I can only imagine if there were more activism like this on a broad range of issues instead of the mindless marches and silent vigils, we’d be in a much better place right now.
But that would require doing something.
I’ve often pointed out how conservatives don’t seem to be able to be funny, giving us things like bad Daily Show ripoffs that go nowhere and douches like Dennis Miller. Often, conservative “humor” consists of just being a mean prick and laughing about it, which is really no different from them when they’re not trying to be funny. Maybe they just laugh less when they’re not trying. Anyways, I have to amend that statement about them not being funny. Conservatives, especially the mouthbreathing, luantic-fringe type, are HYSTERICAL… but only when they’re not trying to be.
As the right wing nutball implosion seems to be happening so quick I can’t even keep up anymore, it’s not taking long for the hysteria to reach new and dramatic heights. It’s almost as though the entire crazy population of the country opened their mouths at once. Racist crazyman Glenn Beck is now predicting some Road Warrior-type armed insurrection. The CPAC (Conservative Pricks Acting Crazy) gathering just wound up, where they were wowed by an eloquent 13 year-old who can speak in the usual reality-challenged talking points, and are literally creaming their pants over the hateful, incendiary words of a fat, impotent, pill-popping sex tourist, who can’t even figure out the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution (as thought he really understands either, to begin with). And of course, there’s that Rick Santelli (which of course, was anything but spontaneous) “new tea party” nonsense, which is a real hoot. Did you know a whopping 200 people showed up for one in NYC (you know, that city with over 8 million people)?
The Village Voice has a bit on it, and I really couldn’t stop laughing. Putting aside the very obvious fact that these people know nothing about socialism, history, Marxism or anything else with more than two syllables, it’s amazing how seriously unhinged these people are. A few choice nuggets of “wisdom”.
I am absolutely floored at the factory sit-in in Chicago that’s going on right now. As you probably know, workers at a vinyl window factory were given almost no notice that their factory was closing, and are occupying the factory, as they are owed vacation and severance pay. I’m floored, because these things don’t seem to happen anymore in the U.S., sounding like something that was more commonplace 80 years ago.
It’s exciting, because it has that “what will it finally take for the non-activist community to start playing hardball?” question that has undoubtedly been on many of our minds for years. Are things finally getting so shitty that we’re starting to reach a tipping point? I certainly hope so. I guess one could look at this as a sort-of vindication for all those dead-white-European guys, but on another level, taken out of the class struggle paradigm, it’s simply self-preservation coming to its logical conclusion, not the “death-knell for capitalism” or any of that blather, or the end private ownership of business (a concept of which I have some problems with). I still stand by my assertion that things really have to get incredibly shitty and unbearable in this country before the average person is called to action. We’re just seeing that tipping point, and I suspect it will go back to indifference once things get better. I really just hope that it is successful and inspires other workers to similar action, and when we come out of this big crisis, labor will be a stronger force in this country.
What is equally mind-blowing is having the Prezelect actually come out and issue a statement of support… how subversive!:
“The workers who are asking for the benefits and payments that they have earned,” Mr. Obama said, “I think they’re absolutely right and understand that what’s happening to them is reflective of what’s happening across this economy.”
The idea of a president actually wording mouths mouthing words of support for an act of civil disobedience is so unbelievably alien to me, I don’t quite know what to say, other than “awesome”. Wes at Integral Psychosis has a lot more on this whole thing, including some interesting analysis.
No, don’t worry, this isn’t a post abut my favorite and thoroughly unhip rock band. It’s the reaction I had when I read John Dolan’s Alternet article, Fighting Words: How to Humiliate — and Convert — a Right-Winger.Being one who’s often stressed the importance of not making nice with the wingers (I often mention “ripping out their spines and jumping up and down on their heads”), let’s just say that the article struck a nerve with me. Dolan summs it up quite nicely in his intro:
I’d like to suggest a very simple strategy for American liberals: Get mean. Stop policing the language and start using it to hurt our enemies. American liberals are so busy purging their speech of any words that might offend anyone that they have no notion of using language to cause some salutary pain.
Hallelujah and amen to that, brother. One thing that many liberals fail to see (or simply don’t know how to deal with) is the fact that for the right-wingers, they’re not interested in negotiating. Whether it be Rush Limpballs saying how we are “snakes that need to be destroyed” or Ann Coulter’s inane, belligerent B.S., or Dick “go-fuck-yourself” Cheney, it’s obvious they’re not into making nice. This viewpoint that somehow they are somehow able to be reasoned with is naive and incredibly harmful. And I’ve often been critical of the absolutist pacifist perspective, in that it denies us a sometimes effective tool, and often puts one’s own moral purity above saving lives:
Liberals aren’t generally perceived as fighting the robber barons — they appear as a secular clergy far more obsessed with cleaning up our gloriously obscene language than fighting back.
