Excerpts of a letter from a youth in Texas after hearing Sunsara Taylor speak.
Please write your comments and views on this thought provoking letter by clicking here. If you are not on Myspace-please send comments to youth_students@worldcantwait.org
I felt more and more that I was living in a time of great potential
change. Seeing the immigration protests, and hearing about youth
victories in France, inspired me in particular, I do believe that,
despite the general defeated atmosphere this country is mired in, and
despite all the impoverished and despairing developments in the world,
that there is also such raw potential at this time for something
absolutely unprecedented to occur. And I want to be a part of it.
I think that one of the greatest challenges facing this movement, and
something that is so crucial to its development and maturation into a
force that can really have an impact, is whether or not we can inspire
and motivate individuals and communities for whom politics is an
abstraction, something that is witnessed, on the television and in the
newspapers, but never actually experienced or lived out in our day to
day lives.
We have grown used to being the spectators. I’d say
we are taught to be spectators in almost every aspect of our lives. And
it is easy to be a spectator for a lot of these people, because the
majority of them are relatively privileged, and therefore not readily
equipped to associate the events occurring in their world with their
everyday lives, or they are people whose energies have been focused, as
pointed out by a man in our discussion, on just day to day survival, on
getting by in a world that is increasingly competitive, and in a way
that inherently alienates the individual from themselves, the choices
they make and the consequences that follow, and from each other and an
overall reaching sense of community.
Somehow it has to be
brought home to them that this is their world we’re talking about, and
that no amount of silence or patience will keep away the future that is
steadily approaching them. Somehow an atmosphere has to be created that
brings home the immediacy and the urgency of the situation, an
atmosphere in which the old diffusing safety valves no longer can keep
them from taking charge of the situation and empowering themselves and
each other to act.
But there’s another side to it.
Everywhere
I go, I hear the issues being brought up and discussed. I’m often
surrounded by young people, and I’m shocked at how often the
conversation turns to the Bush administration. There’s a common
language developing among the youth in this country. And even with the
more conservative of youth, I hear a common tone between them and their
more progressive-minded peers when it comes to the government in
general, and to authority in general, actually. Whether they’re
bitching about the police cracking down on pot or the economy or
corporate control or the army committing atrocities overseas, there’s a
common tone, and it’s one of disgust and defiance.
But here’s
the thing: even when there does seem to be an atmosphere of outrage,
there is always a reluctance on their part to actually do something.
And I think that, while consumerism and a culture of passive
spectacle-watching are a big part of it, a great part of it has to do
with the nature of political movements in general over the years.
I
think there has developed a strong lack of spontaneity, of immediacy,
of even joyful activity in political movements over the past few
decades. I know what a lot of people think of when they hear the word
“protest.” They think of a bunch of people gathering signs and marching
from point A to point B, with the permission and under the careful
guidance of some authority, usually the local police force, at which
point they are all subjected to speech after speech, filled with the
same fiery rhetoric they’ve heard a thousand times over, before being
told to disperse peacefully once more. Are they any more empowered,
after these rallies, to take that collective energy and spirit and
apply it to their day to day lives?
I certainly am for mass
demonstrations. Any movement with the stated intention of World Can’t
Wait is going to need, obviously, the participation of millions of
individuals from all walks of life, and often in nationally
co-ordinated actions that will really lend to the atmosphere we need.
But I think that the old forms of demonstrations have grown meaningless
for a lot of people, and the general activist spirit has stagnated
significantly.
But I think that if we round up a bunch of
people and ask them all to be spectators once more, this time watching
a bunch of organizers and endorsing intellectuals speak at their
rallies, then they will never be evoked or empowered or equipped to
bring about substantial societal change. And the taking on of not just
a president and his administration, but of their entire program, is a
huge shift. You’re asking people to do something that is truly
terrifying, and something the majority of them have probably never
imagined themselves capable of doing.
I really think that new
possibilities for what a movement of people could look like have to be
considered. I think that if all the energy of the organization is
focused on intermittent mass demonstrations then it just won’t draw as
many people out of their doorsteps as is needed. Or, worse, it may draw
people out in mass numbers we could never have imagined, only to have
those people find themselves participating in the same politics they’ve
seen before.
If we’re really talking about creating this
intended environment, I really think that we have to push ourselves to
continually exploring new tactics, new ways in which people can
contribute, both collectively and as individuals. How many artists and
musicians are out there, for example, with amazing resources and local
connections who could really give something of value? Are there,
alongside solemn or defiant demonstrations, street parties that could
be had? Not just acts against this administration, but acts for our
communities, acts that create community in a deep and long-lasting yet
immediately felt way? What could we do that called for, not just the
creativity and organizing skills of a few individuals, but for what
everyone has to contribute? Librarians, grandmothers, prisoners,
nurses, students, businessmen and women, the homeless?
It’s a borrowed phrase, but what could we do to make resistance irresistible?
The
actions and demonstrations that so impacted this country during the 60s
and 70s were varied and diverse. Some were legal, others were not. Some
were planned and organized. Others were more spontaneous and
unregulated. There seemed to be room for rage and joy, solemnity and
laughter. The whole breadth of human experience and expression.