{"id":4150,"date":"2012-01-02T17:41:11","date_gmt":"2012-01-02T22:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=4150"},"modified":"2018-08-04T01:56:29","modified_gmt":"2018-08-04T05:56:29","slug":"monday-january-2-2012-%e2%80%94-we-need-more-intelligent-protest-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=4150","title":{"rendered":"Monday, January 2, 2012 \u2014 We Need More Intelligent Protest, Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s an impor\u00adtant dif\u00adfer\u00adence between polit\u00adi\u00adcal protests tak\u00ading place with\u00adin a demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly ordered soci\u00adety and those tak\u00ading place with\u00adin a crude dic\u00adta\u00adtor\u00adship, or a fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal\u00adly cor\u00adrupt and crim\u00adi\u00adnal regime. This dif\u00adfer\u00adence is rarely acknowl\u00adedged by the media, or by the\u00ado\u00adrists who casu\u00adal\u00adly lump all acts of protest togeth\u00ader. But sure\u00adly, the fact that one process is extreme\u00adly dan\u00adger\u00adous and the oth\u00ader is not should loom large in any analysis.<\/span><\/p>\n

When V\u00e1clav Hav\u00adel and oth\u00ader Czech and Slo\u00advak dis\u00adsi\u00addents found\u00aded the Civic Forum, with the aim of putting an end to Com\u00admu\u00adnist rule in Czecho\u00adslo\u00adva\u00adkia, he had already expe\u00adri\u00adenced sev\u00ader\u00adal jail sen\u00adtences, includ\u00ading one that was five years long. His writ\u00adings were banned, and he was not per\u00admit\u00adted to work in his cho\u00adsen pro\u00adfes\u00adsion. He had expe\u00adri\u00adenced a life\u00adtime of sys\u00adtem\u00adat\u00adic threats and harass\u00adment. Any\u00adone engag\u00ading in the kind of polit\u00adi\u00adcal demon\u00adstra\u00adtion that would have been with\u00adout risk in Cana\u00adda, the U.K., or the Unit\u00aded States could expect to be pun\u00adished severe\u00adly, to dis\u00adap\u00adpear into one of the prison or slave labour camps, or even face exe\u00adcu\u00adtion. Their friends and fam\u00adi\u00adly would also face pun\u00adish\u00adment. Many tens of thou\u00adsands of peo\u00adple had already expe\u00adri\u00adenced these pun\u00adish\u00adments. Yet the Czech Com\u00admu\u00adnist regime was only mild\u00adly repres\u00adsive by the century\u2019s stan\u00addards. Many regimes have been much more brutal. <\/span><\/p>\n

