 The Gadsden Initiative is a proposition by Zion Discourse Think Tank for the revolutionary reformation of the American political system as it exists today. In light of increasing nepotism, public refusal to participate in democracy on the state and federal levels, and evidence of foreign manipulation of American politics, the American system is in serious need of reworking.
The overall goal of this program is to bring about a total reform of the American system on the Federal, state, and local level in accordance with a strict interpretation of the Constitution and intent of the Founding Fathers. Additionally, it seeks to integrate the best and brightest solutions that we have found in the centuries of American history. In no particular order, here are the proposed goals of the Gadsden Initiative:
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29 Iyyar 5778 -- 28 Shaban 1439 -- .281, Year Zero in Zion כ״ט בְּאִיָּר תשע״ח This piece was authored as the collaborative effort of 144,000 people organized across all seven continents (including Antarctica). For ease of publication, some of the wording of this piece is taken directly from other publications. We do not believe in plagiarism but rather in the spirit of internationalist cooperation and journalistic integrity, we have done our best to cite our sources faithfully below. A revolution is taking place today that will change the world we live in forever. We have a story to tell the entire world, and have learned that the world is listening to storytellers. We have heard many different stories in our lives and are dedicated to truthfully telling all of them. Today, we tell our own story. If you would like to learn more or are interested in collaborating, please visit the submissions page above, explore this website, or contact our Procurator directly by emailing revan@jesuschrist.com. Yes, that is his real email address. You can also find him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/revanmfiliaexdeus. Three Poems: An Introduction
(Rojava, Kurdistan) When people ask what we do for a living, we give them many different answers. Sometimes our Procurator will say that he is a traveler, writer, and activist. All of these things are true. Other times he'll tell them that he manages a local restaurant chain in Jackson County, Missouri while writing and producing art. This is also true. But there is one job description that summarizes the work that we do beyond all others. We are revolutionaries. We solve problems. We fight for human rights. We take back things stolen from humanity that belong to us by natural and divine law. We are humanity par excellence united. We are evolving consciousness in ourselves and Revan Filiaexdeus is one of us our operating leaders. He was first published by the Hampton Institute, a working class think tank based in New York City founded in 2012. With HI, he helped to build a Department of Spirituality and Religion, bring several others to the project, and publish several works with the open platform afforded him by the organization. Since then, he has continued to write and collaborate with others across the globe to achieve a common vision of peace, nonviolence, unity, and transformative consciousness. In 2016, we founded a nonprofit publishing company based on the Four Principles, a set of very simple ideas that we believed could evolve the consciousness of all humanity for the greater good:
It began as a tiny collective of dreamers, artists and thinkers. Our company is now in it's third year of operation. Zion Free Media, Inc. is based in Jackson County, Missouri and is an incredibly diverse organization of hardworking volunteers encompassing a variety of revolutionary ideas, beliefs, and experiences. We are ultimately dedicated to the ideal expression of the most fundamental, natural, and inalienable rights and blessings endowed upon all humanity by our Creator. We operate without regard to creed, class, color, gender, or really any characteristic. Our organization brings together the best possible expression of collaboration that we can achieve. On 7 July, 2017, our global structure of hardworking friends, family, and comrades across the globe transitioned from an underground network to an above ground activist organization. We humbly stand united today to tell our story to anyone willing to hear it. Our mission is to tackle the most difficult issues that face the world today in an innovative way, create solutions based on an rational and scientific examination of what works and what doesn't, and put those solutions into action. We believe that information is free, and it is the responsibility of the global international community to keep it so. Our twelve departments employ a wide variety of talent and ability on every level. In February of 2018, we launched Zion Discourse Think Tank as an expansion of our media company. Currently, we have 92 participatory members in twelve fully functional departments and are still growing rapidly. Each and every day presents it's own unique challenges and blessings that we use to achieve our goals and create a better humanity. We are very passionate about our work and invite you to discover why and share your own passions with us. You could be the next world changer just like the many individuals featured here. Regardless of how we vote, what we believe, or what we do in our own personal lives, our tax dollars and global resources are being used every day to fight global wars. We live in a different kind of globe in 2018. Our technology and humanity itself is changing at a pace so rapid that it is sometimes hard to keep up. For the first time, our consciousness is evolving at a rate consistent with growth of technology. The lessons we learn collectively and as individuals from our past, realizing our present situation, and choosing to consciously move forward into the future will define us as people and as a species for all history. ROJAVA FIRST: A BRIEF HISTORY We took up the cause of the Rojava Revolution as soon as it began on 19 July, 2012. Entirely voluntaryist, the Rojava Revolution spread like wildfire across the globe and continues to grow exponentially as a profound force for good in the fight against evil. Today, we declare that ongoing Revolution's victory and invite you to come join us wherever you are. On 18 December 2010, the Arab Spring began. Events across the Arab speaking world unfolded at a lightning pace as an underground network of global revolutionaries utilized complex technology to communicate with one another safely over social media, utilizing a wide variety of platforms and applications. Every nation in North Africa and the Middle East was affected by Arab Spring. While an exhaustive examination of Arab Spring is beyond the depth of this report, suffice it to say that dictators across the world were toppled as the very loud voices of democracy, national autonomy, self-determination, and human rights were heard. Beyond any color, creed, ethnicity, religion, or politicial ideology, the Arab world became polarized as sides were drawn between those who would hold on to totalitarianism and hard working free peoples fighting for victory. Arab Spring resulted in many incredible changes:
