfriends against each other. Within this winless situation, we decided that the best course of actionwas to clearly identify our goals and needs and then to explore ouroptions. Within our group, we faced different levels of risk if convicted,and so we began with the agreement that our top priority was to avoid anydeportations. Other key goals we reached were to minimize the number ofconvictions, to honour people's individual needs, and to be mindful of howour decisions affect our broader movements. Although we are giving up someimportant things by not going to trial, this deal achieves specific goalsthat we weren't willing to gamble. Our conversations have always been advised by concern for the broaderpolitical impacts of our choices. One noteworthy outcome is that there areno conspiracy convictions emerging from this case, thus avoiding thecreation of a dangerous legal precedent that would in effect criminalizeroutine tasks like facilitation. Taking this deal also frees up communityresources that have been embroiled in this legal process. We emerge from this united and in solidarity. To those who took us in while on house arrest, to those who raised moneyfor our legal and living expenses, to those who cooked food, wroteletters, offered rides and supported us politically and emotionallythroughout, thank you. To those in jail or still on charges from the anti-G20 protests, topolitical prisoners and prisoners in struggle, we are still with you. To communities and neighbourhoods fighting back from Cairo to London, from Greece to Chile, in Occupied Turtle Island and beyond, see you in the streets.

--Pat Cadorette, Erik Lankin, Paul Sauder, Meghan Lankin, Bill Vandreil,Joanna Adamiak, Julia Kerr, David Prychitka, Alex Hundert, Monica Peters,Sterling Stutz, Leah Henderson, Adam Lewis, Mandy Hiscocks, PeterHopperton, SK Hussan, Terrance LuscombeIf you would like to issue a solidarity statement, please emailtoronto.g20resist@gmail.com and let us know.

Money, money, money.

Occupying Wall Street or Bay Street or whatever street in your town is a great way to initialize a conversation with the powers-that-be. The thing you must keep in mind however, is that these people are merely a bi-product of a warped system, they are merely playing the game to the best of their abilities. They operate under a different paradigm then the 99% rest of us. So while open dialogue is great and a positive step in the right direction, what must ultimately happen for the system to gain the collective “reboot” that it requires, is for us (the majority) to starve it to death.How do we go about that, considering how plugged into the monetary system most of us are? Well, start at home and start with the little things. Reconsider all you have, credit cards, debts, and other such “financial instruments” and remember, they are not real. Money is a construct, it is not real.So, get rid of the excess, the credit cards, the debts, the ongoing headaches.

Do you really need all those mindless television channels? Get rid of the cable/satellite.Do you really need to drive the car to the corner store for a bag of milk? Take the bike out of the garage, or better yet, walk.How long are you going to hang on to those “things” that weigh you down? Rid yourself of the excess and feel how freeing it really is.Mostly though, move your money to a credit union and out of the big banks, if you have investments, get into silver, real silver, not certificates that are worthless.Most importantly, teach your children, the youth about what is really worthwhile and priceless in life. Relationships, friends, family, people. If there is one thing I have learned about me and money over the last 4 decades, it’s that I can always get more. Beg, borrow, earn, steal, whatever the method, there is always a way to get more. Time on the other hand, once wasted and gone, can never be retrieved.

Watch and share

Peter Joseph lecture - TZMNY

Toronto premiere of "How to Start a Revolution"

October 15th, 2011

UofT OISE Auditorium

7:30pm

The Toronto chapter of The Zeitgeist Movement is delighted to present the Toronto premiere of "How to Start a Revolution" a film by director and producer; Ruaridh Arrow, and he has agreed to be at the Toronto premiere of his film with us on October 15th, just after the Non-Violence Conference!!

About the film:
The film documents the life of Dr. Gene Sharp, the leading expert on non-violent revolution. The film takes the viewer through some of most recent revolutions triggered by Dr. Sharp's work including Serbia and Ukraine as well as more recently in Egypt and the on-going campaign in Syria. As groups across North America take part in occupy campaigns such as "Occupy Wall St." in dozens of cities (occupation is another method documented by Dr. Sharp), this message is as timely and important as ever. The film premiered at the Boston Film Festival in September and took home the Best Documentary honour. For more information please visit the film's website here: http://howtostartarevolutionfilm.com/

Inevitability

It's up to us to be the change.

Cultural Noise

History is not in text books

The End of America

The Power of One

Your pain is their gain.

Liquid Lunch

Peter Joseph responds

Collapse math

The revolution is now

Two great minds.

Preparing for Economic Collapse - Blogs at Chris Martenson

Today's contributor is Fernando "FerFAL" Aguirre. Many of our readers have expressed interest in hearing accounts from those who have lived through economic collapse. FerFAL experienced the hyperinflationary destruction of Argentina's economy in 2001 and continues to blog about his experiences and observations of its lingering aftermath. His website and his book Surviving the Economic Collapse offer windows into the probable outcomes to expect during a collapsing economy. Note: Our site's What Should I Do? Guide offers specific guidance relevant to a number of the steps FerFAL recommends below.