Havel\u2019s actions of protest were not aimed at con\u00advinc\u00ading the Czech and Slo\u00advak peo\u00adple that their rulers were act\u00ading wrong\u00adly. Every\u00adone was per\u00adfect\u00adly aware that they were occu\u00adpied by an impe\u00adri\u00adal\u00adist pow\u00ader, exploit\u00aded, and tyr\u00adan\u00adnized. They did not have to be con\u00advinced of this. Rather, protests in this con\u00adtext were acts of defi\u00adance against the rulers. This defi\u00adance had a small, but dis\u00adrup\u00adtive effect on the rulers, since it dis\u00adturbed their sense of enti\u00adtle\u00adment. It also had a small, but use\u00adful effect out\u00adside of Czecho\u00adslo\u00adva\u00adkia. While very lit\u00adtle news of these protests reached the out\u00adside world, and there most\u00adly met indif\u00adfer\u00adence, a slow accu\u00admu\u00adla\u00adtion of rumours of dis\u00adsi\u00addent activ\u00adi\u00adty did help to erode the frame\u00adwork of lies that the regime pro\u00adject\u00aded. Intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adals in the democ\u00adra\u00adcies who had made careers of col\u00adlab\u00ado\u00adrat\u00ading with tyran\u00adny lost some of their cred\u00adi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty. But the pri\u00adma\u00adry effect was on the spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal state of the dis\u00adsi\u00addents them\u00adselves. As Hav\u00adel wrote long before the suc\u00adcess\u00adful over\u00adthrow of the regime: \u201c\u2026we nev\u00ader decid\u00aded to become dis\u00adsi\u00addents. We have been trans\u00adformed into them, with\u00adout quite know\u00ading how, some\u00adtimes we have end\u00aded up in prison with\u00adout pre\u00adcise\u00adly know\u00ading how. We sim\u00adply went ahead and did cer\u00adtain things that we felt we ought to do, and that seemed to us decent to do, noth\u00ading more nor less.\u201d [1] This strength\u00aden\u00ading and focus\u00ading of inner moral pur\u00adpose allowed them to act ratio\u00adnal\u00adly and sys\u00adtem\u00adat\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly. Over the years, an infra\u00adstruc\u00adture of resis\u00adtance was con\u00adstruct\u00aded, and the peo\u00adple of Czecho\u00adslo\u00adva\u00adkia came to see this as the real source of polit\u00adi\u00adcal legit\u00adi\u00adma\u00adcy, the real rep\u00adre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion of them\u00adselves. Ulti\u00admate\u00adly, some demon\u00adstra\u00adtions occurred which trig\u00adgered the over\u00adthrow of the oppres\u00adsive regime, but the demon\u00adstra\u00adtions were the tip of the ice\u00adberg. Under\u00adneath, there was a sol\u00adid struc\u00adture, which was itself con\u00adstruct\u00aded on sol\u00adid moral ground. My friend Fil\u00adip Marek, who par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpat\u00aded in these events, often tells me that he dis\u00adlikes the phrase \u201cVel\u00advet Rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion,\u201d because it implies that it was both easy and blood\u00adless. In real\u00adi\u00adty, much blood was shed over the years to accom\u00adplish it, and it was not even remote\u00adly easy.
\n<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The protests tak\u00ading place in the Mid\u00addle East, today, are extreme\u00adly dan\u00adger\u00adous for the par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpants. In the last few months, the dic\u00adta\u00adtor\u00adship in Syr\u00adia has mur\u00addered more than five thou\u00adsand peo\u00adple in response to dis\u00adsi\u00addent activ\u00adi\u00adty, includ\u00ading chil\u00addren. In such regimes, any seri\u00adous protest amounts to trig\u00adger\u00ading a rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion, and the out\u00adcome of rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtions is ter\u00adri\u00adfy\u00ading\u00adly unpre\u00addictable. The wave of pop\u00adu\u00adlar resis\u00adtance that took place with\u00adin the old Sovi\u00adet Empire pro\u00adduced a spread of diver\u00adgent results in var\u00adi\u00adous parts of the empire. Some places, such as Esto\u00adnia, became per\u00adfect\u00adly nice, mod\u00adern, demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic coun\u00adtries. Some, such as Turk\u00adme\u00adnia, became dic\u00adta\u00adtor\u00adships as bru\u00adtal as the one that pre\u00adced\u00aded them. Some under\u00adwent trau\u00admat\u00adic civ\u00adil wars. The largest seg\u00adment, now the Russ\u00adian Fed\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion, suf\u00adfered a decade of eco\u00adnom\u00adic chaos, fol\u00adlowed by a strong-man regime with par\u00adtial\u00adly demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic insti\u00adtu\u00adtions that is build\u00ading up to anoth\u00ader show-down with its peo\u00adple. Rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion is a crap-shoot. The results, so far, of the \u201cArab Spring\u201d are sim\u00adi\u00adlar\u00adly diverse. Tunisia pulled off a non-vio\u00adlent rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion suc\u00adcess\u00adful\u00adly. Lybia expe\u00adri\u00adenced a pro\u00adlonged vio\u00adlent strug\u00adgle, and it is not clear if demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic insti\u00adtu\u00adtions will suc\u00adcess\u00adful\u00adly form. Egypt\u2019s mil\u00adi\u00adtary pulled off an effec\u00adtive counter-rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion, dump\u00ading the dic\u00adta\u00adtor who was the focus of pop\u00adu\u00adlar dis\u00adcon\u00adtent, but pre\u00adserv\u00ading its own pow\u00ader and mar\u00adgin\u00adal\u00adiz\u00ading the most pro\u00adgres\u00adsive ele\u00adments. The oil-rich monar\u00adchies of the Ara\u00adbi\u00adan penin\u00adsu\u00adla have suc\u00adcess\u00adful\u00adly crushed the move\u00adment. Syr\u00adia remains the most vio\u00adlent, and unpre\u00addictable locus in the strug\u00adgle. The Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive press in coun\u00adtries like Cana\u00adda and the Unit\u00aded States is jubi\u00adlant at these fail\u00adures, much as I remem\u00adber the snig\u00adger\u00ading hos\u00adtil\u00adi\u00adty that intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adals had for the upris\u00adings in the Sovi\u00adet Empire, back in 1988\u201391.<\/span><\/p>\n

