Chronicle reps amerikan opposition to demonstrations

Mainstream media excuses pigs,
while amerika just doesn't want to be bothered

With the new invasion of Iraq, demonstrations have reached sizes and effects not seen since the Vietnam War. This surge in opposition to u$ militarism has been met with efforts by the mainstream media to belittle and divide the movement, while supporting state repression in the interests of business as usual.

The San Francisco Chronicle could not ignore the fact that the city had been shut down by protesters for a day and a half. But they did provide plenty of space for cops and public opposition to the demonstrations, in one part of the country where the majority may actually oppose the war.

Columnist Rob Morse makes the phony complaint that $500,000 a day spent on police over time will never go to General Hospital or housing for the poor. Meanwhile hundreds of billions might be spent on this most recent invasion. He talked about "shock and awe" campaigns where protesters blocked streets with trash cans, a shameful comparison when the real "shock and awe" campaign is killing innocent people. He goes on to cry about peoples' days being ruined.

During demonstrations in the streets, when police were not present, the situation sometimes degenerated into conflict between protesters and drivers or business people. While usually unproductive from the standpoint of the peace movement, these incidents illustrated a clear division between those who are standing up in opposition to this war and those who are not. While people quoted in the Chronicle will claim that the angry drivers are people who would support us if they hadn't been alienated, the truth is that they just need an excuse to oppose the morally acceptable stance. Amerikans have benefited from global conquest since the foundation of this settler nation. The fact that so many people will get more angry about being late to pick up their children at school or missing a day of shuffling papers around than they do about the millions of dead children in another country is indicative of the chauvinist views resulting from their material wealth.

In an article giving the cops' point of view on the demonstrations, one cop asked "What do [ordinary people going to work or conventions or tourists] have to do with anything?" Answer: their government is engaged in genocidal destruction in order to pay their salaries and provide plush hotels for conventions and tourism. Doing one's job can be prioritized over doing what is right, because peoples' livelihoods depend on this destructive system. The whole "I'm just doing my job" bit is an even worse excuse for cops who are actively repressing opposition. The article questions people targeting police with their opposition to this war. The Chronicle and the police they interview are unable to see that cops are a military arm of the u$ government just like those bombing and shooting at Iraqis. They come out marching, fully armed to quiet people expressing their views (as guaranteed by the First Amendment) and wonder what they have to do with this war. It is this same intentional ignorance that had people shocked after 9/11 as to why people would have a vendetta against the united $tates. While amerikans have become more aware since then, it is clear that they have a long way to go before they will be willing to act in the interests of all people rather than their individualist and nationalist interests.

While the corporate media criticizes "that tiny few that gets out of hand," we criticize the vast majority that sit on their asses, watching TV, driving their SUV and going about business as usual- as happened in the majority of amerika last week, even in the Bay Area. They want to divide the movement and isolate those who take the most militant stances. While generally speaking, isolated acts deemed illegal by the state will only lead to increased repression and will not build the movement, it is the people who don't have the urge to scream out and throw things that must be condemned. If you oppose this invasion and all forms of u$ imperialism, then go out and make this resistance more sustainable rather than sabotaging an already impulsive and therefore fragile mass movement.

notes:
San Francisco Chronicle, 22 March 2003.

For rally coverage from a revolutionary perspective:
http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/sfbay/index.html