The month of October has been full of DaFuMu dreaming on The World Dreams Peace Bridge. We have dreamed "dreams of great good fortune" into the world, starting with the week of the International Day of Peace on September 28, and extending to October 17, when the Peace Bridge celebrated its third anniversary as a group.

But the current DaFuMu is about the upcoming Presidential elections in the United States.

Last week, May Tung suggested that we dream about the elections. Valley Reed countered with this statement:

I was thinking of DAFUMU for Monday and Tuesday also, but for a different reason. The Day of the Dead, dia de la muerte is celebrated. Monday is The return of the children who have crossed over, and Tuesday is the return of the adult ancestors. I was thinking it would be a good time to remember the children who have lost their lives, and the ask for the assistance of the ancestors to help us in this time SO WE CAN BEST SERVE A PEACEFUL FUTURE FOR THE CHILDREN.

The monarchs butterflies are migrating now, and the legend is that the return of the butterflies to Mexico are the souls of the children returning home.

VALLEY

To which May responded:

Dear Valley, For some reason, your mail brought tears to my eyes. The children, of course. And, ah, the butterflies: what a dream image they will make!

Yes, ALL DREAMERS, let's dream on Monday and Tuesday nights for the children. Our candle lights will be butterflies for the children.

And so it happened that the Presidential DaFuMu became a dream for the children. We hope that you will join us in dreaming a peace filled future for the children of the world.

This does not mean, of course, that there has been no talk about the elections, or about how the world is looking right now. In fact, one of the most important things about participating in a world-wide group of dreamers means that there is, automatically, a change in perspective toward a world context, rather than a national context. For example, in the U.S. it may have passed notice that Australia recently held elections too. And the results were about as conservative as that country has had in a long, long time.

When May commented about George Bush, " What puzzles me is, still so many people CANNOT see through this very shallow fellow! What does it say about the American populace???", Kathy responded from Australia:

"Dear Baomei - we have a similar person as Prime Minister here and the people re-elected him just recently although he was clearly shown to lie, to have no compassion, no policies for any future in Australia or with our neighbouring countries etc. Why was he re-elected?

1. In his campaign he made people fearful of what would happen under a Labour Government re interest rates - and as most people have HUGE mortgages - they voted for his spurious promise to keep interest rates lower than a Labour Government would. i.e he LIED and fed FEAR

2. He became the big spender in the election - all spending aimed at marginal seats. I.E. HE LIED and spread DESIRE.

3. The opposition party (Labour) - deliberately made itself a "small target" - i.e. it agreed with every contentious issue so there would be no real political issues in the campaign (e.g. they agreed with the "free" trade agreement with the US even though they knew that it would disadvantage australia). i.e. they HID from their responsibility because of the GREED to gain power (but missed!)

4. So although they Labour Party held its own - the quirks of our political process meant that Howard (the Prime Minister) re-gained office with more power and total control of both houses of parliament.

BUT oh I hope that more sanity comes to the US after your elections.

Kathy"

Leading May to comment about public figures who feed off fear and paranoia.

But how different it is to enter an election period with comments from the rest of the world coming in. Brenda Mallon commented from England: "We are having a lot of coverage about the election here too. Michael Moore was on TV taking part in 'Question Time' a BBC discussion programme. It was live from Miami and was electric. Let's hope all who can vote get a chance to do so and we see democracy in action."

Along with the conversation about the Presidential DaFuMu came another conversation about American imperialism, and the feelings this engenders elsewhere in the world. With Kotaro's permission, May shared a conversation they had been having privately about the sign outside a U.S. military base in Japan:

Dear Dreamers, below is an exchange between Kotaro and me, about a sign outside of a U.S. military base, warning the Japanese people not to enter, that they will be punished "under Japanese law." I asked K. if he'd be willing to share this post on the Bridge. He now asks me to do it because it's hard for him to tell of how this discussion started! I figured, how do we ever start any issue? That's our genius! One question to Ralf, How do the German people feel about U.S. military bases? and Jeremy, if you are around, do you sense the Koreans' feelings? Would they share that w/ you, an American? May

A statement from Kotaro's original post to May reads as follows:

The Japan-U.S. Security Treaty is the bottle neck problem. It was concluded between U.S. And Japan at San Francisco sep. in 1951. There was/is the conclusion that U.S. Army stay and have their own basement in Japan in purpose of Japanese security. This treaty was revised twice, in 1960 and 1970. The fighting against this treaty was very hard in 1960. Many citizens and students rose up and also there was some left parties in the Diet. In 1970, so called student power was exploded everywhere in Japan. I was 17 years old and witnessed many bloody fighting between students and polices. While these years, very powerful army, navy and air force have been growing up silently in Japan, the Self Defense Force.

As far as this treaty exists, I believe that Japan is a subject state of U.S.A. , or another star on the flag of U.S.A....

...Every time when I see the containers I really feel a gross insult and strong anger against those who believe only in physical powers. I have been totally against this treaty since my childhood but in 1970 I didn't participated any kind of student power activity because they were fighting for the fighting, and any kind of reason would be welcome for them. Their behavior was completely same as those of fanatic crowd.

Much love,

Kotaro

Kathy joined in on this discussion, saying:

Dear Baomei and Kotaro - ah the US is in the process of establishing bases in Australia - and it makes me MAD!!!

Mad at the US for its arrogant dominance.

Mad at Australia for its submissive acceptance.

But then I think all dominant countries have sought to do this; all weaker countries have also sought this kind of connection. This is just how we act at the moment. BUT wouldn't it be amazing to organize the world in a different manner!

Kathy

A final reminder came this month from Ilkin in Turkey, that even those of us with the best intentions for peace need to be much more aware of other cultures. Here's what she said after I wished her a blessed Ramadan. First she pointed out that this was the very first time that anyone had sent Ramadan greetings to her, despite the fact that she regularly sends holiday greetings to her Christian, Jewish and Buddhist friends.

"I am not a religious one," she said. " I am not a nationalist one but can you please try to put yourselves in my shoes once and ask yourselves what would you feel ( and there are millions behind me who cannot think as open minded as I am). Wouldn't it be belittling, wouldn't it be sad, and most important WHAT WOULD YOUR DREAMS BE?????."

The members of the World Dreams Peace Bridge invite you to join us in a Presidential DaFuMu this week. If you would like to join the discussion group for the Peace Bridge, just send a post to
mailto: worlddreams-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Visit our web site at at www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org to learn more about our adventures in dream activism.