“How can I prepare for an economic collapse?” is one of the most common questions I get. It usually takes me a second to start to explain how complex such a question is. It’s like asking an auto mechanic, “Say, how do you build a car?” or asking a computer engineer, “What’s all that stuff inside my laptop?”

I do have some first-hand experience in this matter, though. The economy in my country, Argentina, has gone through various crises, but none as large as when the economy collapsed in 2001 after a decade of apparent prosperity. The currency devaluated, and Argentina defaulted on its USD$132 billion debt, the largest default ever. The middle class took to the streets after bank accounts were frozen, and the president was forced to resign, escaping the presidential building in a helicopter.

What I’ll do is, provide five quick foundational steps, based on what I know, for you to follow so as to be better prepared if something like what happened in my country ever happens in yours.

Step #1: Secure a percentage of your savings in bullion.
Five years ago, even the most paranoid person claimed you would never see “nationalized” banks in USA. The gung-ho survivalists claimed the entire country would go up in flames and open revolts would start before something as insane as a $700+ billion bailout to save the "too big to fail" rich elite was laid on the backs of the American working class. Yet here we are.
When I try to explain this very important issue to my American friends, they tell me that banks would never steal people’s money because there are laws against that in the USA. Their money is insured. We had those same laws in Argentina, but still it happened. We had a constitutional right to private property. Yet the constitution mattered little during the collapse. Go right ahead -- sue the government of the United States if something like that ever happens. Maybe you’ll get some of your savings back in a few years. If they feel like returning it.
What people don’t understand is that laws are written by men, not some greater power. As soon as those running the show feel an emergency decree or law is in order, existing laws are simply rewritten. They may even be ignored all together! What do you do if something like that happens? You may complain, you may sue, but you’re not changing the cold hard fact that as of right now that bank door is closed, that ATM has no money in it, and you still have to survive. This is something Argentines have experienced and know very well. Hundreds of thousands of us have banged the doors of our banks, for years, without a penny being returned. You still sued, and waited, and spent the little money you had by hiring a lawyer. You lose, they win…unless you have some of that money at hand before they decide to steal it.
Every single Argentine wishes he could go back in time, close his bank account, and put that money into gold. We would all do that if we had a time machine. Since you can't guess the future, all you can do is estimate what can happen and play the odds in your favor. In the event of a full economic collapse, if you have 20% of your savings in physical gold and silver, that’s a percentage of your savings that is spared. It's not an investment; don’t go crazy over gold and silver going up or down a few dollars, just be content that it's not getting any lighter as it sits in your safe. If the economy collapses or even if there’s simply inflation (as there clearly will be), that percentage of your savings in precious metals is safe and will likely go up in price beyond its standard purchasing power as things get worse.
During the first stages of a severe economic crisis, you will see ATMs running out of money fast, and many stores won't be accepting credit cards. As the saying goes, “Cash is king” during those times. Your precious metal can be sold to a dealer, but you better keep that stored for now. When everyone is running around looking for an ATM with a few bucks in it, having a month's worth of expenses in cash means you won't be one of them. Why not more than a month´s worth of expenses? Because if the economy fully collapses, that paper money will lose its value within hours. It may drop 50%, 60%, or 75%, as happened in Argentina. Who knows? All you know is that as the currency loses value, the value of the precious metals you have stored goes up in proportion. Still, during those first days, a wad of cash gets you what you need.
So, step one is acquiring precious metals (I generally recommend 20% of your savings but each person is a separate case) and a month’s worth of expenses in cash, kept safe at home.
Step #2: Stock up on food.

The more you have, the better. There may be periods of civil unrest like the ones we saw where stores are being looted and closed after that. There may be problems with resupply because of logistical complications. It's better if you already have 6 to 12 months worth of food in your expanded pantry. Also, keep in mind the food you buy now will be considerably cheaper compared to post-inflation prices.
This large supply of food will bring peace of mind in case of job loss, as well. Who knows how long it will be before you find another source of income? After the 2001 collapse, some people genuinely spent YEARS looking for a job without finding any. I can’t emphasize enough the peace of mind it brings knowing you still have some time, and that you can, in fact, put food on the table the following night.
The food should be long-term storage type, requiring little or no cooking, at least for some of it. Water is also essential, so having a two-week supply is advised. The minimum amount is a gallon per person per day, and you should double that for flushing toilets and taking an elemental bath in case the water service is interrupted.

Step #3: Acquire the essentials by putting together a survival/emergency kit.
This will include your typical camping gear: a tent, sleeping bags, a stove (have enough fuel for it in case services are disrupted), first aid kit, medicines, LED flashlights and several spare batteries. Depending on how bad civil unrest gets, there may be problems with the infrastructure. After the economy collapsed in Argentina, the power company simply couldn’t afford the repairs needed, and it hadn’t planned for something like this, either. Rolling blackouts became common, and having LED lights and rechargeable batteries was a blessing. You could easily spend two or three days without power during summer. At one time, downtown Buenos Aires was left without power for five days. Imagine the complications this brings. If natural gas service is interrupted, you may need other ways of cooking. A camping stove and enough fuel will get you through it.

