Letter to James

This is a copy of a letter I sent to a dear friend, James Donaldson, in Eastern Washington. It is a response to a comment that he forwarded from someone who had seen the site. It gives some more information on why we came to Germany, our philosophy, and some more of my own thoughts on what has been going on here.

Although it was written weeks ago, I decided to redraft the letter and post it on the site, hoping that it may answer some of your own questions as well.

…

Dear James,

Thank you for forwarding the comment. I have a lot of respect for said reader and value their opinion as someone at home who has a passion for the world. However, I am not sure how to integrate the critique into our approach. Our goal from the start was not to be unbiased. The site itself is in part to enable the work that we do, not just to inform, but to find a place where action is happening, and climb in…. Provide the sights sounds and feelings that surround the 600 words, as Kapuscinski says.  \”presentation.jpg\”

As far as editorial background, I tried to make it clear in the “Why G8?’ article that we are not here to convince readers of all the reasons to oppose the G8. The laundry list is long, and readers and supporters will have to draw their own conclusions in the end. We have our own. We learned through our experience in New Orleans how devastating the result of structural inequality and government neglect can be when paired with the destructive forces of climate change and corporate greed. In trying to help the situation there we saw how it hurt people, and we were moved by that. For us opposing this agenda became imperative.

These kinds of places exist all over the world, and there are a thousand voices speaking from similar grassroots struggles for survival. Attention can be turned to voices like Vandana Shiva or Walden Bello. They have devoted their lives to such causes, and analyzing all the ways in which entities like the G8 perpetuate poverty and environmental disaster. Our focus is related, but different.

We are here to provide a description of what the opposition movements are up to — what is happening in the camps, and what the feeling is at the edge of the fence, what the possibilities are for international mobilization. Maybe this is something I can be clearer about that on the website. So far as yet we have not received any other comments, so I am waiting to see what other folks may have to say. It also reaffirms the need for a more cohesive ‘mission statement’ to be drafted and clearer goals established. I will try to do some of that work from here in my spare time. I have been thinking a lot lately and have a clearer picture in mind of how our talents will be most useful in the long run, sharing stories and first hand experiences — more for the imagination than for the policy analysis.

New Orleans granted us a certain ideological immunity as we were technically “volunteers,” even though the work we were doing was extremely political. That is gone now. We are on foreign soil protesting our own president, and the activists around us seem to have even less interest than we do in appearing unbiased. There is an older political culture here, and I get the sense that they have lost their patience with neutrality. One of my biggest motivations for doing this work is that in my own small way I want to help fellow Americans make that leap — away from neutrality (or “forgetting” as the Zapatistas say) and into action (“for memory”). I think that much of the objectivity of our culture is false; it has been skewed by both the neoconservative and neoliberal agendas. Maybe for the rest of us it comes more from the despair of the times, not an honorable sense of duty to the truth.

Often when the truth is spoken few stand up. As a young person I see a kind of cultural depression, or sense of hopelessness, where neutrality becomes an excuse for inaction. We are more connected to the world through information technology than ever before, but have moved into a political culture of disconnection. That is why our goal here, as in New Orleans, is not to go after the analysis; but to write from a place of action and movement. As young people, this is where we look for encouragement and examples of how lives can be lived out of a sense of hope. These things, I believe, are the best treatment for depression, and what my generation needs more than anything. This is one of the things I have learned from speaking with you; that bridging the connection between ourselves with the world is necessary on both levels. In our own small way, I hope we can be a part of that solution.

Certainly, unbiased reporting is important, but we are not professional journalists in that sense. We want to show our biases as much as possible; they give explanation to our work, and why we are doing the things we are. We place more value in remaining flexible and open minded in our perspective as we learn and grow, and want to allow people to become a part of that process if they are so inclined. Also by speaking mainly of our own experience, rather than any particular dogmatic beliefs, we are able to remain more honest. This is also a learning experience for us.

If we had come to the G8 as passive observers, we would miss out on the depth of what is happening here, and would not gain the trust of those around us to share their own experiences. Like in New Orleans we want to stay in the grassroots and on the ground level as much as possible, to find the stories that aren’t being told. For us this means digging in and involving ourselves in the process as much as possible, and spending time with the more radical and independent elements of the G8 resistance.

