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gordonzolaOne of the things that war reinforces for me is that I’m not a good journalist. I need to brood on things a little or I end up getting caught in enthusiasm of the moment. Unless I get a chance to think for awhile, I feel like I end up repeating whole other people’s thoughts and give only a partial picture of the slightly larger partial picture I hope to draw. I threw out a couple drafts of this entry already.
Plus, the last few days have been exhausting.
The direct actions Thursday in San Francisco were amazing*. It was nearly impossible to get a sense of how many people were involved because the crowds weren’t always crowds. Protests and die-ins started and stopped suddenly as needed. Every major intersection from downtown to City Hall was blockaded at some point as well as the Federal Building and corporate offices of places like Bechtel** . There were not enough cops to deal with all the protests, many blocked intersections had no police there at all.
What was remarkable was the feeling of taking some power back into one’s own hands. Collective action that makes one feel better is fairly elusive and hard to achieve. I try not to get my therapy in the streets, but at a time when action is being publicly taken in my name, there are few options. Having an occasional win is something not appreciated enough by the left in general.
It was powerful. It was aggro. It was a reunion of old political allies and enemies. It was tense. It was a momentary break from the despair plaguing me all week. It was claustrophobic. I saw enough people from my workplace to have quorum for a membership meeting.
And yeah, there was misdirected anger and action against bad targets. As I said in my previous comment section, I don’t like actions that inconvenience people without political power. I felt empathy for people stuck in traffic. I felt bad for the professional drivers who had no choice in their driving destinations if they wanted to keep their jobs. I’m sure I’ll be talking about this with my delivery drivers for weeks. But sometimes you have to show that you’re alive and have the ability to organize.
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voiceandsalt wrote, it’s a big picture thing. "San Francisco Shut Down as War Begins" was the message to the rest of the country and the world and it was the best message we could send. Like a pointillist painting, it just may not have looked quite so nice up close***
So let me share as few of my favorite moments with you. While marching down Powell Street, I somehow managed to find myself behind the ISO flag. They were chanting "George Bush? War criminal! Henry Kissinger? War Criminal" etc. The woman with the megaphone was searching for new names to use and after one "War Criminal!" response there was a moment of hesitation. Then she said, "That guy from Spain?" The more drone-like ISO members dutifully chanted "War Criminal!" while everyone else cracked up. Now, I know this is the kind of thing often used to say the left doesn’t know the issues blah blah. But really it was funny, human, and a reminder that were all exhausted from being in the streets for hours.
While approaching the Bay Bridge on the same march I saw protestors run onto the off ramp amidst stopped traffic. A huge cheer went up. The police, when they realized what was going on, followed them on motorcycles in force. Trying to see what was happening, I stayed where I was up on a slight hill. At least three helicopters hovered overhead. It was dusk and the downtown sky was getting blue-black. Two huge flocks of starlings flitted frantically through the air, their mass changing shape as they switched directions rapidly, coming head on then flying perpendicular. It was really beautiful.
Walking home down Market, we were exhausted and done for the day. We stopped to wait for our stragglers. As we did, a cop SUV stopped in front of us to pick up the news racks someone had thrown in the street. They were obviously tired and cranky too. One cop threw his news rack onto the sidewalk, but it was an old glass one and it smashed loudly when it hit the concrete. We couldn’t help laughing and yelling things like "Stop the Violence!". Despite himself, he cracked a smile and looked embarrassed. Continuing his humiliation, when he went back to the SUV his door was locked and her had to bang on the side until his partner noticed. "C’mon guys, let me in!"
Like Mark 27 wrote in his 3/21 entry and like I felt during the last Gulf War, I’m very glad I live in San Francisco in times of civil crisis. There was a lot of SF pride on the streets Wednesday.
*I haven’t yet found a link that does it justice. The mainstream press is of course concentrates on the arrests and the few incidents of violence. But here’s a link anyway Indymedia SF is filled with what are either embarrassing typos or self-aggrandizing lies (100,000 people were not in the streets Wednesday. 10,000 probably). Still SF IMC is good for finding the demos.
** That’s just one Bechtel example. I was inspired in high school to research them after hearing a local Berkeley band’s 1984 anti-war song about the re-institution of draft registration and being sent off to war. It had the lyrics " My ID is pinned to my lapel. / It reads, ‘USA Incorporated, Armed Force Bechtel’" which sounded better than it reads.
