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Essay 6 |
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| Futile Tactics And Anarchists | ||
| by Rick Spisak Anarchists those who destroy for joy of destruction. Those without and within the power structure who abuse with weapons, and armies and hyperbole who use these weapons to destroy not just the social fabric of the democratic dialogue, but the social contract that makes urban life outside the walled enclave possible. And provided a violent police state replacement for a international city. I was invited to speak on a panel about FTAA related issues. I put the anti-FTAA protests in historical perspective. I explained that as humans have sought to reclaim power over their own lives from kings, and priests and princes, they have developed tactics like representative government and democracy. While these movements have had there milestones and successes, there has been constant counter pressure from the oligarchs and the princes whether by noble blood, inherited position, or armed force to restrict power, hide information, grab power and information and hoard them The Anti-FTAA movement demands participation in the decision making process, something that the powerless, have demanded and begged for and died to achieve for centuries. A rather ennobling undertaking. But I got a sense of something else as well, hype aside - that there were other tactical considerations.I had a sense that even ignoring the chest beating of the POWERS THAT BE. There was a significant number who would use "uncivil" disobedience and thereby relinquish the higher ground and the moral authority that the movement will require to be taken seriously. I have never believed in screaming for peace, throwing rocks for peace, or insulting policemen for peace.. I believe that those who choose such tactics are no better than the thugs they claim to decry! I never saw Dr. Martin Luther King wear a mask to a protest. I never heard him request that those he lead, taunt the police. I know faced with far more repressive tactics he never tossed a brick, a rock or even a water balloon. And Mohandes Ghana never, never never raised his voice in an angry cry against those who beat his marchers. I cannot make common cause with those who use such tactics, as frustrating as it can be to placed in a free speech ghetto, far beyond those whose ears they hope to reach. I took the training to be a "legal observer" but I learned that the tactics that the "protesters" would be using would be aimed to provoke. That the police were deemed to be the enemy (instead of humans, scared, mislead and oppressed like all working class humans) This failure to accurately assess the situation would lead to unnecessary arrests, unnecessary yet planned violence and the victims would provide the "theatrical cover" for the oppressors to do their silent minuet above all our heads. And give aid and comfort to those who hid behind their walled communities with their "purchased legislators" and hired police enforcing "the temporary" limitations to our Bill of Rights, allowing them the pretext to justify more repression and more draconian measures. RESULT: Doubly counter productive. I do support and salute those who honestly and forthrightly came to let their voices be heard. With them I have common cause. But when others whether for the spirit of "street party" or other desires, like the "joy to destroy" hamper the honest critic and devalue the coinage and steal the message from the honest dissenters. This I oppose just as surely as the back room deals that keep Skellings and BUSH of ENRON free to do their mischief on the factory workers of Mexico and the slave laborers in China. I support the ANTI-FTAA dissidents, but I abhor and reject the tactics of masked and violent rioters. And the police who react to their preprogrammed responses are as needy of forgiveness as we all... as we all. solidarity & peace rw spisak jr. sfla-bordc.org miamiforpeace.net |
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