CounterHegemony 9 - Mourning Rosa Parks and 2000 Dead Soldiers

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For this podcast I was trying to decide between a "Why do we do this?" approach and a "Nation in Mourning" one. I went with the latter because, well, I think its more appropriate this week. In addition to all of the dodgy stuff going down in Washington DC at the moment, activists were impacted by two major tragedies.

The first is the passing of Rosa Parks, famed Civil Rights Leader, who died this week at the age of 92. In the podcast I re-distribute an interview that aired on Tuesday's (10/25) Democracy Now! which featured a Pacifica Radio Archives interview with Rosa Parks in April 1956. She talks about both the specific circumstances of her arrest, and what led her to the decision to stay seated when the bus driver told her to move: "I had decided that I would have to know once and for all what rights I had as a human being and a citizen..."

I strongly suggest at least having a look at the transcript of the interview at: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/25/1412239 . Also, I feel the need to mention that the Pacifica Radio Archives (and Pacifica Radio, for that matter) are invaluable resources for the broad left. You should check out their website and, if you can spare it, consider a donation: http://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/

The second is the death of the 2000th American Soldier in Iraq on 10/25/2005. I play responses to the question "Why are you here?" that I recorded at the local Peace Vigil on the following night. Just to lend something of a critical ear towards these responses, I'd like to raise two thoughts that I have about this action. In CH7, Shahid and I are talking about communications tactics for progressive actions and mobilizations. He uses an example of a media person at one of these events basically choosing anyone at random and asking the question "Why are you here." That protester, then, becomes a major voice for the action, so its important to think about this question in the likely event you'll be asked - at least by a bystander. I think most of the answers I got indeed achieved the clarity and brevity that’s so important. The other thought stems from the observation that this is a Vigil mourning the 2000 dead American Soldiers in Iraq. I think you can hear from the background noise that the tone wasn't particularly somber. I just want to raise that as an observation, because I think it could illustrate the point I made in CH5 about having an action line up with its goals.

Music
Prélude Opus 23 N°5., Nikolai Lugansky
Anima, Moby
The Women Gather, Sweet Honey In The Rock