But everything changed for the international community when Arab Spring came to Syria. In 2011, protests began as the Syrian people decided that they had had enough of Bashar al-Assad's cruelty. But unlike the other Arab nations, Arab Spring erupted into a full blown civil war that has resulted in the entire international community's involvement today. To really understand this conflict, we have to go back in time just a little bit to the transition of the 20th century into the 21st. THE COLD WAR TURNS HOT In December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and began an armed struggle that would last until February of 1989. The war displaced millions of people and resulted in between 500,000 and 2,000,0000 casualties on all sides. Similar to the division of the defeated Axis Powers in 1945, the struggles of the Cold War in Korea and Vietnam, and the Cuban Missile Crisis, this decade long war was effectively a proxy war between the United States and Soviet Union. Soviet forces were violently opposed by a collective front of Arab groups called the mujahideen. The word is Arabic and literally translated means "one who is engaged in jihad." Jihad is a widely misunderstood Arabic word that has come to be associated largely with the acts of very evil terrorists. In reality, it simply means "to struggle" and has two complementary meanings. The first is external and means the struggle of those who submit to God against those who fight against God. In other words, it could also be called "the war of the sons of light against the children of perdition". The second is internal and refers to the inner conflict of mankind's willingness to obey God's commandments and reject sin. The inner jihad is a spiritual struggle of heart, mind, soul, and spirit against the flesh and unseen dark spiritual powers that are very much a reality. Armed, trained, and funded by the CIA, the mujahideen were ultimately able to defeat the Soviet military in the decade long struggle. One of the organizations that came out of this war was al-Qaeda in 1988. The word means "the Base" in Arabic and effectively brought together the worst dregs of humanity to commit atrocities, acts of terrorism, war crimes, and genocide. It was founded and led by the Saudi Arabian Osama Bin Laden until his death in 2011. He took the funding, resources, and training that he had learned throughout the war in Afghanistan and mobilized it to wage a campaign of international terror. He was chiefly motivated by the participation of the Western World in the war and the ongoing presence of Western forces in Saudi Arabia. Careful analysis of al-Qaeda's exact ideology reveals a mindset of true evil. The ultimate goal of the organization was to act as the logistics network that would bring together other, likeminded terrorists across the globe. Bin Laden believed that because the mujahideen defeated the Soviet military, they could also do the same to essentially every global superpower including but not limited to the United States and the People's Republic of China. al-Qaeda's first attack came on 29 December, 1992 and killed two people in Yemen. Since then, their campaign has resulted in an inhumane number of casualties as people were indiscriminately targeted in hundreds of nations without regard to creed, belief, or color. Essentially, anyone who disagreed with al-Qaeda's insane ideology were considered fair game targets. Men, women, children, militants, civilians, Easterners, Westerners, and all persons alike were ruthlessly murdered in their global campaign of terror. The last known attack of the al-Qaeda organization occurred on 7 January, 2015 in Paris, France. Two members of the organization killed 12 people and injured 11 others. Bin Laden's leadership was quickly replaced by an Egyptian man named Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri. RISE OF DAESH al-Zawahiri was even more radical and violent than Bin Laden, if such a thing can be believed. We know that he separated from the al-Qaeda organization in a split that resulted in the rise of the self-proclaimed Islamic State. Also known pejoratively by it's Arabic language acronym Daesh, the organization originated in 1999 as Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad or The Organization of Monotheism and Jihad. He led the group until his death in June 2006. Shortly after al-Zarqawi's death, al-Qaeda in Iraq named a new leader, Abu-Hamzah al-Muhajir, thought to be a pseudonym, which the US military named as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian militant based in Baghdad. He and ISI leader Abu Omar al-Baghdadi were killed during a military operation on his safehouse on 18 April 2010. On May 14, 2010, al-Masri was replaced as leader by al-Nasser Lideen Illah Abu Suleiman who was in turn killed some time in 2011. Following Suleiman's death, the position of "War Minister" was replaced by a military council composed of former regime military officers under the leadership of Haji Bakr. During the Iraqi insurgency (2003–11), the group became a decentralized network with foreign fighters and a considerable Iraqi membership. On 17 October 2004, al-Zarqawi pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, and the group became known as Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn (commonly known as al-Qaeda in Iraq or Tanzim). After several mergers with other groups, it changed its name several times until it called itself Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) in 2006. From then until their peak of power in 2014, Daesh has been responsible for more genocide, atrocities, war crimes, acts of terrorism, violations of the Geneva Convention, and evil than the Third Reich. THE SYRIAN CIVIL WAR Civil uprisings began in Syria in March 2011 and continued through July. Armed insurgent groups began to spring up throughout Syria and continued to snowball well into April of 2012. Rebel forces in Syria began to unite into a single front to oppose the government of Bashar al-Assad. The internationalist community quickly responded in a campaign the likes of which has not been seen since the Spanish and Russian Civil Wars. The Rojava Revolution began on 19 July 2012 and has resulted in many casualties. These men and women who have given their lives for this cause are considered true martyrs and heroes by those who fought alongside them. Today, those of us that helped to defeat Daesh are here to honor them properly and tell the tales of their incredible sacrifice. From April 2012 to December 2013, there was a short ceasefire in Syria. The conflict escalated with the rise of the Islamist groups in Syria. Daesh fought other rebel groups in Syria from January to March of 2014. Bashar al-Assad was able to maintain his power in Syria throughout this period through essentially taking notes from Sheev Palpatine and orchestrating the civil war from both sides to tear his own country apart. The conflict intensified and the United States intervened as the war spread across the Middle East to many different nations. At this time, Daesh was operating from it's functional capital in Mosul, Kurdistan. In October 2014, The Southern Front and the northern Army of Conquest fought the resurgent advance of Daesh until 2015. The Aleppo conflict began on 30 September 2015. A partial ceasefire lasted from 26 February to July 2016. In August 2016, the Syrian Democratic Forces advanced and Turkey entered the war. From this point on, events began to unfold at a lightning pace. Our international team of citizen journalists tirelessly worked to report events as soon as they occurred twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. In