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Towards a Theory of Activism (part ??)
Last night, Richard and I watched Hotel Rwanda, the movie. For those of you who have not seen it, it is the story of Paul Rusesasbagina, who was hotel manager in Rwanda who wound up taking care of and protecting over 1200 Tutsi Rwandans after the country was almost completely abandoned by the West while the slaughter of almost a million people went unnoticed by the western world, and only a tiny group of UN peacekeepers were left to deal with what was, despite the Clinton administration's spin, genocide.
It is a heart-breaking movie, all the more so because of what we all know is happening in Darfur, Pakistan, Iraq, and so many places. We are not a very nice species. We often hurt each other, sometimes with a brutality that is disconnected from any and all religious beliefs.
Today brings news of CIA destruction of "interrogation" tapes. Medea Benjamin, of Code Pink, who went to Pakistan to support democracy activists, was thrown out of the country for that action. (That is not terrible in itself, but the car she and Tighe Barry were in was stopped, surrounded by military with drawn weapons, and the car was seized, they were driven at high speeds away from their friends to a police station. I can only imagine what that ride must have felt like. They could not have known what was going to happen to them.)
As a potential "domestic terrorist", it is becoming increasingly clear to me that activism is an ever-more dangerous pursuit. As we have pointed out many times, and in the words of Justice William O. Douglas, "...it is in such twilight that we all must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness."
What do we do as darkness settles?
Last week I attended the American Anthropological Association conference here in DC. The AAA has taken a stand against the use of its knowledge base for purposes of torture or subjugation, and the presentations reflected a high degree of consciousness about appropriation of culture and representations of hegemony and resistance.
One of the most interesting presentations was from Avi Bornstein, of John Jay College at CUNY, on "Passion and Engagement".
Bornstein identified three sets of dichotomies that engaged activists deal with. His population of focus was Israeli and Palestinian solidarity activists. But we can look at the emotion displays from our own work here in DC as well:
Fear/Mastery: Fear is a daily visitor and as we were reminded in FEAR UP: Stories from Baghdad and Guantanamo, fear can be used as a tool. The counter to fear is, interestingly, not bravery, but what Bornstein calls MASTERY. I think what he discovered though, is what I discovered in my investigations of the same word for my book on Rudolf Laban and his notion of Mastery: Mastery is not power over another, but highly evolved skill and mastery over self. The word Bornstein uses is self-efficacy and it is a word I have often used when describing the value of blogs. Giving voice to stories provides a means whereby the storyteller develops personal effectiveness and is empowered to lead others, as opposed to forcing others to follow.
Guilt/Shame: When we see injustice, a kind of collective guilt ensues (see: Katrina, Burma, etc.), We feel bad and we either turn away or we try to help. When what we can do is not enough, we turn to shame--and often, this involves shaming those responsible for rectifying horrific situations. In the Middle East, shaming soldiers for violent acts is common apparently, and we can look at Abu Ghraib and GITMO as opportunities to shame, not the soldiers, of course, but the government agents who fostered them. As a part of the international community, certainly we in the US are privileged and so far, we can exercise the right to be outraged and to direct our concerns towards those who perpetrate or passively allow tragedies.
Joy/Anger: Anger is a powerful motivator, but so is joy, at least as Bornstein seems to define it. Joy is the result of true solidarity, and can help us to engage with passion in order to bring about change. I saw this clearly in the movie last night. Hotel Rwanda is also a love story, and the passion and love that Paul and his wife share, for each other and for their children and their neighbors, helps clarify their choices. At no time does Paul succumb to anger, but the moments of joy carry him through. His state of grace and certainty that the rules of civil society and civilized community trump all historical hatreds become his model for decision-making. Only in the features accompanying the movie, in which he returns to Rwanda and to the memory of the genocide, do we see the flicker of anger and horror at what occurred.
The end goal for activism is something Bornstein called "redemptive engagement". I googled it and it is a term for Christian activism, both progressive and regressive, it seems. I recognized the term as soon as I heard it though. I recognized it as the contents of my own heart, and what I yearn for:
Redemption for the sense of guilt I feel on behalf of this government, the US, and humanity in general, a way to be effective and to shame us, if necessary, into doing the right things, and
Engagement, with joy and passion, in a communal effort to bring sanity and compassion into the world.
