Ms Lierre Keith, anti-Vegan activist, after a quick clean-up after being hit by a pie at a recent anarchist book fair. He latest book advocates the destruction of the world agricultural system. Photo IndyBay.
“The task of an activist is not to navigate systems of oppressive power with as much personal integrity as possible; it is to dismantle those systems.” -Lierre Keith
It has been grand fun watching the kids in New York, occupying Wall Street and avoiding showers while castigating the oppressive patriarchal capitalist system. It evokes the great times we have when the G20 and the World Bank protestors cavort in the streets of DC.
I am not opposed to protest; in fact, I recall vividly trying to stir up some focused resentment to the greedy swine who nearly ruined the global banking system and who have paid exactly nothing for their crimes against us.
I diverge from the Occupy movement in that I consider this to be a systemic failure of the entire body politic- I am not a knee-jerk critic of the Administration, nor an apologist for the former ones.
Any objective analysis of what was done to us shows the fingers of the Clinton and Bush Administrations, and their four complete Congresses all over our collective disaster.
If I like James A. Johnson, a Mondale Democrat, as the architect of the housing bubble, there are plenty of Republicans who ought to go to jail, too, so relax.
That is what Occupy is about, at the heart of it. The Obama administration has been generally supportive of the Occupy Movement, which is, I suppose, another Lead From Behind strategy, but I think the parade has already launched off in its own direction, down a road of inchoate rage that has more in common with the Tea Party than anyone would like to admit.
My pal Muhammed called me the other day to see if I would be passing through Ann Arbor on my way to the Raven Rescue Mission this weekend. I told him I might, all depended on how the first five hundred miles of the trip were going in the Bluesmobile. We were room-mates back in college, and stay in touch. He said:
“This whole Occupy thing makes me think back to fall of 1969 through about 1972 at UM. Remember when we hung out at the marches? I think we shared something with the kids today. The “movement” was afoot. It was cool and it provided us with excitement, something to do, fun, and a way to be cool and attract the attention of the ladies.”
“Yeah,” I responded with a sigh. “So, we went to demonstrations that broke out into riots, and watched Sheriff Doug Harvey and the rest of his County Mounties hit people over the heads with clubs and then carry them off to the Washtenaw County jail”
“Yep. That was the part that got the adrenaline flowing. But the leaders of the movement, the meetings, the speeches, were tedious and boring and basically out of touch with the people who were demonstrating. We never wanted to be part of that, we just wanted to be part of it- to be cool,” I said, thinking of the sweet smell of smoke in the crowd, and how cold the beer was.
“I think the leaders of this thing are pretentious idiots, who were probably homeschooled by aging ex-hippie dumbasses,” Muhammed declared. “The kids may have good ideas or good intent, but they are going about it like morons. A nation run by this movement would be fodder for Russia, China, even the Mexican Gangs would chew us up if these idiots ran things.”
“Thank goodness the Iranians can’t tell a Mexican cartel guy from a Federal informant. I am still going to stay away from the Peking Gourmet Restaurant, and I asked Joanie at the Willow reservation desk to alert me if the Saudi Ambassador makes reservations there.”
“Smart move, Vic. Hope to see you on your trip north.”
“Back at you, Muhammed,” I said, and clicked off the connection. The kids in the park will be driven out by the cold soon enough, and it will be interesting to see if this is just a trial run for the campaign season next summer.
Jeeze, why is this stuff happening now, when we are so old? Does it take a generation to lose complete perspective on reality?
Checking the rest of the morning mail, one of my skeptic buddies wrote me to note that on Oct. 8, 1,500 skiers and snowboarders converged on remote Wolf Creek Ski Area, four hours from Colorado Springs, Colo., for the most memorable (and earliest) ski season opening in recent memory.
I wrote him back immediately. “Climate is not weather,” I said. “Don’t fall into that trap.”
He came right back, this time on Instant Message, with the chimes from the machine startling me. “Don’t imagine for a second that there are those who are not ready to take action.”
Mystified, I clicked on the link he provided. I was delivered to the Deep Green Resistance site, and got this clarion call to action: Deep Green Resistance is for those who can’t wait anymore.
“This is the question: Are you willing to accept the only strategy left to us? Are you willing to set aside your last, fierce dream of that brave uprising of millions strong? I know what I am asking. The human heart needs hope as it needs air. But the existence of those brave millions is the empty hope of the desperate, and they’re not coming to our rescue.”
What followed was a manifesto as intricate as Ted Kaczynski’s Unibomber rant, and just as bizarre. Deep Green advocates active war against the industrial, energy and agricultural sectors of the world economy to save the planet.
One of their seminal thinkers is Lierre keith, who used to be a Vegan but now considers them to be revanchist pigs. Just when I think it is safe to go outside, there is something else to worry about.
Ms Keith being pied by pro-Vegan assailants. Ominously, the three hooded and masked pie-throwers appeared to be male. You know what that means. Photo IndyBay
Copyright 2011 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com