Wish that Berkeley's Revolution would modify its demands
Thanks to an epic fail judgment call on the part of the Berkeley Mayor, or whoever was in charge of dealing with the anti-police-state protests Saturday night, Berkeley has radicalized in way not seen since the 60s. Dude, you just don't meet a protest against the police state with a police state of jack boots, batons, rubber bullets, and tear gas. Unlike the 60s, citizens have cellphone video now.
Berkeley was already a powder keg over gentrification, housing turnover, and the county's lack of social safety nets. Add the natural revolutionary spirit of UC Berkeley students to that and....KABOOM!
I've read pamphlets on the street calling for immediate communist revolution based on the local circumstances - I kid you not!
So the anger and the revolutionary spirit is still building up a head of steam here. Last night the peaceful part of the protest grew to 2000 people - that's huge for Berkeley. After the protest hundreds went to block the bridge to San Francisco and the commuter trains. A couple hundred were arrest.
Tonight there is a Berkeley City Council meeting - and the protest/revolution will be bigger soon. Since the Black Bloc "anarchists" hibernated last night, I wonder if something big is being planned for tonight. Berkeley should batten down all hatches. :/
Well, getting to the point...I wish the Revolution would rethink some of its demands.
First, the main protest organizers, the student group BAMN (By Any Means Necessary) demands the release of all protesters arrested. However, the people arrested are mainly the over-the-top violent "anarchists" that the protesters themselves try to stop. What about that looter who hit a protester in the head with a hammer? Should he be released. (I'm not including the bridge group here - I believe they were released shortly after their token arrest.)
The second questionable demand, which I saw on the Occupy Oakland site, was for the immediate overthrow of Berkeley's Mayor Bates.
Let me clarify that I'm not a fan of Mayor Bates. I don't like how he and his State Senator wife built a "machine" to own Berkeley politics. This man has actually been caught stealing newspapers with editorials critical of him prior to an election. He soaks Berkeley with parcel taxes and uses the general fund on whatever he wants (to pay off cronies). He is a property developer who only sees the pov of the 1%. He has sold all the public housing units in Berkeley, stated that building low income housing in Berkeley would be "stupid" (closet racism?), and kept grant money to address the housing crisis locked up in committee. He throws money at Bayer, which hires Berkeley residents as hopeless permatemps. He sends out his propaganda, but does not respond. Most of Berkeley disengaged with the local political process and became disempowered in the face of gentrification under his "leadership".
In sum, I think Tom Bates is a terrible Mayor who doesn't represent me. I didn't vote for him. I wish someone else who cared about my situation were Mayor. But this is a democracy, and Tom Bates - Machine notwithstanding - won the vote.
It would be against everything democracy stands for to overthrow a fairly elected Mayor, even if he is an asshat.
What if some rightwing nutball group or the KKK organized a big rally in Berkeley and declared voting just wasn't working out for them? What if they came and overthrew our new "Revolutionary" Mayor for a candidate of their choosing? That's what happens if we turn to "mob legitimacy". This is exactly how the local socialist governments fell in late 1930s Germany.
IMHO, this is a great moment for Berkeley, whatever the property damage. It feels like we have some of our mojo back. I hope the spirit of protest keeps growing, and I pray the result is attention to the social problems that have been covered up by political propaganda and the deliberate will to ignorance by people who don't care about things unless it directly impacts them. I wish the goals of the revolution would be framed this way.
= new reply since forum marked as read
A) Mayor Tom Bates once again proves he's a coward. City Council chambers are "too small"? - horse hockey!
B) Kudos to council members Kriss Worthington and Jesse Arreguín for showing up and facing the protesters. Their reasoning hit the nail on the head:
“Having an open mic or a sounding board for people to speak out is important,” he said. “That’s why I’m going to be there. That’s why Kriss is going to be there: Having some people there to hear people out is a good idea. If they don’t have an opportunity to be heard, it will just create more conflict. That’s our reasoning in being there tonight.”
You guys rock for always SHOWING UP!