Step #4: Improve your personal and home security.
If you ask any Argentinean what concerns him the most, 9 out of 10 people will have the same answer: security. In second place is the economic situation. Ten years after the economic collapse, things are nothing like they used to be. Half of the middle class became poor, and its standard of living has decreased considerably. We’re still a high-risk economy, and it shows. Inflation is still rampant and can be anywhere from 5% to 10% per month, usually hitting the middle class the worst. But that’s something we’ve grown used to. That’s something we can live with.
What concerns Argentineans the most is the crime problem, and the out-of-control violent crime we suffer is the major legacy of the 2001 economic collapse. Poverty sure didn’t help, nor did social segregation. But the greatest cause responsible for the crime levels we suffer is our own government. The liberal government that took control after the collapse considers criminals to be poor victims of brutal capitalism. The unofficial stance is that criminals have a right to steal, murder and rape - in their view, it's how the “poor” get back at the rich and middle class who thrived during the 90’s. Of course, with a government like that, the crime problem just keeps getting worse.
During the first days after the economy collapsed, civil unrest, rioting and looting was out of control. A state of siege and military law was declared, enforcing curfew hours after 10 pm. This lasted a few months, and for months after that, while order was recovered in the capitol district, there were still occasional revolts and looting. The sense of lawlessness extended way beyond the visible accounts depicted by the TV and general media. It's during times like these that you realize you must have means of defending yourself and your family.
My advice is to make your home as secure as possible against criminals that may take advantage of the lack of control during the worst of the rioting. After that, a better security plan for the entire family must be worked out. As things get worse, you understand that you can no longer afford to be lax about your personal and home security. Those that are quickly become vicitims. With a more secure home, you may want to consider having a weapon to defend yourself. Certainly not an easy decision, and one you must be extremely serious about. If you have the self-control and maturity to handle one, having a firearm and getting the minimum training to know how to use (it if it ever comes to that) is something you should consider doing.
Crime and insecurity will be one of the greatest threats people all across USA will suffer, and very few will be ready for it. It won't happen one dark gloomy night after watching the latest horror movie. It will happen in the Walmart parking lot at 3 pm, with plenty of people around (people who will hurry out of the way, pretending not to see anything). You’ll be thinking about what you just bought, that you maybe should have bought Lucky Charms instead of Corn Flakes. That’s when the nice-looking person with two other buddies, all well-dressed (with neat hair cuts, too), pulls a gun on you. Developing a sense of awareness will be the most important part, as well as making the rest of your family comprehend that times have changed and you can no longer be careless regarding security.

Step #5: Embrace a different mindset.
When Argentina went through its economic collapse, people handled it differently. Maybe the most common response was denial. The “I can't believe this is happening “ attitude was pretty popular. Others complained, but you soon understood it changed nothing: It only made you feel more miserable, more stressed, and that was something you could do without. Others just ended their misery. Suicide rates doubled after the collapse, with people sometimes jumping under the train at early rush hour in a desperate attempt to make their misery noticed by others.
What you need to do is become more positive, more active. Be someone who, while accepting those things you can’t change, does something about the things you can. Get involved now, do what I just recommended right now, it will bring you peace of mind. Remember to stay positive and put every problem into perspective. Complain less. You’ll have enough to complain about when inflation gets worse. Soon you'll understand that material things can be replaced, and you become more grateful for what you have instead of worrying about what you don’t.

It's essential to keep a positive attitude. Being someone that gets easily depressed will be the end of you as the economy worsens. Problems much worse that what you are used to will be a daily occurrence. You’ll just have to roll with it and learn to cope with the new world you live in. Reinforce your relationships with people. Fight stress by finding a hobby you enjoy, hopefully one that has a practical side as well. After the collapse, lots of people started their own businesses when they realized there were no jobs to be found. It would be better if you get started now, just in case you ever need it in order to earn a living.
These are my recommendations. I know many people could have used such advice back when our economy collapsed.
Some common questions regarding hyperinflation
How quickly does it happen?

These events occur fast, but there are warning signs: lack of investment; higher interest rates; unemployment. When banks start coming up with excuses so as to not give you your money right away when closing an account, that’s usually not a good sign.
As for inflation and hyperinflation, they happen right in front of your eyes. It actually happened to me that the price of an item I picked in a store almost doubled in price by the time I reached the cash register. The employee just placed the sticker with the new price over the old one (no time to remove them) Employees rushed around changing prices several times a day, all day long during the ongoing crisis. It was fun to peel back the stack of stickers with the different prices and see how they had gone up in a matter of hours. Rioting happens fast, too. Once the banks close rioting is just minutes away.