Today, we need a lot more of both. THIS holiday season, we need true justice, grace, and empowered compassion. Those are the gifts I want to give.
Christmas In Washington
(Steve Earle)
It's Christmastime in Washington
The Democrats rehearsed
Gettin' into gear for four more years
Things not gettin' worse
The Republicans drink whiskey neat
And thanked their lucky stars
They said, 'He cannot seek another term
They'll be no more FDRs'
I sat home in Tennessee
Staring at the screen
With an uneasy feeling in my chest
And I'm wonderin' what it means
Chorus:
So come back Woody Guthrie
Come back to us now
Tear your eyes from paradise
And rise again somehow
If you run into Jesus
Maybe he can help you out
Come back Woody Guthrie to us now
I followed in your footsteps once
Back in my travelin' days
Somewhere I failed to find your trail
Now I'm stumblin' through the haze
But there's killers on the highway now
And a man can't get around
So I sold my soul for wheels that roll
Now I'm stuck here in this town
Chorus
There's foxes in the hen house
Cows out in the corn
The unions have been busted
Their proud red banners torn
To listen to the radio
You'd think that all was well
But you and me and Cisco know
It's going straight to hell
So come back, Emma Goldman
Rise up, old Joe Hill
The barracades are goin' up
They cannot break our will
Come back to us, Malcolm X
And Martin Luther King
We're marching into Selma
As the bells of freedom ring
Chorus
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Karen,
I especially love this line: "You'll never stop a war by listening to music. You have to sing....you have to sing really f...ing loud".
We just had John Bolton speak here at the college. Townsfolk attended, protested, some with blood on their hands, and were escorted out.
Here we are in the bastion of liberalism and all our students could do was criticize the protesters. Say that kind of protest does no good. Calm question asking is the more dignified response, blah, blah, blah. this after he stood up there, blatantly lying, trying to re-write history.
I was disappointed in our students for not even understanding any value in the protest. We've got a long way to go.
Karen
I love that song! Joan Baez also does a stunning version.
Ted Kennedy wrote this before heading to the Senate floor:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/7/11571/3900/923/419108
talks about the CIA erased tapes
I had dinner with an old friend and colleague tonight and we spoke about the sense of betrayal and sadness so many of us feel.
Sadness? No, it is closer to rage. And those who still believe that calm and rational discourse is possible with the neocons are just as insane as the neocons themselves.
They have gotten a pass because of our willingness to understand and to seek civil discourse. I want to penetrate the wall of defenses these people have set up. I want to grab their hearts and souls and rock their minds with truth.
I want to sing so loud that the very membranes of their beliefs separate and reweave, with the light of justice inside.
I just fucking want them to GET it.
Karen, I'm just stunned by Medea Benjamin's Pakistan experience. I cannot imagine going to such a scary place to continue the worldwide peace activism. I'm only glad they've survived. The possibilities keep trying to get into my head but I won't let them get in. In comparison - I am a true wimp I'm afraid.
A whole lot of choirs (not church choirs) during the week before our federal election sang at busy points throughout the Melbourne CBD. Hundreds of people. And the song was not really one of high intellect but it did get the message across and got plenty of cheers throughout the day. Most singers did it for a day. My friend who came to visit was one of the singers but not in this group.
This is how much we hated the Howard Government and falling for his lies and bribes - hence the Howard advertisement for 1 plasma tv for every vote given to his party. It's a pathetic song. Not meant to be serious, but got plenty of passion from passers by.
That was GREAT, woz! I love the looks on the people's faces as they watch. At first they are giggling and stifling their discomfort at such outrageously direct sentiments.
As the conductor gets more involved, people laugh out loud. Byt the end, the crescendo, they are completely supportive and are clapping and jumping up and down with excitement!
Now THAT is empowerment!
