POSTS
War Protesting
We are pretty certainly going to war very soon. Saddam has blatantly refused to do any disarming per GWB’s requests entirely whatsoever and the weapons inspectors are over there with their abacus counting the number of nukes in Iraq because they’ve run out of fingers and toes, so it’s perfectly reasonable that we demolish their sorry asses, and hopefully take a pretty good chunk of their culture and history with them, not to mention a pretty good haul of oil. Considering that we have the full support of the UN Security Council behind us, as well as the Catholic Church and every other major organized religion supporting a unilateral crushing of those Trade Center bombing Iraqis, I don’t know why we’ve waited this long.
Anyway, despite all of these things I have to say that this whole business is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. So, try to think of some things to do about it…I am only one man, one blog after all. I received some inspiration from Portland Indymedia, and perhaps you can as well. But here are some things that I will be doing to protest this impending massacre:
- Drive less. It’s mostly about oil. Cars use oil in the form of gasoline. Try biking to work, it’s healthy!
- Use all renewable energy for electricity. My electricity provider allows me to purchase blocks of renewable energy, already doing some, but need to convert entirely. It doesn’t cost that much more and it’s good for the environment and Oregon’s economy too!
- Buy local stuff. There’s a lot of cool stuff made in Oregon (some of it available outside malls and airports!). Support locally owned stores, and but locally made products. Less logistics to transfer, and less likely that they’re part of a huge corporation contributing to the war machine’s chest.
- Show up to protests. I probably will limit this activity, as I’ll be home fixing my bike, but I’m glad to know you’re out there. I’m also unsure how effective this really is. Due to the right-wing pro-war ownership of the media, it’s easy to paint a leftist wacko image. Bugs me, and it’s wrong, but they exploit the demonstrations to put a deeper wedge in the gap between the anti-war constituent and those who accept the misinformation they are fed. Defeatist attitude, I know, and I respect the protestors, but I’ll work towards my goals my way.
- Also for consideration is cancelling subscriptions to major media outlets, like newspapers and magazines.
- Show up to protests. I probably will limit this activity, as I’ll be home fixing my bike, but I’m glad to know you’re out there. I’m also unsure how effective this really is. Due to the right-wing pro-war ownership of the media, it’s easy to paint a leftist wacko image. Bugs me, and it’s wrong, but they exploit the demonstrations to put a deeper wedge in the gap between the anti-war constituent and those who accept the misinformation they are fed. Defeatist attitude, I know, and I respect the protestors, but I’ll work towards my goals my way.
- Buy local stuff. There’s a lot of cool stuff made in Oregon (some of it available outside malls and airports!). Support locally owned stores, and but locally made products. Less logistics to transfer, and less likely that they’re part of a huge corporation contributing to the war machine’s chest.
- Use all renewable energy for electricity. My electricity provider allows me to purchase blocks of renewable energy, already doing some, but need to convert entirely. It doesn’t cost that much more and it’s good for the environment and Oregon’s economy too!
Overall, I think that we should live in a more conservative manner…and the amazing aspect of this is that while protesting the war effort, it is possible to support that same war effort by sacrificing luxuries. Oh, and I suppose I should toss out the the war disclaimer, even though we are a 100% voluntary army, many of our soldiers are there for reasons of hope, need, escape, innocence, and misinformation. Bring them home.