Billmon:
The strikers had a committee of 56, representing 27 different languages.
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May 1, 2006
WB: May Day
Comments
one thing that i’ve yet to hear too many comments about, in regards to the pro-immigrant rallies especially, is the ubiquitous display of u.s. nationalism in the countless flags & flag symbols, eagles, slogans, songs (jose can you see…) & mindless jingoism. much of it seems gratuitous to the point that one expects to hear of coordinated activities in some new americanization program capitalizing on this opportunity to propagate superpatriotism & nationalism. i understand the notion that it is necessary, as members of a scapegoated population, to attempt to placate or appease what is seen as mainstream opinion by showing on how on-board minorities are w/ the ‘merican dream project, but good lord – how many flags do you need to make a point? american culture is so artificial & imposed. let’s see real people w/ real contributions. there’s already more than enough plastic people waving plastic (made in china) flags.
Posted by: b real | May 1 2006 21:02 utc | 1
breal
I think it’s cool the way the symbols are appropriated and made more ambiguous even to the people who are usually so certain about the meaning(s) of the flag. kind of a dereification of the sign. that’s a good thing because the sign is the site of all class conflict.
Posted by: slothrop | May 2 2006 0:32 utc | 2
of course, the ambiguation of signs, the proliferation of meanings, don’t always lead to the demystification of social relations. preferably, the struggle must be understood as the struggle of american workers, not merely immigrants, to fight capital. this universal struggle could be expressed by flags, but we’re a long way away from that.
Posted by: slothrop | May 2 2006 0:44 utc | 3
slothrop- i’m not sure that the real powers of these particular symbols can be manipulated in a useful measure. symbols generally work b/c they actually circumvent ones’ conscious thought, manifesting as emotional perceptions, feelings, behavioral stimuli, and other realms heavily indebted to subliminal processes of which we have little overt control. maybe it is possible to overwrite the historical context of these particulars symbols, esp wrt to big biz vs workers / foreign workers and the americanization efforts of the early 20th century, thanks to the fifth horseman – as jane jacobs reminded us – forgetting. associating these outward symbols of patriotism w/ the new civil rights movement – and how many more new civil rights movements are to be declared when the original one has yet to be fully actualized? maybe we can drop the rhetoric & concentrate on human rights. as if there’s much civility in the ways we collectively organize ourselves anyway – this association can upstage the more egregious propaganda usage that served to artificially inspire loyalty & subservience to the objectives of captains of industry. wouldn’t it be nice if these movements could make inroads in wearing away the rigid substructures of indoctrinated monocultural mythos. but there has to be more than just an appropriation of existing symbols. new meanings & interpretations seem to be necessary to expand our perceptions & understanding of what it means to be american. hell, what it means to be human. we need better definitions of what freedom means, what work means, what life means. allowing the cannibalization of other populations, even if they’re willing, just b/c they flash the proper credentials, doesn’t seem to me to be a solution. these flags & such are loaded symbols. do they stand for diversity? no. without diversity, complexity, life will cease to exist.
Posted by: b real | May 2 2006 3:38 utc | 4
b real,
What you should be describing there is art for the new millinium. As far as I can see its a wide open venue (unfortunatly).
Posted by: anna missed | May 2 2006 6:37 utc | 5
iirc, during the last protest, they were criticized for waving Mexican flags… they can’t win, can they?
and were there that many flags, or is that the ‘picture’ selected for your viewing?
Posted by: Jo | May 2 2006 13:28 utc | 7
So Billmon’s now a featured post at
HuffPo!
Does everyone know about this or am I just a late comer or what?
Hurray Billmon!
Posted by: Hamburger | May 2 2006 13:44 utc | 8
Here I thght. I just went to sleep overnight, when clearly I must have been re-incarnated at some point in the future after America, the 3rd most populous country @turn of 21st cen., has been radically depopulated – birdflu? – and desperately needs people to fill its vast open landscape. And apparently its beginning a second Great Wave of Industrialization, unlike the beg. of 21st. cen. when I went to sleep, and it was de-industrializing as fast as the Greedy Predators of finance capital could arrange it.
Posted by: jj | May 2 2006 18:08 utc | 12
symbols generally work b/c they actually circumvent ones’ conscious thought, manifesting as emotional perceptions, feelings, behavioral stimuli, and other realms heavily indebted to subliminal processes of which we have little overt control.
yes. tis is why, as volosinov said, the sign is the site of class war. political consciousness is awreness of this fact.
Posted by: slothrop | May 2 2006 19:12 utc | 13
The Lawrence strike — as it tied into the general tenor of the struggles of the times — had a radical class consciousness to it; Socialist thought and programs were de rigeur. b real is correct in noting that this year’s May Day protests had a decidedly reactionary tone.
A century ago, workers protested — in solidarity and strong affinity with worker’s movements throughout the world — for an eight hour day, basic rights, and social equality. Today, recent immigrants are protesting — often in ignorance and naivete — for their chance to pursue the mythical and destructive “American Dream,” regardless of the consequences: jingoism, military stints in the service of Empire — and at the expense of the worker across the ocean.
This is the ‘strange fruit’ produced by our near-complete destabilization of peasant Latin American culture as a result of Reagan’s great wars throughout the region. In many ways, this generation is much more self-centered and ‘me’ oriented then the marketing slogan intended to counter grassroots activism in the 1980’s implied about that period of time.
Yes, this is a generalization. And yes, there are progressive elements to today’s protests. But there are troubling signs. It is up to activists to educate the mobilized masses.
We certainly don’t want half a million Latinos rushing to be first to join the newly expanded Imperial military forces in exchange for the ‘gift’ of citizenship. We do want those half a million flooding the streets demanding employment, services (this must never become a dirty word), and the reinstatement of the eight hour day. We do want them agitating for a change in the neo-liberal policy the US takes towards their countries of birth, which made life there impossible, and mass migration a necessity in the first place.
Right now, consciousness about these issues is decidedly low. DN’s coverage hasn’t helped much. There is much work to do. The passion is there, but the goals must be expanded into a true progressive agenda.
Posted by: Malooga | May 4 2006 1:18 utc | 14