Is This Time Different?

Last night at dusk, around 9 PM, protesters marched on the side street beneath my apartment chanting "Out of your home and into the streets!"

Even though I have lived in this neighborhood, sort of  radical Seattle's Ground Zero, for decades, that has not happened before. Usually protesters march down Broadway, a block to the West.

Certainly the size of recent marches has been robust.

Maybe what we have here is indeed a rebellion. Caitlin Johnstone thinks a shift in consciousness is underway (see "I Reckon We Can Win This Thing").

Having recently read Charles Reich's The Greening of America in honor of its 50th anniversary I am aware of the shortcomings of heralding the arrival of a new consciousness. Reich cherry-picked and oversold the transformations the Hippies were bringing about. For some reason in 1970 Reich could not foresee that there would be a huge reaction to the cultural revolution of the 1960s, one that would usher in our current, now zombie, neoliberal paradigm.

I do think things might be different this time. Because of the persistence of COVID-19, because of the economic calamity hurtling our way, the pre-pandemic status quo is not going to be rehabilitated.

The temptation of the ruling class will be to bat away calls for change with military force. But the ruling class is split, and one half wants Trump out. So a violent crackdown isn't an obvious, ready-made solution here.

Is it different this time? Yes. But that doesn't mean we're necessarily headed for someplace better.