What happens to your savings/investments?
I didn’t have much but managed to close my account just a day before the banks closed their doors. My parents are accountants and saw the signs mentioned earlier. When we went to the bank a nice lady told us they didn’t have USD$1,000 in the bank. Our jaws just dropped. That same day we went to the main branch and closed the account my sister and I had. The next day all banks closed, the accounts where frozen.
As for real estate, that was a pretty safe investment. Eventually rents went up so as to compensate for the devaluation. Of course you were much better of with your money in bricks and mortar than in a bank account.
How does the populace react?
Violently, as you’d expect when your life savings are stolen from you.
What is the government saying/doing?

Laws were changed to make everything nice and legal. The excuses the then-president Fernando De La Rua came up with in his speeches during the crisis just made everything worse.
Just days before the bank holidays they promised none of that would happen. Same thing before the devaluation. They swore on their mothers's names they wouldn’t do such a thing, then did it the following day. Politicians tend to do such things, and they are all similar worldwide.
What happens to the capital markets?

The stock market dropped like a rock, then shut down. What surprised you the most was how everything was simply frozen in expectation. No one wanted to spend a single cent, not even to buy half a gallon of paint for a work site because you just didn’t know what would happen in a matter of hours, let alone next week. The biggest investors had sold and left the country months before everything went down. Another sign to look for.
Does violence and crime become an immediate concern?

Yes it does. While stores were the more common targets, houses were looted, too. The best thing to do was stay home, have a defendable position and be armed. I had looters not 20 yards away from my home. What do you do if they rush your home? Can you just open fire on them? What will they do when/if you do? All these things flash into your mind.
A significant amount of people behave because they believe there’s a punishment if they do otherwise. Once that fear is removed because the authorities have clearly lost control, you see the worst of people’s nature. It's not a pleasant thought, but it's better to be ready.
Take care,

Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre.

Preparing for Economic Collapse - Blogs at Chris Martenson

Deprogramming yourself

How To Deprogram Your Own Mind by A. Orange

Recognize that programming is everywhere, and it isn't all bad. Your programming started with your parents teaching you things, and both consciously and unconsciously programming you with all of their beliefs and attitudes. That is not necessarily bad — it is usually good. You are better off for having had parents who cared about you and wanted to teach you. But unfortunately, you also inherited all of their misinformation, superstitions, mistakes, and irrational and untrue beliefs.
And you also inherited your "culture", which includes all of the false, irrational, and wrong beliefs of your entire society. And you are left with the job of figuring out which of those beliefs are good and true, and which are stupid and crazy.

And you are always vulnerable to pressure from your peer group, which will always try to make you conform to their beliefs, standards, and behavior, even if your friends are not even really aware of the fact that they are doing it.
Recognize that programming and deprogramming are constant, on-going processes. Even while you are trying to deprogram and clear your mind, television commercials will be trying to program you into believing that you really should buy their product; you will be so happy if you do, and you'll be beautiful and get laid too. And the politicians will always be trying to make you believe that they are wise and right about everything, and if you are patriotic you will never criticize them.
Want to know the truth. This is essential. This is the whole ball game. If you don't want to learn the truth, then you probably won't.

Love the truth, even if it is sometimes inconvenient or unpleasant. Respect the truth, cherish the truth, seek the truth above all.
People stay trapped in cults, or trapped in illusions, because they don't really want to know the truth:
Sometimes, they are afraid to know the truth --
They fear that their world will fall apart if they stop believing certain things, or admit the truth of other things. That is one of the beliefs with which they got programmed — the idea that if they don't believe the right things, they will go to Hell, or they will lose their ticket to Heaven, or something else really bad will happen to them. One of the things that cults do is

