The May/June issue of HopeDance included some observations of mine on the peace movement, under the title, “What is the Next Stage of Protests?” Quite a number of readers, along with my own correspondents, sent in their thoughts and suggestions. We felt it would be helpful to share some of these, along with a fresh look at the future of political activism in rapidly changing circumstances.
I had raised the question of whether the increasing militancy of the peace movement was doing more harm than good. I made a plea for increased efforts at connection with and education of our fellow citizens. I asked how we might reach out to people, unharden their hearts and get them to think about what is happening to this country and the world. Worried about the backlash that inevitably results from civil disobedience, I asked people to explain their own feelings and propose solutions.
Since then, of course, the invasion of Iraq has become a fait accompli, with all its complex repercussions, and the peace movement has fallen into disarray. We seem to be scattered like ants in a flood, each of us climbing a separate tree in search of safety. Peace marches, militant or otherwise, have all but disappeared and the public voice of reason seems at times to have gone nearly silent. Thoughtful people wrestle with an epidemic of despair, lick wounds, and look for the next turn in the path. We are dismayed by our seeming lack of effectiveness and the determination of the other side to disregard anything and everything that tries to block its way. Despite a recent shift in public information, catalyzed by the non-existence of the vaunted WMD in Iraq, most Americans still support the Bush juggernaut and imagine that everything is OK. This is not an easy moment for aware people.
Indeed, the voices of darkness were a part of the responses I received. One long-time activist says, “I have given up on any dialogue. As long as those in power control the weapons, the peace movement is theirs to laugh at. ‘Peaceful’ demonstration is a form of liberal masturbation. My anger is outweighing my cynicism. America is getting what it deserves. As I witness what humanity can do to itself and the life around it I weep. And with those tears is a feeling that people can go fuck themselves They’ve had their chance. Now let real life have a chance.” This was in the minority of opinion, yet who among us has not had the same feelings of cynicism and defeat? Who does not feel rage, and now and then a perverse desire to see humanity wipe itself out for the good of the planet? Only someone who is pathologically detached can escape this. But the next morning, there’s still work to do, and the blackness has to pass if one is to survive.
Much more common was the sentiment that we must remain nonviolent and that we must persevere, no matter what, because so much is at stake. Many focused on the inner work required of the activist: “It is by being peace, by living peace, by speaking peace, that we can make the most impact.” “[Activists] cannot advocate for peace with anger in their hearts.” “When your own frustration or impatience or anger comes up, be compassionate with yourself. That is the only way you will have the strength of compassion you need when faced with someone else losing it, like George W. Bush on his dry drunk.”
Many respondents shared my skepticism about the benefits of militancy. Yet there is support for civil disobedience, as long as it is done with a purpose in mind and not simply from passion. As for Gandhi and MLK, some felt they would approve of our street marches, die-ins and other radical actions; others believed that they would never have tried to “bludgeon people” with their views.
Some focused on strategies, to learn how to speak to those of differing viewpoints: “Find where the meeting ground is, the points we have in common. This will stop the warlike paradigm of opposing ideas.” “Find the we’ in the situation.” “Create an environment for dialog between proand anti-war camps.” “Try to respond in friendly manner offering some basic information.” “Women and older people are usually viewed as less threatening.” All good advice, I would say.
And there were suggestions for practical things: using videos, study groups, web-based action alerts. One clever idea was to get people to send eye-opening books (such as Greg Palast’s “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy”) to members of congress, attorneys general, the media, members of the WTO.
One reader considered the wisdom of laying low right now. “This regime will silence us if we become too outspoken; the best way to work for peace is to do so by being creative. Writing poetry. Essays. Sharing what our hearts say.” Of course, the system will methodically beat down anyone who becomes too effective; we have had our lessons in that with the assassinations of so many of our leaders (Gandhi and King for starters).
For some, voting is still the key. There were calls for a “massive voter education project” (which I would support if it meant educating voters about their complete impotence in the face of a far-right Republican-controlled hi-tech voting system that has no audit capabilities and is clearly rigged in the most sinister way). There was, in the responses, ample vilification of the democrats for their “spinelessness,” and a sense of being betrayed by the left as well as the right. We know, we know.
Then there is the matter of the condition of the American public, derided as being “in a state of numbed awareness, asleep for the most part. It’s as if they are robots on automatic.” Indeed. One person points out that “we have grown up and live in a violent culture. Authoritarian domination systems are in place at all levels of society, designed to maintain the rule of those in power. We’ve been taught to be subservient, to go along. The good news for me is in discovering that people can relearn a way of thinking and communicating that empowers us to speak up for our values, reconnect us with our compassionate nature and seeing that the only way we can truly meet our needs, in our lives and on the planet, is if everyone’s needs are met (including all people, living things and the environment.)”
One reader sent in a lengthy reply, the gist of which was that the other side cannot be changed because they have a “different worldview” that renders them irretrievably uncomprehending. The only way to get anywhere, according to this person, will be “to start looking for solutions that take care of the fundamental concerns of all our differing worldviews.” Point well taken, yet I have a hard time accepting this alleged intractability of my fellow citizens and soft-pedaling my views simply because others may see the world differently than I. I refuse to be disempowered by tolerance. I also refuse to look down my nose at others, preferring to assume that all people are capable of listening, learning and growing. Isn’t that a better starting point than supercilious condescension?
