It will come as no surprise to any member of this community when I say that our country is in trouble. Over the course of the past six and a half years we have watched as, one by one, our liberties have been stripped away, abuse and torture have become institutionalized at the highest levels of our government, the Constitution has been rendered meaningless and the rule of law considered passe. Day after day the outrages keep piling on, adding insult to injury.
Many of us have done our level best to counteract these injustices. We blog, we write letters to the editor, we call our Senators and Representatives, we e-mail anyone who we think might listen. We've been asked to focus on working with campaigns in lieu of protests, and we've done so wholeheartedly with both time and money. And yet, for all our efforts, we have little, if anything, to show for it.
The election of 2006 finally gave us a glimmer of hope. We thought that we were finally turning a corner, that by wresting control of the House and the Senate from the Republicans we were finally making progress. We thought that we would finally have eyes watching, ears listening, some semblance of integrity in a position of some power that would hear our cries for justice and would act on them. Boy, were we wrong.
Our new and "improved" Congress seems to be just another variation of what has gone before it. Sure, there have been a few bills passed, but little progress has been made on any front. And any good that may have been accomplished has been totally overshadowed with the capitulation of our feckless leaders to the whims and wants of the Unitary Executive. The shining example of this is the FISA bill, which is a further errosion of our cherished rights, a green light to invade what little privacy we have left.
For me, the FISA bill is the last straw. I'm mad as hell, and I look around at the piles of emails, letters, and phone calls and wonder what, if any, good they've done, what, if any, effect they've had. The answer would appear to be that they've had no effect at all. So what recourse do I/we have? What action can we take that will have any chance of getting the attention of those that are supposed to speak for We, the People? It looks to me like the only action left to us as citizens in search of getting our message across is to protest. And do it big. I intend to begin my protest activities on September 15th in Washington DC at the Protest for Peace.
There has been much written over the years on protest. There are those that have said in diaries and in comments that they don't think protesting is worth it. I would like to try to address two of the most often cited reasons against protesting which I see as false arguments. I do so with the best of intentions, so please bear with me.
The first is the objection of participating in any protest that is associated with those whose goals and beliefs are different from our own, such as the group ANSWER. Many posters object to both the tactics and views of this group, and that concern is valid. Often this concern is expressed in the form of fear of "guilt by association." It's true that there will be many who will try to paint all protesters with the same brush that ANSWER and its ilk are painted. Guilt by association is a hazard that protesters who do not share their beliefs run the risk of when joining in a protests where they will be present. But is this a reason to stay away? I think not.
I am not a supporter of ANSWER. I think much of what they have to say is off-putting, at best. But to allow myself to be dissuaded from raising my voice in protest against the war because the organization that has gone to the trouble to attain the permits for lawful protest is not to my liking would be a cop out. To use ANSWER as an excuse to stay away is, quite frankly, bullshit. I, and all of you, come here to Daily Kos on a regular basis and brush elbows with people whose causes are not our own. Some of the causes and thoughts I see put forth in diaries and comments are just as offensive to me as anything ANSWER has to say. And yet I come, day after day, to this site because I have something to say, because I want to hear what you say, and because I think there is real strength in numbers. As a member of the DK community I have been painted as a member of the KKK, a communist, a terrorist, a proponent of hate speech, a left wing anarchist and a whole host of other unsavory things that I find offensive. But that doesn't mean I won't still keep showing up and doing my part to effect change through the common voice of this community.
We can put this into more concrete terms. We have many factions here that support the various candidates. It is obvious to anyone who is brave enough to enter a diary on a particular candidate that things have turned ugly. Those in strong support of one candidate can be vitriolic towards the other candidates and their supporters. Hillary Clinton is reviled by the Edwards and Obama camps, Edwards is reviled by the Obama and Clinton camps, Obama is reviled by the Clinton and Edwards camps, and any one who supports anyone else just throws down with all three. From the look of the diaries on the various candidates it would appear that no one could under any circumstances support any of the other candidates. Yet when the end of the primary season has rolled around and a presidential candidate has been chosen, we will be asked to cast aside our differences and support the winner wholeheartedly and, with very few exceptions, we will. We'll do this because it is in our best interest as individuals, as a group and as a nation. We will overcome whatever disdain we may feel for the winner because we must. We will work for their campaign, we will fight like hell to insure that we have a Democrat in the White House come January of 2009.
