Ever since the protests began in Egypt, and especially after the police attacked the protesters and they defended themselves and maintained their presence in Liberty Square, I felt the kind of emotional intensity and physical adrenalin rush I used to get back in the '60s and '70s taking part in similar protests here in the good old USA.
When Mubarak looked like he was going to step down and then seemed like he didn't on Thursday, I felt the same kind of frustration I felt during a weeklong protest that began on May 1st 1971 in Washington DC on the Mall and initially attracted hundreds of thousands, (others would say tens of thousands, but when antiwar protests on the Washington Mall in '69 attracted more like a million peaceful demonstrators the official estimate was a few hundred thousands).
Years of peaceful protests hadn't yielded anything except harassment, repression, police brutality and an escalation of the war, so when the police invaded and tore down the tents people had set up that first night on the mall ostensibly for a concert (The Beach Boys had serenaded us that afternoon) it forced us those sleeping over out into the streets where the police arrested them or intimidated them into leaving town etc.
But the next day smaller groups spread out across the city to do what they could to try and shut DC down, stop business as usual until the government recognized the legitimacy of the protesters demand for an end to the Viet Nam War.
Thanks in part to the brutal tactics of the Nixon regime and their agents etc., we had had the same kind of impact on DC and on the nation that week as the protesters in Cairo were having this past week. I was with a group of protesters that had come from the Midwest, where I had run for sheriff on the Peace & Freedom ticket a few years before and had been labeled in the press an "SDS leader" as well as a "revolutionary"—neither labels I used for myself. I wasn't quite that pretentious, thank God.
I also wasn't in any real leadership position other than what people asked me to assume in various situations. The group I was part of consisted of working guys from Chicago and some smaller Midwest cities including Des Moines, Iowa, as well as some students from the university of Iowa and other colleges and universities, and some military veterans including guys who weren't back from Viet Nam that long.
After several days of protesting that included some of the same agent provocateur actions we saw in Cairo, and which we resisted getting sucked into for the most part, my then wife, a working-class girl from outside Buffalo, heard from her parents, and instead of criticizing us and our politics, her father said on the phone, for the first time, "Maybe you kids are right," and I knew the pendulum had swung.
But unfortunately, the mostly self- or media appointed "leaders" didn't have much contact with "regular" people (Tom Hayden and I had an argument once about "the people" after he made a disparaging remark about "them" and why they had to be "led" by "us" and that was the last time I supported him in any leadership position), and just at it became apparent to me that "the people" (i.e. a majority of working people of all ages) were coming around to seeing that the Viet Nam War was a mistake and a folly and a horrendous waste of human life, let alone our country's money and resources, the so-called leaders backed down and left town (not that I saw any of them on the streets with us anyway).
I had the feeling then that had we kept up the pressure and used all our connections to encourage more people to join us in DC then, we might have actually accomplished our goal, that Nixon and his administration might have been forced to concede the unpopularity of the war and his tactics of actually expanding it and changed course sooner.
I thought of that after Mubarak gave his rambling speech which seemed to say he was staying Thursday night and prayed that the Egyptian protesters would stay the course. They did, and they won the simple concession that what they wanted was the right thing not just for them but for their country. We won that too, eventually, but gave up too soon, and by the next year the protests had become more violent and the demands more strident and the government resistance more rigid and extreme, ending only with the collapse of almost all public support including even in our own military, as well as the loss of the war on the battlefield.
I've thought of those experiences back then over the years, especially during times like these when similar protests stir a nation, like Tienanmen Square in China in '89. But I haven't actually felt the way I did back then as completely as I did this week, and especially the last few days.
And then watching the news tonight, seeing the joy in Tunisia at the way their victory has spread to Egypt, and the protests in Algeria and Yemen with similar slogans and Internet organizational tools, and it occurred to me that I'd been missing the obvious.
That the '60s protests were fueled by the enormous population bubble that created a generation of young people larger than previous generations and better educated who could see through the hypocrisy of the older generation's political games and refused to play them. They, we, wanted freedom and honesty and an end to war and racial division as an excuse for repression and police brutality.
Now the part of the world with the largest proportion of the population made up of a younger generation is in the Arab nations, and they too are better educated and can see through the hypocrisy of the older generation and its excuses for repression and brutality. It feels like dejavu all over again, and my heart and spirit are with them, and hopes and prayers that they will achieve great things for themselves and their societies before they get co-opted or worn out or beaten down or just too old to have the energy and courage to keep up the good fight.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
GREAT MOMENTS IN HISTORY (2/11/11)
Things rarely turn out the way we expect, even when they do.
At least that's my experience. But neither life nor whatever happiness we find in it is about results, it's about the process of trying to achieve them, or living with them. If it were otherwise, wealthy people would all be happy and the poor all miserable. The successful would never commit suicide and those who fail at their goals always would. Etc.
