quick thoughts, just need to get them down somewhere- tonight was incredible. Myself and thousands of others in my community took over the streets and peacefully traveled the city that i was born in, the same city that my parents marched through decades before me. Protests are collectivity in action, and absolutely nothing feels more empowering than the strength granted by numbers. That being said, that collectivity and that empowerment is severely damaged when disagreement over tactics turns into alienation and shaming. The movement is a single body, and deeming those who express dissent and those who protest differently as others and not truly part of the movement are missing the point and damaging the spirit of the cause. Its easy to label those who protest in ways we dont like as anarchists, rioters, and criminals but the truth is that we need to collectively address this and take responsibility for ourselves and our movement. Rather than dismissal and avoidance, we need to address our disagreements head on, in a way thats democratic and fair. We need to ask questions of ourselves just as much as we need to ask questions of our government. As the protestors were halted by a police line at 6th and University, I saw one group head off toward the freeway, one group head back up towards San Pablo, and a third group remain to stare down the cops, throughout highly heated arguments and confused chants and yells. In that moment, I felt extremely disillusioned, and worried for the future. We can keep moving forward, but it needs to be inclusive and together. This requires more planning, more discussion and debate, and an attitude of collectivity, rather than exclusivity and judgement. From @benjaminmailings (facebook/benjyam)
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 05:38:15 +0000