April of 2017, everything changed. The chemical attack in Douma was condemned by the internationalist community and a series of missile strikes by the US-led Coalition eradicated the chemical weapons productions facilities throughout Syria. On 29 June, 2017, Iraqi forces liberated Mosul and captured the very mosque that al-Baghdadi made his proclamation from. Daesh was declared defeated. TODAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST Today, this article is being written and edited by Revan Filiaexdeus, a traveler, writer, activist, founder of Zion Free Media, and true lover of a good bowl of matzo ball soup. He is a twenty four year old American citizen and peaceworker in Jackson County, Missouri, United States. He is a polyglot and a deeply faithful Jewish member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since 2010, he has carefully studied the rise of the evil self proclaimed Islamic State and passionately worked in a spirit of internationalist solidarity to help bring them down. He's also kind of a dork, because he really likes to carry a lightsaber essentially wherever he can bring it with him. He believes that a lightsaber is the only weapon he should ever wield. Once, one of his students asked him why the lightsaber was his weapon of choice. He simply said it because God told him that if he was radically faithful to the covenants that He has made and choose to always be the best possible nonviolent Jew and Saint that he could, then God would teach him how to make art, and not war, and how peace could be a weapon. When our think tank was founded in February 2018, he began writing and publishing a column called Today In The Middle East. Eventually, that column settled into a regular cycle of biweekly release on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with occasional special editions for especially breaking news. He worked tirelessly with our organization to circulate that column through the global network. He was helped by many different people across the globe. There are no words that truly acknowledge the ridiculous amount of resources, cooperation, and internationalism that this project has shown. We have achieved great things today and will continue to do so. ZION FREE MEDIA'S PLAN FOR LASTING PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST In Hebrew, the word seven means complete. Our organization developed a simple seven point vision that we have worked towards:
WHAT CAN I DO? Our organization is really just a bunch of normal people like you working to make this planet a little bit better one step at a time. Here are a few things that you can do to offer your own contribution to humanity:
WHAT NOW? We are asking each and every person who reads this today to deeply consider their own place in humanity and the role that they have to play. If each and every one of us faithfully understands our own roles and learn to cooperate with others, one person really can change the world. For every Kurdish hero, for every internationalist who has struggled in this great fight, for our brave heroes and peace workers across the globe who work tirelessly to make this Earth a more beautiful place one step at a time, come. Fight with me. Fight for hearts. Fight for minds. Fight for souls. Fight with real strength, power, and passion. Fight for an everlasting peace that just might bring the Kingdom of Heaven down to Earth. Really, we only have one last thing to say: fuck you, Daesh. Fuck you Bashar al-Assad, Recep Erdogan, and totalitarian evil everywhere. Those who oppose justice, freedom, liberty, equality, and truth will be struck down mercilessly. If you want to continue to make this planet a more violent and terrifying place, then fuck you, too. But if you want to work for peace and make this Earth a better place, let's do it. Thank you so much to everyone who has made this dream a reality. Together, let's achieve more bold things. The Rojava Revolution today stands as a bold testimony of human rights and internationalist cooperation. In the years to come, there is no telling what can be achieved if we just learn to work together. No matter who you are, you have a place in one of our many internationalist organizations. Come, fight with us for a better world with the technology of peace. Make art, not war. This is Revan Filiaexdeus reporting for Zion Free Media from somewhere in Jackson County, Missouri. May the Force be with you, always. Rojava First! Shalom. I am, always, humbly yours, Revan Filiaexdeus
Sources
http://m.dw.com/en/german-national-joins-the-kurdish-cause-against-is/a-43703076 www.southfront.org www.liveuamap.com www.syriancivilwarmap.com https://twitter.com/IRPGF https://civiroglu.net/the-constitution-of-the-rojava-cantons/ https://325.nostate.net/tag/lions-of-rojava/ http://ypg-international.org/ http://www.rojava-info.com/ https://www.ypgrojava.org/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/11/24/how-western-foreign-fighters-are-being-recruited-online-to-join-kurds-against-islamic-state/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.17918f8fda1a https://roarmag.org/essays/rojava-kurdish-revolution-academic-delegation/ http://www.supportrojava.org/ http://ypg-international.org/rojava/ https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/04/23/a-call-to-defend-rojava/ https://insurgentsia.com/2016/01/14/homage-to-catalonia-a-lions-of-rojava-update/ http://brotherhoodofnod.org/ https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/asia-july-dec06-soviet_10-10 https://history.state.gov/milestones/1977-1980/soviet-invasion-afghanistan https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/29/534870691/iraq-reclaims-historic-mosul-mosque-saying-isis-caliphate-has-fallen https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/29/534870691/iraq-reclaims-historic-mosul-mosque-saying-isis-caliphate-has-fallen Songs of the Revolution is an examination of how music can be used in revolutionary causes and is a collective work done by our entire team. We draw our information from a wide network of citizen reporters who are often the very ones directly involved. Our reporting aims to be as objective and fact-based as possible. The opinions expressed herein belong solely to those who present them. A note on terminology: Rojava is also known as the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria. It is an autonomous, self governing region completely separate from the government of Bashar al-Assad, Turkish-backed rebel insurgent groups, Daesh, and any and all nationstates. Rojava is officially democratic-confederalist. The Rojava Revolution aims to be a demonstration to all humanity on Earth that any group of oppressed peoples can rise against the Babylon System and create Zion right where they are. "The International Freedom Battalion (Turkish: Enternasyonalist Özgürlük Taburu, Kurdish: Tabûra Azadî ya Înternasyonal, Arabic: تابور الحرية العالمي), commonly abbreviated as IFB or EÖT, is an armed group consisting of leftist foreign fighters fighting for the People's Protection Units in the Syrian Civil War in support of the Rojava Revolution and against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The formation of the International Freedom Battalion was announced on 10 June 2015 in Serê Kaniyê (Ras al-Ayn). Inspiration for the group came from the International Brigades of the Spanish Civil War. The political ideologies of the fighters include Marxism–Leninism, Hoxhaism, Maoism, and