Photo by Ryunosuke Kikuno on Unsplash
Progress doesn’t come from above. WE create it—we create everything.
Elites everywhere fight with each other—because every one of them wants to be on top. Whether it’s communists or plutocrats or dictators, it’s always small groups of incompetent and self-important boobs who seem to be in control.
Why are they in control? Because we let them. No, we do more than let them. Letting them wouldn’t be enough because those fools are too small in numbers, in ability and in willingness to work to maintain a civilization.
We actively serve them—slavishly. We do all the work and we accept all the rules and systems and norms that they’ve put into place to justify this outrage. We work decade after decade, wasting nearly our entire lives, mostly producing useless crap—if anything at all—to keep their systems going and to keep them wealthy and powerful.
In turn, they offer us the myth that if we work hard enough and are as smart as them, we too can be successful and rich.
The act has grown thin. People are tired. They see a failed civilization worldwide—one that can’t even keep the Earth habitable. One that, despite the hard work and enormous productivity of us ordinary people, keeps us tired and fearful and desperate.
News flash: we are done with this. Just a few of us at first, but this will grow and suddenly instead of greed and hate and violence, we will take over and establish a society of generosity and love and peace.
And even the elites and their progeny will be welcomed to fully enjoy this sane new world.
The Message
Life is short and it’s foolish to waste this precious, strange, terrifying and wonderful existence.
We will not serve elites, or fight wars, or engage in violence, or buy into bigotry. We will produce only what’s needed—healthy food, medicine and the like. This will leave us the time and energy to LIVE.
We will end the climate crisis—which was created and accelerated by the greed of the elites. We will stop oil. Stop drilling for it. Stop processing it. Stop shipping it. Stop selling it. Stop buying it. And stop burning it.
We will listen to the scientists, and establish a worldwide emergency program to prevent climate collapse. We will defy the “leaders” and obey Nature. Because we respect and love life and Nature—and not ideologies that threaten our children and our ecosphere.
To destroy the planet we all live on, or to help others destroy it, is literally insane. That won’t be us. We are The Saners.
The Movement
We see many brave people and many groups working to protect our ecosphere and to end the deadly cooking of the Earth. But they haven’t succeeded and time is growing short.
We need a bigger movement, and one with a winning strategy. We have that group: The Saners. However, that’s not enough. The Saners must execute that winning strategy, and that’s what we MUST do NOW.
The Saners strategy is based on studying past movements—what works and what fails. There are no guarantees in life—only probabilities. But we DO know, for example, that movements using nonviolent noncooperation succeed TWICE AS OFTEN as violent movements.
And we know a lot more. We continue to learn, to hone our skills and expertise. But we know enough to begin NOW.
The Saners will use a strategy of nonviolent noncooperation in a series of escalating campaigns to end climate abuse, end the domination of elites everywhere, and establish a truly humane and caring civilization. Instead of wasting our lives as “Human Resources,” we will live our lives as human beings.
We know what we are doing. But the future isn’t pre-determined. It all depends on what we do. You and I and others. Like every movement, we start as a small group. We must grow to our full potential and stubbornly persist to free the human race from our folly.
The Slowdown
People go along with the elites because they see no alternative. They feel powerless. The elites hold the positions of authority, make the rules, enforce them. And the existing systems are underpinned by a rationale repeated endlessly by both propagandists, and those who have bought into those rationales.
We rarely think about opposing the existing elites except within the rules set by them. By voting or protesting. Neither seems to work.
We live in a world with billions of people who have given up without even trying. The systems have succeeded in neutralizing us.
What can we do? Can’t we do something?
Yes, we can do something but the most effective thing we can do is NOTHING. Stop doing their work. Stop actively supporting them. Stop following their rules.
We can hunker down, help each other and simply refuse to cooperate. It’s challenging, so HOW we execute this will require some skill and imagination. We don’t want to be starved or shot.
But we can do this. We’ve seen ordinary people oust “powerful” despots and humble empires—many, many times.
So, The Saners begins by spreading the messages—we CAN choose to be free and sane and kind and to live on a habitable Earth. We need to grow our movement, recruit new members, and begin developing the skills and habits of activists.
Then, we need to slowly dismantle this old insane world while introducing the new sane one. We will add teeth to our messages by calling in sick, with work slowdowns, by “making mistakes,” by quitting and establishing alternate systems of mutual support.
The elites are in a fragile position, 100% dependent on US every day. A loss of 5% would terrify them, and awaken billions to the power of our work—and of withholding our work.
The Saners is treading a well-worn path of successful movements. We are adapting it to our times and our situation—but the principles and techniques are gifts from our predecessors.
We are working to grind insanity and cruelty and greed to a halt.
The Sane New World
Life has inherent challenges and will never be perfect. Humans get ill and all of us die. But the bigger tragedy is to not fully live.
It is a civilization that enable us to live fully that we are establishing. Ours will not be new elites replacing the old. (In fact, the old elites will be welcomed into our sane new civilization with the same rights as everyone else and no special powers or priviledges.) We will have TIME to live, and—due to the sharp reduction in work, the ENERGY.
People everywhere will spend their lives contemplating, socializing, creating expressive works, communing with Nature, playing, and whenever desired…doing nothing at all.
The ridiculous values promoted by the old elites will be anomalies, mere nuisances to the degree that they still exist. People will be motivated by love of life, of their children, of others, of Nature Itself.
We will live our limited decades of life in the appropriate way, with values and behaviors worthy of the best of our potential.
Don’t tell me this can’t happen. In doing so, you ask me to believe the absurd lies of the elites, and to deny the knowledge I have of history and movements and what humans are capable of.
We are doing this. We will get this done quicker and more effectively with more people joining and participating sooner.
Who’s with me? We will be sending out an email of recommended actions regularly, guiding an ongoing series of escalating campaigns. We will ask you to do only what’s comfortable for you to do.
Sign up for The Saners’ email list at WeAreSaners.org/join.
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