Author: jameswagner

I realize that my blogs about the antiwar events of yesterday may have sounded a bit grumpy all around, so I want to take this opportunity to say that we had a blast!
Demonstrations are always good for both the body and the soul, but this was one of the most exhilarating experiences in my memory, being out there in the streets with so many kinds of magnificent, happy people [we spent much of the day in the block Jimmie Breslin describes, though we did not see him], and I believe actually making a difference this time, because we were so many.
I can understand a thinking American’s considered decision to not cast a vote in the elections which have been entirely arranged for us by undemocratic process, especially in recent years, or recent decades. Our democratic institutions are an absolute mess right now. What I do not understand is the refusal of that same person to walk into the street on an occasion like yesterday, in the purest form of democratic expression. If I walk to the barricades, literally and figuratively, I’m walking with millions; if I stay away, no one is there. I cannot expect my neighbors to save the world for me on their own.
At the end of the day, we went to a performance of “Brundibar,” Hans Krasa‘s charming children’s opera which was performed dozens of times at Terezin, until the child performers were sent to the gas chambers. The opera is about the strength of numbers overcoming evil. Unfortunately those numbers never accumulated in the 1930’s. We can have them today, but we’re not there yet.
There I go again, grumpy.

That’s it? That’s the story?
The subject of the lead story at this very moment on the CNN site, which is viewed all around the planet, is the millions of people around the world protesting the imminent American war against Iraq. The CNN site’s headline reads,

ANTIWAR RALLIES DELIGHT IRAQ

It looks like Rupert Murdoch’s NYPost!
The first paragraph:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Iraq was gloating Sunday over the global outpouring of opposition to a possible U.S.-led war against the country, saying the rallies by millions of people signaled an Iraqi victory and “the defeat and isolation of America.”

For any sceptics about the political agenda or incompetence of the American media, does this finally send a message? [CNN is actually a world news medium, but it’s still the creature of its commercial American birth.]

Whether there were half a million or a million out there in the sub-freezing wind of the Manhattan canyons today, we should be enormously proud of the achievement, but we can only be horribly ashamed of the city’s role in diminishing that achievement.
First “they” decided that the people could not walk past the U.N., then that the people could not get near the U.N., then that the people would be put into animal pens, then that the people would not be permitted to bus all the way into the city, then that the people could not be trusted with portable toilets. [When I heard that piece of news at home this morning, I was ready to piss on a police officer’s shoes, even though I would eventually remind myself that decisions about porta-johns were not made by the rank and file.]
Governments and police are only too eager to tell us where to go and what to do, but if you were out on the street for the incredible anti-war demonstration today, or trying desperately to get to it, you saw how far they went this time and you probably have an idea of how much farther they will go the next time. In the rest of the civilized and democratic world, and even in those parts which are regarded as neither, huge numbers of people were able to assemble freely today where they chose to. They were not restricted and discouraged by the obsessive minutiae of bureaucratic and police concerns about order–and control. Americans in New York City today were confronted by a significant threat to their rights of assembly and speech.
This was a massive grassroots, democratic, political demonstration of the highest order and probably of the greatest consequence for the history of the world. It was not a sports event attended by mindless yahoos and it was not a arbitrary holiday driven by a drunken, nativist mob. Assigned and barricaded pens, totally inappropriate movement restrictions, and the threat from the visible presence of thousands of armored and helmeted police were totally out of order.
Do not trust a government which does not trust you.
____________________
For more on our own experience of today’s events, see Bloggy‘s, “DISSENT IS HOT.”

I’ll be starting here.
If you’re interested in getting a Blue Button, we just updated the web site with more information on how to get one, including a list of galleries that have them. More to appear on the site soon.

MAKE LOVE NOT WAR
Yup, this really is the front page of The Mirror today.
[Thanks, Otto, John and Howard.]

Gads, I wish I could have heard the hoary stentorian himself, Senator Robert Byrd, when he was delivering this oration!

To contemplate war is to think about the most horrible of human experiences. On this February day, as this nation stands at the brink of battle, every American on some level must be contemplating the horrors of war.
Yet, this Chamber is, for the most part, silent — ominously, dreadfully silent. There is no debate, no discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war. There is nothing.
We stand passively mute in the United States Senate, paralyzed by our own uncertainty, seemingly stunned by the sheer turmoil of events.

And that was only the beginning of the speech he delivered in the Senate Chamber yesterday; Byrd had not even started on his indictment, but ultimately he reserved the heavy guns for an attack on the administration. An excerpt:

Here at home, people are warned of imminent terrorist attacks with little guidance as to when or where such attacks might occur. Family members are being called to active military duty, with no idea of the duration of their stay or what horrors they may face. Communities are being left with less than adequate police and fire protection. Other essential services are also short-staffed. The mood of the nation is grim. The economy is stumbling. Fuel prices are rising and may soon spike higher.
This Administration, now in power for a little over two years, must be judged on its record. I believe that that record is dismal.
In that scant two years, this Administration has squandered a large projected surplus of some $5.6 trillion over the next decade and taken us to projected deficits as far as the eye can see. This Administration’s domestic policy has put many of our states in dire financial condition, under funding scores of essential programs for our people. This Administration has fostered policies which have slowed economic growth. This Administration has ignored urgent matters such as the crisis in health care for our elderly. This Administration has been slow to provide adequate funding for homeland security. This Administration has been reluctant to better protect our long and porous borders.
In foreign policy, this Administration has failed to find Osama bin Laden. In fact, just yesterday we heard from him again marshaling his forces and urging them to kill. This Administration has split traditional alliances, possibly crippling, for all time, International order-keeping entities like the United Nations and NATO. This Administration has called into question the traditional worldwide perception of the United States as well-intentioned, peacekeeper. This Administration has turned the patient art of diplomacy into threats, labeling, and name calling of the sort that reflects quite poorly on the intelligence and sensitivity of our leaders, and which will have consequences for years to come.
Calling heads of state pygmies, labeling whole countries as evil, denigrating powerful European allies as irrelevant — these types of crude insensitivities can do our great nation no good. We may have massive military might, but we cannot fight a global war on terrorism alone. We need the cooperation and friendship of our time-honored allies as well as the newer found friends whom we can attract with our wealth. Our awesome military machine will do us little good if we suffer another devastating attack on our homeland which severely damages our economy. Our military manpower is already stretched thin and we will need the augmenting support of those nations who can supply troop strength, not just sign letters cheering us on.

Why are we expecting an imminent low-tech assault, a missile-launcher, a piloted plane missile, an atomic or radioactive dirty bomb, a chemical or biological attack at this time?
What has happened to this country that we could completely lose our sanity and our soul in just two years? Ok, maybe it took longer, but they are both definitely missing at this time. If the danger now being evoked is not all just a fabrication of a regime in Washington which needs to warn of an imminent threat in order to justifty itself, could it be a consequence of our doing something horribly wrong as a nation? Think about it. What happened to reason, to intelligent and generous policy, to a real connection with a larger world, one which does not consist only of violence or the threat of violence? Where is the courage and the conviction of the ideals which once shown as a beacon for much of the world?
Forget the plastic sheeting and the duct tape. Let’s drive the darkness, the real terrorists, out of the White House, and let us go back to the business of being Americans!
“�crasez l’inf�me!“ [with eternal gratitude to Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire)]