Back to Basics
Friday 10 December 2010
by: William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
(Image: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: Pete Kraynak, Naila Jinnah)
In the first few shaky, panicky days after the attacks of September 11, I found myself driving through downtown Keene, New Hampshire. There on the green of a large traffic circled stood two people, not speaking, not moving, just holding signs. One said "Peace," and the other said "No War." When I returned a couple of months later, more people were there. Not many, not enough to start a basketball team, really, but there they were holding signs and making their quiet, vital point.
As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan accelerated toward becoming the bloodbaths so many of us knew they would be, these kinds of small protests began popping up in big cities and small towns all over the country. I traveled some 800,000 miles in the first half of the George W. Bush administration, hitting just about every one of the continental 48 states while speaking out against the war, and everywhere I went, I was invited to participate in these kinds of protests. Not large, not enough to make the news, but people would stand in the same spot in some town or city every single day, visible only to a small sliver of the society but making their point nonetheless.
Every so often, of course, these small dots of protesting humanity would swell into an ocean of outrage that broke in waves over Washington DC and the other great cities of this nation. February 15th, 2003 was one example, without doubt the most tremendous day of mass protest in the history of the planet. In every major city on Earth, people by the tens of millions poured into the streets to protest the onrushing invasion of Iraq. It was so vast in breadth and scope that it could not be ignored, even by a "mainstream" media that had been cheerleading for combat ever since the first hint of invasion was put forth by the Bush administrations. "Navy SEALS rock," remember?
Did it stop the war? Of course not. It took another three years - along with eloquent individual protests by people like Cindy Sheehan - for the tide of frightened, media-deceived, post-9/11 opinion to turn against the war in Iraq. But it did turn, and it turned hard, and a lot of politicians who had stapled themselves to that war and the president who created it found themselves reaping the electoral whirlwind in 2006 and 2008.
In my mind, it all begins and ends with those two people in Keene a few days after 9/11. Those two became four, and then six, and streetcorners in so many American cities began growing their own colonies of protest, and sometimes they would march, but mostly they would stand their ground and hold their sings and say "No," with body and soul and presence, to what was happening to their country and their world.
Help fight ignorance. Click here for free Truthout email updates.
It is a rare thing to see these kinds of protests anymore. They are happening, but not often...which is strange, because we are still at war in Iraq, and are more at war in Afghanistan than we have been since the initial invasion. We have a president who goes out of his way to defend and protect the war criminals who populated the previous administration. We have a president who goes back on his word and allows tax cuts for rich people to survive, despite the rank hypocrisy of the supporters for such tax breaks, supporters who refuse to fund health care for 9/11 responders and unemployment benefits for people who have been long out of work, all out of a concern for the deficit, supporters who then turn on a dime and explode that deficit with irresponsible giveaways to people who absolutely, positively do not need the money.
The Don't Ask Don't Tell repeal has fallen to dust. The DREAM Act has collapsed. The president is speaking perfect Republican with his talk of simplifying the tax code, freezing federal wages, and best of all, his feral attacks on his own supporters for having the gall to try and hold him to his word. Mr. Obama lavishes praise and apologies all over his opponents, even as they try to annihilate him, while attacking viciously the people who wore out shoe leather and gave money they couldn't afford to give in order to see him into the office he has thus far not graced at all. Perhaps worst of all, the same insanely right-bent Republican Party Mr. Obama has been playing footsie with will take control of the House of Representatives after the New Year. As bad as things are now, they are about to get a whole lot worse.
I'd like to start seeing people on the streetcorners again. It won't be many at first; it never is. Two will become four, which will become more, each holding a sign and making a point and saying "No." No more screaming at the television or venting your spleens on internet forums. Go out, stand firm, and make the point. Be visible. Begin again what was done so well before. Create that tide to wash over the country, inspire others who feel as you do to join you. Be heard. Be seen.
Big storms gather around small particles.
Go.
This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Comments
This forum is moderated by software. Please allow up to 15 minutes for your comments to go live and avoid posting the same comment multiple times.
I think the operating
Fri, 12/10/2010 - 15:54 — Anonymous (not verified)I think the operating protest word should be "ENOUGH!" rather than "no".
ACT Outside the
Fri, 12/10/2010 - 16:03 — Vic Anderson (not verified)ACT Outside the "officialfree speech" ZONE! In numbers like those ~ 2 MILLION cut federal Public SERVANTS and the ~ 4 MILLION black ops SILENT MAJORITY of them, as well - on 12/16/10, 10:00 AM, White House, DC! (See Michael Moore, et al, below)
More people marched and
Fri, 12/10/2010 - 16:56 — Motamanx (not verified)More people marched and protested the illegal war against Iran than had ever marched or protested against anything before, ever.
