 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 Sunday spread: Impatient visionaries struggled to expand their political space 01/14/01 - by George Lakey - Philadelphia Inquirer In Philadelphia and the nation, we're failing to nurture our political imagination. The young man was steamed as he confronted a protest leader during the Republican National Convention in August: "I needed to go downtown that day and I didn't because of all the disruption in the streets! If you were trying to get me on your side, you sure didn't do it!" I watched as the leader tried to explain the protesters' point - in vain. Disruption can be justified at some times and places: a spontaneous celebration of fans after a victorious game, the Mummers Parade, marches led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King into downtown Birmingham, Ala. What about the disruptive protests at the Republican National Convention? What was really at stake? According to the protesters, the issues were: enduring poverty in the midst of growing wealth, two million prisoners in U.S. jails, corporate rule, reckless neglect of global warming. A convention that to many Philadelphians looked like a party seemed to the protesters like fiddling while Rome burned. I see something else at stake. In Philadelphia and the nation, we're failing to nurture our political imagination. Even while technology leaps tall buildings in a single bound, politicians ask us to settle for slightly less crumbling neighborhoods and a bit of help on prescriptions. The two major parties compete for the center and many liberal Democrats are trashing Ralph Nader for daring to offer another option. The political space is shrinking. The Republican National Convention protesters were impatient visionaries who saw no reason to accept constricted political space. They wanted to break out, and did. Let's look at the disruptive ones who took to the streets after the (barely) permitted marches. How well did they do? They acted boldly despite intimidation - the first requirement of expanding political space. Prior to the convention, the city had shown hostility to elementary forms of citizen action, banning large marches, making inflammatory statements, doing obvious surveillance. Were protesters scared by the saber rattling? As a nonviolence trainer helping to lead the week of workshops in Powelton Village prior to the convention, I would say yes. Many protesters demanded that journalists be kept out of the trainings, to reduce vulnerability. Participants who looked like they might be undercover police stimulated a worried buzz among other activists. In light of this, the fact that the protesters were not scared off is significant. They deserve respect for finding courage to act in the midst of intimidation. The downside of the fear, however, was a certain contamination of the movement itself. Instead of being open, expansive, inviting to strangers, the activists created an atmosphere of suspicion and restriction. An activist friend of mine found herself challenged in a workshop to identify two others in the group who would vouch that she was a genuine activist. She left in tears. Philadelphia activists did not invent this. Mobilizations in Seattle and elsewhere have included this theme of secrecy. Strategizing without knowing the history of the civil-rights movement in the United States, many activists mistakenly believe the way to defend against repression is through secrecy and exclusion. Political space grows not only when people act boldly, but also when they act comprehensibly. Little of the public grasped the vision of the protesters. I have been part of evaluation meetings by some of the protesters in which they thoughtfully criticized their own tactics, including the mixed messages that their disruptions sent. There are times and places when disruption is effective; consider the classic '60s civil disobedience of sit-ins at lunch counters. They showed graphically what the struggle was about: freedom from discrimination. More people were able to get the message. It is hardly fair to leave the responsibility for expanding political space just on protesters, however. Did longtime Philadelphia activists use the moment of turbulence to argue their own convictions - or did they distance themselves from the protesters? Did mass media take the opportunity to report on the protesters' ideals - or did they stick to the off-putting aspects of their tactics? The protesters are right to cultivate their vision, to try new lifestyles, to explore the margins. In Philadelphia they have been planting community gardens, sending books to prisoners, feeding homeless people, doing AIDS prevention by giving clean needles to addicts. They understand that societies often grow through polarizations, which requires that some be willing to be on the edge. The downside of marginality, however, is often isolation. The protesters entered the convention period politically isolated, and felt hurt - even betrayed - when isolation continued after harsh arrests and mean-spirited prosecutions. This may have been the protesters' biggest mistake: not understanding the critical role of lining up allies ahead of a campaign as Dr. King and others have done. The story is not over, however. More allies can still emerge, bridges can still be built, open-hearted dialogue about strategy and tactics can still occur. Political space in Philadelphia, having been given a rowdy shove and a repressive response, can open up so more of us will dare to imagine a city of justice and peace. George Lakey is director of Training for Change, a West Philadelphia-based organization that assists nonprofit and grassroots groups here and abroad. Lakey has been teaching nonviolent methods of protest since 1963. |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fair Use Notice of copyrighted material contained in this website.