SUPPORTING STRONG STANDS FOR THE PEOPLE AND EVERYONE
By Kirstin Beatty
Updated 21 July 2021, 6 April, 14 September 2022
Note: The article originally here has been moved and can be found here.
When you examine the civil rights movement, there wasn’t talk among the African-American community of letting the legislators form a commission to discuss how to dole out civil rights. The civil rights movement went ahead and said we want decent health care, transportation, and housing – equal treatment.
I’m upset that the movement in Massachusetts for safer electronics and communications has failed to unite with similarly strong demands, from our personal to our group choices. What can we expect when lacking a strong stand?
Just recently I put several amendments together as a last ditch effort this 2022 session to see if hard-wiring might get support. I was on the phone with a sensitive friend who promised to call her legislator. I later asked how it went and she said she just had too much to do taking care of her family and avoiding wifi. Another said she was going to change things basically through meditation and spirituality. Now, lots of people I have no idea what they do and others even donate or say thank you. But when I hear this from just 2 people who I know can take action, I feel pained and betrayed.
Nothing happens when nothing happens. With nothing, nothing is certain to happen. The courts are just as afraid as legislators to take action, and for this reason, we must act and we must demand a strong stand. It is all on us.
The science points to mental, physical, and environmental deterioration from modern non-ionizing radiation exposures. On a personal basis, we must express this in a way that respects the gravity of the problem and we must build relationships with people that have influence.
Respecting the problem means speaking in person, or directly on the phone, rather than in an email easily lost. When a problem is dire, and real, we show show up in person, take direct action and make demands – we are strong. If we do nothing, we suggest that the problem is only an inconvenience and just piddly.
I know sometimes we are sick and simply can’t do what needs to be done. But when we can, we need to. We can’t depend on someone else to do everything, or an imaginary person or ideal fairy tale ending. Too many people are sick and busy. Too many people have a good excuse to do nothing. Making money, a living, caring for kids are all ‘good’ excuses that shove this problem back under the rug for us to fall over. We need to deal with this problem, too.
Our advocacy has been harmed by people’s fears of taking a strong stand. We are expressing ourselves poorly, or not at all.
Too many legislators may have heard little, or been asked little, been given the impression the problem is small, or may have heard from individuals easily dismissed as ‘different’ – we all need to speak to make that connection. Has your legislator heard from you? Has your legislator heard from you in person? Have you fully expressed the problem? Emails and written testimony can go unread.
Some of our demands have been too weak. Asking for a commission to study the issue is not a strong stand (and by the way, the 2021/2 commission bill needs revision).
Asking for an opt out of smart meters is not a strong stand.
We can’t just ask to fix one detail, smart meters, and be railroaded by 5G antennas outside our windows or a block of smart meters on our wall.
I’ll give that we have to accept compromises or allow for small requests such as opt outs. Compromise is a way of moving the dial. But, we need to demand more. To demand little or nothing is an insult to the problem.
We need to ask for much more, and when there is an opening, take that opening. Amendments are an opening, but only if legislators are convinced of the issue’s importance.
We also need to help each other.
Preparing the bills and amendments was time consuming. I had to read slowly through the General Laws, which will change again next year. Because of changes in the laws, I would have to rewrite these for next year. I don’t know if I can keep doing this as a volunteer with health problems.
I wrote them because I knew it is very hard for legislators and their staff to find the time, plus the time to understand the problem. Many legislators simply lack staff and time, and staff complain of being overwhelmed and underpaid.
We need to support each other, and give some credit and support for good work, even when it is not ours and belongs to someone else. We can’t expect people to run on empty.
In 2021, after sending out a quick note about the legislative bills, I received a mass email asking I get sponsors for other bills, in other words excluding mine, for bills such as H. 115 to ‘best’ continue using wireless. I’d spoken with the sponsor, Representative Dykema, and she’d said point blank that she would only support a bill to continue using wireless. I cannot fathom why my bill to hard wire was not included and instead a bill to continue wireless was.
Do people even read these bills? People need to, clearly, and read the legislative analysis on this website and through the Last Tree Laws email lists.
Please speak to your legislators and others with influence. Ask them to make sure that we are all protected from non-ionizing radiation, and to support Last Tree Laws. Ask them to give me a call about legislation for the 2023 – 2024 session. Tell them you are disgusted with how the state legislature fails to advance and vote on legislation in a fair and timely manner and that you expect better – that you expect bills for environmental health and non-ionizing radiation to actually get a vote after a hearing.
Here are the amendments from 2022: