Naomi Wolf Slams 'Fake' Activism

[Joanne98]

Run time: 09:30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoYahriXBGo   Posted on YouTube: February 01, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: February 02, 2009 By DU Member: Joanne98 Views on DU: 2740

 

[snot]

1. K&R'd. Pls remember to go rate it up on YouTube.

[florida08]

2. such a bright lady

a voice in the wilderness..thanks for this

[Joe Chi Minh]

8. What a beauty, too. Unfortunately, I can't hear what she's saying.

It's not just the deafness, either.

[Norrin Radd]

11. Summary:

She grew up in the heyday of protests. People now feel their protests feel fake and are ineffective due to small numbers of participants and being ignored by the media. History shows that mass protests have worked, in the U.S. and in other countries. There are too many legal barriers to mass protests erected in the U.S. because they stop traffic and business (violating First Amendment rights, which have been chipped away at over the years by stealth); not only that, but peaceful citizens in protests encounter a militarized police force with body armor, military tactics, gas, rubber bullets (which are potentially lethal, and cause pain). She points out that it is difficult getting a permit to use a megaphone, but there is commercial music blaring loudly, everywhere. Homeland Security is spending money training the police in military methods. People are unlikely to question on the spot an intimidating cop dressed in Darth Vader-esque riot gear whether or not that cop has a search warrant.

[MADem]

15. People are LAZY, too. Let's be honest.

People would rather protest on their asses behind a keyboard than march.

Back in the day, there were no "keyboards"--there were just typewriters, and if you were rich, you had an electric one.

Also, back in the day, protests were about ONE thing--not this INTERNATIONAL ANSWER shmorgasbord crap. Maybe you're against the war, but you didn't sign up to Free Mumia or some other "boutique" complaint.

The DC police couldn't be nicer when it comes to protests. They see them all the time, and they are reasonably pleasant. They are also reasonably accomodating.

In NYC they may be shirty, but you can't say that about DC....and the better city for a protest IS DC. Lots of room, lots of politicians, lots of news hounds.

I'm sorry, I can't completely buy the "pig police" routine--they were a lot WORSE in the sixties, and there was more latitude to crack heads. Now, everyone has a cellphone camera. And people managed to make a shitload of noise without megaphones--what they had, and what people don't have, today, is Unity of Message.

I think people just don't feel like getting off their asses anymore, and they believe they make as much if not more of an impact on the internet.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

17. huh? Naomi? who elicits laughter with her more bogus claims?

she who supports burkhas for ME women?
naomi is more of a disappointment than a hero.

[sansatman]

19. ... different forms of ruthlessness.”

Wolin lamented that the corporate state has successfully blocked any real debate about alternative forms of power. Corporations determine who gets heard and who does not, he said. And those who critique corporate power are given no place in the national dialogue.

“In the 1930s there were all kinds of alternative understandings, from socialism to more extensive governmental involvement,” he said. “There was a range of different approaches. But what I am struck by now is the narrow range within which palliatives are being modeled. We are supposed to work with the financial system. So the people who helped create this system are put in charge of the solution. There has to be some major effort to think outside the box.”

“The puzzle to me is the lack of social unrest,” Wolin said when I asked why we have not yet seen rioting or protests. He said he worried that popular protests will be dismissed and ignored by the corporate media. This, he said, is what happened when tens of thousands protested the war in Iraq. This will permit the state to ruthlessly suppress local protests, as happened during the Democratic and Republic conventions. Anti-war protests in the 1960s gained momentum from their ability to spread across the country, he noted. This, he said, may not happen this time. “The ways they can isolate protests and prevent it from a contagion are formidable,” he said.



http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090202_its_not_go... /

[ekwhite]

3. That was a good discussion, but the title was misleading

She was talking about the erosion of our right to protest. 'Fake Activism' to me means something different to me - people who pretend to be activists, but only when it is convenient.

[Alcibiades]

4. That makes me think of astrosturf

The fake "grassroots" groups the Republicans seem to be so good at inventing.

Of course, the reason why they have to do this is because most folks, if they know anything, are actually opposed to the Republicans.

[onlyadream]

5. Wow that's scary!

I hope that this is just residue from the * years and protesting will once again become nonthreatening to citizens.

[Capt. America]

6. The people of France are very sucessful when they take to the streets every couple of years.

However, here in America we have "free-speech zones".

[janet118]

7. Hmmmmm . . . . so our alternative is . . .

I was in NYC during the pre-Iraq War protest at the UN in early 2003. There were close to, and perhaps more than, a million people there. There were also a huge number of police and military herding people far away from the site of the protest and into corrals made of metal barriers. To say that you felt stupid and impotent imprisoned inside those cages is an understatement. At several points, there were police on horseback forcing crowds onto sidewalks and arresting them if they tried to cross the street or were forced to walk in the street because the sidewalks were too small to accommodate the crowd. It was horrific and became dangerous to bring children into those areas. It was barely covered on local news and ignored by the national media which instead showed the huge protests in Rome and London, but not NYC.

I agree with Naomi about the "over-permitting" but I would add that, in general, Americans have submitted to over control in areas that subvert their rights to congregate and demonstrate. In Harvard Sq., there used to be handmade posters up everywhere about political actions and events. No more. In small towns, there were public bulletin boards where people could announce political meetings. No more.

There is also a shortage of accessible public meeting places. As anyone who attends meet-ups knows, you are there at the pleasure of the business where you meet and there is rarely enough room or privacy to conduct decent meetings. Public buildings often require much paperwork and must be reserved far in advance. Some involve payment.

I guess what I'm saying is that we need to demand our local and state governments encourage democracy rather than squelch it. Every town should have an truly open public forum and a place for public announcements that censors only commercial and pornographic users. Our government needs to nurture the democracy it claims to espouse.

[Turborama]

9. So, in essence, internet-activism is currently the only way of gettng your voice heard in the US

Edit to add:


:kick: & R

[mmonk]

10. She is correct.

The "permitization" of protests is the correct word. The Constitution doesn't mention permits but does mention assembly and the right of redress. Stopping traffic can be done with cones and having people enter the street. It will get noticed.

[proud patriot]

12. Hey my parents were hippies , I lived in the Height played as a kid there

I wonder if she and I ever played together at GGP ..:think:

[two gun sid]

13. Thanks for this. k&r

[krister]

14. Ugh, I love this woman.

Why can't we have a president that will tell us truths such as these?

[jimlup]

16. Yes, the title was misleading

She is dead on.

Unfortunately, I suspect that it is too late. The elites like their power just a bit too much and won't give it up without a much bigger fight than anyone here (USA) is willing to mount.

Just sayin...

[veganlush]

18. so misleading is this title, but so important are the contents of this..

...that I hope it gets properly titled and re-posted...:dilemma: