Unfortunately I’m not able to join my brothers and sisters in marching in downtown Portland today. I have a chronic gastrointestinal disorder that decided this would be a great day to flare up and I don’t think that someone who’s doubled over in pain and has to run to the bathroom every five minutes makes an effective protestor. But despite my physical limitations I wanted to contribute in some small way if possible and so I decided to write a dairy on nonviolence and it’s importance in social movements like Occupy Wall Street. I hope I don’t meander to far from my point here since I’m going kind of stream of consciousness with this.
“Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.” -- Martin Luther King Jr.
“We may never be strong enough to be entirely nonviolent in thought, word and deed. But we must keep nonviolence as our goal and make strong progress towards it.” -- Mohandas Gandhi
I used to post on Daily Kos under the name Wes Opinion a few years ago. But I had some “issues” in the intervening years. I had to go on disability due to chronic medical issues, I got divorced and I had my computer stolen you know “issues”. As I result I was off the world wide inter-tubes for a while and when I was able to get back on I couldn’t find my original account. So I started this one. Besides I wasn’t satisfied with the original name anyway. It was supposed to be Wes’ Opinion but that wouldn’t work because of the apostrophe.). Anyway back to my point. When I was on Daily Kos I did a few diaries on the history of the labor movement and I learned something while writing them. For the most part those instances where those in the labor movement resorted to violence, no matter how justified, they lost the battle. The events at places like Ludlow and Homestead while in my mind greats moments in Labor history. They did not result in the lasting changes or reforms due to a variety of factors including the disenchantment of the public who viewed the protestors with until violence erupted. Not to mention manipulations of the courts by corporations to punish those protestors. There are other factors but those are the most glaring.
One of the events that had the most impact in social reform was the tragedy at the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory. Due to this tragedy people all over the country were inspired to improve safety regulations and fight for better working conditions. By the way many of those who died during the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory fired were people who were protesting for better working conditions earlier that year. As I observed this trend I notice that while massive reforms and changes came from the Triangle fire. Few reforms came immediately after Ludlow and Homestead. There were changes of course such as the 40 hour work week, workman’s comp, and the 8 hour work day. But those came later through political and social reform and the names Ludlow and Homestead were left to get lost as footnotes in history. In fact they aren’t even footnotes in many American history books. While I noticed that events such as the Civil Rights movement succeeded simple because they didn’t succumb to the temptation to meet violence with violence. So I came to the conclusion that nonviolent social movements were the most effective social movements. For me at least nonviolence is a matter of practicality as well as necessity.
Anyway I was thinking the other day what someone could do to alleviate the tension that leads to violence by either the police or protestors during marches and sit ins. Hey the last thing I want to do is get beaten, maced or tear gassed simply because I wanted to express my Constitutional Rights of free speech. Those things are not high on my list of things to do. I’m a bit of an epicurean philosophically so I tend to think that needless pain and suffering inflicted on my self or anyone else is a bad thing. So I thought what is one of the best way to ease tensions in people, especially large groups of people. Well let’s see there’s singing. I’ve never really noticed people getting all riled up during a sing along and there’s humor. I’m sorry but the last thing I think of when I laugh is Hey why don’t I beat this guy over the head. Yeah I know there are people like that out there, I’m just not one of them okay? So that gave me any idea and I wrote it up as a diary and posted it.
There's This Idea I Had
Hopefully you can follow the link and read it. I figured if I went over the whole thing here this diary would get way to long. Although there is one question that arose that I’d like to address here. Why use the song “How About You?” in order to accomplish the goals of maintaining a peaceful protest.
So why the hell would I pick “How About You?” in the first place? Well among the reasons for using this song in particular is because all you really need to sing the song is to remember the phrase “How About You?” and the basic melody which can be picked up on fairly easily, also the ease in which you can insert other lyrics like.
"We love constitutional rights, how about you?"
"We want a job that pays, how about you?"
"We want an end to war, how about you?"
But I’m sure you get the point. There are other reasons like such as it has a catchy tune and which is more likely to be picked up in a crowd. It could also be argued that by asking a question i.e. "How about you?" to the police it engages them in the protest and makes them stop and think for a split second and see the protestors as human, so that the protestors seem more “real” so to speak to the police and therefore it would be less likely that they'd use excessive force or hopefully any force at all.
I know I have an absurdist sense of humor. But the fact is Wall Street gutting the economy and giving themselves huge bonuses for doing so while making the American people pay for their mistakes, stupidity and criminal actions is absurd. The fact that there are two wars going on in the Middle East that shouldn’t have even been started in the first place is absurd. The fact that the 99% of American citizens are having shoulder the burden and be at the beck and call of the 1% of those who control the majority of the wealth in this country is absurd. Absurdities are all around us. So why don’t we make them work for us instead of against us?
I’d like to close this diary with the words of Gandhi a man far more knowledgeable in the practice of nonviolence than I’ll ever be.
“Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.”
“If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.”
“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”
Thanks for reading and Solidarity Forever
Oh I almost forgot, if you aren't familiar with Ludlow, Homestead or the Triangle Shirt Waist factory Fire here's a couple of links.
Ludlow Massacre
Homestead Strike
Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire