protest
The Need for Resistance
It has become clear to me that simple protest and other purely expressive activity is not enough to beneficially alter the course of this country. Hundreds of thousands marched in the streets prior to the invasion of Iraq, yet the war occurred anyway. Since then, a number of major protests have occurred in DC and in other cities, but the war continues despite these efforts.
The events of September 15th and the coverage thereof have convinced me that even hundreds of thousands of people marching in the street are just an easily ignored nuisance to those who control this country.
Arrested at the Capitol
I went to DC this weekend to protest the war and to participate in a die-in alongside members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) with the knowledge that I could be arrested. The vets decided that they were going to perform an act of civil disobedience and cross the police line over the wall one at a time and subsequently get arrested. They did and many protestors followed, leading to at least 193 arrests. Other numbers are floating around, but I witnessed that booking number since it was four behind my own.
I personally ended up spending 8 hours in handcuffs, 6 of those in the back of a bus. I was released after paying $100 at 7:30 the next morning.
Humanity
So let’s imagine the apocalypse. Let’s assume that global warming – to put a contemporary (and highly probable) spin on it – has become irreversible. The climate is fated to change and change and change until the earth winds up, as Stephen Hawking put it, much like Venus— 250 degrees Celsius and raining sulphuric acid. We are doomed from this moment on. It’s a prospect that’s extraordinarily frightening. To face death is one thing. It is a personal struggle, but able to be handled because (and I am speaking for myself here, but I feel that it’s true with most) we have the knowledge that life will go on without us. We may die, but others are born and others live, and then they die, and more still are born, and so on. But death in the face of apocalypse?
Sunday Open Thread
- Meeting tonight. I'm nervous about attendance because I wasn't in everybody's face about making it. Please do try.
- Black Armbands on Tuesday. Chain Invite failed, but it's the best tactical idea I've come up with in a year.
- I a-made-a-the-Goooogle.
- I passionately hate Linkin Park, but this is a good video.
- Brilliant protest.