The Cause and Effects of Independent Activism

5/25/05

I have been an independent activist most of my adult life. I have chosen my battles carefully after much research and validating my heartfelt commitment to a cause or to an injustice. I do not take my involvements lightly and I try to understand the motivations of both sides of an argument before I take my own stand on issue. I have spent great amounts of my personal time and money producing a weekly television and radio program to try and inform and expose the issues for what they are.

I have done documentaries on Nuclear Power Plants, the Adult Entertainment industry, environmentally safe energy producing alternatives, Washington D.C peace rallies and local and statewide protests. I was campaign manager for a Connecticut Gubernatorial Candidate in 2002 and the only independent producer invited to film the 2002 Democratic State Convention and interview the candidates and the delegates. I promoted my candidate though I maintained my political independence to any party. My candidate stood for the people of Connecticut and was the only candidate to publicly denounce John Rowland as a criminal and his Republican administration as completely corrupt. Our indictment of John Rowland proved to be valid and he has recently resigned as Governor and is now serving a prison sentence.

In March of 2003 I began my weekly radio program on Wqqq 103.3 fm. I was one of the first and only liberal talk shows in Connecticut and the only consistent voice on commercial radio in New England that vehemently publicly attacked G.W. Bush’s policies and the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The L.A. Steel Talk Radio Show preceded Air America by more than a year. I withstood personal attacks and the inability to gain private or commercial sponsorship because I continued to attack the sacred cows of consevativism and condemn the Bush administration for their dictatorial policies and criminal actions. My program though heard only in Connecticut, Massachusetts and upstate New York has attracted major journalists, authors and activists from around the country. Ed Asner, Jesse Jackson, Greg Palast, David Ray Griffin, Jim Marrs, Alex Jones etc. as well as many local and statewide activists . I have done this all as an independent producer without financial support from any foundation or corporation. The effects of my work have been numerous and have aided, inspired and encouraged other national, statewide and local activists and organizations. My listeners have supported many of the causes and have bought the books of the authors I have featured. Countless numbers of people have been affected both positively and in the case of a corrupt politician, negatively by my efforts. I urge all who read this to join or get involved with a movement that serves to bring justice, freedom or social and environmental changes for the betterment of humanity. Individuals can topple governments, create new institutions, educate the world, create the next great invention, create the peace plan for the Middle East, or create a crime watch organization in their neighborhoods., or help the homeless in their town or city by volunteering or donating money or simply by acknowledging a homeless individual as a fellow human being in need of kindness and compassion.

The effect of all independent activists around the globe has inspired change and revolutions. The causes independent activists take on are many and diverse but it is through these committed men and women, who feel the need to fight against and expose the corruption and injustice in their societies, that the education of the masses is achieved. Activists fight against the indifference, cynicism, ignorance and hatred of all who try to drown their voices of concern against injustice, genocide and devastation to the global eco system. Activists are the front line soldiers who cry out the alert and stand guard against the onslaught of predators intending to harm a sleeping citizenry. Activists are arrested and routinely censored by those who sponsor corporate terrorism, the torture and systematic murders of millions of helpless people and the extinction of countless animals and vegetation around the globe. Human rights activists, animal rights activists and environmentalists are noble and concerned individuals who are worthy of great respect.

I am an independent activist because I cannot identify fully with most groups who eventually develop agendas that are either overly expansive or ambitious or dangerously combative, or non combative. I prefer my own pace of action, I prefer to choose my own causes to promote and become concerned with. But I highly encourage anyone to join a concerned citizen group, help these good and brave people who put their principles ahead of their own personal safety because they cannot help themselves from shouting out against the wrongs that they see. An independent activist like me lives by his own code of justice as do all individuals who care about their fellow men. We are like the Lone Ranger or Batman or some other idealist avenger who dreams of a better world and hopes that in some way we can make our dream come true.

L. A. STEEL