World Can’t Wait has been hitting the concerts and festivals with orange and a challenge to take back the future from this criminal regime. This account from the L.A. chapter at Rock the Bells includes a rich learning experience in organizing at rock concerts, conversations with active – duty G.I’s, putting the question of torture and silence on the forefront and the music and message projected from the stage.
ROCK THE
BELLS/LA REPORT AUGUST 11,2007
Hyundai
Pavilion, San Bernadino California
From the
Los Angeles WCW chapter
The
Hyundai Pavilion in San Bernadino California
is a huge festival ground, and can host concerts with an audience of up to
65,000 people. The concert was sold out.
Concert goers primarily ranged in age from 18 to 30, though there were others
attending on both ends of that spectrum.
The
concert lineup with groups like:
*Public
Enemy
*Boots
Riley
*The Coup
* Wu Tang
Clan
* Rage Against the Machine
The line
up drew many fans that were already politically oriented toward questioning the
system, though not necessarily organized to do so. Many were college students
and some were in workforce, having taken off of work to attend what they
articulated was an “awesome and important” event.
Bursts of
Orange
For the
most part, people who approached the booth were very open to our message, and the
idea of Orange “going viral” seemed to strike
a chord with them. Some bought bandanas from us, though many were low on funds
and this was not always easy.
Others
took out lengths of orange flagging tape that we had found at a hardware store
in LA. This became very popular, and as we tied this bright plastic ribbon around wrists and arms,
we reinforced that it was now their
mission to get orange out to others, as well as to take up small bundles of DIN orange half-sheets to
everyone they know after they get home.
At the
booth we would call out periodically: “What does orange mean? Do you want the war to stop now? Do you want
torture to stop now? Do you want to end
the criminalization of immigrants and brown people? Do you want women to have the right to control their
own bodies? Do you want Bush and Cheney
impeached for crimes against humanity? Declare it Now!
Wear
orange! We need a mass movement to drive out the Bush Regime! Let’s go viral! Spread the word!”
This
sometimes created lines or groups of people around our table, waiting to get orange tape and bundles of
1-400 DIN flyers on the spot. The
half-sheet size was good for creating packages that fit easily into bags and
backpacks. Close to 15,000 flyers got into people’s hands this way. As people waited, they talked about
different ways they could get the flyers
out. One guy said he would put them at doors in his neighborhood. Another guy
thought he might bring them to work, but wasn’t sure if he could get away with
that. We offered that people needed to
be strategic about it and that there was not one way to do this. Others would bring them to school and to
coffee shops and to friends. We had a small supply of orange duct tape at the
table, and some people started tearing off long pieces and putting them on
their clothes, writing and drawing individual messages with sharpie. Some one else
said they might use orange to paint orange messages on their bodies.
Good
Germans Celebrating Barbarity
When we
were able to move away from the table with bandanas and a small crew, we got
out some orange, but we also experienced some resistance. It was particularly
sharp when we went out in jumpsuits and hoods for a short period in the
afternoon. For the most part, as our actors in jumpsuits were led by our actor
guard and were commanded to get on their knees, folks gave a wide berth and
circled us to watch. Some took pictures and responded and chanted “Hell no!” to
question called out “Will you stand by and allow this in your name?” others
were silent.
But
suddenly we were approached by a small group of young women who shouted out
they were for torture, and they ran up to hooded people and made lewd sexual
gestures toward them while their friends laughed and started snapping pictures.
One jumpsuiter got her hair pulled. There were looks of horror on faces in the
circle, but, profoundly, no one spoke up. We ended the action quickly by
standing up and removing hoods. No one approached people with faces. Through
our bullhorn we called out that people did not have to agree with us, but that
they should back away from us and not approach us in this way.We left and wound
our way through the crowd, using bullhorn for our agitation.
Stand Up
or Ship Out?
There
were also a significant number of young soldiers, some getting ready to deploy
to Iraq.
A few visited us, very tentatively, at our DIN! Wear Orange! Drive Out the Bush Regime! booth. One
conversation we had was the most poignant and memorable of the day. Two young
men approached our table. They were clad in white t-shirts and dark cargo
shorts, and had the newly shaved heads of fresh recruits. They said they did
not agree with the war, and had mixed feelings about going but were afraid to
sign anything or take up any orange, or any flyers because they had been warned
by superior officers that there would be punishment for having any written
political material critical of the war. They knew about the work of Liam Madden
and Articles of Redress, and were aware of how Ehren Watada was making a stand,
but they clearly were on the fence about what they were going to do.
One said
that though he knew that once he got to Iraq he was going to be ordered to
commit atrocities and crimes, it was so hard to imagine what that would be like
given that he was now living in a nice air-conditioned trailer with other
recruits, and being warned not to question anything. He added that he had just turned
18. We talked more with them, letting them know that there are many who feel
the way they do, many who have chosen to resist, and that there are support
systems they could find out about by going to our website and spending time
following links. We also pointed out the IVAW table across from us, and
underlined how these guys have been there and back, have Articles of Redress,
and can help out. They would understand their dilemma fully. The two nodded
agreement. The conversation turned to the choice of going to Iraq and
committing monstrous crimes, or facing a military court martial. Which choice
would fit their conscience? Both folded up a DIN flyer very carefully and very
small, and placed it in their deep cargo pants pockets. We shook their hands and
watched them as they made their way to the IVAW table. It was heavy.
The
Future Depends on This
WCW and
DIN campaign did manage to touch this crowd. The message got out, and there
were dots of orange all around, but we felt there was too much space between
dots. There were so many there who we were not able to reach. We felt we
weren’t matching our organizational capacity to this moment of opportunity.
Something
that Zack from Rage said at the end of the night struck deeply, because it was
also something that some young folks at a preliminary LA/RTB’s organizing
meeting had articulated with urgency.
Paraphrased: This generation has the potential to become the greatest generation
in history. This generation has to rise
up in leadership to stop the fascist onslaught. The future depends on this.
The crowd
went wild and bonfires all around the stadium rose higher into the sky. But
wild cheers and bonfires are not enough. There needs to be focused, mobilized
resistance growing in youth communities. And we in WCW have to step up our
efforts to set this in motion. Now.