Finally, there is our own personal condition, good and bad, and how to care for ourselves in these trying times. One reader quotes Margaret Wheatley (www.margaretwheatley.com): “How is it possible to be hopeful, to look forward to a more positive future? The Biblical Psalmist wrote that, ‘without vision the people perish.’ Am I perishing? I don’t ask this question calmly. I am struggling to understand how I might contribute to reversing this descent into fear and sorrow, what I might do to help restore hope to the future.” Wheatley concludes, after a long struggle, that we must be liberated from results, give up outcomes, in order to achieve the inner strength needed to carry on. Hopelessness, she says, quoting the Buddhists, is not the opposite of hope. Fear is. “Unburdened of strong emotions, [people] describe the miraculous appearance of clarity and energy.” So Wheatley has given up, but in a way that is freeing rather than toxic. It is what Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön calls, “The wisdom of no escape.”
In all this outpouring, I am deeply impressed by the thoughtfulness and articulateness of so many people. Wisdom is all around us and that is a hopeful sign. Many are being, becoming, their best. We are growing in ways we may not even perceive, and, in a strange irony, we are living more fully for having come down this tragic path. Our hearts are breaking open.
My own thinking has shifted many times over the past few weeks, a result of much conversation, reading, and soul searching. So too have my actions changed. After attending dozens of peace marches, I have stopped taking part in them because I feel they are not an appropriate action for this particular moment, that they are effete and nearly ridiculous though their time may certainly come again. Like many, I am waiting to see what happens next, reevaluating the , tools in my toolbox, pondering. But I am also talking to others, writing, forwarding many emails to my small group of interested recipients.
So, in conclusion, let me pose a few questions and make a few suggestions of my own. Here are my questions: What kind of America do we want? Are people fundamentally evil or just brainwashed? Why does the left always lose? Do we truly want to prevail or do we just want to whine? Will it be enough to show the world a better dream, one that is only kept from realization by defects of the human heart, or do we have to fight for what we know could be? How can we mobilize with the same effectiveness as the right? And for you personally, where is your “hot spot” — the thing that gets your motor running, makes you want to get up and do something? And what are you doing about it?
And some suggestions: Let us finally grow up and plan to take power. As Daniel Sheehan points out, the American people have the longest period of adolescence of any group in human history. It’s time we changed that. It’s time we quit self-marginalizing and acting out the dramas of the chronically abused. I think that one strong path of action will be to go ahead and build the kind of world we want.
We can’t just stop bad things from happening; we must also make good things happen. This is of course being accomplished as we speak, and we can hope (with some justification) that after the turmoil of the demise of postindustrial society a new culture will emerge from the proactive work we are all doing. But at the same time we must continue to protest, to stand up to the villains, and to act daily to convince the wavering middle third of Americans that something has gone very wrong in America. We need to develop simple messages that the MTV-besotted culture can easily absorb. The right wing successfully sells truly terrible things because they come in attractive packaging that promises safety, wealth, security and happiness. The left offers a wonderful dream of justice, clean air, true democracy, yet we sell it very badly or not at all. Our package says, “Kick Me!” all over it. That has to change.
We must stop being shrill and negative and victimy and whiney. We must begin to use the persuasive strategies that are so successful for the other side. We all know that there is a better world waiting in the wings. We have to start showing people how good life could be. Showing them, not just writing impenetrably brilliant essays and crabbing about the right. And we have to stop looking ridiculous to mainstream America. To do otherwise is to doom ourselves.
There is one more thing. Like it or not, this is a world where power counts. We have one remaining countervailing power that I believe we must begin to use in earnest, and in mass. That is the power of our purchasing. Every time we buy something from a multi-national corporation rather than from a local merchant (or not at all), we are voting in the most effective way for a continuation of the nightmare. Middle-class America, more than any other group in the world, is the consuming class that keeps the juggernaut moving forward. We could bring this whole business to a screeching halt in no time, simply by stopping our consumption of things produced by these villains. That is simple, it is not hard to do, it is possible. We must begin to really live this and to talk to others about it. That, in the end, may be what saves us.
We need to do business with good organizations like those endorsed by Co-op America (www.coopamerica.org), Shop For Change (www.workingforchange.com/shop) or Novica (www.novica.com), to name a few. We need to buy our food from farmer’s markets and CSAs, and to grow our own. We need to cook from scratch. We need to trade with our friends and support local currencies. We need to become more aware of where our products are coming from and support those new businesses that are creating a solid foundation for our progressive values (see www.greenfestivals.com); even simple things like fair-trade coffee, sweatshopfree T-shirts are making a huge difference.
I believe we all know how much more we could be doing. If we could all work on becoming more aware, then we would start to do better and so would others who learn from our good example. I believe this is a time for looking at new ways, for remembering that the old adage about insanity — that it is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting to get different results — applies to us as well as to anybody.
I believe that what we do next may be different, perhaps very different, from what has gone before. I agree that we must find deeper levels of activism, both externally and within our own hearts and minds. I have learned much in the last couple of months. I have hurt a lot and sometimes (though less often) been giddy with hope. I am of course happy to see that we are finally getting some support from the media, and hopeful that the Bush cabal will fail as a result of its own venality before it does much more damage. I’m also ready for complete failure, which would not surprise me. And what does surprise me is that I am not really afraid.