I wonder what we could do here, if we put our minds to it....
hmmmmmmmmm
Woz,
That really is an amazing video. Thanks for sharing it. I was particularly struck by what appeared to be so few young people in the "choir". I wonder what it is going to take for younger people to get outraged? Just as Carol suggested, upthread, today's younger people don't seem to grasp that as the older generations die away, they will be the ones left to clean up the mess or they will be left living in a fascist country. Maybe most of them really don't care (I think that is most likely). Certainly there are students and young graduates who are bitterly disappointed in what is happening in today's world. Yet, I am dumbfounded that so relatively few seem to care. Or, if they do care, they don't care enough to feel the need to loudly and actively protest for change. They are screwed and they don't even know or care.
oncall,
I've been trying to puzzle that one out, but it's really quite simple here. In the late 60s and early 70s when young people were doing tertiary studies there was nowhere near the competition that there is now - first to get their chosen field of study, and then to work really really hard in order to keep it. In senior school and in universities here there is no time for fun and social consciences and activism. There is only time for the seriousness of the academic world.
And after that it's out into the dog-eat-dog world of competition in the workplace.
When I was studying to be a teacher, we didn't have to work to pay for the courses. In fact we didn't have to pay for our accommodation and food either. The only thing we did was to sign a contract to say that when our 3 year course was done we'd work in Education in that state for 3 years.
Our kids now - late teens and early twenties - are not at the forefront of the huge social changes that took over during our younger days. It was an exciting time. Now that they have to pay for everything in order to become tertiary qualified, they run up huge debts to the government. Education is a serious business. Not much time for the fun part. Life is serious. Life was fun for us. The seriousness of war and the immorality of our involvement was perhaps the most important change that we were determined to effect. We were excellent at mass-disgust and indignation towards our rightwing, fear mongering government of the time. Just like we were a few weeks ago.
Politics and demonstrations were part of the fun and the responsibility that comes with engineering huge social change. As well as the righteous indignation we felt about the government-sponsored paranoia over the perceived communist threat to justify the Vietnam war. The group; the collective was our motivation. We went everywhere in a large group, very rarely as just a couple. Young people now are thrust into the seriousness of trying to survive in this competitive and greedy world, even before school ends.
I agree, woz. Our own kids, who are highly aware and who seek to work inside of the social justice and progressive community, do not get out into the streets very often. My students, who are more aware every year of what is being done in their name, do not see their own power.
I believe it is because to get into the universities they are all in was a highly competitive process, one in which we sold them a bill of goods: that by studying hard and getting their work in and doing extra-curricular social services and being highly participatory members of society, they would be able to get good jobs and work as engaged citizens later.
Over the past four years of teaching the graduating seniors, I have seen the scales fall from their eyes as they looked ahead to their futures. My group from last year may be the most instructive on this point:
One is in law school, working hard and only slightly disillusioned, but heading away from the idealism and closer to pragmatic career-building. Another became a teacher in a disenfranchised community and left, frustrated by her inability to effect change. Several have pieces together little part-time and volunteer opportunities and these may be the most successful in terms of feeling effective, but they have had to move home in order to survive.
The requirements for life are indeed more formidable than when we were starting out. They are working longer hours, more jobs, are living with their parents in their childhood rooms and still cannot save enough money to get their own lives going. If they marry, both sets of parents have to help.
Virtually everyone who is working in the peace and justice movement is age 50 or above, with the exception of well-off young folks or those with no visible means of support. There are only a few mid-30s types and they have the paying gigs, such as they are, in the various organizations. I think they make between $25,000-40,000. Their parents help, I am sure.
I think the cleverer actions are going to be done by the older activists and the college kids who have managed to commit their time and energy away from the job-and-career quests---and there are not nearly enough of them.
Karen,
I read that Col. Ann Wright was ordered to jail for six months. Any word on that?
Also, how are Media and Tighe Barry doing now?
And how are Liz and Lori and Rev. Yearwood doing after all their injuries the Capital Police have inficted on them?
Please update...
Col. Ann served three days in jail, last Wed.-Friday. She did not get a stay-away but she has six months suspended sentence, which she will have to serve if she gets arrested again.
Richard talked with her Friday and he said she was upbeat, as usual.
We have not seen Medea or Tighe yet. Lori is coming here Monday--her hearing is on Wednesday and she will be seeking to dismiss charges, since she was not doing anything and there is video to prove it.
The Rev. is fine, and so is Liz--no long standing injuries except the blows to justice and freedom to dissent, which of course, are injuries to all of us.