implant phobias about leaving the cult, or learning the truth about the cult.
They are afraid of losing their status or membership in the group — they are afraid that they will be shunned and ostracized if they don't believe the same things as the other people around them. And they are just plain afraid of being alone.
They fear that they will have to leave the cult if they stop believing in it, and they will stop believing in it if they learn a bunch of negative things about it. ("Then what will I do with my life?!") So they plug their ears and close their eyes, and play "Hear no evil, see no evil..."
Some people just don't want to see that they were fooled.
"I refuse to believe that I spent twelve years of my life in a cult. It isn't a cult. It can't be a cult. It's a wonderful movement."As they say in A.A., "Denial isn't just a river in Egypt."
Some people just don't want to give it up.
"If I leave the group, I will be lonely because I won't have any friends. So shut up and quit telling me disturbing things about it."
"I have lots of time invested here. I'm a respected elder. If I quit the organization, I'll be a nobody."
Similarly, people who choose to stay trapped in addictions do not wish to know the truth about their addictions. Few people wish to hear that they are wasting all of their money on something that is poison to them, and wrecking their lives, and that continuing to consume that stuff is stupid? So they try out the minimization and denial tap-dance: "Well, yeh, it might be messing up my health a little bit, but frankly, I'm not ready to quit right now."
Don't condemn yourself. Self condemnation and self-criticism are part of the brain-washing and indoctrination process, and they are counter-productive when it comes to deprogramming. If you find that you have been programmed to believe some goofy idea, then just recognize that it is an irrational, illogical, goofy idea, and reject it, but do not condemn yourself for having believed it for a while.
It's just like, if, while exploring the Wild West, you find that you have an arrow stuck in your back, pull it out.
Don't wallow in self-contempt and guilt, condemning yourself for having stupidly gotten an arrow stuck in your back.
Don't imagine that you are somehow all fucked up for having gotten stuck with an arrow.
Don't imagine that finding an arrow stuck in your back proves that you are somehow inferior.
Just pull the arrow out and then get on with your life.
Now that doesn't mean that you shouldn't examine your behavior, and change it if you are doing something wrong. But be wary of excessive fault-finding and self-criticism. Cults will teach you to do that, and will even try to convince you that you will make yourself more holy by constantly condemning yourself and putting yourself down and feeling guilty about everything. All that really accomplishes is messing up your mind, destroying your self-confidence and self-respect, and making you unable to think clearly or act decisively.
Watch out for other people condemning you.People who want to control you will try to make you feel stupid, inferior, flawed, and mentally incompetent for disagreeing with them.
As mentioned above, self condemnation and self-criticism are a big part of the brain-washing and indoctrination process, so those who would like to control you would also like to get you criticizing yourself and being down on yourself. And Margaret Thaler Singer added that inducing feelings of powerlessness, covert fear, guilt, and dependency in the victims was also a part of the brainwashing process.
So don't let them make you believe that you are flawed and inferior. When someone is reading your beads and listing your faults, it almost always means that they want to control you — to change your behavior to something that they want.
Also watch out for other people trying to clip your wings, and keep you from being your whole self.
For example, one of the commonest crippling stunts that cults or churches pull on people is demanding that they not feel their feelings. "You must only feel Eternal Bliss" or "You must only feel Serenity and Gratitude", or "You must not feel sexual urges. That isn't spiritual."
Anger, especially anger at the evils of the cult and its leaders, is supposedly very bad.
Bill Wilson wrote:
It is a spiritual axiom that every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with us. If somebody hurts us and we are sore, we are in the wrong also. But are there no exceptions to this rule? What about "justifiable" anger? If somebody cheats us, aren't we entitled to be mad? Can't we be properly angry with self-righteous folk? For us in A.A. these are dangerous exceptions. We have found that justified anger ought to be left to those better qualified to handle it.Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, William Wilson, page 90.
What rot. You are wrong to get mad when somebody hurts you or commits crimes against you? Such anger should be "left to those better qualified to handle it"? And just who is that?Nobody.All it means is, you can't feel your anger. You have to "stuff your feelings."Pseudo-religious garbage like that will do a good job of crippling you, and keeping you from making trouble for your oppressors.
Likewise, some churches or cults will tell you that you shouldn't feel horny, or find the opposite sex attractive, or think about sex with them. Nonsense. Your brain is hard-wired to think about it and want it — That's what keeps the human race going. We would be extinct if we could be logical and rational about sex and having children. "Too much bother; a big hassle; too expensive..." But logic has nothing to do with it, and that's why we are still here.
Another common crippling stunt that cults pull on their members is demanding that members stop thinking critically — stop what they call "having doubts": "If you are really holy, then you won't have any doubts."Nonsense. Normal, sane, healthy people have lots of doubts when con-men and phony holy men try to foist a stupid illogical hoax on them. Those doubts are your remaining sanity warning you that something sounds fishy.
Similarly, cults and other mind-manipulators will tell you that you cannot trust your own mind and your own thinking (so you should let them do your thinking for you). If you buy into that idea, it will really cripple you. You won't be able to think anything without also thinking that it must be wrong, because you thought it. (But then the thought that your thinking is wrong should also be wrong... So your thinking must be right... But if your thinking is right, then it must be wrong... Now you are trapped in one of the classic Greek paradoxes.)
Beware of wanting to believe.
On the TV show "The X-Files", Mulder had a poster on the wall of his office that said, "I Want To Believe". That's okay for the X-Files and stories about flying saucers, but it leads to disaster in real life.
Instead of wanting to believe, want to know the truth.
Wanting to believe is perhaps the most powerful dynamic initiating and sustaining cult-like behavior.The Wrong Way Home: Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society, Arthur J. Deikman, M.D., page 137.
Billy Graham says that everyone really wants to believe in a dogmatic, fascist religion:
"The world longs for authority, finality, and conclusiveness. It is weary of theological floundering and uncertainty. Belief exhilarates the human spirit; doubt depresses."Billy Grahamquoted in Holy Terror: The Fundamentalist War on America's Freedoms in Religion, Politics, and Our Private Lives, Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, page 144.Also see: The Wrong Way Home: Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society, Arthur J. Deikman, M.D., page 143.
Certainty (as Billy Graham testified) is one of the great benefits of [dogmatic] religious belief.The Wrong Way Home: Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society, Arthur J. Deikman, M.D., page 144.
Watch out for self-deceptive ego games.
For example, in some cults or religions, they will flatter you and tell you that you are very important, and involved in very important work, doing the Will of the Lord, ushering in the Millennium, saving the world, if you believe what they say and do what they say. But if you buy into their game, it is you who is allowing yourself to be deceived, and it's you who is enjoying the big ego game.
Part of the attraction of believing the leader's views and actions to be of paramount importance is that the follower's own sense of importance is heightened.The Wrong Way Home: Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society, Arthur J. Deikman, M.D., page 67.
"If the leader and his religion are saving the world, and I follow the leader, then I am saving the world, which makes me very good and very important."
Conversely, if someone criticizes the cult, its leader, or its teachings, then that reflects badly on the member. If the cult member believes the criticisms to be true, then he will go from being a noble savior of the world to being just a foolish follower of an evil charlatan. So the member has a vested interest in rejecting any criticism of the group or its leader — all based on his own egotism. Thus he will resist learning the truth, out of purely selfish interests.
Beware of comparing apples and oranges.Beware of equating things that are not equal

