I grew up in the late 60's and early
70's and it was during this time I became an activist. Mine was
pushed greatly by receiving my draft card after registering for
conscription with the Selective Service System.
But by this time the draft was coming to an end and few were being
punished for burning their draft card. (LOOK HERE) But the fight against the war was
raging... It took me years to distinguish between being anti-war and
pro-peace. At times I still struggle with that. Although the
principle of Ahimsa is my default
position I sometimes feel like Bruce Cockburn, especially in
this day and age of war in Syria, the war on terror and the brutality
of ISIS and US drone warfare. The song Lives in the Balance by Jackson Browne echoes in my mind often. And Tracy Chapman's The Rape of the World always makes me cry.
I look at this election and shake my
head in despair. I feel that the best way out would be a revolution.
Being non-violent I wish to focus on the revolution via a political
one at the ballot box. The best avenue for this has been hopefulness
of the Millennials. While
Bernie Sanders was running their political enthusiasm was tremendous,
as was the same for other generations. But now that Bernie has left
the race, I fear their bubble has burst and they are going to fade into
the background.. But this post is about another part of history today
that may or may not dovetail with the current atmosphere of our
nation.
I muse that although Millennials can be
a powerful force they seem to be mostly a quiet bunch. And I think
about revolution and politics. I think about the protests of my own
personal past. I am not for violent revolutionary tactics, but I
don't see the passion of those days in the young people of the day,
although they have many issues to be enraged about. The closest may
be Occupy Wall Street
and the Black Lives Matter Movement.
But as I said this is a “This Day In History” Post. Beyond the
initial statement as to the day's anniversary I will just post some
links that you too may muse on if you wish. Many of them will be added later to my
Website.
47 years ago today in 1969 – The
opening rally of the Days of Rage occurred.
The October 8–11 event known as a
"National Action" built around John Jacobs' slogan, "Bring
the War Home".
Some things I collected about
Millennials:
In January of 2016 The Atlantic wrote
"And if there’s one thing people are learning about this young
generation, it’s that they are liberal. Even leftist. Flirting with
socialist."
50% of Millennials are self-described
Independents
Approximately 40% of Millennials are
non-white or Hispanic
Nearly seven in ten Millennials think
that newcomers strengthen American society
They are more likely to support
same-sex marriage and the legalization of drugs.
Voting among people under 30 in
non-presidential elections is hovering around its lowest rate in the
last half-century.
Millennials are the most highly
educated and culturally diverse group of all generations, and have
been regarded as hard to please when it comes to employers.
American sociologist Kathleen Shaputis
labeled Millennials the Peter Pan Generation.
“Young people treat electoral politics the way they treat Hollywood movies: They only show up for the blockbusters. But the math of democracy is unyielding. If you want a revolution, you have to vote for it. Not just every four years. Not just for cool candidates. Not just for political outsiders unsullied by the soot of experience. If young people want a liberal revolution, they have to vote again and again and again, in local elections, midterm elections, and presidential contests. To change the country, America’s young revolutionaries have to do something truly revolutionary: They have to convince their friends to vote like old people.”
In the United States, Bernie Sanders, a
self-proclaimed democratic socialist and democratic candidate in the
2016 United States presidential election, was the most popular
candidate among Millennial voters, having garnered more votes from
people under 30 than each of the major party's candidates, Donald
Trump and Hillary Clinton, did combined. In April 2016, The
Washington Post viewed Sanders as changing the way Millennials viewed
politics saying, "He's not moving a party to the left. He's
moving a generation to the left."
Millennials have brought a resurgence
of political correctness. In 2015, a Pew Research study found 40% of
Millennials in the United States support government restriction of
speech offensive to minority groups.
The estimated number of U.S.
Millennials in 2015 is 83.1 million people. In 2016, the Pew Research
Center found that Millennials surpassed Baby Boomers to become the
largest living generation in the United States.
According to Christine Kelly, Occupy is
not a youth movement and has participants that vary from the very
young to very old.
Thought this was a good video illustrating the power in the hands of the Millennials
Days of Rage and Other Interesting Links:
Days of Rage Posters:
The "Join the Conspiracy"
posters are a reference to the The Chicago Seven originally Chicago Eight. Bobby Seale, the eighth man
charged, had his trial severed during the proceedings, lowering the
number of defendants from eight to seven. He and fellow activist Huey P. Newton
co-founded the Black Panther Party.
Weatherman members Mark Rudd and Terry
Robbins said that priority must be given to building an
anti-imperialist youth movement.
"The Elections Don't Mean
Shit—Vote Where the Power Is—Our Power Is In The Street"
Weatherman Manifesto Full Text also known as You Don't Need A Weatherman To Know
Which Way The Wind Blows (1969)
From the text very relevant to today:
"What is specifically meant by the term caste is that all black people,
on the basis of their common slave history, common culture and skin
color are systematically denied access to particular job categories (or
positions within job categories), social position, etc., regardless of
individual skills, talents, money or education. Within the working
class, they are the most oppressed section; in the petit bourgeoisie,
they are even more strictly confined to the lowest levels."
From the text very relevant to today:
"What is specifically meant by the term caste is that all black people,
on the basis of their common slave history, common culture and skin
color are systematically denied access to particular job categories (or
positions within job categories), social position, etc., regardless of
individual skills, talents, money or education. Within the working
class, they are the most oppressed section; in the petit bourgeoisie,
they are even more strictly confined to the lowest levels."
Jacobs was the primary author of what
came to be called the "Weatherman Manifesto."
“Weatherman would shove the war down
their dumb, fascist throats and show them, while we were at it, how
much better we were than them, both tactically and strategically, as
a people. In an all-out civil war over Vietnam and other fascist U.S.
imperialism, we were going to bring the war home. Turn the
imperialists war into a civil war, in Lenin’s words. And we were
going to kick ass.” - John Jacobs
According to Bill Ayers:“The Days of
Rage was an attempt to break from the norms of kind of acceptable
theater of ‘here are the anti-war people: containable, marginal,
predictable, and here’s the little path they’re going to march
down, and here’s where they can make their little statement.’ We
wanted to say, “No, what we’re going to do is whatever we had to
do to stop the violence in Vietnam.’”
The Black Panthers withdrew
their support of SDS when it refused to sanction community control of
the police in white neighborhoods.
The Catonsville Nine were tried in
federal court October 5–9, 1968
Fr. Daniel Berrigan wrote, of the
Catonsville incident: "Our apologies, good friends, for the
fracture of good order, the burning of paper instead of children..."
Che Guevara believed that the Third World's
underdevelopment and dependence was an intrinsic result of
imperialism, neocolonialism, and monopoly capitalism, with the only
remedy being proletarian internationalism and world revolution.
Just Because
1 comment:
It is not futile. And I love how you look at history, including relevant ART especially!
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