Bernie Sanders event shut down Black Lives Matter activists.

brianlux

Drowned Out said:

I think you've mentioned that doc / incident before, Brian, and I am pretty sure I mentioned that I loved it
But in this instance, what is it that has inspired you and I to figuratively put pen to paper? Are you saying educating people is the best means to change? In the internet era, we need something to bring a topic to light before the world starts typing, no? Direct action was still the catalyst here. But maybe I'm misunderstanding your edit?

Here are some more thoughts on the topic from the perspective I raised above, from a blog I found linked on the coffee party's page on fb (ya, I guess that's a thing )...
http://egbertowillies.com/2015/08/10/response-to-critiques-of-blacklivesmatter-focus-on-bernie-sanders-video/

http://egbertowillies.com/2015/08/11/huge-l-a-rally-bernie-sanders-gets-it-will-all-of-his-white-liberal-supporters-get-it-video/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=facebook_page&utm_medium=EgbertoWillies.com&utm_content=Huge L.A. rally. Bernie Sanders gets it. Will all of his white liberal supporters get it? (VIDEO)



An aside:
One of the reply comments this blogger quotes in the first article mentions that actions like this protest portray the BLM movement in the crazy light of the tea party. Which I found interesting because the author of a different article I read (from a conservative blog) had dug up Twitter posts and other items to support a claim that one of the protestors (who were not reps of the BLM movement, but another org), were former Sarah Palin supporters.
What would the odds be that someone behind a curtain somewhere is trying to give Sanders some bad press, and drive a wedge between him and black America, all while making BLM look like a looney tunes movement? Some say the tea party was a grassroots movement that was hijacked by the establishment when it gained too much momentum....ill take my tinfoil hat off, but if it ever comes out that Hilary or anyone else in Washington has ties to these women, you heard it here first haha

Interesting thoughts, D.O., and a very interesting speculation. But maybe not so far fetched! A friend on FB mentioned the possibility that a mole in BLM set this up. Any number of subversion are possible I suppose but it's equally possible that BLM simply thought this was the best way to get their point across. And if that's the case, I'd say it worked.

But I don't think this kind of action will hold up or be allowed to hold up long in the public eye which takes us back to what I was saying about direct action possibly not being very effective any longer- or at least not in a direct sense. Lets go back to the Viet Nam war. That anti war movement was strong and it instigated tremendous waves of direct action. Those actions made a big impact on how people viewed the war and their response to it. Before the war ended, the majority of Americans no longer supported it. The activist did a lot to wear down the opposition.

The closest thing we've had in recent years to those 60's protest was the Occupy movement. That movement brought a lot of attention to the disparity between haves and have nots but nothing changed- if anything the rich are getting more rich and the poor more poor. But the Occupy movement did at least bring the subject to light and now any change that will come is more likely to come from education, information and possibly even political motion if someone like Bernie Sanders hold true to what he espouses. Sorry if this sounds like a plug for Sanders- I could use someone like Naomi Klein or Elizabeth Warren equally as an example.

So yeah, I tend to think things like written and spoken word, education, dissemination of information, and teaching critical thinking are going to prove to be more effective if for no other reason than that they have a better chance of having staying power, a longer shelf-life so to speak.

All that said, I still like the idea of direct action as having the potential of being a catalyst. As for the BLM thing, who knows, maybe I have it all wrong. Maybe they did it because it helped get Sanders name in the headlines! All kinds of twists in the plot are possible>

Drowned Out

ya, who knows, could be a double agent too man....follow that to the hollywood conclusion, and watch Sanders get taken out, with a BLM member the patsy....the old boys club gets two birds stoned at once.

I agree about direct action and the powers that be allowing it to happen. Protest zones, stricter permit procedures, surveillance and harassment of activists, agent provocateurs (usually dressed up in anarchist costumes), and all the other laws the Patriot Act and other legislation have brought us....the government has tilted the scales away from the right to assemble, and made it extremely difficult to effectively protest anything.