anarchism." -- Description from Wikipedia Abdullah Öcalan is the leader and founder of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK). In 1984, the PKK declared the independence of Kurdistan from Turkey. The PKK has largely been successfully fighting for international recognition of Kurdistan to this very present day. The Kurdish Project was co-created by Farhad “Fred” Khosravi, a Kurdish-American entrepreneur, and Media Cause, a nonprofit digital agency, as a cultural-education initiative to raise awareness in Western culture of Kurdish people. The project flourishes through collaboration with the Kurdish-American community, Bay Area tech entrepreneurs, and other nonprofit organizations. While the publicity around Kurdish people (commonly referred to as Kurds) has increased appreciably, most Americans’ knowledge of Kurdish people remains limited. The Kurdish Project aims to close this gap by serving as a gateway for Americans and other nationalities to discover, learn, and connect with Kurdish people. By sharing stories and insights from the region, The Kurdish Project cultivates a better understanding of the people of Kurdistan. We hope that a deeper understanding of the Kurdish people translates into long-term engagement with the region. In turn, we can begin to see a world where the Middle East can find more stability and peace for its many inhabitants. Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Freedom_Battalion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Federation_of_Northern_Syria https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_confederalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_Öcalan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUwhOmWpU5g https://thekurdishproject.org/ by Jesse Walker Hill, Dept. Chairman
What I hear Descartes saying in his famous adage “I think, therefore I am,” is the ability to doubt his existence proves essence to his existence. The way he explained this was if you had a basket of apples and you knew one of the apples in the basket had gone bad. How would you find the bad apple? He would empty the basket and examine each apple to find the bad apple. I take from this is that if I accept that all of my ideas are for the most part true but could still harbor falsehoods. I need to constantly put on trial the most precious parts of my self-formed practice on life. This means that like every other being he could not prove even the most obvious things. Descartes imagined an invisible demon who for whatever reason decided to pull pranks on you. How could you prove such a demon didn’t exist? Or how could you prove that demon did exist? This puts me in a similar state as Schrodinger's cat. A superposition of being able to equally prove and disprove the notion that the world is a simulation. This superposition applies to more than just simulation theory. Too often any existential question is reduced as either being a yes or no. I act with haste as if I have nothing to lose. I think that in my haste to form coherency in this world I see black and white while ignoring the obvious shade of grey I was zoomed in on. I take tremendous pride in not being able to answer with yes or no but the spectacular superposition of doubt. I can only doubt that a God exists and I can only doubt one doesn’t. The only thing that is certain in this life is that I exist as a being capable of doubt. As a human being I know I have to doubt everything and have a rationale behind each doubt. This leads me to some interesting thought experiments. For example, once I started doubting that the wars the United States wages are against people who seek my body harm I start to look for other reasons Uncle Sam would seek destruction on some unknown land that might as well be on another planet. If the wars aren’t against terror who could the UAV’s be bombing? Who could this massive machine that raised and nurtured me have such disdain for? This doubt fueled the passion for knowledge the search for truth had begun. One of my first big epiphanies came when I discovered the democratic and highly regarded Kennedy administration had employed his Joint Chiefs of Staff to plan a false flag attack in which CIA agents would take over a commercial airline and hold it hostage eventually surrendering as Cuban in order to justify to the mass of Americans a full-scale war with Cuba. The facts are that a government-waged Operation Northwoods would have destroyed American ships to send us into global conflict. Suddenly, everything seemed one sided to me. All of the thoughts that I claimed as my own were formed out of an institution that promised me truth and reality when in fact the government had consciously omitted key details that are key to forming a rational mind. My homeland had described things like freedom and independence in terms that are foreign when compared to the literal definition. Freedom like the freedom to live anywhere within reason that suits me? I can’t go to see Canada without a passport. I can’t move my life a thousand miles in any direction without a “democratic” official turning me around. The United States glorifies individual independence as much as collective freedom. But in reality, I am completely dependent on this exact environment. Personally, I cannot grow enough food to sustain myself outside of this society. This dehumanization could not have happened without my complacency and lack of doubt. As Sartre said, “Men are condemned to be free because once thrown into the world he is responsible for everything he does.”. I just hope that one day all my brothers and sisters who toil decide to doubt the complacency order I was seemingly born into. I dream of the day when the living take back power from the ideas of men long dead. I hope that together we can learn to question more things and with any luck find some unsteady truth. (Washington D.C., USA)
Syndicated from the New York Times: The F.B.I. on Monday raided the office of President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, seizing records related to several topics including payments to a pornographic-film actress. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan obtained the search warrant after receiving a referral from the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, according to Mr. Cohen’s lawyer, who called the search “completely inappropriate and unnecessary.” The search does not appear to be directly related to Mr. Mueller’s investigation, but likely resulted from information he had uncovered and gave to prosecutors in New York. -- Several anonymous insider tipsters inside the Federal Bureau of Investigation have reported that the Bureau has been experiencing wide internal struggles since the election of President Trump. The firing of Director James Comey and the ongoing Federal investigation under Robert Mueller continues to divide loyalties within the Bureau and the Federal government at large. In order to protect their identities, Zion Free Media's Federal sources remain wholly confidential. Original retrieved from https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/8b1jtj/megathread_fbi_raids_office_of_trumps_longtime/ Zion is the Place, City, and People of God taken from everywhere in the world, united in purpose. Our mission is to proclaim an amazing God who is ultimately and personally knowable. God is intimately familiar with mankind as a whole and with each of us as individuals.