We still went. Because that was where the oil was and that was where Dick Cheney told his pals we could get it--in the STILL Secret Energy Policy that no one ever saw.
We went because Rumsfeld said the targets were "sexier" there. Rather than throwing their clipboards at him, the members of the media nodded their heads and printed what he said.
I was one of those few holding a PEACE sign. That's all it said: PEACE. Some people drove by and gave me the finger. What were they for, exactly?
Actually, in my town, people
Fri, 12/10/2010 - 16:58 — Anonymous (not verified)Actually, in my town, people do gather at a main intersection every Friday to protest. Hasn't made any difference. It will take an all out, cross country, all services, all differences welcomed, STRIKE. A full shut-down. This nice-nice stuff like "Solutions" (as well-qualified and well-meaning as it appears) has already proven to be ineffective against what we are fighting. I am tired of democracy being bull-dozed again and again. What we have are all those dirty words: oligarchy, neoliberalism, rogue state, imperialism, thieves and crooks, failure of ethics, warmongers and murderers...oh, the list goes on and on. The US are us. And I am ashamed.
Don't laugh. Barack Obama
Fri, 12/10/2010 - 17:14 — Anonymous (not verified)Don't laugh. Barack Obama will announce a change of party before the end of this term. He will run as a Republican in 2012.
protest protest.....who
Fri, 12/10/2010 - 17:36 — big fat al (not verified)protest protest.....who cares?
the war machine keeps consuming cultures, women, children, ideology and money. and soldiers
US GB Taliban et al
People should fall back on the 2nd Amendment.,
"The president is speaking
Fri, 12/10/2010 - 18:43 — Liced-christs (not verified)"The president is speaking perfect Republican with his talk of simplifying the tax code, freezing federal wages, and best of all, his feral attacks on his own supporters for having the gall to try and hold him to his word."
Ah, now this is the direction we need to pursue. Speaking is preceded by thinking, thinking preceded by being. Obama IS a Republican, a Republican in thought, word and deed. Let's get to it, Will. I am waiting for your article: Obama the Republican: the Lie living in the White House.
Bill: We need to organize.
Fri, 12/10/2010 - 18:48 — S.O.Teric (not verified)Bill: We need to organize. The billionaires have money and used it to create the "astroturf" movement called The Tea Party. Is that all it takes? Money? Can we do it through the internet? Obama did it with Obama For American, now Organizing for America which I just unsubscribed from. Somebody needs to organize a march involving millions that will climb the steps of the Capitol and shake the institution. How will we do this? Anybody know how?
Obama is destroying the
Fri, 12/10/2010 - 19:16 — Loren Bliss (not verified)Obama is destroying the Democratic Party by associating it (in our abbreviated Moron Nation memories) with murderous economic downsizing.
Nor can I believe this is an accident. The Republican Party was crippled in much the same way by its association with the Great Depression, and Obama's Wall Street masters are obviously applying the strategic lessons so learned.
Indeed I now believe destruction of the Democratic Party is Obama's primary purpose -- that Barack the Betrayer has always been a Republican at heart, that he cunningly hid his conservative malice behind dark skin and a Democrat label and with his Big Lies scammed the electorate in a manner that literally has no historical precedent.
As we are already seeing, the consequences include not just a permanent Republican majority but the final transformation of the United States into de facto fascism.
I stopped reading when I got
Fri, 12/10/2010 - 19:23 — Dr Susan Reibel Moore (not verified)I stopped reading when I got to the line alleging that Mr Obama has not graced his Office at all. This is extremist rot.
William Rivers Pitt, you should start smoking again, or maybe just boozing. You have written much that is fine for Truthful, but lately I can't bear even looking at this stuff coming out of your mouth. At this distance, in Sydney, it still smells like what Aussies would call 'bull dust'.
What to do? How to act?
Fri, 12/10/2010 - 19:31 — anyfreeman (not verified)What to do? How to act? After 30+ years of stagnation, depredation and corporate expansionism, even reality is now in play.
The rulers are ruthless, implacable and unmoved by appeals. Organized religion - particularly in the US has become so disgraced and corrupt that it cannot make any change. The government is so far in the tank that it has to get a hall pass for a shot of oxygen.
It's a bad, bad situation, and it's going to get worse. The bad dudes are winning.
