 |
November 22, 2003The Routinization of Social ProtestThe Routinization of Social Protest (and the Perils of Fanatical Pacifism) Check out this piece from the Nation. Pretty predictable, unremarkable fare. Except this nugget: "As the movement has grown, the Stop the War marches have come to feel like reunions: the same crisp placards in black, white and red, the same feeling of moral necessity, the same sense of a surprising variety of people. This one was led by Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic, who had been guest of honor the previous day at a peace party hosted by Mayor Ken Livingstone. Vanessa Redgrave, unfussed about security, threaded her way through the crowd handing out leaflets for a symposium about what the war on terrorism is doing to human rights. Someone had poured red ink into the Trafalgar Square fountains so that the water looked like blood; a giant papier-m‰chŽ statue of George Bush with a tiny Blair in his pocket was raised and then pulled down at the foot of Nelson's Column. There were costumes and painted faces and plenty of Americans; a young man in a suit carried a placard that read "Business Against Bush"; someone had written "Bush Go Home" in pretzels. The carnival feeling contrasted comfortingly with the stiffness of the state visit, as if we were reclaiming London for ourselves." (emphasis added) Reunions. Peace parties. Carnivals. Call it the routinization of social protest--alongside the fusion of protest and entertainment. Like any product--the great masses need to be enticed to play ball, ie. pick the product. Hey, the water will run red in the fountain! There will be (groovy) music! We'll even be burning/toppling Dubya effigies. You just gotta come on down! Frankly, I suspect, a good chunk go out of boredom, a sense of artificial bonhomie, the party/carnival vibe. (ed. note: Who knows? Maybe there is a bit of a pick up vibe at these protest venues. Hey babe, really cool placard! How 'bout a drink later?) Sure, and to be more serious, there are doubtless many protestors who have intelligently thought out concerns about Dubya's policies who attend these rallies out of fervently held conviction. But a good dollop are there just for cheap kicks and have barely a clue what they're protesting against. Two days after 9-11, I was in Union Square in Manhattan. People would pour into the square grieving, shocked, basically in need of some human contact outside of their (too small) apartments. The basic mood written on people's faces, ultimately, was what just happened here? As the days went by, the Square turned into something of NY's village green or town square. Grief was changing into racuous (though always peaceful) political debate. You would have a working-class African-American guy, maybe in his 40s, in a hard hat, fresh up from Ground Zero who scolded some upper middle class looking white NYU students holding up peace signs ("You come down to Ground Zero! You come see what I saw! You'll see if you're still holding up those signs...!" he repeatedly bellowed in anger--or was it anguish?) A French guy, who worked at the U.N., who was (double surprise!) in favor of retaliatory action should UBL not be coughed up by Mullah Omar and gang. ("America can be pretty peaceful, but when she gets hit like this, she will hit back very, very, very hard" he noted, pounding his fist into his hand for effect and speaking approvingly). But I'm digressing. Two more snippets more relevant to my post. A tourist from Spain. The kind of guy who had come to NY to go clubbing at big venues like the Tunnel, Twilo, Limelight and to kick around the main drags of mallified Soho. Probably 25. Against retaliation. Why? Because war is "creepy". Believe me, there are a lot of that breed at the London shindigs. There was also an intense looking American graduate student who was holding up an anti-war sign (something like "Choose Humanism, Not Nationalism", I seem to recall). I told him that, in my view, his full-blown pacificism constituted its own form of fanaticism. A huge, gaping 16 acre hole had just been blasted into Manhattan. At that time, we all thought upwards of 10,000 might have been incinerated in what was, finally, a de facto giant crematorium. The smell of death quite literally hung in the air all around us. Were we to dispatch process servers to the backwaters of Kandahar province to deliver UBL a summons and hope he made it to his court date over in the Hague? I mean, come on. Radovan Karadzic is still at large over a decade since the beginning of the wars of Yugloslav succession (a mega-embarrassment, btw, we should finally apprehend this genocidal scum). It's just not serious. He had no convincing answers then and I doubt he would today. Yes war is horrible. We must do our utmost to prevent it. But, of course, military action is sometimes an imperative. And sure, let's debate Iraq. But when doing so, let's remember that many in the anti-war crowd had no stomach to go into Afghanistan even. Yep, it's fanatical pacifism all right. And I'm not buying. Yeah, even if it's a really, really cool protest. And even if someone would have really dug my anti-Bush placard. Posted by Gregory at November 22, 2003 05:05 PMComments