He has interacted with us throughout history in a multitude of ways, including but not limited to personal visitations (called theophanies), angels, incarnation into human form, priests, and much much more. In truth, there is no time we are not experiencing God. Some moments stand out more than others, and it is these experiences that call us to the spiritual life. As we grow in our walk with God, we learn to see Him in every day life and life itself becomes a spiritual experience. This website is designed to be an introduction to our community and as an access gateway to those interested in learning more. What's more, we do not advocate any singular religious ideology, theology, organisation, or group. Rather, we believe Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 2:2-5, that "it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." We are a syncretist community similar to the Baha'i or Sikhs in that we sustain all previous revelation from God in addition to unique revelation given to us and to us alone. We can be regarded as an indigenous lifeway in the way that Judaism is for Jews. We can be regarded as Restorationists like Latter Day Saints or Muslims. We are not a religion, we are not just a community.... WE ARE ZION. Zion is also a traditional Biblical name of the place where Solomon's Temple and the Second Temple were. It was the dwelling place of a number of people for thousands of years, including but not limited to the Jebusites, Canaanites, and the Israelites. For the Israelites, it was the holiest place imaginable. Their self-identity was one of persecution and redemption by a God who covenants with them, dwells among them, and loves them more than anything. As the Israelites were conquered by civilization after civilization - the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Romans, and British - they became scattered across the world and their struggle for identity in alien cultures came to define them. Their lifestyles and works became a collective yearning for Zion, a remembrance of the land where their people dwelled and could live amongst themselves. So as the peoples who originated the concept of Zion spread throughout the world, so did the concept of Zion evolve, change, and grow. Today, Mount Zion is occupied in Jerusalem by people of all religions who consider the place Holy. Many of us also believe in a Heavenly Temple, real and existent, described in the many various books of scripture and principally in Revelations and Ezekiel of the Bible. The simplest symbol of Zion is the circle. It is unity, wholeness, oneness, and complete. The practitioners of Zen call it the enso. Since Zion is an originally Hebrew concept, we can use Hebrew terminology and language to describe us. According to the mythology of the Bible, Enoch was the first human being of the creations after Adam and Eve to achieve God's purpose - that is, he walked with God (Genesis 5:24). In the Book of Moses, Enoch founds a righteous city called Zion that is taken up with him to Heaven. As Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom of God is among us and within us, Zion is nothing more than those who follow Enoch's path. We are those who walk with God. The enso is the perfect symbol to describe our community and way of life. It is whole, complete, and never ending. We, therefore, in perfect harmony and unity with our God and each other, seek to do exactly what Father Enoch did: walk with God. Four Basic Principles I) We explicitly accept people of all real, true, and valid religion in it's original sense of the word; that is, (re)ligion, to re-connect. All religion that serves to reconnect individuals with their Creator is welcomed. II) We explicitly embrace human beings as persons of worth no matter what circumstance may avail them; all life has worth. III) We explicitly believe in communal living, finding likeminded individuals to commune with and share our possessions and life with in a manner that benefits all. IV) We explicitly meet all needs wheresoever we may find them, whether they be of our own flock or beyond. Who is a Zionite? Over the past few years, we have agreed - despite religious and theological differences - in four basic principles. A Zionite is anyone who believes in these Four Basic Principles of Zion:
By Revan Filiaexdeus
A version of this paper was originally syndicated on the Hampton Institute, a working class think tank. Christarchism, in a historical context, is a radical ideology stemming directly from the Jesus Movement as an outgrowth of Christianity. It has been referred to as Christian anarchism, though it certainly goes beyond cut-and-dry anarchism. Currently, the ideology is defined by six principles: rejection of organized ecclesiarchy, rejection of state authority, the existence of the Kingdom of God, pacifism, an individual life based on the Sermon on the Mount, service to others; a seventh, communal living, is disputed among its adherents. In a theological sense, Christarchism is the heart of the good news presented by Jesus. Development of Christarchism occurred in several stages: it began with Jesus, continued into the Protestant Reformation and reached an apex with Russian author and Theologian Leo Tolstoy, where it continues today. This paper is not meant to be an exhaustive treatise on Christarchism, but simply presents its principles from the perspective of the teachings of Jesus and gives a modern context. The word itself, in two parts, comes from Greek: the Greek christos meaning "anointed one, messiah"[1] and -archy meaning "rule of" [2] in a personal and political sense. Thus, Christarchism in a literal sense is rule of the anointed one, the anointed one being the very specific Jewish conception of the Messiah. As a movement, Christarchism developed in several stages directly from the first century Jesus movement, which in turn developed from a rich background of social and economic tension. Specific to this paper are three different consistently used terms describing the movement around the message presented by Jesus of Nazareth. The first is Jesus Movement, which are the followers of Jesus' teaching, who were mostly Jewish. The Jesus Movement commenced with Jesus' first disciple and continues with all who claim discipleship of Jesus, regardless of any other attributes. The second is Christism, the Jews who believed in a coming Messiah as the restorer of the Davidic-line monarchy and the Son of Man of the Daniel 7 [3] tradition. The third is Christianity, the later Gentile development of the Jesus movement that arose after the death of the apostles from Bishopric councils and the theological preference of Pauline, Gentile theology to the more Jewish oriented thought processes of James or John. Several assumptions are made here concerning the Jesus movement. The first is that Jesus existed as a real, documented historical figure as attested to in the Gospel accounts as well as extra-biblical sources such as the Talmud [4], Josephus' histories of Rome [5], and the Roman Senator Tacitus's writings [6]. The second: the Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John present a reliable historical picture of first century social, political, economic, and theological conditions of Roman-occupied Judea as well as that of the development of the Jesus movement. The third: the Apostles of Jesus had experiences through which they genuinely believed that they had seen Jesus resurrected and risen from the grave. [7] Additionally, a