Do you feel there is a prevalent unifying movement going on right now?

That was my question for the evening.


Yesterday I let the "END THE FED" cause guide me, and I went to all the popular college hangouts and posted up my END THE FED prints. During my mission, I found myself caught in the middle of the Texas-Oklahoma rivalry. If only I could get these passionate kids to get behind a REAL battle, I thought.

Just as I finished putting up the last poster, I noticed an older gentleman staring hard at one of my prints. I approached him, and soon we were walking back to Brave New Books together. Jim recommended that I read The Creature from Jekyll Island, which is about how the Federal Reserve was conceived. At the bookstore, we found the book in "Ron Paul's Reading List" section. How perfect, I thought. But it was way too heavy of a read for me to delve into. I did, however, find a handy survival book, and gladly bought it.

Lookie what I found on Google Video!
G Edward Griffin - Creature From Jekyll Island A Second Look at the Federal Reserve


Jim then told me about a conference at UT that was taking place about the activism in 1968. The clerks at Brave New Books looked up the event online, gave me a time and place, and so began my new mission.

Even on a Saturday, UT is dappled with busy minds. My destination was at the "Six Park" which is a beautiful grass mall lined with very old oaks and six buildings. Every step was elating, and so I locked up my bike and walked toward my fate: Government and Liberal Arts.

Maps on the wall guided me this way and that. I found the auditorium and noticed a bunch of people chatting outside under a pergola. "What's going on?" I asked a busboy nearby. It was a concession for all the professors who put the event together, and he told me to talk to Hannah if I wanted to learn more.

I walked up to her, and before I could even introduce myself, she said, "Help yourself to the food. You're here; go ahead." Perfect timing, for my stomach was empty and I didn't figure dinner into any of my missions. I had a plate of fruit, crackers, little crispy triangles known as baklavash, chicken, stuffed mushrooms, and some delicious lemon cake. Someone let me check out the program, and I found out the key speaker tonight was Michael Hardt, co-author of Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire and Empire.



Soon we all found ourselves getting comfortable in the auditorium. This event was titled, "Revolution, 1968 and Today," and I guess I was expecting some kind of history lesson, but instead I was struggling to digest Mr. Hardt's vocabulary and organization. He didn't go into detail at all about the events of 1968, but rather attempted to analyze the outcomes, implications, parallels.

He did mention the "Black Panther Party" a few times, so let us take a moment to look that up...

Founded in Oakland, California, by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale on October 15, 1966, the organization initially set forth a doctrine calling for the protection of African American neighborhoods from police brutality, in the interest of African-American justice.[1] Its objectives and philosophy changed radically during the party's existence. While the organization's leaders passionately espoused socialist doctrine, the Party's black nationalist reputation attracted an ideologically diverse membership.[2] Ideological consensus within the party was difficult to achieve. Some members openly disagreed with the views of the leaders.

By 1968, the party had expanded into many cities throughout the United States, including Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, Newark, New York City, and Baltimore. That same year, membership reached 5,000, and their newspaper had grown to a circulation of 250,000.[3]

So, here are some notes (and questions) on what Michael Hardt was trying to say:

* 1968 was victorious, and the terms of refusal were pre-configurations of the new exploitative regime
* Liberation movements are sources of creativity and innovation
* Power may act, but resistance creates
* Around the world, the current revolutionaries are sometimes referred to as the "94 Generation," the "Millennium Generation," and the "Seattle People."
* February 15, 2003 was the grand Anti-Iraq War protest held across the globe
* There has been a shift in the global media to start recognizing worthy struggles
* Identity Politics-- dealing with frameworks society has given us
* To abolish identity is true revolutionary propositions? Compare with feminists who fought to abolish gender
* To attack structures of power and internal identity is more painful and brutal than actual bloodshed? Can you imagine a world without race or institutions?
* At some point, do contradicting struggles reach an intersectional event?

* Why was I affected by the Ron Paul Revolution and why not others? Are others not decent nor curious?
* Am I a part of the "Millennium Generation"?
* What is the struggle now? Which creation of transformation will be victorious in the coming decades?
* Can we unify our causes like the Seattle Protest or should we continue to focus on covering all the bases in the name of freedom, education, and proliferating difference?

After the conference was over, I personally asked Mr. Hardt if he thought there was a single unifying movement taking place. And he said no; that there were lots of different movements and that he thinks it's a good thing. "Well, I'm looking for an underlying cause that can unify them all, if not most of them," I said, and then thanked him for such an interesting lecture.

Recorder in hand, I headed to 6th Street with the new mission of gathering opinions through my deviously complex yes-or-no question. Most people felt there wasn't a single popular movement. I even talked to a police officer who felt that the reason there isn't a prevalent movement is because kids these days are not passionate enough about their causes; they're not willing to go to jail for what they believe in. He has worked as a riot guard before, and he says it's nice for him that protesters are compliant, but he doesn't expect any real change without the true passion that he remembers from the 60s and 70s.

Lots of younger folks felt "going green" is a pretty prevalent cause. Others alluded to 911 conspiracies and degradation of religion. I was surprised when some said God as energy, conscience, and morality was the prevalent unifying movement. Another beautiful soul with a blue lily tattooed on his shoulder said the unifying movement was the ascension from the reptilian brain to a broader mode of thinking and perception. The rest of the answers were about getting drunk, getting laid, and starting wars.

So there you have it.

Do you feel there is a prevalent unifying movement going on right now?