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A Photographic Journal of Life
in an Afghan Refugee Camp
By Judith Mann
November 9, 2001
Michael
Colby
Schoolgirl
Gets Booted
for Anti-war Views
November 8, 2001
Mokhiber/Weissman
The
Cipro Rip-Off
Mitchel Cohen
The Smear Campaign
Against Nancy Oden
Steve
Perry
American
Roulette
November 7, 2001
Bahour/Dahan
Placebo Peace
Plan
Tom Turnipseed
Bush
Gives Billions
to His Oil Buddies
Cockburn/St. Clair
Greens, Airports
and
National ID Cards
Dr. Susan
Block
Ayatollah
Asscroft
Brian J. Foley
Bombing Campaign
Not "Self-Defense" Under International Law
November 6, 2001
Mark Scaramella
Where's
That Red Cross Money Going
C.G. Estabrook
Our Torturers
Sheperd
Bliss
Scott
Nearing on War
Rep. Ron Paul
Underwriting
the Taliban
Tariq
Ali
The
General Who
Came to Dinner
Evan Ravitz
Stop the War
Through
Direct Democracy
Steve
Perry
Hunger
in Afghanistan
November 5, 2001
Patrick Cockburn
Living
in the Minefields
David Price
Terror
and Indigenous People
November 3, 2001
Declan McCullagh
Nancy Oden Interview
Daniel
Wolff
The
Memphis Blues Again
Mark Weisbrot
War on Civilians
Dave Marsh
How
the RIAA (and the FBI) Cheat Musicians
Robert Jensen
Speaking
Out Against
War on Campus
November 2, 2001
CounterPunch
Wire
Green
Party Leader Detained at Maine Airport; Prevented from Boarding
Any Plane
Alexander Cockburn
FBI Eyes
Torture
November 1, 2001
Dean Baker
Dying
for Patents
Sami Amarah
US Attempts
to Recruit
Russian Vets of Afghan War
Molly Secours
Where
Are the Voices of Reason? Let the Women
Be Heard
William Blum
Unleashing the
CIA
October 31, 2001
Tom Turnipseed
Terrorize
the Poor,
Subsidize the Rich
Chris Clarke
Thank God
for Berkeley
Steve
Perry
The
Silent Genocide
Resources:
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8-Page Special Issue
War Diary
CIA's Assassination Plan a History of
Torture in US Prisons
bin Laden and Bush
Business Connections
Aisha Ikramuddin on the Hidden Hype
of US Food Bombs
Peter Linebaugh on
Pakistan
Christopher Hitchens' Love for Mrs. Thatcher
Jiang Zemin Tells Bush:
Nuke 'Em
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Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
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November
9, 2001
Toward a New Kind of Activism
By John Troyer
Last Friday night, a good friend of mine and I
were discussing the efficacy of violent property damage as a
viable form of civil protest. The discussion began with the trial
of Sarah Jane Olsen in Los Angeles and the work of the Symbionese
Liberation Army during the 1970s and concluded with an outline
for what my friend called "new activism."
I would not be surprised to learn that
in recent history the term "new activism" has been
repeatedly used to describe a myriad of programs. More to the
point, whenever the term new is used to describe something, I
become suspicious only because an idea is rarely without progenitors,
although the practice of the concept might be unprecedented.
My use of the term "new activism" is the only way into
an argument that I believe must be made for the American left
to rethink previous, at times nostalgically remembered, protest
methods. The importance of dissent, protest and political activism
becomes increasingly urgent as the U.S. war on global terrorism
begins to bore American audiences.
As an aside, I find few attitudes more
malignant than individuals who insist on saying they are sick
and tired of hearing about the war. The right to critical mediocrity
is, however, a contemporary American pastime _ so to those people,
I say agitate instead for new baseball stadiums. I can only imagine
the issue's urgency.
One of the major concerns I have currently
is a recognizable nostalgia for previous protest movements among
American leftists. I am certainly not advocating forgetting of
anything learned in the past, but I firmly believe in adjusting
tactics to the present.
In the winter of 1995, I heard Bobby
Seale speak at the University about his work in founding the
Black Panther Party. Seale was asked if he thought the use of
guns was an appropriate form of protest for contemporary African-American
activists. He said no. The best weapon to use, Seale suggested,
was the video camera to record police brutality. What many, mostly
white Americans, forget is it was not guns that made the Panthers
inherently dangerous for the FBI. What made the Black Panther
Party dangerous for the law enforcement officials was the color
of their skin and their unfettered knowledge of the law.
The tools of protest, as Seale suggests,
need to change with the times. As Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld said in his Sept. 27 New York Times opinions piece,
"A New kind of War," "Even the vocabulary of this
war will be different." Consequently, protest movements
in America need to use different language tactics.
The conservative right, emboldened by
the Bush administration, relies on predictable methods of protests
to patronize: marches, rallies, self-righteous college newspaper
columnists, etc. Public displays of discontent are extremely
important. I am not suggesting large rallies are ineffectual;
rather, the messages need to appear in other locations.
The Bush administration continues to
say the war on terrorism will take years _ at least that suggests
time exists for planning. The American left needs to start infiltrating
television stations, editorial boards, city councils and school
boards. Radical steps such as running for political office must
begin as soon as possible. If the money can be found to start
a satellite TV station for the American left, then use the technology.
Concerned college students need to intern
with organizations that support their politics. The same students
also need to intern in Washington, D.C., for the House or the
Senate, for the White House--anywhere that places a person in
the middle of the decision-making system. By learning the intricacies
of the system, an opportunity exists to throw a monkey wrench
into politics from the inside.
I suggest the term peace activist be
changed to critical thinker (everyone must agree to keep that
a secret from the right). Teach-ins must become anti-propaganda
learning opportunities. The use of loud vocal chants must be
reconfigured into a deafening silence. The politics and power
of focused, concentrated groups acting in silence will draw more
attention than the loudest screams. Chanting in unison does not
mean the right has failed to silence dissenting voices. Most
importantly, new activists must be ready to disobey by any and
all means necessary.
The argument here is not about breaking
the law, but simply not following the preordained directions.
Acts of disobedience need to be site specific and tailored to
a given situation so the right has trouble planning a counterspin.
Disobeying the rules of popular opinion does not suggest breaking
the law, although the time may come for that contingency. Flowers
or bullets make the choices too limited, but sometimes push comes
to shove. The Bush administration has made it clear a war is
being fought for good against evil. Under that formulation, acting
badly seems open to interpretation, so disobey at will.
I will conclude by recounting a recent
event that made me think about activism. On Friday, Nov. 2, an
altercation took place between two groups in New York City at
the location of the decimated World Trade Center towers. One
of the groups wanted to give their respects to the dead; the
other was trying to keep the area secure. A fight erupted between
the groups and arrests were made.
The two groups were comprised of members
from the New York City Police Department and the fire department
of New York. The firefighters marched into lower Manhattan to
protest a decision by Rudy Giuliani's administration to reduce
the number of fire department personnel assisting in body recovery
at the site of the former twin towers. The altercation did not
last long, but an event causing a fight between police and firefighters
is important to note. This event signals what I believe is a
change in the numbing unity surrounding Sept. 11.
In years to come, I believe the physical
violence between the police and firefighters will be discussed
as an early indicator, an underreported situation signaling a
change in American sensibilities about the need for new kinds
of activism before they became fashionable. CP
John Troyer
writes a weekly column for the Daily
Minnesotan, the student newspaper at the University of Minnesota.
He can be emailed at: troy0005@tc.umn.edu
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