Aside from ANSWER, there are other groups who have organized large protests throughout September, some of those who have organized protests include Troops Out Now.org, Encampment to Stop the War and United for Peace & Justice, just to name a few. If avoiding association with one organization is really the driving force behind staying away from massive protests, there are other organizations and other protests on different days to choose from.
The other point of contention I see can be summed up like this: "The old-timers just want to relive the 'glory' days of the 60's and 70's. They're just a bunch of old, smelly hippies who want to run around chanting about making love, not war. There is no place in the modern political equation for protesting. It is an outdated method of trying to effect change." Alright, I added the part about 'old, smelly hippies', but it definitely the sense that I feel is inferred when I see comments along these lines.
This is an argument that I find particularly hard to take. I was too young to protest in the 60's. I was still too young to protest in the 70's, although I did it anyway. There is much to be said for protesting, and it has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with reliving the glory days. How many times have I seen something along the lines of "protest has no place in modern politics" or some other baseless crap? It's hard to quantify in exact numbers, but this is an argument I hear often on the boards posited by the "younger" generation and I have to tell you, you're full of shit. First of all, most of you who utter such remarks weren't even alive during the 60's and 70's and if you were, you weren't functional enough to know what was going on from your treasured status as adorable infant. Protest was vital to the ending of Vietnam, it was vital to the collapse of the Nixon administration. Without the raised voices in the streets, the powers that be would have just kept on keeping on in their quest to stamp out godless communism, a quest that would have claimed many more lives, the innocent lives of the Vietnamese as well as our soldiers. We have a wall in Washington with the names of the dead who gave their lives to a cause that was lost before it even started. Yet the killing would have continued had the people not stood up in angry protest to voice their opposition to the senseless killing. Was protest the only reason that the war ended? No. But to discount the importance of those protests is to ignore the value of what so many fought for, bled for and even died for in the streets of this nation.
Does protest have any value in modern society. Of course it does. srkp23 points out some of the most important things to be gained in her excellent diary, Why don't we do it on the Mall?
Beginning with the coalitional aspect of most large anti-war protests (although he specifically critiques A.N.S.W.E.R.) kos made his point forcefully; he wasn't advancing a protests are good and bad POV:
The lack of focus is maddening, obviously. But my biggest problem with anti-war protests is that they're obsolete. What do they accomplish? Historians still argue about the role Vietnam-era protests had on ending the war (shortened it versus prolonged it). But today, they mean nothing.
Although he sympathizes that people want to physically come together to fight for the cause, it becomes clear that for kos, not only is mass protest politically worthless, it might actually have a negative impact by diverting resources of time and money:
My question, then, becomes whether the money and effort people expended getting to DC to march might've been better spent in other forms of activism -- letters to the editor, contributions to anti-war candidates, politicians, and organizations, calls and letters to their elected officials, creating anti-war media (e.g. Flash animations, documentaries), and so on.
I think this is a very valid question. Imho, mass protest is a kind of capital investment in activist infrastructure. Not only does it feel good and rally the passions, but people actually make contacts, exchange ideas, work together, make plans for the future, and become more energized activists. Well-timed mass protest can actually grow our activist base, which translates into all of the other forms of action that kos enumerates. The bonds of friendship and group purpose that can be formed during mass action are a vital part of the strength of any infrastructure. For this reason, I think that mass protest can be an investment that provides long-lasting activist returns.
These are all valid points. But there is a larger point to be discussed, and this requires differentiating between what a "protest" is as opposed to what a "rally" is. I tend to agree that rallies are of little importance. A rally is generally small and therefore has limited impact. But a protest, where numbers are high and the voices and signs are raised to fever pitch and sustained, is a statement that cannot be ignored. Whether or not you like Michael Moore, he rightly points out in his movie "Sicko" that the governments of Europe pay attention to mass protests. They pay attention because they fear them, they fear the loss of power that will result come election time if they ignore so many angry voters. This is what differentiates what has passed for protest in the last few years in this country with what real protests can do. It is in the volume, it is in the numbers. Twelve well-meaning people standing around in the town square chatting amongst themselves while wanly holding a protest sign is not a protest. This is a protest....
and this....
and this....