Note that I’ve used the word “fighting.” Americans are a violent people — and I mean that as a compliment. We are a magnificently violent people who value courage above all else. In this, the ordinary American is in total agreement with George Patton, John Paul Jones and John Brown. They were all violent leaders, who sent a lot of Redcoats, Nazis and secessionist slaveholders to an early grave. I consider that glorious; so do most Americans.
And so the argument goes that we shouldn’t embrace their tactics. Well, considering how effective their tactics are, perhaps that needs a re-examining. We should fight like they do, with one difference: don’t make stuff up. Now, I know that there is a wide, diverse range of opinion on our side. And of course, some of you may accuse me of being captivated by machismo, or whatever, or romanticizing violence. Whatever. Sorry, I just tend to look at it as having an understanding of human nature that’s not so idealistic. Most of my arguments with my fellow lefties are not over the goals or aims of our movements, rather over the effectiveness (or more often, non-effectiveness) of the tactics that people use. Simply put, it’s time to stop being so goddamn nice all of the time. The time for politeness and symbolic gestures has long passed. Dolan gets that. As Putney Swope once said, “Don’t rock the boat. Sink it!”
Seven Days now has a great piece up on last week’s student-led action that shut down two military recruiters’ offices in Williston. Check it out.
Well, then. Today, I was witness to a truly inspiring day of direct action. With results, as you can see from the sign that was on the recruiter’s office in Williston, today. All of you old coots who grumble about the youth of today, it’s time to listen up. More below the jump…
Just wanted to pass along some information to those of you that are interested in shaking things up. And yes, I’ll be there.
CALL TO ACTION!
November 30, 2007 – 3:00 pm
“OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS – OUT OF IRAQ!” Williston Military Recruitment Office
166 Sycamore St. in Williston, VT
Nonviolent Civil Disobedience and Rally!“Out of Our Schools – Out of Iraq”
Unites Iraq Veterans Against the War, Mount Mansfield Union High School Peace Club,
and all Vermonters Opposed to this War to Demand an End to Military Recruiters Preying on our Public School Students, and an End to the Occupation of Iraq.Not one new soldier recruited from VT.
One less soldier in Iraq =Ten less casualties!
Stand up! Stop lies! Save Lives!
The insidious and pervasive presence of military recruiters preying on our young people with their arsenal of lies and deception in our public schools has gone on long enough!
The unjust, immoral and merciless occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan must end immediately.Join us in putting Life before Lies! People before Profit!
Education before Occupation!
Once and for all!November 30, 2007 – 3:00 pm
Williston Military Recruitment Office
166 Sycamore St. in Williston, VT.
Well, then. I had no idea the Welch meeting piece I did on Sunday night was gonna get the exposure it did. Unfortunately, most of the traffic went to Kos and GMD. C’mon, people. Show me some love, you ungrateful bastards. I don’t do this stream-of-consciousness type writing too much, but this meeting and the resulting coverage and responses took up a huge part of my emotional and mental landscape for the last 48 hours, so here it goes.
The attention paid to the article was kind of unsettling for me. Part of it was on a front page article in the Times Argus (which I didn’t even find out about until after dinner). I did the WKVT radio show today, which was actually pretty fun. It was in the rec’d column on Kos for most of the day yesterday. I was told that it was mentioned on Mark Johnson’s interview with Michael Colby yesterday. And it got a huge response over on GMD.
So where’s my goddamn check?
I’ve talked to a lot of people since this thing happened, including quite the back-and-forth with one of the principal organizers, who surprisingly called my article ‘fair’ (which was my intention – the fact that I’ve received zero personal attacks or backlash means I might have actually written a rather fair account).
But seriously, it got a lot of discussion going, which I guess is a good thing. Yeah, there’s a lot of angles one can look at it… tactically, politically, expressively, whatever. I see it mostly from a tactical angle. Sure, anger is good. If the intention was simply to express intense anger, and nothing else, well, it did the trick. But that’s expression, not a tactic to an end in itself. But if its intention was, as stated, to have a dialogue with Welch and hopefully have both parties come away with some better understanding of each other, I think it failed miserably. There simply was no room for that. Since then, there’s been a lot of defensiveness and finger pointing about who started what. I’m not going to get into that, because at this stage of the game, I don’t care anymore.
Both at Kos and GMD (sigh) when there was tense conversation, something often heard was “What will it take?” That’s a good question. What will it take? Some actions, such as the most recent sit-in at Welch’s office that prompted this meeting, are highly effective AND expressive. It had a positive result, and the participants were able to express themselves. Others, such as a march I participated in a few years ago in B-town on tax day, which culminated with a bunch of people standing outside an empty General Dynamics building were expressive, but utterly pointless. I had to split when people started singing Imagine. And that’s what I want to discuss. Tactics. What will actually work? What will it take? More importantly, what needs to change?