Protests with\u00adin a func\u00adtion\u00ading democ\u00adra\u00adcy are fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal\u00adly dif\u00adfer\u00adent from these kind of events. The pro\u00adtes\u00adtors face no sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant dan\u00adger. This is not to say that we should turn a blind eye to cops vio\u00adlat\u00ading civ\u00adil rights, strong-arm\u00ading peace\u00adful demon\u00adstra\u00adtors, or the kind of trea\u00adso\u00adnous fraud per\u00adpe\u00adtrat\u00aded by the author\u00adi\u00adties that occurred dur\u00ading the G\u201120 sum\u00admit in Toron\u00adto. All those respon\u00adsi\u00adble for these crimes against my coun\u00adtry should be pun\u00adished severe\u00adly for them, though I know that they nev\u00ader will be. But there is a world of dif\u00adfer\u00adence between a brief stay in a local lock-up and a court appear\u00adance, and fac\u00ading a fir\u00ading squad or ten years dig\u00adging rocks with your bare hands in a mine. Pro\u00adtest\u00aders in Cana\u00adda do not face dan\u00adger great enough to clas\u00adsi\u00adfy their actions as exam\u00adples of great courage. I\u2019m not<\/em> imply\u00ading that they shouldn\u2019t engage in protest. Protest is urgent\u00adly need\u00aded. But it is not help\u00adful or hon\u00adest to mis\u00adrep\u00adre\u00adsent its nature. <\/span><\/p>\n

What moti\u00advates real protest in a democ\u00adra\u00adcy is not phys\u00adi\u00adcal courage, but civic virtue<\/em>. When we protest against the abom\u00adinable activ\u00adi\u00adties of the Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive gov\u00adern\u00adment in Cana\u00adda, we are ful\u00adfill\u00ading our patri\u00adot\u00adic duty to pre\u00adserve the val\u00adues of our coun\u00adtry, not foment\u00ading rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion. It is Stephen Harp\u00ader, and his gang of cor\u00adrupt cronies, who are sub\u00advert\u00ading and dis\u00adhon\u00adour\u00ading our coun\u00adtry. It is they<\/em> who are the sedi\u00adtious ele\u00adment. This is why I do not feel any glad\u00adness when pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal pseu\u00addo-rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion\u00adar\u00adies, con\u00adven\u00adtion\u00adal ide\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal \u201canar\u00adchists\u201d or \u201crad\u00adi\u00adcals\u201d par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpate in such protests, or attempt to take them over. They are there pre\u00adcise\u00adly to val\u00adi\u00addate the \u201cgood guy\u201d image of the author\u00adi\u00adties, and to tor\u00adpe\u00addo the moral legit\u00adi\u00adma\u00adcy of the protest. They per\u00adform exact\u00adly the same debas\u00ading func\u00adtion that Islam\u00adic Fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal\u00adist groups have done for the Arab Spring. <\/span><\/p>\n