***Ok, this is embarrassing. If I didn’t have to go to work I’d change this metaphor. I hate pointillism . I’ve just had the idea of it stuck in my brain from a very early age where local children’s programming had a PSA they ran over and over with the catchy phrase "Seurat knew lots about dots". I can still hear it when there’s silence.
Plus, the last few days have been exhausting.
The direct actions Thursday in San Francisco were amazing*. It was nearly impossible to get a sense of how many people were involved because the crowds weren’t always crowds. Protests and die-ins started and stopped suddenly as needed. Every major intersection from downtown to City Hall was blockaded at some point as well as the Federal Building and corporate offices of places like Bechtel** . There were not enough cops to deal with all the protests, many blocked intersections had no police there at all.
What was remarkable was the feeling of taking some power back into one’s own hands. Collective action that makes one feel better is fairly elusive and hard to achieve. I try not to get my therapy in the streets, but at a time when action is being publicly taken in my name, there are few options. Having an occasional win is something not appreciated enough by the left in general.
It was powerful. It was aggro. It was a reunion of old political allies and enemies. It was tense. It was a momentary break from the despair plaguing me all week. It was claustrophobic. I saw enough people from my workplace to have quorum for a membership meeting.
And yeah, there was misdirected anger and action against bad targets. As I said in my previous comment section, I don’t like actions that inconvenience people without political power. I felt empathy for people stuck in traffic. I felt bad for the professional drivers who had no choice in their driving destinations if they wanted to keep their jobs. I’m sure I’ll be talking about this with my delivery drivers for weeks. But sometimes you have to show that you’re alive and have the ability to organize.
As
voiceandsalt wrote, it’s a big picture thing. "San Francisco Shut Down as War Begins" was the message to the rest of the country and the world and it was the best message we could send. Like a pointillist painting, it just may not have looked quite so nice up close***So let me share as few of my favorite moments with you. While marching down Powell Street, I somehow managed to find myself behind the ISO flag. They were chanting "George Bush? War criminal! Henry Kissinger? War Criminal" etc. The woman with the megaphone was searching for new names to use and after one "War Criminal!" response there was a moment of hesitation. Then she said, "That guy from Spain?" The more drone-like ISO members dutifully chanted "War Criminal!" while everyone else cracked up. Now, I know this is the kind of thing often used to say the left doesn’t know the issues blah blah. But really it was funny, human, and a reminder that were all exhausted from being in the streets for hours.
While approaching the Bay Bridge on the same march I saw protestors run onto the off ramp amidst stopped traffic. A huge cheer went up. The police, when they realized what was going on, followed them on motorcycles in force. Trying to see what was happening, I stayed where I was up on a slight hill. At least three helicopters hovered overhead. It was dusk and the downtown sky was getting blue-black. Two huge flocks of starlings flitted frantically through the air, their mass changing shape as they switched directions rapidly, coming head on then flying perpendicular. It was really beautiful.
Walking home down Market, we were exhausted and done for the day. We stopped to wait for our stragglers. As we did, a cop SUV stopped in front of us to pick up the news racks someone had thrown in the street. They were obviously tired and cranky too. One cop threw his news rack onto the sidewalk, but it was an old glass one and it smashed loudly when it hit the concrete. We couldn’t help laughing and yelling things like "Stop the Violence!". Despite himself, he cracked a smile and looked embarrassed. Continuing his humiliation, when he went back to the SUV his door was locked and her had to bang on the side until his partner noticed. "C’mon guys, let me in!"
Like Mark 27 wrote in his 3/21 entry and like I felt during the last Gulf War, I’m very glad I live in San Francisco in times of civil crisis. There was a lot of SF pride on the streets Wednesday.
*I haven’t yet found a link that does it justice. The mainstream press is of course concentrates on the arrests and the few incidents of violence. But here’s a link anyway Indymedia SF is filled with what are either embarrassing typos or self-aggrandizing lies (100,000 people were not in the streets Wednesday. 10,000 probably). Still SF IMC is good for finding the demos.