Our collective lives work the same way, it seems to me. Great moments in history rarely sustain the feelings of exuberance and fulfillment that come at those moments' peaks, as on this day in Egypt (and outside it) for those who've been yearning for the downfall of Mubarak and his rule for years, for decades.
But for those who can appreciate this moment's overwhelming greatness despite whatever follows, the greatness cannot be denied. Just like when the Berlin Wall fell. The aftermath was more than messy for the newly unified Germany, and the problems that followed the exhilaration of that moment are real and still having an impact, but to deny the greatness of that moment in history because it didn't solve all the problems of a divided country or even a divided world, is to be the kind of petty cynic that occasionally shows up in the comments on this blog, and much more frequently all over the Internet and the media.
It's tiresome, like people who don't get what's so great about The Beatles or a movie like THE FIELD or would deny the high most of this country was on the night Obama won the presidency. They would have us believe that because The Beatles often seemed to employ childlike lightheartedness in attitude and outlook, and in choice of instruments and musical techniques and styles, that they were being either deliberately jejune or naive, (as opposed say to the Stones supposedly more authentically raw techniques and sound, based in the blues but with an even more supposedly sophisticated darkness to their lyrics and attitudes etc.).
But as we know from the facts, Lennon and McCartney had much more to be dark about than Jagger or Richards. But Lennon and McCartney overcame the dark traumas of their past, transcended them to whatever extent any of us can, to create something that uplifted our spirits at the time and can still evoke that same response in many of us to this day (not to mention they were consummate songwriters and musical creators).
And movies like THE FIELD, though technically or politically flawed perhaps, and definitely choosing sentiment over cynicism, can continue to resonate with many viewers even after all these years (or IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE or HANNA AND HER SISTERS or any other film that has a "happy ending" in any way that's still creatively original). And Obama's win and the fact of his presidency can still bring a wave of satisfaction and pride at a just cause personified in his very existence, let alone accomplishments, despite the setbacks and disappointments and compromises and challenges etc.
Today was one of the great moments of history, no matter what follows. The Egyptians who took part in the past few weeks protests, risking their lives and perhaps the lives of their families (since the preferred control mechanism of most tyrants remains threatening and carrying out harm to the families of those who would challenge them), especially those who actually gave their lives in "the ultimate sacrifice" (as so many on the right often say, especially those who have never put their own lives in harm's way), have every right to exult and feel proud and triumphant in this moment.
Because they won. Not everything. Not forever. Not enough to necessarily change even that much in their actual material lives. Ah, but in the lives of their spirits, their souls, it must feel like learning how to fly with only your smile as the means.
On this 2/11, they have reversed, or at least transcended for now, the image of "Arabs" too many of our fellow citizens have had since 9/11. As Obama pointed out in his comments today, they showed that great things could be accomplished, great changes brought about, without the use of violence and terrorism. In fact they are the newest example of so much that Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. achieved through nonviolent means.
And having lived through some dramatic historic changes in my own life and having experienced my own participation in nonviolent and at times violent protest and actions meant to bring about political changes in our racial laws and social practices or to end a war or gain equal rights for women or gays etc., I know that often nonviolence gets beat by violence, that sometimes the army doesn't hold still, as in the recent Iranian protests that failed to accomplish the changes those people were willing to sacrifice their lives for.
But remaining nonviolent, except when directly attacked, and not allowing themselves to be provoked into rioting and rampaging even by the professional provocateurs (i.e. hired thugs or undercover official ones), AND NOT BACKING DOWN, not being intimidated into cowering and giving up in despair and fear and fatalism, but instead convincing by their example even greater numbers to join them, they created and then seized for themselves one of the great moments in history.
I'm so very happy for them, and for all of us, even the cynics who can't appreciate it.
At least that's my experience. But neither life nor whatever happiness we find in it is about results, it's about the process of trying to achieve them, or living with them. If it were otherwise, wealthy people would all be happy and the poor all miserable. The successful would never commit suicide and those who fail at their goals always would. Etc.
Our collective lives work the same way, it seems to me. Great moments in history rarely sustain the feelings of exuberance and fulfillment that come at those moments' peaks, as on this day in Egypt (and outside it) for those who've been yearning for the downfall of Mubarak and his rule for years, for decades.
But for those who can appreciate this moment's overwhelming greatness despite whatever follows, the greatness cannot be denied. Just like when the Berlin Wall fell. The aftermath was more than messy for the newly unified Germany, and the problems that followed the exhilaration of that moment are real and still having an impact, but to deny the greatness of that moment in history because it didn't solve all the problems of a divided country or even a divided world, is to be the kind of petty cynic that occasionally shows up in the comments on this blog, and much more frequently all over the Internet and the media.