This is what it takes to scare the pants off of those who would ignore opinion polls and protest rallies and emails and letters to the editor. I have no hope that it will in any way affect the likes of BushCo, but you can bet your ass that massive, sustained protest will make members of Congress sit up and take notice.
It is time to get down to brass tacks, to the very heart of the matter for me. What on earth could make a woman two days from her 50th birthday, a woman who sometimes feels old and tired and out of date, a woman whose bank account can be measured in negative numbers color coded in red, a woman who has so many things on her plate that day and night no longer have any meaning as the work piles up and time marches on take the time to scratch the dirt for enough change to get her to Washington DC to protest? Let me introduce you to the reason.
This is Jaden.
This picture was taken the day after her birth as she laid sleeping on a big pillow in my lap. I was fortunate enough to be there and participate in her birth, I was the first person who held her as she began her life on this planet as an American citizen. Jaden is the youngest of my eight grandchildren, ranging in age from my 14 year old step-granddaughter to baby Jaden, who is now four months old and starting to crawl. To say I love each of these little people would not do justice for the abiding emotion that I feel for each and every one of them. There is nothing I would not do for them, no obstacle too large to overcome. I would without question lay down my life for each and every one of them.
When I look at the world that they are growing up in now, a world filled with fear, war, torture, lies, the loss of the most basic liberties, the destruction of this country and everything it stands for, I cannot sit idly by and not do something. The methods I've used up to this point have been a bitter disappointment to me. Every day that passes where the rule of law is ignored, where injustice is perceived as a just another tool for the mighty, where death and destruction are the norm is another day that I have failed my grandchildren. I cannot let this pass, I cannot let what is happening to my country, my grandchildren's country, continue.
I have not yet reached the stage where I feel that I should take up my pitchfork and torch. Not yet. But I am definitely at the stage where I feel I should take up my signs, raise my voice and shout to the rooftops that I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore. I repeat, I AM MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!! I am no longer doing this for me. I'm doing this for what matters to me most - my grandchildren.
I am not an eloquent diarist, I pretty much say what's on my mind and hope for the best. There are many in the Daily Kos community that can and have spoken on the subject of protest whose words have far greater impact than mine will. One of those is jlynne, a member of long standing in this community and someone who speaks with skill and passion on this subject. I am including a small portion of an excellent treatise that she recently wrote. The full text can be found here. Please read, hear her words and let them penetrate:
As a high school student, I once wrote an essay for the American Legion on "What it Means to Be an American." My conclusion was that it simply means that you are entitled to a representative government constrained by the Constitution and subject to the Will of the People. Those old guys gave me a standing ovation.
For six long years, I have watched the deliberate demolition of that entitlement. A government free to ignore the Constitution is, by definition, not representative of We the People. Certainly, our government no longer feels constrained by the Constitution. Is it also no longer subject to the Will of the People?
I hope not, for without the very "quaint" Constitution, We the People have no power, and we become wholly subject to the whims of those who claim the right to govern. Inevitably, we will face our own civil war and all that that entails.
History teaches that there is true power in numbers, that there is no substitute for solidarity. Six years of individual efforts at blogging, LTEs, phone calls, faxes, emails and GOTV efforts have not been able to convey the Will of the People. I can only do my part, but for my part, I will go to DC on 9/15 to protest the War in Iraq - not because of the atrocities that have already resulted, but because of the atrocities that will result if our government continues to refuse to subject itself to the Will of We the People.
On September 11 General Petraeus will deliver to Congress his long awaited assessment of the effectiveness of the surge and the War in Iraq. In response, there will be a protest held in Washington DC on September 15th. There are many of us within the Daily Kos community who wish to participate in this protest. To facilitate this endeavor, some of us have prepared a website/blog, Road2DC, to help coordinate ride sharing, lodging and other pertinent information to help those that wish to participate in this and any other protests that may be on the horizon. I encourage everyone with the slightest interest to please sign up and participate. Even if you can't go, you may have information to share or learn something that will inspire you to participate on a local level or in future events nationwide. Please take the time for this endeavor, find a way to participate, use this site and the effort behind it as a springboard to take action. We, the People have reached a point where we must take action to save our country. If not now, when?
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Road2DC is a group of kossacks committed to building a nationwide rideshare network to make it easier for as many as possible to attend protest events in DC. This diary was written by Got a Grip.