For a view of a truly
Fri, 12/10/2010 - 20:09 — Anonymous (not verified)For a view of a truly amazing peace protest, Google "Brian Haw". Brian has been standing on the sidewalk across from Parliment in London for NINE YEARS. That's impressive.
obama gamed the left and
Fri, 12/10/2010 - 20:24 — Anonymous (not verified)obama gamed the left and progressives like bush gamed the right and right-leaning-to-radical christians; by using their most cherished ideals and illusions against them. neither 'side' ever saw it coming. unless the numbers of street protests=a complete shutdown strike no-one will even bother to look. seems like the wiki-leaks method is currently the only phenomenon able to make those in power scramble. if we allow that to go away we are even dumber then we
have already shown ourselves to be. william, i like your articles here in general but for awhile now they seem more bluster, common-man-feel-good-hurray-for-our-team and speciously 'underdog-ish'. my feeling is that the situation has moved beyond your willingness to accept its total reality. after reading chris hedges' articles and seeing whats happening with wikileaks, julian assange, and the anonymous 'operation payback' hacktivists, not to mention just what i experience in my day-to-day, it seems apparent a whole new paradigm has to be acknowledged before the correct medicine can be applied.
The bad dudes only win if we
Fri, 12/10/2010 - 21:15 — Uppity Woman (not verified)The bad dudes only win if we let them. We do not have to participate. The poster at 21:58 is right about the power of a general strike.
We can take this nation in another direction simply by being very careful about where we spend our money, where we earn our money, and where we place our attention. If you pay attention to Fox News, you will be assaulted with the lie that the bad dudes have already won.
They only win when we give them space in our lives. Once we quit dignifying their lies with our attention, those lies will lose their power.
I've been spending less, traveling less, buying a lot less gas, keeping my house cool in the winter and warm in the summer, having the smallest footprint I can get by with. I bank at a credit union, have no credit cards, and use cash as much as possible. I eat local, organic, and fair trade whenever possible, but by not eating fast food, I don't spend much more to have quality, non-corporate food. My television broke and I haven't replaced it. In years.
Would I quit my piece of $hit job to participate in a general strike? I sure would if everyone else did, if we all did it on the same day, or in the same week.
Frankly there isn't much (non-violent) I wouldn't do to teach the plutocrats a lesson about poking a sleeping bear. Our biggest lesson now is that we need coordinators, not leaders, to be an invulnerable movement. We are all leaders, and each one of us has the responsibility to lead something that will help now.
It just takes effort people, and no once can lead you there, or do it for you.
Absolutely, 01:24, a whole
Fri, 12/10/2010 - 21:18 — Uppity Woman (not verified)Absolutely, 01:24, a whole new paradigm, a whole new paradigm!
Energy Emergency will be the
Sat, 12/11/2010 - 00:42 — tahoevalleylines (not verified)Energy Emergency will be the story of 2011.
Which reader of Truth Out will be Peak Oil savvy (see "MuseLetter") before the event?
The illusion of America and
Sat, 12/11/2010 - 14:40 — Anonymous (not verified)The illusion of America and Americans being number one, the world's super-power and policemen... has to end.
19:40 It's not an illusion.
Sat, 12/11/2010 - 17:16 — radline9 (not verified)19:40 It's not an illusion. The US military has to protect the oil and they are doing it. The US is no longer the strongest economy, no longer the bastion of freedom, and soon will have no problems with immigration because nobody will want to come here. We will have healthcare for the rich only and there will be little or no upward mobility. These things have already been decided and it has little to do with Obama. No idealist of the true left will ever make it to the whitehouse again.
it seems apparent a whole
Sat, 12/11/2010 - 19:25 — Anonymous (not verified)it seems apparent a whole new paradigm has to be acknowledged before the correct medicine can be applied.
This is it. This is the crux. We keep expecting things to be like they were in the 60s/70s. Ain't gonna happen. Too much &*%$ has gone down. Paradigm shift - that's it! Hard to grasp, that's why we feel so helpless.
This new paradigm idea has
Sat, 12/11/2010 - 19:42 — Anonymous (not verified)This new paradigm idea has me thinking that maybe Asange is the one who really gets it. Maybe it's not about taking it to the streets, but rather taking it to the Internet.
"Give me a place to stand,"
Sun, 12/12/2010 - 06:30 — Anonymous (not verified)"Give me a place to stand," said Archimedes, "and I will move the world." These men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. Thousands of Peace Corps volunteers are making a difference in isolated villages and city slums in dozens of countries. Thousands of unknown men and women in Europe resisted the occupation of the Nazis and many died, but all added to the ultimate strength and freedom of their countries. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." Bobby Kennedy
OK, all you Brainiacs who
Sun, 01/02/2011 - 19:02 — Frances in California (not verified)OK, all you Brainiacs who want to send Obama back for a refund, what else you got? Exactly how do you think the Criminal Oligarchy is going to let a true progressive into the White House in the next, oh, say, 50 years? Hitting the streets in what is rapidly becoming a police-state might feel good at first, but with all the money tied up in Big Energy, and all the Thugs owned by them, too, seriously: do you - even you, Will - see hitting the streets as a viable option? It's going to get much, much worse before enough Americans reach the desperation level necessary to SEIZE THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION, as they did in Argentina in 2002. Any of you guys with your short attention spans read up on that?