This Saturday, September 15th, thousands of activists will march on Washington. My colleagues and I at The Seminal will be among them, dressed in professional attire.
A lot of activists treat protests as spaces where they can act out an alternative vision of society, especially through clothing, hairstyle, and body art.
We stand in solidarity with our fellow protesters and the millions of Americans who will be present in spirit on Saturday. We do not think individuals' choices of self-expression will undermine the protest's goals. But we believe that a professional appearance will be more effective in projecting seriousness and determination to the administration, and more effective in swaying the opinions of those who are on the fence about the war.
Some might object that dressing provocatively challenges the status quo that gave birth to the war. This perspective has value: certainly it is worthwhile to push back against the elements in our culture that have permitted the war's continuation.
Unlike many other political battles, though, the battle for greater freedom in appearance has largely been won in American society. In terms of what kinds of appearance it expects from its members, our society is tremendously less formal and constrictive than it was fifty or sixty years ago. This victory, however, has meant that alternative styles of dress have lost much of their political impact. Styles are no longer always connected to distinct movements - sometimes, nowadays, they are simply styles. A Mohawk does not mean in 2007 what it meant in 1977, and long hair on a man does not mean what it meant in 1967.
In 2007, moreover, protesters who use alternative modes of self-expression may leave themselves more vulnerable to the danger that the media will portray them as marginal fanatics who do not represent "real Americans."
Dressing professionally will communicate two ideas to audiences. Firstly, it will symbolize our ease in speaking the language of power. Professional attire is associated with business and politics, but neither of these domains belongs exclusively to the Right, or even the mainstream. Our critique of power will gain added force when we appear calm, intelligent, and articulate. Like it or not, all of those things are associated with professional appearance and presentation.
Secondly, professional attire sends a signal to the community of protesters. Professional attire is associated with organization and, of course, with professionalism. As activists labor to end the war, and as we look even beyond the war's end to the goal of building a more just society, we have to keep these concepts in mind. The simple act of dressing professionally may help us to feel more professional, more organized, more in charge.
Anyone who is interested in joining us at the protest is welcome to email us at seminal@theseminal.com.
Let's end this war!