On August 24th, eleven windows at the Colorado Democratic Party Headquarters were purposefully broken. The media quickly took up the story, but only within a narrow framework that couldn’t explain the incident. As members of the Denver Anarchist Black Cross, we would like to offer a practical analysis of why someone might take such action against the Democratic Party.
The first question asked by the media, understandably, was why this was done. Unfortunately, the question was framed as all political questions are framed in our society—right or left? Whoever smashed the windows could either be a “Republican thug” attempting to intimidate the Democrats, or a Democrat provocateur trying to soil the image of the Republicans.
To frame the issue in the same old Democrat/Republican binary is to once again assume that those are our only options. This framework dismisses or simplifies the experiences of the vast majority of people. People have diverse understandings of the world, and unique desires and goals that do not fit perfectly into political party boxes. In the end, the framework failed as the suspect was identified as an anarchist, a “fan of no party.”
The political system was not the only binary imposed by the media coverage of the incident. Blog, radio, and newspaper reports all grappled to identify the gender of the arrested suspect when reports from the police came into conflict with communication from the individual’s friends. In the confusion, some reports claimed there had been two different people arrested. The media eventually reported that the arrestee is transgender.
Again, the attempts to understand the suspect in terms of simple binary categories was disrupted. The urge to pigeonhole the suspect into binaries—right or left, male or female—leads us to ask why. A person does not have to identify as a Republican or Democrat or even as male or female to feel the direct impact of foreign and domestic policies coming from politicians and bosses across the country.
Every day we are reminded of a long list of grievances we have with both of the major political parties. Many of those who mobilized to replace the previous political order with a fresh one promising “change” and “hope” have been left with nothing but a sour taste in their mouths. Wars overseas have not ceased but rather escalated. The trade agreements and economic strategy that put us into this recession are not being repealed but rather strengthened. Single payer health care has evaporated as even being a possibility and instead replaced with a health care package that only pleases the insurance companies. Over and over again, the vast majority of Americans have been sold out by the Obama administration.
The justifiable anger that comes with being sold out might be one explanation for why it was easier to raise legal money for the alleged vandal than for the Democrats to raise money to replace their windows.
Meanwhile, the occupants of the vandalized Democratic Headquarters play their part, along with the adjacent art galleries, of gentrification in the Denver neighborhood of Lincoln/La Alma, raising property values and displacing low-income people of color from their community.
As the contradictions between reality and the promises of the Obama administration widen, anger will continue to grow and be expressed in many ways. The visions we have for our communities and our lives will not be realized by viewing our world through a system of binaries. We know that we should not be limited to two answers to each question, nor limited to the same old questions. Our goal is to build and defend social movements that can operate beyond these binaries so we can all open the scope of possibility in our lives, explore beyond either/or answers, and pose questions never asked on the 10 o’clock news.
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Comments
It was a good action
September 23, 2009 by phil, 8 weeks 5 days ago
Comment id: 4025
The act of breaking the windows was a good one in my mind. It will take much more then just this act to start people thinking outside the box of left and right or male or female for that matter but it was a start and I support it.
Both republicans and democrats have sold out to business interests at the expense of us the people. Business would divide us all into two classes, consumers and those few that control production and money. We are all subjugated by the corporatism that is America, and for that matter the developed world. We all need to resist it.
So many of or fellow citizens, the middle class, have bought into the beliefs that are propagated in the media and news, in our schools and by the system. Beliefs like, hard work is rewarded, education will get you ahead, that it is a level playing field, that capitalism is good, that this is the land of the free, and so many more slogans that in the end are hallow.
People peruse the dream, the myth, that we all have an equal shot at success. We consume more and more, the nice car, the nice house, the killer stereo, the latest fashions all in the never ending hunt to make it. Be somebody we are told and to the corporatist world that means consume more, have more, chase your dreams and dream of that next best thing. It is all hallow and empty in the end and one is left empty.
This is of course what those that produce these things want. Our collective angst, or collective unrest chasing a dream that is no more real then the sitcom we watch on TV. They harness this angst and restlessness and tell you to work harder, try harder, go into debt, go back to school work. Work more spend more and for what?
Actions like Areal's do a lot they make people question and they plant a seed. Some of the seeds will germinate and grow to become more aware individuals. Breaking the bonds of societies lock thought, on what it is to be a society. I hope her action makes people question. Why did a lefty do that? What if it is not about left or right? Thank you Areal. If you had broken the republicans windows there would have been fewer questions and less thought.
Nothing to do with Healthcare
September 28, 2009 by Anonymous, 8 weeks 4 hours ago
Comment id: 4051
Aug. 24th - 1 year aniversary of DNC. -nuff said.
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