I attended an anti-war rally yesterday. Located in the heart of the downtown shopping district at a concrete park, the number of rally attendees was more modest than I expected. I wasn't anticipating huge numbers, but more than the, say, fifty people that filled a street corner.
We held "No War on Syria!" signs and signed petitions on other issues -- like a carbon fee, and an expansion of publicly-funded heath care. There was discussion of voter registration, Trump's legal troubles, and even a cynical mention or two of the war in Syria. I left after an hour.
Not a particularly good sign. But afterwards when, being downtown, I decided to purchase a new shirt for work, I was pleasantly surprised when the woman who was helping me asked approvingly how many people had been at the rally.
I haven't seen any polls on the latest missile strike, but polling on last year's were supportive, a big shift from the overwhelming disapproval when Obama mulled a bombing in 2013.
My sense is that people do not support a war with Syria. But people -- after Obama, after the New Cold War, after Trump -- feel more marginalized than ever. It's a "duck and cover" mentality. Why commit to political action when the entire arena is polluted?
That's the problem. But it's a success for neoliberalism.
Any news coverage of the demonstration? We get demonstrations by the Prayer Warriors or whatever those fascists call themselves, but aside from one TV station reporting on the demonstration here over the weekend, nothing. The Oregonian online didn't mention it.
ReplyDeleteI imagine that if asked a lot of people would say their are opposed to this and other wars. But no one asks. The censorship helps tamp down the resistance to war, but we've been well-trained to keep our heads down.
I didn't see any TV news coverage, Bob, though there was at least one camera present.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking on my walk into work this morning, "Why the huge difference in support for bombing Syria in 2013 vs. 2016?" The answer of course is ISIS.
So clearly the U.S.-Saudi jihadi template works. Project mercenary Al-Qaeda-type organizations into a territory, terrorize it, and then send in U.S. troops and/or war planes.