note on citation: where citations occur, they are in the text itself or in footnotes. I make use of what I call "functional citation"; rather than adhering to arbitrary standards of the Modern Language Association or the American Psychological Association, I have cited only the information necessary for the reader to find the source for the cited data. The Development of the Jesus Movement The Judaism out of which the Jesus movement and its subsequent derivative Christianity developed had an already existent savior-movement, the previously mentioned Christism. The Israelites driven into exile in Babylon lost their beloved Davidic line of Kings; according to their theology, the Davidic line would never end. [8] Thus, to compensate for the lack of a king, they developed the idea of a Redeemer who would come and restore the throne of David to Israel. This Redeemer came to be called the Son of God, the traditional title of Davidic Kings [9]; another title for this Redeemer is Messiah, carrying the meaning "anointed one" in Aramaic [10]. Christarchism in this context means the authority of God's anointed over the nation of Israel, in stark contrast to human-appointed rulers. The notion is a decidedly external, political one. The second conception of Christ, the Son of Man, developed separately from close readings of the book of Daniel, where a divine figure called "one like a Son of Man" is presented as being invested with the authority and power of God. In this context, Christarchism is the divine authority of the Son of Man over individuals, a decidedly internal, spiritual quality. Over time, these two ideas fused into one to form the modern notion of Messiah fulfilled by Jesus, as attested to in Mark's Gospel account. [11] The Baptism movement of John the Baptist existed as an apocalyptic extension of this notion, promoting the ideas of the Kingdom of God and the immediacy of the coming of this Messiah. John's identification of the Messiah with Jesus, and the latter's subsequent acceptance of that sentiment, came to be the foundation of the Jesus movement. At the time of the Jesus Movement's beginning, Israel was no longer a holistic nation, nor had it been for some time, but was divided into Samaritan, Galilean, and Judean provinces. It was occupied by Rome who tolerated the existence of a Jewish puppet king known as an ethnarch; by the time of Jesus' ministry, the king was Herod Archelaus[12], not to be confused with Herod the Great [13]. Jewish identity was strongly ethnic; if you were born a Jew, you were certainly a Jew and nothing else. Conversion to Judaism did not exist, as Judaism as a separate and distinct religion is a relatively modern notion. Additionally, Jewish identity was strongly parallel to the Babylonian Exile; rather than being slaves in a foreign nation, they were slaves in their own homes. Out of this grew Second Temple Judaism, the first Temple being destroyed by the invading Babylonians. The second Temple was constructed by Jews under the post-exilic leader Ezra. The theology of Second Temple Judaism was divided into the priestly and commoner's faith, both of which are further subdivided. The priestly notions of Judaism were divided into the primary divisions of the Sadducees and the Pharisees; the former believed in free will and rejected fate as well as notions of resurrection and afterlife while the latter believed in destiny and individual choice to accept or reject that destiny as well as an afterlife, strict monotheism, and resurrection of the dead. Additional sects existed, such as the Essenes that subscribed to a form of baptism, predestination, and a rigid but kabbalistic interpretation of the Torah [14]. Each of these sects held to its own interpretation of Jewish law, and had its own rituals and traditions. The commoner's Judaism involved pilgrimages to Jerusalem for major festivals, the offering of sacrifices at the Temple for sins, and actively praying to God. There were also certainly common political notions, as many Jews indeed felt persecuted under both the Roman occupation and Herod the Great's rule, and an opposition to Roman rule inspired by the Maccabean movement [15] manifested as the Zealots [16]. These political dissidents were not always organized. By and large, however, the majority of Jews accepted the conditions of their existence and placed their hopes in the coming Messiah. In this context, Jesus presented an extraordinary message. Where the priestly sects were concerned with the external qualities of the Law of God, the general message of Jesus was that the Law's external qualities come only through the internal Law - the Law of God written on people's hearts and minds, as attested to by the Prophets [17]. Jesus' disciples came from all walks of life. Some were educated, such as Luke the Gospel writer; some were poor like the fisherman Simon; some were commoners and others, like Matthew the tax collector had high social positions. Jesus continued in John's way of giving an extraordinarily simple way to understand God. Rather than necessitate a large and rather extensive network of priests and associated rites and rituals, Jesus gave a message of one God, one teacher, and one instructor. [18] This idea is the heart of Christarchism: God, and not a member thereof, rules humanity. Apostasy from Christarchism Christarchism's role in the Gospel was severely downplayed with the Gentile development of Christianity and its subsequent ecclesiarchy. With the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Europeans learned to depend largely on the Roman church for stability, and thus the Roman church's way of thinking became the only exposure to the Gospel that the people received. Christarchism experienced a resurgence with the Protestant movement, where early Protestants rejected both state and church authority. Another significant development in the resurgence of Christarchism occurs in the Second Great Awakening. Many of the newly born movements of the Awakening re-embraced Christarchism as it rejected even modern Christianity. The early Latter day Saint movement, itself growing out of the Restorationist movement, had strong Christarchist flavors [19] but tended to lose them with the Nauvoo period [20]. The Tolstoyan movement was pseudo-contemporary with the Awakening; the Awakening was already in full swing and had generated advanced theological schools of thought at the time of Tolstoy's writings on religion. One of Tolstoy's principal theological works, The Gospel in Brief, outlines much of the theological basis for what we know as modern Christarchism. As such, the movement around Tolstoy's name and writings has formed the modern basis for Christarchism. Principle One: Rejection of Organized Ecclesiarchy Tolstoy's first political commentary on the Gospel was certainly the outright rejection of organized ecclesiarchy, doing so through an acceptance of the Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as the only truly authoritative writings for a Christian, all the rest being Apostolic commentary on the Gospel, similar to the function of the Talmud for Jews. Jesus accepted the Priesthood so far as they had a Mosaic function. In a lesson of Jesus given concerning the Pharisees in Matthew 23:1-12, Jesus presents a dichotomy between priestly teaching and priestly action; that is, so long as the priests have a legitimate claim to authority, they must be followed in judgement (the function of "Moses' seat"), but