Save Same-Sex Marriage: Nationwide Prop. 8 Protest This Saturday, 11/15

I hate to be a wet blanket but this has "FREE MUMIA" written all over it. Is Gay Marriage going to be the serial activist's cause of choice going forward? Will it be in their interest to make the issue unpassable?

Mumia is SO 1990's.

Beyond blowing off steam and I'm not sure what the point of this protest is. The issue now rests in the hands of the state Supreme Court and in no way are the justices going to be swayed by hysterical gays running amock in the streets. I suppose this is a good way of showing the straight folks out there how passionate we are about equality so maybe they'll change their minds the next time this issue pops up, but is that the point? If so, why here in SF? Why isn't this massive protest scheduled for Fairfield or Fresno or Bakersfield. Do we need some good old fashioned Queer Nation style activism now? Please advise.

taym: ohhh boyy. i can't even tell you how many emails i got like yours last week. "why are you protesting here?! wahhh wahhh wahh!! [insert midly humorous comment here] please advise."

for fucks sake, why not? SF is the center of gayness in the united states. it only makes sense that we would make our anger known and heard! we're not going to rent charter buses to Fresno. the gays are HERE, so the anger and protests are here. i can't imagine why that's so hard to understand.

taym: listen, the protest on friday inspired a lot of people that attended, who were apathetic before, to become more involved! they were inspired to write letters to their congress persons, to boycott homphobic organizations, to create art about the movement, etc. i know, because these people have also emailed me telling me how the protest incited in them an urge to be a part of the movement! that's what the protests are about, and that's what protests have ALWAYS been about.

"protests have always been about inspiring people to become more politically active....?" yes.

manys: i know there's not much congress can do, but many congresspersons were attorneys before they became politicians and may be able to help help in other ways.

half of the reason we know and remember so much about the civil rights movement in the 60s is because of the art the flourished because of it.

people who don't have the resources and expertise to be involved more directly don't want to sit back, relax, and let the lawyers take care of it. they want to do something too.

Oskarv -

A.) This is not a Federal issue. Accordingly Congress has no real business here. By all means, write to your state legislators but don't expect that to have much impact. Our legislators representing SF are already all on our side.

The fact remains that we have like three options in front of us -

1.) Wait for the state Supreme Court to decide what's what. Want to help out? Go file an amicus brief on behalf of the groups seeking relief.

2.) Write your legislators and encourage them to take steps to revise the constitution back to the way it was should the Supreme Court decide that everything is kosher.

3.) Author an initiative to reverse Prop 8 and start collecting signatures to get it onto the 2010 ballot. Then, learn some lessons here and don't make the same mistakes we made here persuading people we deserve equal rights.

Like I said, marching around in the streets demanding DC Statehood or that Mumia be freed on his own recognizance ain't gonna do much more than inspire people who should have been active to become and remain active, but then what impact is it going to have on those folks on the fence or on the other side? Consider that.

B.) I consider myself to be fairly well educated when it comes to art but I can't think of single significant piece that was inspired by the civil rights movement of the 1960's. Maybe this is because the civil rights movement was mostly a 1950's thing and was pretty much done by the time Johnson took office. On the contrary, we remember so much about the various protest movements of that era because the insufferable Boomers never shut up about them and have revisited them incessantly ever since. In fact, they've revisited them so much they've reduced the entire act of public protest to mere cliche.

C.) People want to be active? Good. Very good. However, clogging the streets of San Francisco in some nostalgia trip inspired protest march is not an effective means of being active. It's frustrating. People need to head out to the Central Valley and scare the Okies. Seriously. Instead of protesting here, we need to go to Fresno. After all, during the Civil Rights Movement folks didn't protest in the Woolworth lunch counters of Harlem in an attempt to do away with segregation. That would have been pointless. No, they went down South, where the hate was, and stared it down directly. We need to take heed, do the exact same thing. Otherwise, we're just engaging in so much self indulgence.

many congresspersons were attorneys before they became politicians and may be able to help help in other ways.

So the plain English of this reads to me like, "Hey Congressperson, how can you help us?" To which their answer just may be "I can't." What then? I'd think whatever effect contacting Congress can have on the issue should be communicated to those on the ground so that, you know, they know they (and you) aren't wasting their time. "Because of 8, and the Mormons, and no war for oil, and...Free Mumia!!!" isn't really a goal I can get behind.

people who don't have the resources and expertise to be involved more directly don't want to sit back, relax, and let the lawyers take care of it.

If all you're doing is "art" and walking around with signs hoping a news camera shows up, that's pretty much the same as letting the lawyers take care of it. Seriously, what effect does "directly involved" have? In fact, what is the meaning of the word, "involved" here? Does complaining about MUNI mean you're "directly involved" in improving city transit? Depends on who's listening ("everybody" doesn't count here).

Here's another question: what good does it do for people without resources and expertise to be involved at this stage at all? Isn't that more appropriate for, like, three months ago? You can't just use the same strategy for every problem that comes along, especially in using the same strategy "after" that you would (should...could...) have used "before."

It's so weird to see people think something like this is absolutely necessary and effective without being able to articulate just what it is that is going to result from it. That's what I mean by "feel good." It's like a form of political hedonism. "I just feel like I should do something."

Sorry if this has just turned into a "beat up on oskarv" thread, but these things need to be said (as much as TAYM might be saying them better).

Are you guys actually surprised by the protests?
People get fucked. They protest.
That's what just what happens.

The protest itself is the direct result. If you were at the march you might understand that people need that kind of outlet for their anger.

Naw, I don't think protests are a natural response nor are they needed for anger relief, it just seems that way because of the hippies and San Francisco. Maybe the tide has turned from the old days of "If you're not angry, you're not paying attention," to, "If you're not angry, you probably just got back from waving signs around and yelling with a bunch of your friends." In a truly postmodern turn, the images of counterculture membership seem to have entirely supplanted countering the culture.

Protests themselves are a much weaker form of social action than (for instance) one which has been proven to work: the general strike.

"In a truly postmodern turn, the images of counterculture membership seem to have entirely supplanted countering the culture."

Bingo! Baudrillard celebrates from the great beyond...

Christ, what a simpleton. Daithi, next time prove to us you're capable of reading comprehension by actually reviewing the entire thread. That way, you see, you won't have to ask silly questions. Thanks.

taym, you have a very high opinion of yourself, all I have is a JD a PHD, and not enough time on my hands to put as much thought and care into each and every post that I put here, now go back to jerking off and smoking pot in your studio in the tenderloin with the knowledge that you are way smarter than the rest of us.