In Chicago in Oct 1969 three days of demonstrations were planned to protest the war and the condition of the political system in this country. It was supposed to be a peaceful demonstration until the split of the Weathermen organization from the larger SDS. As some of us remember, it turned into a more violent conflict and it received extensive press coverage.
The much more peaceful and widespread Day of Rage of 2011 took place on Sept 17 with hardly a nod from the press. In fact the only coverage I’ve seen was of the Wall St protest that was blocked by police and corralled to a side street. They were there to protest corporate involvement in politics and their undue influence over our government. Hundreds of demonstrators attended.
Hundreds of people participated in related protests in Austin, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. All of them carrying the same message: The SCOTUS ruling in favor of corporate entities as citizens has taken over our political system and corrupted our government.
Their slogan: One citizen, one dollar, one vote – calling for limits on how much any person (or any corporate citizen) can contribute to a political campaign.
Not surprisingly, all corporate owned MSM outlets pointedly ignored these protests. So thank goodness for the power of the internet where we can still find venues for accurate and pertinent newsworthy happenings in our country and around the globe.
Despite the slow start I'd say the genie is out of the bottle and I believe as more citizens remain unemployed and frustrated we will see more protests that will eventually become impossible to ignore. I just hope we can stay with the ideal of peaceful protest and nonviolent civil disobedience.
The lack of media coverage of the current nonviolent protest is inexcusable and sort of makes you wonder if to be "news worthy" a little drama isn't needed! I suspect that you are correct Rocky and tht protests by the people will grow; I hope that we can maintain the principles of civil disobedience and nonviolence as well but I fear that we may have to be more aggressive in order to to be heard.
ReplyDelete"I fear that we may have to be more aggressive in order to to be heard."
ReplyDeleteI share your concern and, frankly, welcome mass demonstrations of civil disobedience and more! I suspect we may even lose a few battles, but corruption and injustice of this magnitude cannot continue forever. Sooner or later, rage boils over, and I do believe we are reaching that point.
No doubt, there has been a deplorable lack of press coverage of the Wall Street demonstrations; but high profile candidates such as Elizabeth Warren cannot be ignored, and her message will resonate and reach a wider audience.
The Tea Rabble will not decide next year's election; the independent voters will.
There is a difference between peaceful/nonviolent and timid/quiet. Righteous indignation is not violent. Raising your voice to be heard is not necessarily unpeaceful. If you heard any of Dr King's speeches either live or on audio/video you know while he called for peaceful protest and nonviolence, there was no wimpy begging or quiet requests. Dr King was a powerful speaker who used righteous indignation to drive home his point that ALL people were created equal and he wanted that equality for ALL people.
ReplyDeleteSo, I think that coherent speech with righteous indignation, organized protests adhereing to nonviolence and placards with all words spelled correctly can still be very effective.
OCTO - I agree that any candidate that dismisses the independents (which has been my affiliation since I first registered to vote) will be making a huge tactical error.
ReplyDeleteThe Tea Party put a few Repugs in office and managed to bring the country to a standstill - they did not do any favors for the hundreds of thousands who are unemployed. But our current president rode into the White House on the wave of independent voters. Given the almost equal division in political leanings which showed in the voting, we indies will be playing a pivotal role next year.
Rocky, I like your apt use of the term "righteous indignation." I fully agree with you that it is a powerful tool. I've just been disgusted with the media's lack of overage of the Wall Street protests.
ReplyDeleteYou know that giant American flag on the New York Stock Exchange building on Wall Street. Perhaps someone needs to do a flag burning—with some cameras rolling...
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