> the spirit in which many of the successful protests of late have been
> carried out is not expressed as a youthfulness that has as its opposition some notion of
> staid old age and the attendant generational conflicts of the past - rather, it seems like a
> more extreme youthfulness, paradoxically inclusive, that expresses a connection with that
> pre-consumerist state that all of us, young and old, passed through in our childhood. Or so
> it has often appeared to me. I admit it's strange. (Note: this is not a reference to the
> "inner child" shit that made the rounds awhile back.)
I think that's more the spirit of a (possible) new society and the ideas dominating the movement rather then some "spirit of youthfulness".
> This unexpected state of affairs could be an outgrowth of the collective reaction to a
> transcendant capitalism that recently crossed some indiscernible threshold,
I'm one of those "youthfull protestors" you guys talk of and I think this is basically true, but there's more to it. As was pointed out in one of our anti-Sweatshop teach-ins, my generations is the most advertised to generation in history. This, I think, is backfiring against the whole system. I am sick of corporations trying to manipulate us. All they do is lie - and they stick there lies everywhere. On TV, the radio, in the bathroom, in the schools - everywhere. They're not interested in anything but exploiting people. I also think the internet has played a signifigant role in starting this by exposing people to ideas we otherwise wouldn't have been allowed to read. I myself was radicalized by reading propaganda on the 'net. Without it I would probably still be a "normal" semi-apathetic neoliberal. I also think that the end of the cold war has something to do with this. While the cold war was on every person would constantly be exposed to anti-soviet/pro-capitalist propaganda. But now the "evil empire" has been defeated and the propaganda has dropped. So we have a whole generation of people that hasn't been indoctrinated with anti-radical propaganda. All these factors and more have combined to begin to thaw out the apathy that has dominated youth politics since before I knew what politics was. Overall most students are still apathetic. In my university of over 20,000 people we have about 30 committed activists and around 30 people who are sort of involved on an on and off basis. That's a tiny portion of the population.
> or could be akin
> in an oddly metaphorical way to the buildup of a speculative market bubble (OK, that's a
> stretch, but would be intriguing to contemplate) - but in any case may be why things in many
> respects have felt "different" at times, confounding many attempts on the part of the media
> et al to explain everything - the anarchic, unpredictable nature of the protests, the
> surprising, unlikely coalitions, the absence of heavy, dogmatic rhetoric in favor of a
> pervasive sense of whimsy and playfulness, and even the reduction of the objects of
> criticism to pitiful excuses and transparent rationalizations like so many rejected
> playmates in the schoolyard. What's more, a few of them seemed to recognize and acknowledge,
> whether tacitly or explicitly, the undeniable kernels of truth that formed the bedrock of
> the protesters' assertions. Something about the way the protesters made their case made this possible.
>
> There should be a lesson in this for those mired in the dominant (maudlin, divisive,
> elitist) modes of the recent past: Rigid, dogmatic rhetoric begets more of the same from the
> other side, to no purpose - and understandable apathy on the part of the populace at large.
>
> --
>
> / dave /
-- Joe R. Golowka joegolowka at earthlink.net Anarchist FAQ - http://www.infoshop.org/faq
"Given Christianity's past track record for assimilating pagan holidays and adopting elements of other mythologies, it can be considered the Borg of religions, viewing all other faiths as mere superstitions to be supplanted rather than respected. This last year saw an end-of-the-millenium drive by some Baptists to convert Jews, Muslims, and Hindus so they won't miss out on the Rapture. The heathens, er non-Christians, were not amused. (In a reverberating voice: "You will be prosetylized. Heathenism is futile!")" - Chris Smith