.
For example, many people say that they really like the A.A. program because it is such a wonderful social club with such brotherhood and fellowship. Excuse me, but it is supposed to be an alcoholism treatment program — something that would make more people quit drinking. They seem to forget that it doesn't actually work to cure alcoholism, and just proclaim that it's great because they like the social life, the brotherhood and the "spirituality". That's mixing apples and oranges. When I go to the doctor to get some medical care, I don't expect a big party in the waiting room. I just go get the pills, and then go home. If I want a party, I go someplace else.
Watch your own mind.Watch your thoughts, attitudes, and slogans.Also watch your desires and fears.
This is the heart of the deprogramming program. This is a constant, never-ending task. Watch your mind all day long, or as much as you can remember to.
You have to not only watch what people are telling you, but watch how you react to it, and what it makes happen inside your head. Watch what you are thinking, and if you can, understand why you are thinking that.

Notice your desires, and how certain statements can arouse them. I'm not knocking desires, or asking you to. Just look at them and make a note of what it is you actually want: love, approval, status, importance, power, security, sex, youth, beauty, wealth, possessions, knowledge, wisdom, intelligence, compassion, virtue, goodness, spirituality, whatever. Then notice how certain ideas or statements can arouse certain desires. And then notice how some people (especially politicians) are skilled in tossing out buzz-words, phrases, and slogans that will arouse certain desires in you. They are messing with your mind by manipulating your feelings.
Likewise, watch your fears, and see how politicians and preachers are good at arousing them to manipulate your thinking.
"If you don't suspend the Bill of Rights and let the Homeland Security Force violate everybody's privacy and spy on everybody, then the nasty Arabs will get you."
"If you don't give the oil billionaires a big tax cut, and let them drill for oil in every wilderness and wildlife preserve in the world, then they will go broke and run out of oil and you will freeze in the dark."
"If you don't believe all this stuff, and give your money to the preacher man, then God will get mad at you and you will go to Hell."
Watch out for commonly accepted fallacies — the things that "everybody knows" are true, but which aren't, like "Everybody knows that the world is flat".
For example, it is commonly accepted that alcoholics can't or won't quit drinking until they "bottom out" or "hit bottom". That is completely untrue. People quit at all stages of alcoholism; some even quit before they could even be called alcoholics, because they see a nasty problem starting to develop.
So how did the idea that alcoholics must hit bottom come to be such a universally accepted piece of folklore? Well, what happened is Bill Wilson found that ordinary, relatively-sane people wouldn't join his cult religion or believe in his grandiose, bombastic sermons, or accept his brain-damaged superstitious nonsense. Only the really sick, frightened, dying people who were desperately grabbing at anything that might save their lives would swallow Bill's bullshit. So Wilson made up a story about how alcoholics can't really quit drinking and start to recover until they "hit bottom" and "the lash of alcoholism drives them to A.A." (see: Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 24.) A.A. members have been spreading that particular piece of misinformation for the last 60 years, and now, everybody who thinks he knows something about alcoholism repeats it. But it is still untrue.
You can find plenty of similar examples, everywhere. "The common wisdom" often isn't wise or knowledgeable.
Watch out for irrational beliefs. Our society is loaded with them, and you hear them often.
Some big red warning flags of irrational beliefs are key words like:
Should
Ought
Must
Have To
Deserve
Entitled