It's tiresome, like people who don't get what's so great about The Beatles or a movie like THE FIELD or would deny the high most of this country was on the night Obama won the presidency. They would have us believe that because The Beatles often seemed to employ childlike lightheartedness in attitude and outlook, and in choice of instruments and musical techniques and styles, that they were being either deliberately jejune or naive, (as opposed say to the Stones supposedly more authentically raw techniques and sound, based in the blues but with an even more supposedly sophisticated darkness to their lyrics and attitudes etc.).
But as we know from the facts, Lennon and McCartney had much more to be dark about than Jagger or Richards. But Lennon and McCartney overcame the dark traumas of their past, transcended them to whatever extent any of us can, to create something that uplifted our spirits at the time and can still evoke that same response in many of us to this day (not to mention they were consummate songwriters and musical creators).
And movies like THE FIELD, though technically or politically flawed perhaps, and definitely choosing sentiment over cynicism, can continue to resonate with many viewers even after all these years (or IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE or HANNA AND HER SISTERS or any other film that has a "happy ending" in any way that's still creatively original). And Obama's win and the fact of his presidency can still bring a wave of satisfaction and pride at a just cause personified in his very existence, let alone accomplishments, despite the setbacks and disappointments and compromises and challenges etc.
Today was one of the great moments of history, no matter what follows. The Egyptians who took part in the past few weeks protests, risking their lives and perhaps the lives of their families (since the preferred control mechanism of most tyrants remains threatening and carrying out harm to the families of those who would challenge them), especially those who actually gave their lives in "the ultimate sacrifice" (as so many on the right often say, especially those who have never put their own lives in harm's way), have every right to exult and feel proud and triumphant in this moment.
Because they won. Not everything. Not forever. Not enough to necessarily change even that much in their actual material lives. Ah, but in the lives of their spirits, their souls, it must feel like learning how to fly with only your smile as the means.
On this 2/11, they have reversed, or at least transcended for now, the image of "Arabs" too many of our fellow citizens have had since 9/11. As Obama pointed out in his comments today, they showed that great things could be accomplished, great changes brought about, without the use of violence and terrorism. In fact they are the newest example of so much that Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. achieved through nonviolent means.
And having lived through some dramatic historic changes in my own life and having experienced my own participation in nonviolent and at times violent protest and actions meant to bring about political changes in our racial laws and social practices or to end a war or gain equal rights for women or gays etc., I know that often nonviolence gets beat by violence, that sometimes the army doesn't hold still, as in the recent Iranian protests that failed to accomplish the changes those people were willing to sacrifice their lives for.
But remaining nonviolent, except when directly attacked, and not allowing themselves to be provoked into rioting and rampaging even by the professional provocateurs (i.e. hired thugs or undercover official ones), AND NOT BACKING DOWN, not being intimidated into cowering and giving up in despair and fear and fatalism, but instead convincing by their example even greater numbers to join them, they created and then seized for themselves one of the great moments in history.
I'm so very happy for them, and for all of us, even the cynics who can't appreciate it.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
QUICK EGYPT ADDENDUM
Watching the situation unfold today and tonight on cable and Internet etc. I could feel the frustration in the crowd, and even astonishment, at the Mubarak regime's seeming inability to comprehend how destructive their attempts to manipulate these protesters have become.
I saw all kinds of analyses, a lot of it fairly informed and intelligent (usually that came from Egyptians themselves) but I didn't hear anyone mention one of the obvious factors in the Egyptian army's not taking total control, and in the Obama administration's probable input to them, that if any change comes off as a coup, the U.S. Government is automatically bound by law to cut off aid (which means the almost two billion the Egyptian Army gets from us every year).
The Egyptian army has to make it look like a stable civilian transfer of power that abides by the Egyptian Constitution to keep the US aid coming. So what some in the Egyptian crowds were hoping for, and what some of the TV and Internet commenters seemed to be hoping for or expecting, for the Egyptian army to take over, is impossible to do blatantly.
It's all a muddle now as they allowed Mubarak to retain his pride in the form of his meglomaniacal paternalistic meandering speechifying, and Sulieman to come off as the slimy crony he seems to be and ended up satisfying no one.
More will be revealed. May it be peaceful.
I saw all kinds of analyses, a lot of it fairly informed and intelligent (usually that came from Egyptians themselves) but I didn't hear anyone mention one of the obvious factors in the Egyptian army's not taking total control, and in the Obama administration's probable input to them, that if any change comes off as a coup, the U.S. Government is automatically bound by law to cut off aid (which means the almost two billion the Egyptian Army gets from us every year).
