tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2052359185125999548.post5167733508699786074..comments2023-04-05T02:07:36.491-07:00Comments on The Shieldmaiden Blog: The Shield-WallMorpheus Ravennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01671537285993199353noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2052359185125999548.post-78531222067926139382012-09-03T14:00:46.613-07:002012-09-03T14:00:46.613-07:00Your post has had me thinking on this for awhile -...Your post has had me thinking on this for awhile - often focusing solely on the image of the shield-wall. I'm not the greatest historian/tactician, either, but as times have moved forward they've shown many problems with shield-walls. They can be pinned down and surrounded. They can be overextended. By nature they can move rather slowly. Germany's blitzkrieg showed how they can be easily outflanked or overrun. As you say, guerilla-style tactics can be effective as well. I believe the revolutionaries used this against the British during the US's own revolution, and the North Vietnamese used it quite effectively against the South Vietnamese/US troops during the Vietnam War.<br /><br />When thinking of the shield-wall, a couple of other images come to mind. One is the resistance of Ghandi. The other comes from a famous image of the 60's, where students are putting flowers into the barrels of the guns of those who were brought in to "enforce peace" - many of whom were about the same age of the students.<br /><br />Thinking back on the Romans - the wealthy ruling elite. How many of their (military-related) problems came because the more they expanded, the more they had to recruit people to their cause who weren't fully committed to Rome? Rather, they included people they conscripted from their conquered countries. Or (perhaps more relevant to our current situation) - they employed mercenaries who would fight for whoever would pay them.<br /><br />Though there is certainly still physical force being used, even in the difficulties solely within the US, many other forms are being brought forward. Economic, certainly. Propaganda and misinformation as well.<br /><br />As you observe, meeting like force with like is not going to be successful, particularly at this point. For me, the most important is that fighting against the beliefs/tactics of one side by using the same beliefs/tactics is inherently self-defeating when working for change. The king is dead - long live the king! The other is that it does take a rallying point - somehow to unify the strengths from the autonomy of tribes with the strength of unity of purpose.<br /><br />Watching the current process in the upcoming US election, it seems the reverse is being used - media portrays great division between the two parties, and have people fighting against things that might be in their benefit, simply because they are being supported by the "other" side. (Even though in many cases, there aren't even many differences between the sides.) Hmmm... Is this also a way of providing the people with bread and circuses?<br /><br />Thinking back on that image of the flowers being put in guns, using different tactics, and avoiding the temporary allegiance of mercenaries. Does this also tie into the idea of "attraction, not promotion"? It isn't pretty words that will bring lasting people to a cause that is difficult. It is people who are willing to walk their talk and show how things can be better.<br /><br />Looking back over what I've written, I think I'm agreeing with much of what you've said. The major difference I'm seeing - I'm also wondering how much we need to step away from the imagery of battle as in army fighting army, and more more towards the ideas of both the common and individual good. Still battles of a sort, but more related to the idea of the battle against cancer, or poverty, or injustice, or... As long as we are still fighting against a side composed of fellow people (sometimes even our families), we are still using the tactics of oppressors.<br /><br />The hard part for me is figuring out where that line is that divides the types of battle...<br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16018427818904284686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2052359185125999548.post-76126535396459149052012-08-29T21:19:07.234-07:002012-08-29T21:19:07.234-07:00It is an interesting article. I wasn't reading... It is an interesting article. I wasn't reading it as if the tribes were internal to the empire but external tribes engaged in a struggle against the empire. I mean, face it, we are the empire. The tribes in this analogy would be small countries, like Afghanistan that really isn't a nation but a collection of tribes essentially and their struggle against us. The problem with the analogy is however, that those tribes can defeat us. All they have to do is stay where they are and keep fighting. Eventually they will wear down our will to fight as did Vietnam. The more tribes we take on, the more over extended the empire becomes, the quicker the demise of the empire due to the stress of its own weight.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08128737379629794442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2052359185125999548.post-14848476565869437952012-08-29T18:36:35.222-07:002012-08-29T18:36:35.222-07:00Thorn Coyle linked this post, and I am ever so gla...Thorn Coyle linked this post, and I am ever so glad for it. This is a very thought-provoking meditation that I feel called to sit with and consider in the coming days. I have always believed that time moves in cycles; that certain events or people are brought into our lives again and again until we learn the lesson they represent for us. Perhaps the same can be said for civilizations as a whole; that families and tribes are organic collectives and there are lessons for the group to learn as well as the individual. Until we learn our true history and the lessons of it, we may be doomed to repeat it.Luna Childehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04066659105093794757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2052359185125999548.post-76241678428084504982012-08-29T14:34:30.317-07:002012-08-29T14:34:30.317-07:00That picture makes me want to dress up like Captai...That picture makes me want to dress up like Captain America with shield in hand and stand on the side with the protesters.<br />Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06488546722041883596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2052359185125999548.post-14958388587917429942012-08-28T23:29:43.104-07:002012-08-28T23:29:43.104-07:00I believe our worst enemy may be the reality of ou...I believe our worst enemy may be the reality of our disempowerment as we struggle individually against a foe that is united, sinister, and far greater in its collective will. As I look around, I see very few tribal groups in existence. Individual resistance (to quote Star Trek) is futile.<br /><br />There are things we cannot do anything about when we are divided and conquered. Continuing to live and resist in this fragmented state is one of the ways I believe we participate in our own oppression. I see you building community, and I think you rightly recognize that this is the way forward in resisting and taking back *our* power from the imperial forces destroying lives and the exquisite body of this Earth. <br /><br />My thoughts around this are not clear. You seem to already be part of a tribal group whose ties you are in the midst of cultivating and deepening to be able to weather the modern siege being waged by today's Empire. But how do you resist a siege when you have no tribal group to stand with? When you are isolated and weak and all your efforts to join a modern tribal group have failed? <br /><br />This is the status of many who find themselves struggling alone against the Empire's siege. Such people do not have the basic material necessities to survive, and mere survival becomes their daily quest as they become more and more weakened in body/mind and spirit. How many groups are willing to take in such people?<br /><br />I don't know if I'm correct, but my understanding is that the Picts reluctantly formed alliances with other Pictish tribal groups to resist Roman conquest. Maybe it is in the interest of modern tribal groups to reluctantly welcome outsiders to resist the common threat.<br /><br />Communities are broken. It seems to me they must be rebuilt to resist anything. Perhaps casting a wider net to include the ranks of the dispossessed among your number is a part of resisting.<br /><br />Of course, I could be very mistaken.<br /><br /><br />Memory Echoeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16116199619941134170noreply@blogger.com