Statements that contain those words often contain assumed beliefs about values, like
"Look at those kids, being so sexy. They shouldn't act that way."
"It's Friday night, and I should be able to drink with my buddies. I deserve a drink. I worked hard all week, and now I deserve to be able to relax and enjoy myself now."
"The poor ought to go get a job, instead of complaining and wanting help."
"I deserve the best of everything, because I was born a member of the better class — I come from a very old-money family. We really are royalty, you know."
"The policians ought to tell us the truth. It's awful, the way that they habitually lie to us."
"I must pass this test or I'll go crazy."
(Beliefs about values may be true or untrue. They are not necessarily always wrong. The six examples above were selected because they all contain erroneous assumptions — even the one about politicians.)
Also notice the exaggeration of negativity — which Dr. Albert Ellis called "awfulizing":
"It's so awful, I can't stand it."
"It's absolutely terrible, and nobody should have to put up with it."
A good way to handle irrational beliefs is to dispute them with challenges like:
"Who says?"
"Since when?"
"Is that really true?"
"Where is it written in stone?"
"Where is the evidence for that?"
And there is the technique of "I would prefer", as in:
"I would prefer it if the politicians would tell the truth, instead of being a bunch of lying sleaze-bags, but if they persist in their practices of deceit and deception, I can stand it. I don't have to get all bent out of shape, and start drinking and doping, just because of them."
"I would prefer it if the American people were intelligent and wise enough that all politicians could tell them the whole truth, and still win elections, but if the American people persist in their stupidity, I can stand it."
Read Kasl and Sagan:Charlotte Kasl "Many Roads, One Journey: Moving Beyond the 12 Steps",andCarl Sagan "The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark".What those two books have in common is that they both push common sense and logic, and leave me with a sort of positive, upbeat feeling. They will help to clear things up and put some good ideas in your head.

Understand the games that the mind-programmers and brainwashers play on people's heads, and the techniques that they use for mind-control.
For instance, there is the phenomenon called "cognitive dissonance". What it means is: People want to keep all of their beliefs, actions, thoughts, and feelings in harmony with each other. People want to do what they believe is right and good, and if they do otherwise, they feel bad — they feel "dissonance". The "dissonance" is just like musical dissonance — it feels jarring and discordant and wrong.

Brainwashers have discovered that they can use cognitive dissonance to change people's behavior, beliefs, feelings, and thoughts — force a change in one, and the others will follow. If you force people to perform certain actions, they will eventually come to believe that it's okay — it must be okay, because they wouldn't want to be doing bad things all of the time. If you force people to say something out loud to a group over and over again, the speakers will eventually come to believe that it is true, because they don't want to feel like they are habitual liars. The subconscious mind's solution to the problem is: believe that it is all true, so now there is no conflict. (That's why A.A. instructs newcomers to "Fake It Until You Make It.")
Since we normally only reveal our innermost, most embarrassing and damaging secrets to our closest and most trusted friends, if we confess everything to a room full of strangers, then cognitive dissonance kicks in, and our subconscious minds will start to assume that those people must really be our closest, most-trusted, friends. That eliminates the conflict over having told embarrassing personal secrets to a bunch of complete strangers. Our feelings will actually change so that we feel much closer to those people. Organizations like Werner Erhard's "est" scam, Alcoholics Anonymous, and various cult churches use this technique to create feelings of instant intimacy, closeness, "brotherhood", and "fellowship" among the members of a group.
Likewise, if you force people to perform horrible acts, like kill Jews in a concentration camp, then the killers will change their beliefs about the victims to make their actions okay, and will eventually come to the conclusion that there is nothing wrong after all. "It isn't really murder because they aren't really people. They are enemies of the state, and need to be eliminated. They have it coming for what the Jews did to us. They are a threat to us, and must be eliminated." That stunt usually (but not always) works even if the killers had originally thought that Jews were okay people. (A small, seldom-mentioned detail of history is that not all German soldiers could stomach killing the Jews. Some soldiers had to be transferred out of the concentration camps because they were going nuts just from seeing all of the Jews killed.)

A recent movie showed how the Nazis would pick out some Jews to act as workers in the concentration camps, forcing them to manage the other Jews who were being herded into the gas chambers. Those worker Jews would of course experience horrible conflicts over their job of helping to kill their fellow Jews, but cognitive dissonance would kick in, and they would end up seeing everything in terms of proper order, proper behavior, and proper functioning: "A Jew who makes a fuss and disrupts the efficient workings of the gas chambers is a trouble-maker and a bad Jew. Good Jews should just go along with the procedure in an orderly manner and not make any trouble."

Break the exclusivity of information input.
Avoid getting all of your information from just one group or one source. (Any one source. Don't trust anybody that much.) Examine both (or all) sides of an issue. Don't let anyone dictate what you may read, see, or hear. One of the most powerful tools that cults or Communists or fascists use to brainwash people is information control — preventing the victims from getting any information contrary to the brainwashing.

