Freedom of Speech Zone

Free Speech Zone
Jay Smith
2/1/2006

I’m drinking coffee this morning and wondering about the State of the Union and citizens and the protests in Sacramento last night. The protests in Sacramento were absolute garbage. Unfortunately I dragged my friends out to 16th and Broadway, probably the one protest at this intersection they shouldn’t have been at. Well there wasn’t shit, maybe twenty to thirty people at its peak. These guys question me relentlessly on what a protest accomplishes. I have to admit I’ve been a bit starry eyed when it comes to the potential of what could happen. A protest is good for networking, signing up for email lists, being exposed to publications, finding out what student groups are active, who the journalists are, seeing those who protests protesters, and more. Really nothing you couldn’t find on the internet. I think that’s about it, some face time. Sure one can say it indicates the status of affairs. Alas.

Until you have a draft and the government is taking your life and your child’s life the protests aren’t worth a shit, and no one will examine the legitimacy of the war. Your all for it or don’t care about it because you have nothing to do with it, your not in it. Watching Everybody Loves Raymond is more entertaining and fulfilling I guess.

This World Can’t Wait (WCW) protest is not going to change anybody’s mind, its not forcing Bush to take responsibility, Bush isn’t stepping down. I want to know what makes people think Bush is going to step down. Further more how is anybody going to do that? Here is Wikipedia’s process to impeachment:

In the United States, impeachment can occur both at the federal and state level. At the federal level, both the executive branch and the judiciary may be impeached, though different standards apply. For the executive branch, only those who have allegedly committed "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors" may be impeached. Although treason and bribery are obvious, the Constitution is silent on what constitutes a "high crime." Several commentators have suggested that Congress alone may decide for itself what constitutes an impeachable offense.

How in the shit does the Republican majority of congress prove that Bush lied and or took bribes? Do they want to? No. They’re businessmen, they steal your soul and your fucking child’s life. Good luck hopefuls, because that’s all you’ve got right now. From the looks of this, some commentators can say facts and honesty are an impeachable offence. Oh yeah Bush was also reelected, albeit a slim margin.

Then what? You get dick to the mother fuckin’ Cheney for a president, and every cunt-face you hate gets a promotion? This question as far as I know will never be addressed because the feasibility of impeachment is so bleak in the first place. That and what the hell do we do about Cheney once he’s president? The fucker’s been in and around Washington D.C. fucking it all up for decades. Try removing him too.

What needs to be examined everyday by everyone in this fight is how to accomplish small goals, what do we do now. An instant victory is something that will never happen. But we can all examine what works and what doesn’t. Part of me thinks that when the Republicans and the Democrats talk about no organization and the decentralized Democratic party, lack of leadership, it may very well have been false. It may have just been planted and essentially a collective self fulfilling prophecy of failure.

I want to say that Cindy Sheehan made more of a stink than the whole World Can’t Wait (WCW) mission. There needs to be various and different tactics applicable to the day. Less TV more New Yorker. There needs to be success stories of protests or citizens making a difference, not just that there was a protest, assuming that much is given.

Remember this, power isn’t given its taken, and we can all start by getting some fresh blood in the congress, maybe someone who didn’t live through the depression, someone who didn’t go to Yale, someone who can think critically, someone who has a minor semblance of morality and won’t take money from every nefarious corporation. A population that defers to the government and authority because the government “knows about these things” is worthless, and consider yourselves subjects. These people are supposed to work for us. So instead of letting the politicians hold (alleged) information hostage and scaring plebeians with aluminum tubes, demand why these tubes are dangerous. Learning how to question is probably a good first step for everyone. Demand answers. Bush stated in the SOTU welfare numbers are down. Really? What are the statistics? Where did you find them? Are these people getting training for other jobs? Are they working three jobs now? Are they receiving a living wage? How many people are selling drugs? Are they homeless? Why is this program working or failing?

Approaching this protest last night my friend and I opted to have coffee at the Tower Café. We discussed things like Iran’s nuclear stance, the removal of IAEA seals to the nuclear facilities, what it is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is trying to accomplish, the SOTU, whether or not protesting is effective, why the draft should and shouldn’t be enacted, you know conversing with each other and playing devil’s advocate, and ultimately learning from one another which we often do. As we walked to the bookstore a protester yelled, ”Give me back my country George Bush!” and people howled in acceptance. The time spent conversing and flipping through political magazines was much more advantageous to us than standing on the street yelling convincing no one. Refining and challenging each others’ paradigms, willing to change ones mind with the presence of new information is what is needed.