their actions are to be disregarded in favor of a true form of righteousness. Of particular note here is the role of the Sadducees [21]: the Sadducees dominated Temple worship at the time of Second Temple Judaism and adamantly denied an afterlife and resurrection. It is likely, by inference, that the Gospel references to the "teachers of the Law" meant Sadducees, distinguished from the usually named Pharisees. In a particular encounter with Sadducees, these teachers of the law question Jesus about the resurrection. [22] The priests of Israel had a long tradition of being opposed to the prophets. In this context, Jesus said that "among those born of women, none are greater than he" of John the Baptist. In light of the Matthew 23 verse, the priests were ones to place lavish strictures of religion upon people, involving repeated purification processes in order to make one acceptable in God's sight. John, however, taught a single moment of repentance and purification as justification in God's sight. Thus, by calling John greatest for his work, Jesus is subtly attacking the ideology of the Pharisaical priestly culture. Additionally, Jesus believed that the priests failed to understand their true role as a shadow of the coming Messiah [23]. Jesus would have drawn this understanding from the prophetic tradition [24]. It was certainly a recurring motif in the faith of Israel. Principle Two: Rejection of State Authority Further, Tolstoy rejected the existence of the state in favor of the Gospel [25] principles of nonviolence, the state being the primary catalyst of violence and action leading to violence. Jesus presented a unique dichotomy between the authority of the state and the authority of God: the things established by the state certainly belong to the state, but the things established by God so too certainly belong to God[26]. Jesus was very clear that no man has power except that which is given to him by God [27], and even still, Jesus ran when the people attempted to put him in power by force. [28] Like his rejection of ecclesiarchy, Jesus drew his understanding of the dichotomy between God's authority and that of men from the prophetic tradition. Indeed, according to the book of the prophet Samuel, it was men who chose to be ruled over by a king. [29] God allowed for a cruel and wicked king, Saul, to rule over them to attempt to show them how hard their lives would be under a king; when God saw that the people would not relinquish their desire for a king, the line of anointed kings starting with David was established. Christ as king is a complete fulfillment of the theological hopes of Samuel and his adherents; Christ, rather than accepting a human and earthly throne, repeats the words of Samuel and Jeremiah, that our only king is to be God in an endless, infinite kingdom. Principle Three: The Kingdom of God The Kingdom of God of which Jesus spoke is a dominion unlike anything else that we've encountered upon the earth. According to Jesus, it is certainly not from the world [30] yet rests upon and rules over the entire world. Many of Jesus' parables in the Gospel accounts speak of the Kingdom of God and to whom it belongs, rather than who belongs to it; rather than being given to the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom is given to us. [31] In a famous teaching, Jesus said "unless you repent and become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of God" [32]. This is in stark contrast to all the theological expectations of the Messiah as a worldly conqueror and ruler. In Jesus' view, little children have already conquered the world. They have no care for worldly power nor for causing harm to anyone else; they are quite perfectly the children of God. Jesus presents the Kingdom of God as resembling precisely this. Thus, it can be said that the Kingdom of God is the unity of all who have received the good news of Jesus. The good news is liberating and freeing. [33] Rather than it needing to be established by some worldly means, the Kingdom is already present an internal sense, and through living the Kingdom internally, it is produced externally. Tolstoy presented this idea of the Kingdom to a modern audience in his The Kingdom of God is Within You. The text has become a key reference for the modern Christarchist movement. Principle Four: Pacifism One of the key qualities differentiating the Kingdom of God from those of the world is it's adherence to nonviolence. This was taught by Jesus from the beginning of Jesus' ministry. [34] In discussing the Kingdom of God with Pontius Pilate, Jesus said "My kingdom is not of this world; if it were, my servants would come and fight" [35]. A principal distinction is drawn here in specific reference to nonviolence that further illuminates the difference between the world's kingdoms and God's kingdom. According to the John the Gospel writer, there are two categories of Jesus' followers: friends and servants [36]. Friends are those like the Apostles, who intimately know God and the workings of the Messiah upon the earth, whereas servants are those who believe in the message but are not privy to God's work. Jesus' usage of the word servant to Pilate obviously refers to the latter group of Jesus' disciples; the key difference between servants of Christ and servants of the world is the former's rejection of violence. An implication of these words of Jesus is that the first group, the friends, would indeed fight. According to the book of Acts, the Apostles never turn to violence to spread their message or even to defend themselves. What, then, is their fight? Examining the prayers of Jesus in John 17 illuminates the struggle of the Apostles; the struggle is an extension of the message of the Kingdom of God's internal qualities. Rather than fight through means of flesh, the Apostles fight for the Kingdom of God through means of spirit. Thus, in Christarchism, disobedience or resistance to authority is not condemned; it is only the application of violent means that is. This position is best supported through examining the acts of Jesus' disciples. When Paul is brought before the Jewish council, he is shown as adamantly defending his testimony of Jesus [37], a prime example of nonviolent resistance. This Paul, resistor of authority through nonviolent means, is the same one who wrote of submission to governing authority [38]. Authority is to be obeyed so long as it does not contradict the instruction of God [39], a position equally prevalent among the disciples. Abhorring violence even when one's life is threatened would have also been present in the teaching of the Apostles, as seen in the death of Stephen Marytr [40]. The disciples of Jesus had a hope in the essential reality and spirituality Kingdom of God as opposed to the fleshy, illusory hopes of the kingdoms of the world [41]. Principle Five: A Godly Life This dichotomy of the flesh and spirit was presented first by Jesus [42]. Restoring the original understanding of the Torah as a rule of internal behavior with external signs thereof in the Sermon on the Mount of Matthew [43] and Luke's companion Sermon in the Field [44] present a radical redefinition of understanding of Torah, where the Torah is a rule of internal behavior rather than external. Matthew's presentation of this series of lessons as occurring on a hill versus Luke's presentation in a field probably indicates that this same idea was presented multiple times. Taking the teaching of the Apostles as