Recognize that three different people who all say the same thing is not necessarily three different sources of information. For example, the evening news programs of NBC, ABC, and CBS may all tell you exactly the same story, just parroting the information that was just released by the White House. Also, the corporate owners of the networks often keep Jennings, Brokaw, and Rather from telling the ugly truths or asking the hard questions. Powerful stock-holders similarly muzzled the New York Times, and kept it from reporting how Gov. Jeb Bush rigged the Presidential election in Florida in 2000, so such problems are everywhere. (Jeb did it by removing about 60,000 honest black people from the voter registration lists, claiming that they were "felons".)
Sometimes, National Public Radio or Public Television will tell you something else, but sometimes you may have to go on the Internet and check out BBC or the London Times to get the other side of the story. And also check out Canada and Sydney, Australia, and New Delhi, India while you are at it. They speak English, too. And so do the people of New Zealand. (Remember "Lord of the Rings"?)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk == The Telegraph
http://www.guardian.co.uk/ == The Guardian
http://www.smh.com.au/ == The Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ == The Globe and Mail
http://www.vancouversun.com/ == The Vancouver Sun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers

Similarly, don't just listen to 12-Steppers to get information about alcoholism and drug addiction.
Like they said on The X-Files: "Trust Nobody. The Truth Is Out There."
Break self-programming.
People often get programmed to program themselves:
Think about the guy who is always playing "motivational" tapes that will supposedly teach you how to get rich quick or build up your self-esteem or something... Now lots of cults are into it too, and they have a set of tapes for you.
And then there are the people who are always reading the same book or small set of books over and over again, as if those books held all of the wisdom in the world.
Then there are people who just constantly repeat slogans, which effectively stops them from actually thinking.

And there are some people who practice meditation or chanting constantly, reprogramming themselves and stopping rational thought, all day, every day. (Note that meditation and chanting can be good things, but phony gurus teach people to use them excessively, as mind-control tools.)
And then there are meetings, services, and get-togethers. Churches and cults have church services and "Bible study" and socials, and A.A. and Amway have a meeting for every occasion. Note that this is a matter of frequency, and of how much time they take out of your life, and what they are really trying to sell you. One church service a week is normal for all churches, but when someone tells you to do "90 meetings in 90 days", or to come to motivational meetings or chanting or meditation or prayer or Bible study sessions every single day, then the warning bells should be going off in your head. And you should be hearing klaxon horns and air raid sirens when people brag about doing three meetings per day.

And then there is denial and rationalization. Some people will endlessly deny or rationalize every negative thing they hear about their leader or their church or cult (or their corporation or their political party, or whatever). They will never actually let a contrary idea get into their heads.
— Which leads to self-censorship. Some people censor their own minds, and will not even allow themselves to think one forbidden thought. So of course they stay programmed.
TV Commercials sell you images, and they are very powerful. Watch out. They tell you that you will be beautiful and sexually attractive if you look like their images."You want to buy these clothes, and style your hair like this, and wear these glasses, and lose weight, and make your waist narrower and your boobs bigger, if you are a female. And if you are a male, you will want to flash the cash and drive this kind of a car, and buy this kind of a house so that you can move in a trophy wife..."
They are selling you images of "the beautiful people". After a while, you will start to feel like there must be something wrong with you if you don't look and act like the people on TV. And you will start to think you must be a weirdo if you don't believe and say what the people on TV believe and say. But the beautiful people on TV are paid to only say non-disturbing things, to not rock the boat. They won't tell you about their sponsors — corporate polluters — poisoning your children, not a word. They won't tell you that the sponsor's car is a deathtrap, likely to roll over or explode in flames. They won't tell you that their sponsor cheats its own employees out of their retirement funds and health insurance. They won't say anything about their sponsors feeding your children pesticide- or herbicide-contaminated or genetically-altered food, not a word. That would be making trouble.So just how beautiful are those beautiful people, really? Are you sure you want to be like them?Nevertheless, those images are still extremely attractive, aren't they?

Years ago, there was a rather iconoclastic Commissioner of the FCC named Nicholas Johnson who said that there was a lot more on TV than meets the eye. He observed that furniture polish commercials actually sell expensive hardwood furniture as well as the polish. They imply that your life will somehow be happier, more elegant, genteel, and cultured, if you have a beautiful house full of the kind of furniture that requires furniture polish.
So, as you watch TV, watch how they are trying to program your mind. Watch what they are really selling. Notice what they are selling, besides what they seem to be selling.

As a defense, don't watch so much TV. And even if you are an addicted media junkie, you can still watch video tapes and DVDs instead of channels with commercials. That way you, not they, control your information input. Oh, and Public Television isn't so bad, either. And then there is the Internet. It has banner ads, but it just isn't nearly as hypnotic, and your information stream is not controlled by just a few giant corporations.

Read the web page on Propaganda Techniques several times. It helps to understand and recognize the stunts they pull on you and the mind games they play on your head to get you to accept certain ideas and beliefs.

(Republished without permission, because I thought it very worthwhile to do so.)

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