Preaching To The Choir ...Again

Spent another day at OD....unlike the week before this one fit the description of MOS. Preaching to the choir makes all go home feeling warm and fuzzy but I'm left with the feeling momentum was lost. I know it's not what folks will want to hear but the changes that have occurred in American history came when men and women were willing to face down the oppressor time and again regardless of the consequences. That doesn't mean violence by those protesters but it does possibly mean breaking oppressive laws that take away freedom and are immoral. Imagine if the freedom riders had decided after the first violence threatened them and inflicted upon them had said, "enough" and just talked about rights. Imagine if Gandhi had decided after massacres by the British it was too high a price to pay. In both cases what the protesters were doing was against the laws of that time and place.


I spent most of the early parts of the 2000's trying to get along with the PD to avoid violence from the PD in most cases. There was never a viable threat of violence on the part of the protesters in any rally or march. There was always a threat of violence on the part of the police. In the 70s the police were never part of the right side of history. They took on roles of private guards to the richest and against the men, women and families most in need in this nation. We may have sympathy toward the cops who are in line to have funding cut on such issues as pay and benefits but we cannot condone their actions as thugs for the rich

We had rally after rally and march after march. We sit in at offices and businesses. And here we are ten years later with two wars, an economy that is in reality a depression, a wealth gap 300 times greater than ten or fifteen years ago, more Americans without health insurance, more homeless, more poor and fewer jobs paying a living wage.
 
Like the chants have been saying....."the banks got bailed out, we got sold out". But there wasn't that type of anger or outrage today as there had been last week at Occupy Denver. The leadership apparently stated they wanted to avoid last week's type of event. They didn't want to risk arrests. Didn't want to face off against the protectors of the realm, the police. Instead, they decided a concert and a rail-athon following one more parade ushered by the police would be best.
 
The crowd chanted, "Who's streets, our streets!" but in reality the streets belong to the rich oligarchs and their protectors in blue as long as we're led the way the police dictate. This movement will fall back like all the others into the failed tactics of the past movements. Rallies and marches will not win the day as long as more Halloween costumed people show up downtown than people who want critical change in the way government and economic policy is being carried out in this nation.
 
Tactics must change. Cooperation with the oppressor or his representatives rather than confrontation is an appeasing approach to revolutionary change needed. Some yogini at the rally suggested we let go of our anger. I say we utilize our anger! We utilize our outrage! We must direct our anger in non-violent ways against the privileged few who have been the primary causes of oppression. I heard angry speeches today, but words not followed up with actions are still just words.
 
I'm too old and too impatient to take the short time I have left and the dwindling energy I have left to continue the path of appeasement. I'm not going to participate in a rally a week and letters to congress people who are merely the puppets of the masters of wealth and war. There are plenty of ideas floating out there that can create new and more viable tactics.
 
My suggestions stem from taking part in a guerrilla war. Without using violence there are still many ways to jam the machine and bring fear to the powerful. We know what their weaknesses are....consumption and collection of wealth. Some are saying we take our cash out of the banks and put them into credit unions. This may be a credible tactic for a small number of people but many couldn't currently make it doing such a thing.
 
I have resigned myself to the failure of the American people to once again rebel against the oppressors. Like the unhealthy lifestyles of being overweight and obese so rampant in this nation, so too is the lifestyle of the consumer society that places more value on selfish motivation and more attention to the celebrity than the most in need. We place more importance on who the starting QB will be next Sunday than we do the failure of Congress to work together and the daily selling out of elected officials to lobbyists and special interests.
 
Selling out isn't confined to the national level. Mayor Hancock and Governor Hickenlooper are both testament to the persona of the sell out. They both sold out the poor, homeless, desperate and disaffected to uphold business as usual. When a dedicated group of activists are evicted from public spaces for their message rather than any real reason of importance, it's clear the people have been sold out.
 
I wish I could be enthusiastic about Occupy Denver but seeing all those costumed zombies infiltrating the ranks of the activists all day long in their flight to the inane celebration of a "holiday" personifying greed and over-eating  causes enthusiasm to fall short of bringing hope. It was said there were possible 20 thousand zombies compared to less than a thousand protesters. The irony of more zombies than activists is apropos as an analogy of this nation's zombie like compliance with oppression both inflicted on other nations and our own people.
 
I am resigned to return to my smaller community in SW Denver and avoid the alleged movements. I'm not going to campaign once again in a way that has little voice or future. Let  the liberals and progressives continue to deceive themselves about how their rallies and marches will effect change but they won't deceive the rich and powerful. I will be content to do urban gardening and attempt to organize a neighborhood rather than hit my head against a wall repeatedly in vain attempts to make rallies and marches relevant.