With\u00adin a demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic poli\u00adty, one finds protests occur\u00adring all the time, pre\u00adcise\u00adly because a free soci\u00adety should be open to them, and should encour\u00adage them. But such protests dif\u00adfer great\u00adly in their qual\u00adi\u00adty. Some protests tell us lit\u00adtle more than that some\u00adbody is angry about some\u00adthing. Since anoth\u00ader, equal\u00adly large or influ\u00aden\u00adtial group may be equal\u00adly angry about an oppo\u00adsite state of affairs, this sel\u00addom has any influ\u00adence on either opin\u00adion or pol\u00adi\u00adcy. More sophis\u00adti\u00adcat\u00aded protest aims at influ\u00adenc\u00ading pub\u00adlic opin\u00adion, by 1) mak\u00ading clear what is wrong about some pub\u00adlic pol\u00adi\u00adcy; 2) putting for\u00adward a dif\u00adfer\u00adent, pre\u00adsum\u00adably bet\u00adter pol\u00adi\u00adcy; and 3) con\u00advinc\u00ading a broad pub\u00adlic of the wis\u00addom of act\u00ading to this end. In a democ\u00adra\u00adcy, effec\u00adtive protest should mere\u00adly be the ini\u00adtial step in a process cul\u00admi\u00adnat\u00ading in real polit\u00adi\u00adcal orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion and action. This action must, to be gen\u00aduine\u00adly effec\u00adtive, trans\u00adlate into peo\u00adple mark\u00ading x\u2019s on bal\u00adlots in the end. If it is mere\u00adly a rit\u00adu\u00adal, an amuse\u00adment, or a way of blow\u00ading off steam, it is not progressive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regres\u00adsive and cor\u00adrupt\u00ading forces in our soci\u00adety have access to very effec\u00adtive means of influ\u00adenc\u00ading pub\u00adlic opin\u00adion, and of for\u00adward\u00ading their poli\u00adcies. They can fill the news\u00adpa\u00adpers and tele\u00advi\u00adsion broad\u00adcasts that they con\u00adtrol with mis\u00adin\u00adfor\u00adma\u00adtion and spe\u00adcious argu\u00adments. They can cre\u00adate insti\u00adtu\u00adtions with impres\u00adsive-sound\u00ading cre\u00adden\u00adtials to pro\u00admote their views and pro\u00advide the media with catch-phras\u00ades and sound-bites. They can man\u00adu\u00adfac\u00adture pho\u00adny \u201cgrass-roots\u201d move\u00adments among the gullible. They can fill the inter\u00adnet with con\u00adtrived \u201cinde\u00adpen\u00addent\u201d sources (there is a com\u00admer\u00adcial agency in New York that spe\u00adcial\u00adizes in this). They don\u2019t have to be truth\u00adful, log\u00adi\u00adcal, or even con\u00adsis\u00adtent, since their aim is to deceive a vari\u00adety of peo\u00adple \u201cby any means nec\u00ades\u00adsary.\u201d And, of course, they can sim\u00adply buy politi\u00adcians \u2014 use their unlim\u00adit\u00aded finan\u00adcial resources to install paid stooges in pub\u00adlic office. But even their paid stooges have to be elect\u00aded. Pro\u00adpa\u00adgan\u00adda is mere\u00adly a pre\u00adlude to the crit\u00adi\u00adcal process of get\u00adting the vote out. In every case I know of, in Cana\u00adda and the Unit\u00aded States, when those coun\u00adtries took a sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant turn for the worse, the major\u00adi\u00adty of good-heart\u00aded peo\u00adple sat on their bums at elec\u00adtion time, while the forces of bar\u00adbarism built effec\u00adtive orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions to get their fol\u00adlow\u00aders into the polling booths. Paul M. Weyrich, the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive polit\u00adi\u00adcal strate\u00adgist who found\u00aded key orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions that trained and mobi\u00adlized regres\u00adsive activists, recruit\u00aded regres\u00adsive can\u00addi\u00addates, and raised funds for regres\u00adsive caus\u00ades, once stat\u00aded it suc\u00adcinct\u00adly: \u201cI don\u2019t want every\u00adbody to vote. Elec\u00adtions are not won by a major\u00adi\u00adty of the peo\u00adple. They nev\u00ader have been from the begin\u00adning of our coun\u00adtry and they are not now. As a mat\u00adter of fact, our lever\u00adage in the elec\u00adtions quite can\u00addid\u00adly goes up as the vot\u00ading pop\u00adu\u00adlace goes down.\u201d [2] Around the time this was said, many of the peo\u00adple I knew who claimed to oppose these forces thought them\u00adselves fright\u00adful\u00adly clever because they nev\u00ader voted. <\/span><\/p>\n

When protest fails to define prob\u00adlems clear\u00adly, when it fails to clar\u00adi\u00adfy moral issues, when it fails to claim the ter\u00adri\u00adto\u00adry of both rea\u00adson and patri\u00ado\u00adtism, when it fails to make clear what action should be tak\u00aden to cor\u00adrect the prob\u00adlem, or what pub\u00adlic pol\u00adi\u00adcy should be pur\u00adsued in pref\u00ader\u00adence, and when it fails to be a stim\u00adu\u00adlus to real action in the polit\u00adi\u00adcal process, it is worse than useless.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the last year, there has been an abun\u00addance of such inef\u00adfec\u00adtive protest, in Cana\u00adda and the Unit\u00aded States. While else\u00adwhere, coura\u00adgeous peo\u00adple have been risk\u00ading their lives for even a slim chance<\/em> that they might see their coun\u00adtries become democ\u00adra\u00adcies, lit\u00adtle has been done here to fight the sys\u00adtem\u00adat\u00adic ero\u00adsion and des\u00ade\u00adcra\u00adtion of our lib\u00ader\u00adties, except for some sil\u00adly, mis\u00adcon\u00adceived and mis\u00addi\u00adrect\u00aded opere buffe<\/em>, con\u00adnect\u00aded to no sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant polit\u00adi\u00adcal action.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

[1]<\/a> Keane, John (2000). V\u00e1clav Hav\u00adel: A Polit\u00adi\u00adcal Tragedy in Six Acts<\/em>. Basic Books. p. 264.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[2]<\/a> This quote was for\u00adward\u00aded to me by my asso\u00adciate S. Sepp, and orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adly appeared in the Peo\u00adple For the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Way website.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s an impor\u00adtant dif\u00adfer\u00adence between polit\u00adi\u00adcal protests tak\u00ading place with\u00adin a demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly ordered soci\u00adety and those tak\u00ading place with\u00adin a crude dic\u00adta\u00adtor\u00adship, or a fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal\u00adly cor\u00adrupt and crim\u00adi\u00adnal regime. This dif\u00adfer\u00adence is rarely acknowl\u00adedged by the media, or by the\u00ado\u00adrists who \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,932],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-ao-blog-2012"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4150"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7637,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4150\/revisions\/7637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}