Today Is the Day for Resistance

So, I'm going to come across negative on this piece but I just have to say it. I reluctantly went back on facebook after the Eygptian rebellion that caused the downfall of Mubarak. Thinking maybe the rebellious sorts here in the U.S. might use the "social media" the same way the Eygptians had done to rally people to the square in protest. But, of course that didn't really happen. Perhaps we need more repression before we can turn out millions or a complete and total collapse of the economy instead of the partial collapse which has swept away the middle class.

Now months after the "Arab spring" a brave group of protestors took to the streets around Wall Street in NYC in an action named "Occupy Wall Street". The group has been harassed, beaten, pepper sprayed and arrested but stayed their ground. Now there are local actions in solidarity with them in a few other cities across the U.S., including Denver.

I just saw the call to action for this weekend at the state capitol for a rally to support "Occupy Wallstreet". At first I was enthusiastic about it but then someone made an excellent comment. "Why not on Monday?" "Why not in the financial district of Denver?" And I agree.

I think back to the early days of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (and the days before) and recall how every weekend there was some action planned and every weekend it was the same people showing up to hear speakers and musicians speak and sing. There were rallies and marches and everybody went home with a renewed sense of purpose. Some of us even got arrested in acts of planned civil disobedience. Planned, as in letting Denver PD know where, when and what was going to happen.

And every weekend activists would look for press coverage. It barely came or never came. When the press did cover the story of the rallies, marches and arrests it was always a slanted view of things. If any negative thing happened it led the story. And, almost always, the opposing view of hawks and the right wing pimps for war had more space than those of the activists opposing the Bush/Cheney illlegal wars.

To say it became a redundant exercise in futility was to be kind. It became the same people preaching to the same choir with the same result. Very few people of color, very few students and young people, very few veterans and very few activists not part of the "mainstream" groups of acvtivists ever attended or were ever much consulted. Meeting to organize always brought up the question why this was and often there were responses that these groups had been invited and if they didn't show up it wasn't our fault. But, of course, our tactics and our agenda seldom changed or incorporated the needs of the poor communities, the communities of color or the views of the young, including anarchists who were willing to avoid violence.

I see how futile this became and realize when I helped organize VVAW here in Denver it was a daily effort, even after working all day. I took time off to go to D.C. to join a coalition of groups from Black Panthers to Gray Panthers to Catholic clergy to demonstrate our dissent. We occupied the steps of the Supreme Court. We went to the Capitol and "returned" the medals of fake valor given for an immoral and illegal war. We managed to get a consumate politician inside Senator Fullbright's committee to challenge the war. It was John Kerry's greatest speech.

When Cindy Sheehan came into the fray against the wars, there was a new energy that galvanized many of us. I joined hundreds of other activists to camp out in the sweltering heat of Crawford to demonstrate to the vacationing George W. Bush his wars weren't wanted by a growing number of people including veterans, families of veterans and the families of men and women killed in those wars. Cindy's grief struck a nerve with all of us and with mothers and fathers across the nation. She revived a sagging movement.

After Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf area, veterans joined survivors to march from Mobile to New Orleans in solidarity against the failure of the American government to assist the survivors and the wasteful spending on the wars that impacted the funding of assistance. Immediately following Katrina, a group of veterans, clergy and students combined in efforts to assist the hardest hit citizens of the 9th Ward and outlying regions devastated by the hurricane.

All along groups of activists have taken direct action to build grass roots organizations to struggle against the mulitnational interests that eventually led this nation to near financial ruin. Veterans worked to help other veterans get necessary mental health treatment along with family members of the returning men and women from the two deadly wars. Immigrant rights organizations worked to ensure immigrants without documents weren't abused by a racist system led by ICE. Police Watch organizations came out to observe police in the area to try to stem the number of brutality cases that were far too often attacks on our brothers and sisters of color. Multiple others have resisted and taken part in the struggle.

The thing most of the better actions to fight against the insanity of wars, racism and injustice had in common was they didn't only occur on a weekend or as a result of a march or rally. They occurred because of dedication to continue the struggle and resistance against hate, war, and social injustice. They occurred because activists were willing to give up their evenings, take off days and sacrifice time they could be doing things far less difficult and more self centered.

What I'm getting at is our resistance against the oligarchy, that promises to oppress the poor and middle class until we demonstrate we've had enough, will take more than the weekend rallies and marches. If we truly care enough to make the change we either dedicate ourselves to more time in the trenches of activism or we use our time with local organizing and local efforts in hopes sometime soon a network will be built in which there will be a strong coalition angry enough and dedicated enough to demand the change such as seen in Eygpt and other oppressed nations.

I can't go back to rallies and marches without hope of them being different. I look at the rallies in Wisconsin this past spring and find hope. Those rallies were day after day. Not just weekends. I need that hope here in Denver before I return to the same old tactics.

Now, a day after I wrote all of the above, I know it is time to bring new energy to support our brothers and sisters in New York occupying Wall Street. It may well be the autumn of the American uprising against the oppression of the masters of war and peddlars of greed. As an individual I am obligated to help it be. As a father and grandfather I am obligated to resist against the evil that attempts to crush the spirit of people seeking peace and justice.

My dear friend Dahlia Wasfi left me a gift when she went back east. It's a mouse pad with the image of Malcolm X, forefinger pointing above his head with the quote, "We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth by any means necessary"

I see this every day. I remember when Malcolm said it in 1965. I failed to completely understand it at that time. By the end of 1968 and my time in Vietnam, I had a great sense of what Malcolm's words meant. And today.....today, those words are as powerful as they were in 1965.

Today is the day to change the course of our nation. Today is the day to renew our struggle and resistance against the brutality, injustice and violence. Today is the day for us to choose which side we want to be on; the side of greed and militarism or the side of peace and justice. We can't just do this on the weekends. The weekend should evolve into the beginning of a better time, a better week, a better month, a better year. And today is the day to start.