I've had this impulse or loosely organized but unofficially structured campaign over the last four or five years, which I called "Vote, Pray, Love".
The main purpose has been to try to create an affinity group around yoga and democracy, around Gandhi and his tradition of non-violence and trying to inspire ourselves and others to embody that impulse in engaging with the political process. We've also managed to pull off a few good feeds and get a few top yoga teachers in our area to agree to trade classes they would teach to our volunteers who do doorknocking and phone banking to turn out the peace vote in South Minneapolis. Our only artifacts have been a few thousand handbills on the Youth PROMISE Act, one canvas banner, and perhaps a thousand small yellow buttons, printed simply "VOTE" with the "O" replaced with the Devanagari script for "AUM", the omkara, " ॐ ".
I still have hope I will be able resurrect "Vote, Pray, Love" in the current political cycle, though the caucus to convention season is rapidly drawing to a close here in Minnesota.
We are a week away from the Eighth Congressional District Convention in Northern/Northeastern Minnesota. A day after that is an annual MayDay festival that great retail politics environment where I have reserved a table space in the information alley.
Among the the individual issues that I hope that we can tackle are increasing human rights and democracy in South and Southeast Asia. In particular a longtime supporter of the "Vote, Pray, Love" impulse who is a U.S. citizen and an immigrant from Bangladesh, has hope that we can do something to raise awareness about the situation in Bangladesh, and take some action to provide relief and remedy.
It makes sense that as the philosophy of Gandhi takes deeper roots in the West that as we search for its historical origins in that landscape we give back some energy and attention to current conflicts in South Asia. For people who have been inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love" book the issues of economics and freedom to travel for Indonesians in the post-9/11 world might be interesting, as well.
I have also been doing some deep research and reflection on the problems of combating internet piracy while also strengthening digital rights, freedom and access to information. These goals seem small and perhaps more attainable than ending U.S. programs of large-scale internet surveillance which have a chilling effect on the First Amendment rights we hold dear in this country, but remain strange notions to the powerful in many other countries, though that would, of course, be desirable. I recently wrote a post here seeking more discussion and compromise, or shared goals between piracy advocates and rights holders or so-called copyright trolls, "Copyright litigation vs. organizing" hoping to make some use of next week's Eighth District DFL Convention to do some of that constructive lobbying that would be more useful than what the small but loud proponents of either extreme do in whipping up a frenzy in their coverage of ongoing bittorrent litigation.
From the kama yogis perspective, he personal choice to refrain from violating copyright by bittorent enhances one's own freedom from the bondage of karma.
The serious practitioner of nonviolence in the karma yoga tradition of Gandhi will establish themselves in a lifestyle that enhances the freedom to act effectively against injustice. This lifestyle, based on yama and niyama will also help them to lead others into greater freedom and awareness by teaching by example.
Asteya is one of the yamas, and is often defined as non-stealing, or not depriving others of their right livelihood. This could also be a powerful motivation for greater participation in fair trade schemes, which are more prevalent in food markets than the marketplace of ideas. Just as a serious sadhaka or aspiring yogi might avoid food that is contaminated by the defects of greed, making a conscious choice to restrict the mental diet of distractions, diversions and entertainments we find in the West to those that are free from the karmas of theft can help us as individuals maintain our focus on the real freedom and self mastery we say we are setting out to attain.
I hope in the next few hours and days I can help start some discussions and find serious collaborators to make the most of next weekends opportunities. Leave a comment or send me an e-mail if you want to be a prt of this: votepraylove at gmail dot com.
Thanks for time and consideration!