If progressive voices like Vandana Shiva and Walden Bello give us reason to oppose the G8 agenda, the more radical fringes raise important questions about the existence of the G8 itself, and thus provide a vision of what may eventualy come after it, when all other alternatives are exhausted. They seem to have the most creative approaches to organizing, and the practical and ideological framework necessary to run the large convergence camps and various other logistical aspects of the mobilization in a decentralized way, providing space for an incredibly broad spectrum of groups who will be arriving, as well as resources like media collectives and technology centers to help the smaller or more low-budget groups get their message out. No one person or group here is in charge, and the international networks facilitating the camps and convergence centers run on principles of autonomy and free association.

We do not always have to agree with radical voices, but we do see great value in their experience — it is part of what makes a healthy political dialogue, something we have all but lost in the US, maybe because of the quickness of the mainstream media to write off those with a radical message. Why shouldn’t we listen to those who have the strongest critique of our times? When they are silenced or ignored we lose something en bloc; our collective intelligence. A good example of this is the Angola 3, and the struggle for prison justice in Louisiana. (I recently added a short post about them that had been lost in the shuffle upon our return from New Orleans, which you can view here )

Here in Berlin — the city of the wall — political dialogue seems to be much more intact. Maybe it is because of a stronger and more recent collective memory of what it means to be silenced. When the police took repressive measures against organizers of the more radical fringes of the G8 resistance by raiding their spaces and seizing information, there was an immediate public response, and 5,000 people took to the streets, literally overnight. My article “Notes and Communiques” was an attempt to help explain the process by which this happened. The public demonstration was very effective in moving the dialogue forward and brought attention to what was going on behind the scenes, late at night. It is a small example, but makes me wonder when the last time that sort of spontaneous demonstration of solidarity occurred in the US, and why so little outrage has been given at home to radical voices in support of free speech. People here have a very legitimate concern over the direction their state is headed, and see the need for an open dialogue. What makes our situation in the US any different?

A few days ago, when the German government announced that a “protest free zone” will extend 4 kilometers beyond the already built fence, there was even more public outrage. The debate about whether or not to actively break the law and blockade the G8 summit suddenly moved away from groups of radical activists, and entered the public ssphere. Popular artists, public figures and well known academics suddenly endorsed the call, and even 3 members of parliament gave their message of support to those who would be putting their bodies on the line against the government’s orders. According to a recent and very mainstream poll, 87% of the German public is now in favor of the protesters who plan on blocking the G8, despite the unsubstantiated claims by police that such a zone is meant to prevent “violence and ecoterrorism.”  Fear, in this case, did not work.

From what we hear around us the process of organzing is still rough and hard to define, and like any such action there is plenty of disagreement. However, it appears that a very thorough and strategic network has been established since October of last year, when the first camp was held near Heiligendamm to begin discussion on how to coordinate the large mobilization which is only now beginning to take fruit. We hope to explore this process during the course of this trip. My previous contacts here and our willingness to involve ourselves in the work give us an opportunity to share the experience in a unique way.

It should also be noted that few of the posts I have written since last October are meant to stand alone. They are all little keyholes, and all part of a larger story; I will do my best to explain aspects or questions raised in further postings, as we climb in deeper and learn more ourselves. The little mysteries are part of the poetry of the adventure and we will seek as many of them out in our time here as we can.  As in New Orleans the connection is rough, fuzzy and imperfect. There are technical difficulties that must be hurdled, and there is not as much time for writing and editing as we would like. We are learning these skills as we go, and must spend time participating in the activities around here! I guess the funkiness and touch and go is part of the experience.

It helps to have more such input and comments from people who are following us. If you run into anybody else who has thoughts, please encourage them to let us know. The time that I have to sit and write a letter like this is rare, but the process also helps to further solidify my own thoughts. We move in whatever directions we are most compelled at the time, and don’t always have the chance to sit down and assess our work.

I too had my reservations about the “Why G8?” article. Some primer was needed on the G8, but we didn’t want it to appear too dogmatic or oversimplified. The article is however our perspective at this point, and after waiting a day for responses to the draft, I put it up. We are currently working with limited internet access and it looks like it will be that way for most of the trip. Posts won’t always be long, or full of explanation, but we will try to make sure they are all interesting.

More than anything readers can see our work as a series of letters home; we are more of ‘journeyers’ than ‘journalists,’ wayward country boys trying to learn about the world through the grassroots, and describing the sights and sounds as we go. In the end we hope that our experience (both in practical skills and theory) will aid us in doing good work in our home communities.

In the meantime, please stay well, and take care. I hope the summer is beginning to warm the land in the Methow and that your garden getting a nice head start.

I send all my love,

Logan