I've spent the last week trying to get a handle on my feelings about all
this. My gut reaction has been abject terror that the left is going to cut
and run. However...I've learned a couple of things out of the last year's
demos. 1. Even when things get very scary, they are seldom as bad as they
seem. 2. The people of this movement may advance and retreat, but they
don't quit. 3. Important changes don't happen quickly.
In terms of how that relates to the movement, here's how I see this thing
panning out. Right now things suck. No doubt. What the US learned out of
the war with Iraq was that it could pick a fight with anyone, kill hundreds
of thousands of people, and emerge unscathed. Last week, they got their
nose bloodied. They found out that they aren't invincible. Right now
people are really scared and really reactionary. There's a lot of bluster
and people trying to convince themselves they aren't as vulnerable as they
feel. That's not going to last forever. As things stabilize, people are
going to come out of this with at least a little less myopia and a little
more awareness of the world outside their borders. The system is working
overtime to stop that from happening. They are already mass marketing the
message, "Ignore world politics, we've got it under control. You may have
to cede some freedoms, but don't worry. Return to your shopping."
We have a big potential role in shaping how America emerges from this. The
facts of the last week are glaringly obvious. We spend 55% of the world's
military budget. We imprison a larger percentage of our population than any
nation on earth. No combination of more police, more jails, more bombs, or
less freedom is going to make us safe. The facts, unsuprisingly, are being
wholesale ignored. It's our job to point out the facts, and help the public
learn the right lessons from this. We all need to take a deep breath,
realize things aren't as bad as they seem, and our job is as important or
even more important today than it was 10 days ago. After you take a deep
breath, and collect your thoughts, let's get busy. We've got work to do. =)
Whisper
>Anyone who reads the bellow message from Macdonald will be able to tell how
>frustrated he is. He is not alone. I feel that very frustration in my
>heart, my bones, and my soul. My consciousness has been consumed lately. I
>simply cannot function in my everyday reality. I am supposed to be a music
>student but here I am spending all of my time in front of a plastic
>keyboard and a monitor producing coded electrons to help spread the
>reality of what is happening.
>
>The frustration is produced because I keep getting the feeling that
>many people aren't listening. Sure activists are afraid of the
>upcoming 'war'; sure, activists are calling for peace and are organizing
>anti-war demos; but how many feel that everything they have
>been working for is slipping away? How many actually realize that an
>explicit international fascist power is emerging unchallenged? How
>many are scaling back there rhetoric and demands because of fear of
>the other? Ladies and gentlemen, if we lighten up just a fraction we
>will see our movement steamrolled over by not only the state, but the
>public also.
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