When one of the local channels played an extended interview with a supporter of the president as balance contra the obligatory video of the marchers, I had such a feeling of been there, done that. Even as the protests against the Vietnam War grew in strength and diversity in the late sixties, the media did exactly what I saw yesterday: blew off the sheer magnitude of the opposition to official policy by interviewing one or a few pro-war stalwarts as if those solitaires were of equal or greater significance than the massive messages being conveyed in the public square.
Then as now, one saw white hair and heard about previous military experience. Then as now, there were official crowd size estimates widely at variance with perceived reality. Then as now, pro-war commentary and spokespersons dominated much of the media until public sentiment against official Washington was too steady and too broad to ignore. Then as now, one must search far afield to find substantive reporting of sentiments not bound slavishly to official Washington. Then as now we had a mayor and city council leadership whose response to this opposition was refusal to make use of the city's official voice other than as expressed by law enforcement. I didn't march yesterday. I have to watch my health. Instead, I wrote a bit about the value of preventative crime and safety strategies that are threatened by the budget cuts raining down around us. In the 1960s as now, I prefer law enforcement that prevents crimes, not that stifles dissent. I do not share the opinion of the city's current leadership that official silence should greet the anti-war resolution that the new guard on the City Council would have our city embrace. It is far too possible that enforcement will become an unmanageable tool as the great weight of the Patriot Act and the militarization of law enforcement are brought to bear on the voices of dissent, however steadier and broader the cries for restraint, indeed more global the collective warnings about chaotic outcomes, than was the case in the 1960s. All politics is local and we need all our local voices on every side of this distressing situation. There is no way that I can separate out what is just municipal and what is beyond our agreed municipal ken on this discussion list. Apart from my admitted willingness to pontificate at times, when I and my neighbors are threatened, I get to squawk and I expect the government in my vicinity to get involved in our defense, not to look around for some basins for obligatory handwashing. Take a good look at the civil liberties challenges being documented and imagine what this must be like for our thousands of immigrants. What a mess! Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.449 / Virus Database: 251 - Release Date: 1/27/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