Zithromax online antibiotic. Posted by: Zithromax Online at September 23, 2004 01:52 PM | Permalink to this comment
HI slots also check online slots also check play slots online also check Posted by: online slots at September 26, 2004 10:01 AM | Permalink to this comment
HI slots also check online slots also check play slots online also check Posted by: online slots at September 27, 2004 08:01 AM | Permalink to this comment
Hi baccarat and online baccarat and play baccarat online . Posted by: online baccarat at September 27, 2004 03:33 PM | Permalink to this comment
Today blackjack gret online blackjack great play blackjack online . Posted by: online blackjack at October 1, 2004 03:43 AM | Permalink to this comment
You can play free online poker
You can play free online poker
Tens of thousands of players play online poker daily on
Since we started playing at online texas
Since we started playing at online texas
Amoxicillin information. Posted by: Amoxicillin at October 4, 2004 01:30 PM | Permalink to this comment
Welcome to HCHCinc.com -
Info on Levaquin online. Posted by: Levaquin at October 12, 2004 10:20 PM | Permalink to this comment
|
|
Reviews of Belgravia Dispatch
"Awake"
--New York Times
Recent Entries
Grading Bush's Speech: B-
An Open Letter to POTUS Bush's Speech Who Me? The Secretary of No Responsibility Kerry's Bad Advice "Last Throes," Or 12 More Years? We Get Comments Leiter's Provocative Query: What Are The Root Causes of a "Reverse Philosophy Brain Drain"? What Next for Iran? B.D.'s Conscience Caucus
Search
English Language Media
New York Times
Financial Times The Economist The Times The Spectator New York Observer Daily Telegraph Matt Drudge The New Yorker Washington Post New Criterion Washington Monthly New Republic National Review The Atlantic Harpers The Guardian Weekly Standard The Nation WSJ Opinion Times Watch Real Clear Politics
Foreign Affairs Commentariat
Non-English Language Press
U.S. Blogs
Andrew Sullivan
Instapundit Mickey Kaus Josh Marshall Oxblog Katrina vanden Heuvel Armavirumque Daniel Drezner Kevin Drum Gawker Romenesko James Taranto Volokh Conspiracy &C (TNR) NRO's Corner Laura Rozen Innocents Abroad Juan Cole Tom Maguire Matthew Yglesias Pejman Yousefzadeh Spencer Ackerman Wonkette Brad DeLong The American Scene Eric Martin Mark Kleiman Winds of Change Jon Henke L.A.T. Steve Clemons Jack Balkin Crooked Timber Austin Bay Becker-Posner James Wolcott UN Dispatch Phil Carter
Western Europe
France
United Kingdom
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Spain
Central and Eastern Europe
CIS/FSU
Russia
Armenia
East Asia
China
Japan
South Korea
Middle East
Egypt
Israel
Lebanon
Across the Bay
Lebanese Blogger Lebanese Abroad Lebanon Matters Lebop Bliss Street Journal American in Lebanon Beirut Spring For Lebanon
Syria
Columnists
Tony Blankley
David Broder Fred Hiatt Jim Hoagland David Ignatius Robert Kagan Michael Kinsley Charles Krauthammer Robert Novak Safire and Company Mark Steyn Sebastian Mallaby George Will Anne Applebaum The Reliable Source Washington Whispers Howard Kurtz
Think Tanks
Security
Books
B.D. In the Press
The Sunday Times(UK)"If It Makes America Look Bad It Must Be True, Musn't It?"
The Guardian "Trial and Error" Online Journalism Review "Feeling Misquoted? Weblogs Transcripts Let the Reader Decide" Online Journalism Review "Bloggers Rate the Most Influential Blogs" (see chart) The Sunday Times (UK) "Rise of the Virtual Soapbox" MORE"
Archives
June 2005
May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003
Categories
Area Studies
Beltway Banter Books Department Cultural Missives Euro-American Relations In-House News Iraq Legal Matters Mailroom Media Monitoring Middle East--Iran Middle East-Peace Process Philosophy Presidential Politics Terrorism U.S. Foreign Policy Syndicate this site:
 Powered by 
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|||
|
||||