01-21-2017, 06:32 PM
The people may have been shut out of the White House for now, courtesy of 18th century slaveholders who gave us the electoral college, but we are still here, and we will continue to organize and mobilize.
The "women's march" today was huge. As Steve Allen might say, this could be the start of something big. It was huge in DC, but huge all across the country too. I went to the one in San Jose, and I've never seen a bigger march and rally in this sleepy tech town. It seemed like half the city was there, although it wasn't that big; but lots of people squeezed into the entire march route downtown so that people were still standing at the start point when people were arriving at the end point. There were similar rallies all over the country in every state, even a dozen or so in Alaska! The mayor was one of the speakers, along with a minister of my New Thought persuasion. There was a lot of pride today in our city that we turned out so well. Usually events like this barely fill up the space in front of City Hall, if even that.
It might not have pleased some folks here like Rags and David who say the Left is too focused on social justice issues. This one was, for sure. It's certainly the result of the focus by the two candidates: the winner and new "president" being outspokenly against social justice, and the loser outspokenly in favor. But I wouldn't call it identity politics, because every conceivable identity was there together, standing up against Trump and for inclusion, diversity and love. One sign mentioned not only all the ethnic and religious groups, but the three main generations as we know them here as well.
It was the peaceful side of the movement, but yesterday a more militant variety was visible, stirred up by groups such as "DisruptJ20" which apparently were anti-capitalist anarchists. There were over 200 arrests in DC when a few of them starting breaking windows, battling police and such. And we had one of those gatherings too in San Jose, and I went to that one too. There were only about a hundred mostly young people, and none of them had any rocks or broke any windows. But they did storm onto the street and took it over for a while, shouting "Whose street? Our street!". A helicopter was shining its light down on us even before we started, and 2 cops pulled up and followed us onto the street right away. I myself didn't go into the street though, or insult the police, as some of them did; I didn't think that was the issue. But those who are victims of police brutality, or otherwise turned off by the state and authority, might think differently. Once we marched down into a street with no traffic, though, a dozen police cars and motorcycles suddenly cornered us. Maybe because police behavior would be safely out of view? As I returned to the sidewalk, I saw a few young people in the street make gestures of pushing back against their motorcycles. 3 were arrested, and gradually they forced the marchers to stay off the street and soon to disperse. One college cop said they had "information" that it was the same group behind this march that was behind the violent one in DC. I don't know if there were any other violent events, but there were other such Disrupt rallies around the country on Jan.20. Since there was no violence or any threat of it here, I thought the San Jose Police were overdoing it. And yet the next day the mayor himself speaks at the larger rally. So I'm not sure what to think about whether my blue city is going to participate in Trump's promised crackdown. It seemed like both sides intended for there to be some civil unrest, although I was not part of that intention.
It's only the beginning, the speakers said today. I hope so. There will need to be a lot of organizing, election work, protest and speaking out to do to turn back the tide that put Trump in office.
The "women's march" today was huge. As Steve Allen might say, this could be the start of something big. It was huge in DC, but huge all across the country too. I went to the one in San Jose, and I've never seen a bigger march and rally in this sleepy tech town. It seemed like half the city was there, although it wasn't that big; but lots of people squeezed into the entire march route downtown so that people were still standing at the start point when people were arriving at the end point. There were similar rallies all over the country in every state, even a dozen or so in Alaska! The mayor was one of the speakers, along with a minister of my New Thought persuasion. There was a lot of pride today in our city that we turned out so well. Usually events like this barely fill up the space in front of City Hall, if even that.
It might not have pleased some folks here like Rags and David who say the Left is too focused on social justice issues. This one was, for sure. It's certainly the result of the focus by the two candidates: the winner and new "president" being outspokenly against social justice, and the loser outspokenly in favor. But I wouldn't call it identity politics, because every conceivable identity was there together, standing up against Trump and for inclusion, diversity and love. One sign mentioned not only all the ethnic and religious groups, but the three main generations as we know them here as well.
It was the peaceful side of the movement, but yesterday a more militant variety was visible, stirred up by groups such as "DisruptJ20" which apparently were anti-capitalist anarchists. There were over 200 arrests in DC when a few of them starting breaking windows, battling police and such. And we had one of those gatherings too in San Jose, and I went to that one too. There were only about a hundred mostly young people, and none of them had any rocks or broke any windows. But they did storm onto the street and took it over for a while, shouting "Whose street? Our street!". A helicopter was shining its light down on us even before we started, and 2 cops pulled up and followed us onto the street right away. I myself didn't go into the street though, or insult the police, as some of them did; I didn't think that was the issue. But those who are victims of police brutality, or otherwise turned off by the state and authority, might think differently. Once we marched down into a street with no traffic, though, a dozen police cars and motorcycles suddenly cornered us. Maybe because police behavior would be safely out of view? As I returned to the sidewalk, I saw a few young people in the street make gestures of pushing back against their motorcycles. 3 were arrested, and gradually they forced the marchers to stay off the street and soon to disperse. One college cop said they had "information" that it was the same group behind this march that was behind the violent one in DC. I don't know if there were any other violent events, but there were other such Disrupt rallies around the country on Jan.20. Since there was no violence or any threat of it here, I thought the San Jose Police were overdoing it. And yet the next day the mayor himself speaks at the larger rally. So I'm not sure what to think about whether my blue city is going to participate in Trump's promised crackdown. It seemed like both sides intended for there to be some civil unrest, although I was not part of that intention.
It's only the beginning, the speakers said today. I hope so. There will need to be a lot of organizing, election work, protest and speaking out to do to turn back the tide that put Trump in office.