an additional indicator, it is likely that this series of lessons was a recurring theme in Jesus' teachings. Jesus states in the Gospel accounts that the entirety of the Law can be summarized in two simple commandments: love of God and love of man. [45] This perception of the Law was not unique to Jesus, but came into existence shortly before the life of Jesus through one Rabbi Hillel [46], who made an identical summary of the Law and taught "all the rest is commentary". This position is certainly reflected in the teachings of the Apostles and would have been well understood by Jesus' disciples [47]. In one of the more well-known the stories of the Gospel accounts, a rich man comes to Jesus asking for the way towards eternal life. [48] Jesus instructs him to follow the commandments, and lists those he goes over in both sermons, in the order given in both sermons. The commandments are quite similar to the Noahide Laws [49] compiled in the Jewish Talmud only a few short centuries after Jesus. According to Tolstoy [50], the simple life style of this series of lessons is summarized through following the commandments of God, which in turn is done through living a life of love. Thus, in Christarchism, individuals are called to live a life of love. All other aspects of Christarchism can be seen as being expressions of this love. Principle Six: Service to Others As a further rejection of the state, Christarchists practice service to others. It is a rejection of the state on the grounds that the state practices ruling authority over others; as members of the Kingdom of God, we are to serve rather than rule. This is a recurring motif among the teachings of Jesus is the reversal of social roles: what the world considers great, God considers least and vice versa [51]. Many Christarchists use this principle as support for the rejection of ecclesiarchy, as an ecclesiarchy more times than not ends up as a ruling authority rather than one of service. One does not need a power structure to serve, as emphasized by the specific action of servitude of Jesus, where he washes the feet of his disciples [52]. Such an act was normally reserved for the servants of a household. Further, such service is representative of the union and brotherhood of all believers. To Christarchists, there is no hierarchy of persons; we are all one body, with God as its head. Though we may serve different functions and be given different things to fulfill that function, it is still indeed service; no one member of the body is greater than another. Principle Seven: Communal Life In the Apostolic age after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the Apostles lived a kind of communal life [53] in which money was disregarded as important, and all resources were distributed to meet the needs of the community. It is likely that the Apostles learned this way of life with Jesus. In an interesting commentary on the multiplication of the bread and fish [54], the miracle is presented as a redistribution of goods. It is unlikely that the people gathered to see Jesus would have traveled out of their homes without something to eat; when the Apostles suggests to Jesus that they be sent away to buy something to Jesus, Jesus responds that such purchasing is unnecessary. According to the redistribution interpretation of the story, it is unnecessary because of the fact that there is already enough food among the people for all to be fed. Some Christarchists believe that the manner of communal life was specific to the Apostles and does not need to be continued in the modern age; I, however, disagree. Seeing as the Apostles continued in the teaching of Jesus after his death, where else would they have learned such a communal lifestyle but from Jesus himself? If Jesus practiced this mode of living among the apostles, it remains an integral part of the Gospel message. The communal lifestyle of the Apostles is in striking contrast to the ideology of private property that prevailed in the Roman Empire, and continues in the world today. Many Christarchists, including myself, believe that if all that is created is created by God, then it all quite belongs to God and no human being can claim ownership of anything at all. Further, if the Kingdom of God is not in accord with the world in any way, shape, or form, it is clear that such a communal life is key to the Kingdom. Conclusion Today, these principles endure in limited scope in various Christian ideologies, such as the Catholic Worker movement and the broader reaching spectrum of anarchism. It continues to provide a workable, simple solution to enduring social problems. Christarchism is quite different from the religious Christianity which prevails throughout the world, though it shares similar origins. It is ultimately up to humanity to determine its course. Jesus and the Apostles in standing prophetic tradition [55] presented the ways of the world as death. It is quite evident from the state of the world today that our approaches thus far have led to more violence, more suffering, and ultimately, less humanity. It is high time we give another solution a try, and Christarchism purports to be that very solution. Notes [1] http://biblesuite.com/greek/5547.htm [2] http://www.affixes.org/a/-archy.html [3] Daniel 7:13-14 [4] Talmud Sanhedrin 107b, Sotah 47a / Talmud Shabbat 104b, Sanhedrin 67a / Talmud Sanhedrin 43a [5] Flavius Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, Chapter 3, 3 [6] The Annals, Tacitus, Book 15:44 [7] Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20-21 [8] 1 Kings 9:5 [9] Psalm 2:7 [10] http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/MEC_MIC/MESSIAH_Dan_x_25_26_.html [11] Mark 14:61-62 [12] http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1729-archelaus [13] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07289c.htm [14] http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5867-essenes [15] http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Maccabees.html [16] http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/15185-zealots [17] Jeremiah 31:31-34 [18] Matthew 23:8-12 [19] Mosiah 23:7 [20] http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/EoM/id/4391/show/3984 [21] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13323a.htm [22] Luke 20:27-40 [23] Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch.- Zechariah 3:8 [24] Jeremiah 5:31 [25] Tolstoy, Leo, The Kingdom of God is Within You [26] Mark 12:13-17 [27] John 19:11 [28] John 6:15 [29] 1 Samuel 8:6-9 [30] John 19:36 [31] Matthew 5:3 [32] Matthew 18:3 [33] Matthew 11:28 [34] Matthew 5:39 [35] John 18:36 [36] John 15:15 [37] Acts 22-23 [38] Romans 13:1-7 [39] Acts 5:29 [40] Acts 6-7 [41] Galatians 5:17 [42] Matthew 18:8 [43] Matthew 5-9 [44] Luke 6:20-49 [45] Matthew 22:36-40 [46] Babylonian Talmud, tractate Shabbat 31a [47] John 3:16, Romans 5:8, Romans 13:8, Ephesians 4:2, 1 John 3:1, 1 John 4:7 [48] Mark 10:17-25 [49] Tosefta Avodah Zarah 9.4, from Talmud Sanhedrin 56a. [50] Tolstoy, My Religion [51] Matthew 20:20-28 [52] John 13:1-17 [53] Acts 4:32-35 [54] Matthew 14:13-21 [55] Jeremiah 21:8 |
Jesse Walker HillJesse Walker Hill is the Chairman of the Department of Revolution. Dedicated to minarchist politics and social democracy, he reports from Jackson County, Missouri. Archives
May 2018
Resourcesypgrevolution@protonmail.com and this link for those interested in contacting the YPG directly.
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