Afrika Bambaataa, Universal Zulu Nation, Renegades of Funk, James Brown, "Unity," Rage Against the Machine. The more things change. . . . .
Danny Tagalog asked via Japan if there were protests in the USA lately and the answer is yes, though they are as ragged and eclectic as ever.
In Michigan, there are frequent marches and rallies in Detroit and Ann Arbor, and yesterday I saw for the first time one crossing along Moross Avenue into Grosse Pointe, a usually staid and subdued inner suburb -- a line of people beating big bass drums and looking like a cross between the Salvation Army and WWI suffragettes. An astonishing sight.
From time to time, I feel compelled to put my boots on and join in the "direct action," such as back during the Reagan years, when part of a "group of ten" arrested while protesting a local Congressional rep's support for Reagan policies in Central America (against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and for the insidious CIA-backed Contras). Non-violent resistance and all. I never thought what we did would actually change anything, but it felt good to get out in the streets and still does.
The most exciting protest I ever witnessed was when I was a little guy on a school field trip to Washington, D.C. near the end of the Vietnam War. Nixon was still in the White House. As we approached the Capital Building (maybe seventy or eighty kids and eight or ten teachers in our group), we threaded our way through tens of thousands of protesters, across a No Man's Land, and through a small gap in multiple lines of riot police -- who were arrayed like Roman legionnaires with those giant shields, batons, helmets, the whole shabang. A real education, indeed. In those days, Congress was listening, and the president was out the door within a year. We can only hope for something similar within the next two years.
President G.W. Bush demands a counter-plan for Iraq from his political adversaries. Here's one: how about you resign and go back to Crawford and take up drinking again? We'll take care of things once you're out the door, thank you very much.
Today's Rune: The Blank Rune.
Unity!
9 comments:
Yes, and maybe he will be gone soon. You've put the Rotten/Bambaata tune into my head - Planet Rock? Will post when I get time.
I'm a 'scofflaw' and I'm proud of it.
That word isn't in the British National Corpus, but it will be soon - I'll make sure that awful word enters the vocab-stream back home. (Wicked laugh).
Oh, and marches - I protested here in Tokyo a few years back (10,000 people). Fairly quiet but good to experience...
I want George in Washington to fight the battle of civilizations. Having the girls mope around the waterfall wearing burkas in Crawford just wouldn't be right.
Hi Sammy boy,
I trust you and George will be at the front like men with true belief behind their cause, I know it's nowt like your usual job, but put your blood money where your mouth is...etc.
You know who is most likely to go and prove this - not the hedging shrub, but that brutish British Prince son of Di who doesn't look like he shares Charles' DNA
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6260725.stm
Danny, I love the hideous sound of scofflaw. Spread away via the word virus stream.
The song -- I still have it -- "World Destruction." After "Planet Rock" (heavily sampled), "Renegades of Funk" (a little history lesson in rebellion and revolution) and "Unity" parts 1-etc. Three cheers, ya scofflaw! Argh!~
It'll take plenty of hard work to undo what The Shrub started.
If the Islamo-fascists win, only second class citizens in America will refuse to face Mecca and pray, what is it, five times a day.
Death before dishonor!
Such humanity and enlightened thinking. What did "AP" do for kicks pre-911?
Note: I usually only delete my own comments. In this case, b/c of a typo. The other comments can "speak" for themselves.
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