The Egyptian army has to make it look like a stable civilian transfer of power that abides by the Egyptian Constitution to keep the US aid coming. So what some in the Egyptian crowds were hoping for, and what some of the TV and Internet commenters seemed to be hoping for or expecting, for the Egyptian army to take over, is impossible to do blatantly.
It's all a muddle now as they allowed Mubarak to retain his pride in the form of his meglomaniacal paternalistic meandering speechifying, and Sulieman to come off as the slimy crony he seems to be and ended up satisfying no one.
More will be revealed. May it be peaceful.
SHARON JONES AND WOODY
Following up on Miles' link to that Shirley Jones and the Dap Tones version of "This Land Is Your Land" here's an acoustic version that illustrates the point I and everyone else was making about NOT "oversouling" ala Christine Aquilero's National Anthem rendition. It starts with some green room chatter, but just wait. [Woops, just caught the mistake above calling Sharon "Shirley Jones" and thought I'd leave it as the kind of mistakes I make regularly (and correct before you see them) since the brain operation, but also because in fact Shirley Jones was a lovely singer who was pitch perfect in hitting notes on the great soundtracks for OKLAHOMA and CAROUSEL. Damn, and I just saw the other obvious error above, "Dap Kings" not "Tones"!]
[PS: In case you had trouble with the link Miles posted, here's another Youtube version of that.]
[PS: In case you had trouble with the link Miles posted, here's another Youtube version of that.]
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
IT'S ALL RELATIVE
Still under the weather, but my oldest friend sent me a link to the video below and it gave me a laugh and made me feel better, certainly by comparison! [Also thanks to The Dubliners]
Monday, February 7, 2011
LOVE VS. FEAR
A little under the weather, and some weather. But spent the better part of today at the hospital with a dear friend who was brought there in an ambulance. She was there for me all through my brain surgery and beyond, she did so much there's no way I could ever repay her. But I could at least show up in her hour of need. Turned out not to be anything insurmountable and it will pass and she'll recover.
But what struck me throughout the day as I came and went, was the love and affection—and care and concern, devotion and understanding and more—expressed between my friend and her "partner"—another woman.
The hospital personnel didn't seemed phased for a second when they asked the relationship and one of them would refer to the other one as "my partner"—no one skipped a beat. Which shows how far we've come, at least in this Jersey hospital.
But the fact that these two people so involved with each other's lives, sharing a life and the union their love brought them to, cannot legally marry and reap all the benefits I and other "straight" couples can, is so unacceptable, it seems deliberately spiteful and mean.
I can't believe there is anyone out there who still feels that couples and families that are made up of same-sex persons somehow don't deserve or warrant the same legal status as everyone else. It's primitive and backward and hopefully some day will be seen that way by a majority of the world's population.
But for now we'll have to be grateful for most of Europe, and other advanced democracies, being more tolerant and worry about the rise of fundamentalist religions that are so obviously afraid of what in the end is simply love.
But isn't that the classic struggle throughout history, love versus fear? Seems like it to me.
[PS: Speaking of the forms love can take, did anyone see the story about the Christians forming s human wall around the demonstrating Muslims in Liberty Square when it was time for them to pray, so that the Muslims wouldn't be unexpectedly attacked while they were face down on their knees yesterday, and today the Muslims returned the favor by surrounding and protecting the Coptic Christians as they celebrated Mass. So much for Muslim intolerance as part of what's motivating the demonstrators!]
But what struck me throughout the day as I came and went, was the love and affection—and care and concern, devotion and understanding and more—expressed between my friend and her "partner"—another woman.
The hospital personnel didn't seemed phased for a second when they asked the relationship and one of them would refer to the other one as "my partner"—no one skipped a beat. Which shows how far we've come, at least in this Jersey hospital.
But the fact that these two people so involved with each other's lives, sharing a life and the union their love brought them to, cannot legally marry and reap all the benefits I and other "straight" couples can, is so unacceptable, it seems deliberately spiteful and mean.
I can't believe there is anyone out there who still feels that couples and families that are made up of same-sex persons somehow don't deserve or warrant the same legal status as everyone else. It's primitive and backward and hopefully some day will be seen that way by a majority of the world's population.
But for now we'll have to be grateful for most of Europe, and other advanced democracies, being more tolerant and worry about the rise of fundamentalist religions that are so obviously afraid of what in the end is simply love.
But isn't that the classic struggle throughout history, love versus fear? Seems like it to me.
[PS: Speaking of the forms love can take, did anyone see the story about the Christians forming s human wall around the demonstrating Muslims in Liberty Square when it was time for them to pray, so that the Muslims wouldn't be unexpectedly attacked while they were face down on their knees yesterday, and today the Muslims returned the favor by surrounding and protecting the Coptic Christians as they celebrated Mass. So much for Muslim intolerance as part of what's motivating the demonstrators!]
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