September
2004
Editorial:
Heading Home
By Kymberlie Adams Matthews
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My parents have a house upstate
with a nice garden, a lush lawn, a pool and a dozen of the sweetest
rescued furry critters
always eager to give
licks and purrs hello. ‘Home’ has always been a place I go
to relax, eat well, and do a few (tons) of laundry for free. On August
29, mouths watering in anticipation of mom’s homemade vegan
scones, my sisters and I planned on loading up the truck with our
three dogs,
good music, stinky clothes and heading upstate to help dad finish
staining the house.
That morning, I had a change of heart. My über-liberal nature made itself
clear; I wanted to join the thousands of others in speaking out against the policies
of the Bush administration in what was being touted as convention week’s
largest protest. I wanted to join hundreds of different groups—feminist,
anti-war, environmental, and more—planning on participating. For f*ck’s
sake, here was my chance to march right past Madison Square Garden! Our chance
to show middle America that Bush is the real evil doer.
So what was my skepticism in joining Sunday’s march? I’ve been to
my fair share of demonstrations. Even done time in jail. Since my teens, I’ve
served several short and uncomfortable bouts in a square metal cell for acts
of civil disobedience—for animals rights, women’s rights, glbt rights,
social justice. I’ve been pepper sprayed for speaking out against the WTO
in DC. And, yes, that was me in San Francisco’s streets with thousands
of others last year chanting “One, two, three, four—We don’t
want your racist war!”
My fear is, despite Sunday’s mostly peaceful march, this RNC smorgasbord
of events is going to backfire on progressives, in a very real, very big
way.
Rational Patriotic Folk
Recalling that age-old saying: Avoid a cure that is worse than the disease;
I suggest my own (slightly newer) maxim: Avoid resistance against Bush that
plays
into his hands if the outcome might just be worse than no resistance at all.
I think the Republican presidential campaign’s ruthless agents have been
scheming hard and are counting on us to do something stupid. Barring that, I
wouldn’t put it past ‘em to plant a few whack-jobs among us to ensure
it. A great deal of planning and debate over anti-RNC actions has been conducted
over open e-mail lists, public advertising, radio spots, and heavy bragging.
No doubt, Karl Rove and his masters of spin are onto us. And they are devoted
to fully taking advantage of the outwardly hostile environment of New York City
during their convention to remake the party’s sagging image. A choice between
George W. Bush and “chaos in the streets” may very well be enough
to hand the GOP a victory. As the issue will be framed for public consumption,
we are their ‘terrorists,’ and they plan on showing us to the
world.
First, the Bush Republicans can’t wait to alter their image from right-wing
imbeciles into a bunch of regular guys. Masquerading in front of the TV cameras
the Republicans will pose as your all-American, rational, patriotic folk,
forced to fight off attacks from protesting anarchists, rabble-rousers, zealots,
queers,
hippies and other radicals most people already assume make up the greater
part of New Yorkers.
Second, they are going to make use of the 9/11 tragedy in the most underhanded
possible way. The Republicans count on being depicted as ‘choosing’ New
York to honor those who gave their lives. And of course, they will take time
to re-vow to protect the nation’s security and courageously renew the
fight on the war against terror. Oh, and their not-so-cryptic weapon: the
unconquerable hero of 9/11, Rudy Giuliani.
And We the People?
We the people are falling for it.
What if ‘we the people’ organized around substantive issues of actual
day-to-day social meaning? Bringing light to the homeless, environmental devastation,
betrayal of farm animals, poor and non-white populations (who are plainly absent
from most of these protests, evenings of political cabaret, hipster fashion shows,
and spiked punch loft parties). What if we the people had chosen the route of
Dr. Martin Luther King, who assembled his rallies using the finest strategic
care of a military general, with the characteristic obsessions of a Madison Avenue
publicist? Even when arrest or violence was welcomed, embraced for its communicative
power, was it ever left to chance? Today most “we the people protesters” revel
in our grasp of improvisation, as if it were a good thing. With no true political
goal, a mere step toward continually evolving incomparable goals or as my best
friend Lawrence puts it: “Dissent without strategy is merely a temper
tantrum.”
Surely, we can do better than throwing a massive hissy fit in front of the
entire nation? If not, perhaps we deserve to lose. History never truly repeats
itself
and clairvoyance is essentially unreliable. But what history can provide
is a set of guidelines to wisdom—guidelines we would be wise to consider. Still
don’t believe me? Flashback to Chicago 1968: To paraphrase a recent
Village Voice article, protesters at the Democratic convention thought they
were sending
out a message about peace, love and understanding. What the rest of America
saw and heard on their TV and radio broadcasts was a message of unmistakable
anarchy.
Please don’t judge my opinions too harshly. I understand the so-called
chaos of streets being shut down by protesters or even a window being broken
is nothing compared to the day-to-day chaos and destruction of people unable
to afford housing or health care. That’s where the real violence—in
the system—lies. But we’ve got to think strategically about every
move we make to avoid succumbing to their master plan. Is that selfish? Perhaps.
But it is only foolish arrogance that gives us the confidence to think that the
Bush administration is happily waiting for us—without a self-serving
plan of their own.
With this much at stake, the desire for home cooked scones seems perfectly
reasonable.
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