** That’s just one Bechtel example. I was inspired in high school to research them after hearing a local Berkeley band’s 1984 anti-war song about the re-institution of draft registration and being sent off to war. It had the lyrics " My ID is pinned to my lapel. / It reads, ‘USA Incorporated, Armed Force Bechtel’" which sounded better than it reads.
***Ok, this is embarrassing. If I didn’t have to go to work I’d change this metaphor. I hate pointillism . I’ve just had the idea of it stuck in my brain from a very early age where local children’s programming had a PSA they ran over and over with the catchy phrase "Seurat knew lots about dots". I can still hear it when there’s silence.
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no subject
Date: 2003-03-22 10:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-22 01:36 pm (UTC)It´s very weird for everyone here, though, because the left and the govt are in agreement. It makes everyone a little unclear about what they should be doing, but it does help explain why the signs are almost all in English (they´re not talking to each other, but to the globalpowermediamachine) (and see, I´m stringing words together already). However, that weirdness doesn´t disrupt the script of the demo nearly enough. Oh well. I´ll be making an entry about all this when I´m not paying 3 cents a minute for online access and working with a Bizarre World keyboard.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-22 08:00 pm (UTC)Thanks, I've been struggling to come up with such a concise way of putting this.
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Date: 2003-03-22 10:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-22 03:51 pm (UTC)A friend of mine said to me that if people just stopped going to work in protest then the war would stop immediately. That's obviously a fantasy, because it's not going to happen. But it might be closer somehow.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-22 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-22 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-22 10:52 pm (UTC)i'm amazed by the people who live in sf, inspired by their courage, their community, their fellowship. i've had the most amazing conversations and smiles in the streets the past three days/nights, marching.
in the worst of times, the cameraderie has been a bright spot of hope for me. not to mention really, REALLY shutting it down on Thursday.
xo
d
no subject
Date: 2003-03-22 05:58 pm (UTC)wish we had seen you! we had a great time thursday and today, tho today was a little less energetic and spontaneous. we were all good little protesters herded up right proper and behaving as we ought, as we pay the cops to tell us to behave.
the highlight of today for me was the ex-army officer who served in desert storm, the one walking around with the little megaphone talking about his experience....i asked him about the story i heard somewhere along the way that the US army bulldozed hundreds of LIVE iraqi soldiers AFTER they had surrendered, and he said YES, and told us the whole story, fucking horrific. i tried to find him later after i peed to get his literature but he was gone away. anyways he said that after they surrendered and retreated the zUS army bombed them with chemicals which totally destroyed, melted them, and then while they were still alive they bulldozed them so there would be nothing to photograph. he also said that our troops over there now are in a high chemical area, and our government knows it but sent them anyways. chemicals WE put there. i REALLY wish i had gotten the info. bah.
anyways...i bet rainbow does a bumpin' business today...i hope so....talk to you soon gordon!
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Date: 2003-03-22 10:36 pm (UTC)yes, but we're there to help the Iraqi people now so that's ancient history.
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Date: 2003-03-22 10:32 pm (UTC)STOP THE VOICES IN MY HEAD!
no subject
"Charley Horse" and "Humphrey Hambone"
the bulldog was especially odd-looking, if I remember correctly....
no subject
Date: 2003-03-23 10:04 pm (UTC)Thank you, Anonymous! But who are you?
and yes, the bulldog looked somewhat melted .
no subject
Date: 2003-03-22 10:39 pm (UTC)But then again, that's station's on scene news reporter got pied on Thursday so they have an axe to grind.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-23 06:33 pm (UTC)anyway, i didn't see you there yesterday! but i did run into some kids from the elementary school and they were so damned cute out there! i am taking a break today cuz my knee got fucked up but tomorrow night after work i am back downtown. we should meet up if you are going to be out, mr g.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-23 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-24 01:27 am (UTC)I heard there was another gathering at 5 pm but I am not sure where. Classic.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-24 11:13 am (UTC)I miss the sense of community and solidarity among activists that I have when I'm in SF. I know that the SF activist world is far from perfect (ha) but I felt like I had an activist community there, and here at Hampshire people (who, being college students, are often doing activism for the first time) get so wrapped in their own personal power trips they lose sight of why we're doing what we're doing. I've been frustrated with Hampshire activists beyond belief these past few months, and I've missed my SF cohorts a lot.
You remind of them, and you remind of why I do what I do. Thank you.