On the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington

Still Marching towards Liberation

courtesy Library of Congress

Today is August 28, the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. Remember, it was called the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” Civil rights cannot be separated from social and economic justice.

Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his best-known speech, “I Have A Dream,” a half century ago. The dream and the pursuit continues. King remains one of the greatest Americans who lived in the 20th century. Great because he tried to find a true north to liberate all Americans from the long shadow of the country’s founding—the shadow of slavery, genocide, and yes, capitalism. He understood that the suffering of African Americans was tied to the suffering of poor people everywhere and was directly linked to the workings of our economic engine. This is why he opposed the Vietnam War and was marching with sanitation workers in Memphis when he was killed.

Martin Luther King, Jr., tried hard to harbor no ill will toward the rich or even towards loudmouth racists like George Wallace and Lester Maddox. He turned to his deep faith to find the strength to keep marching. I am still moved by his profound courage and leadership. He was a nonviolent radical who looked for love.

King believed that the government can work to redistribute the wealth so that all people can have education, healthcare, and shelter, but he was no communist. I mention that because if we are concerned about the recent revelations about governmental intrusion into our privacy, we need look no further than what the U.S. government tried to do to King. J. Edgar Hoover tried to destroy him using extensive surveillance. But he failed. Hoover ended up in the dustbin of history because he did not stand for freedom, but only for power. What a strange twist of fate that an angry, closeted gay man like Hoover couldn’t bring King down, but an out, clever gay man like Bayard Rustin could figure out how to organize King’s incredible march in two months. King stood for all humanity. He is still marching us towards liberation.

The Country Was Saved. Now It’s Time for a Revolution.

courtesy www.barackobama.com

The country was saved. Barely. From our vantage point in the liberal Bay Area, it is difficult to understand how half the country could vote for someone who, as I have said before, was basically a brown shirt in a rep tie. Or, at least, was advocating extreme right-wing madness. Sometimes it seems so complicated that I turn off and go back to listening to Leonard Cohen. Let’s go live on a Greek Island with a mistress of one kind or another for a while.

But basically it is the end of the hegemonic order and the unchecked power of the one percent. Citizens United meant that rich folks without values could run around doing whatever they wanted. That is, until a bloody revolution stopped it all. But that is not the preferred outcome. Almost every country with any kind of economic strength has a jumbled-up combination of socialism and capitalism. The question is, how much does the government check greed, and how? Large countries that said they embraced socialism, like China and the USSR, didn’t. And when they embraced capitalism, it became government-sanctioned thievery. Most of Europe has embraced socialism and allows capitalism to flourish as long as the basic needs of the citizens are met. Of course, that is no longer true in the US; the standard of living in several countries is better than ours. (Not that ours should be the best.)

We are confronted with a radically changing demographic. The era of the white man is almost over. Although minorities of all kinds are still oppressed by the right and the religions that cater to the right, the long arc of justice that Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about will happen. But the few straight white men who control the levers of capitalism are not going to give up without a fight. These few people outspent the Democrats and told lies and more lies in every possible media channel they could think of. There are reports that they tried to disrupt the voting process. The outcome of this election is so important because the Supreme Court will change its makeup in the next four years, and now the new justices will say no to the wreckage that the one percent has caused in the financial and oil industries.

courtesy www.ownieu.owni.fr 

But there are two tracks. There is the political track and the in-the-streets track. The Republicans will still control the House and will keep taking their kind of bribes. This is why we voted for Obama and will be in the streets in the coming years. We will see precious little happen in the political realm, because the Republicans and their corporations will pour their resources into resisting humane progress at every turn. And that’s why Occupy will be back. Next time it won’t be quite as ragtag and stinky. It will be slightly less democratic and slightly more organized. And it will push Wall Street into the gutter. When oil is no longer the blood of the economy and bankers are accountable, we can rebuild a country that is based on human dignity and the idea of service. It can’t happen under a Republican administration. What remains to be seen is whether it can happen under a Democratic one. As the political scientist Jodi Dean said the other day, it only takes ten percent of the population to start a revolution. So, ten to one it is. Good odds, even if the one percent has most of the money.

courtesy www.latimesphoto.files.wordpress.com

The Foundation Maybe Kinda Funky

We had every intention of going to the San Francisco version of the Occupy Wall Street rally Saturday afternoon before going to dinner in the city. But we were waylaid by an extended weekend nap. Not wanting to miss the start of the revolution, I took BART downtown on Sunday to check out Occupy San Francisco. (This was before the police cleared away the tarps Sunday evening.) The protest continues in front of the Federal Reserve Bank. There were perhaps two dozen protestors and only three policemen. Over at the camp itself in the south end of Justin Herman Plaza, there were several more people mostly hanging out. The north end of the park is being turned into the holiday ice rink. Dividing these two sides is an avenue of craft merchants. Overhead a zip line whines and patrons fly like Tinkerbell.

At first sight, the encampment is not exactly welcoming. There are piles of clothes and sleeping bags. One man rakes the sand like a monk while another woman uses a large broom to brush away garbage. The site didn’t smell bad, but it wasn’t a Boy Scout camp either. A woman in rainbow tie-dyed pants was making peanut butter sandwiches for the hungry. A man pedaled a stationary bicycle to power a laptop. In many ways, it looked like the homeless camp that used to be at UN Plaza, but without the orderly rows of tents.

The question is, can this ragtag band of homeless folk form a movement? So far, it does not look like this will be the epicenter of the revolution that will overturn the banking industry. The heart of the movement is in New York in the belly of the beast, Wall Street. Equally important are the live lines of resistance that are not emanating from the left coast. No, they are in surprising places like Buffalo, Atlanta, San Diego, and Austin, as well as international cities like Rome, Toronto, and London.

I would have felt more comfortable yesterday surrounded by other middle-class professionals in button-down shirts, jeans, and sensible shoes. But when we return to our homes, the fort is being held down by a lot of folks who don’t have anywhere else to go. I might not relate to them, but maybe they are the authentic foundation of this movement.

At the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington, President Obama said that King would have approved of the Occupy Wall Street movement: “Dr. King understood that peace without justice was no peace at all.” I have been concerned that this memorial and the corporatization of King’s memory have reduced his fundamental radicalism. Obama returned him to the fiery pulpit of social justice. Of course, King drew great inspiration from another radical preacher. It is helpful to be reminded that the bearded, long-haired guy in sandals would recognize those funky folks at Occupy SF as His people.

President Obama’s remarks on Occupy Wall Street begin at 15:45.