Nathan Crites-Herren
The Paw Print
Time magazine recently released its ”Person of the Year” edition, an annual segment that customarily focuses on well-known intellectuals, politicians and other notable individuals.
In a rather unusual move, Time Magazine adorned its cover page with “The Protester.” The cover page art portrays a sign wielding masked woman who seems to characterize the movement that has burst from the depths of the underground and fringe to the world’s central stage just within the last year. This portrayal of the masked woman symbolizes the broad based Occupy movement that has no defined leader; in fact its leadership is the very individuals who reclaim the self-respect and power that has been stripped from them either by purely mental or physical forces.
Not since the height of international rebellions of the early 1900’s, which saw heavy united activism with a multiplicity of tactics ranging from pacifism to open armed insurgency, has the world seen such a popularized movement of global cries for redress.
The spark that ignited the fire was quite literally that. In early December of 2011, Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian working class man fed up with state and police repression set himself ablaze with gasoline fuel in front of the main government edifice, an act reminiscent of the Buddhist monks in Vietnam. A fire was definitely lit in the hearts of the Tunisians who subsequently burst forward in a social movement that paralyzed the country and ousted corrupt president, Zine el Abidine Ben. Consequent rebellions and uprisings followed, at first with the Arab Spring and then through Eastern Europe and to the United Sates with the Occupy movement.
What is essential to understand about the situation that has developed out of this global upsurge in the visibility of activism and rebellion is that it is happening rather simultaneously and with a seamless praxis that utilizes technology to organize in a way that breaks the old paradigms of communication and connection.
To the typical privileged American and “democratized” Westerner, it may seem only logical that tyrannical regimes headed by dictators like Moammar Kaddafi and Zine el Abidine Ben would be resisted and overturned. On the other hand, developed nations with much more sophisticated methods of social control and exuberant wealth have historically not experienced massive movements that actually are able to exert their power to the point of ousting a regime or changing fundamental polices. The era of the late 1950s to the late 1960s was the closest America has come to such a ground-breaking occurrence. Despite the deep apathy towards social justice and humanitarian issues within main stream American society, an upsurge of activism that is beginning to cross lines of privilege and class is congealing into something that could represent a movement with real teeth.
Even though the occupy movement demographic is mainly protesters who are white, middle class and educated, the movements broad issues of economic to environmental justice has begun to deteriorate the somewhat racially and politically segregated American protest movement of recent memory. The Occupy protester is the not just the stereotypical eccentric young person, it is the stay-at-home mom, the conscious business man, the ex-felon and the un-employed “white collar” worker, who all have their personal agendas and political platforms but have found a unifying force through which to express them.
“The Protester” is indeed the person of the year; a year filled with the usual corrupt back door politics and oppressive attacks on people of color and the working class. The advance of unregulated free market capitalism continued to increase the reach of its influence, while in its wake leaving striking evidence of environmental degradation and broken, oppressed communities. “The Protester,” has arisen out of this very paradigm of injustice on a worldwide scale. From the Far East to the Western nations people have thrown out the cynical, apathetic mannerisms of an old generation and embraced the change that must come.
In these critical times of increased social consciousness which the protest movements of the world at large have brought us, it is important to not forget that the struggle for justice is far from over. To truly reach the goals of justice which have been railroaded time and time again, the movement must broaden its approach and seek to make social change not only in the streets but in the workplace, school and places of worship. This is a labor that uplifts humanity and dignity to the highest degree, no compromises of character can be made in the struggle for economic and social justice if it’s going to see a viable future.
The floodgates of change have opened once again, bringing with it a plethora of new ideas and reactions which call upon the socially and spiritually conscious to act in a way that not only benefits but brings humanity to a new level of awareness. The time is now.
What’s Been Said…