'Power to the People'

John Lennon would be 75 today, and the radio played his song Power to the People. Earlier this week a couple thousand people made a peace sign in New York's Central Park in response to Yoko Ono's call to honor John's birthday in this way.

Also today, the Tunisian civil society organizations that came together in a national dialogue won the Nobel Peace Prize! The leader of the Tunisian General Labour Union, Houcine Abass,i said, "It's a prize that crowns more than two years of efforts deployed by the quartet when the country was in danger on all fronts." The other groups in the quartet are the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, the Tunisian Human Rights League, and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers.

Tomorrow, my local peace group stands out in our town center to decry the U.S. war crime of bombing a Doctors Without Borders/Medecines Sans Frontieres hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan and to oppose bombing.

Also this week, United for Peace and Justice set up a Stop War Crimes in Afghanistan Letter to Congress that people can send to their elected representatives.

Bombing countries does not solve problems - it just creates victims as the millions of people fleeing war zones attests. More people are refugees in 2015 than at any time since the end of WW II.

The way forward is clear, we the people need to use our power around the world and protest in such large numbers that the ruling elites end the madness of their wars, and the abominable social policies of austerity. This is happening but tens of thousands aren't enough. All civil society organizations around the globe need to meet, just as the Tunisian groups did, dialogue, arrive at and determine a common agenda and program and work together.

Part of this will involve moving tens of millions of people into the streets to claim our rights to a planet at peace. This is a first step in curtailing the damage we inflict upon our planet, the damage that is causing climate change.

Power To The People - by John Lennon
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on

Say you want a revolution
We better get on right away
Well you get on your feet
And out on the street
Singing power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on
A million workers working for nothing
You better give 'em what they really own
We got to put you down
When we come into town

Singing power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on
I gotta ask you comrades and brothers
How do you treat you own woman back home
She got to be herself
So she can free herself
Singing power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on
Now, now, now, now
Oh well, power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on

Yeah, power to the peoplePower to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on