Anarchy,
cell phones and the World Bank
John Gehring
So young people today have lost their
moral and political passion during these heady days of
stock market excess and dot.com delirium? If the popular
image of college students and twenty somethings is that
of a self-absorbed, apolitical techno-head whose idea of
social justice is buying Ben and Jerry’s ice cream,
the protesters who came to Washington, D.C., last month
to rally against the World Bamk and the International
Monetary Fund should reaffirm our faith that the fire of
idealism still burns in these ironic and cynical times.
Sure, it was easy to smirk at many of
these green-haired anarchists who bashed in a few police
car windows during their stay. They carried signs like
"Spank the Bank," pounded on drums and merrily
chanted songs against the evils of capitalism and global
financial systems that crush poor countries under
mountains of debt. Who were these
Starbucks-coffee-drinking, Sega-playing, Nike-wearing ,
cell phone-chatting creatures of capitalism to sound off
against the sins of the establishment, anyway? Like, isn’t
that a bit hypocritical, dude? As expected, some talking
heads gave the young protesters a grown up style lecture
about oversimplifying complicated issues. Stick to
things you know about, kids; you will understand how
these things work when you are older, they seemed to be
saying.
But what we saw last month in
Washington, D.C., expressed a genuine hunger many young
people have today to be swept up in a movement larger
than themselves. While their parents rolled up their
collective sleeves (and a few joints) as they took to
the streets and urged America to "make love, not
war", young people now live in a time where subtle
shades of gray have replaced the stark dramas of
previous decades played out in the civil rights movement
and the social unrest unleashed by Vietnam.
Every generation aches to embrace its
causes, its chance to stand up and be heard as the
parade of history marches by. The April protests here in
Washington, aimed at the IMF and the World Bank, became
in part a chance for those seeking something bigger than
a fat paycheck and a nice car to feast at a smorgasbord
of issues. There were graying leftists hawking books
about socialism, tie-dyed-wearing environmentalists,
bare-breasted feminists. Here was talk of police
brutality. A political system corrupted by big money.
The racial and class discrimination of the death
penalty. Ralph Nader spoke eloquently about a two-party
system with one head that offers voters no real choices.
And of course there was Elian.
A comment about the media. While the
newspapers and magazines did a decent job putting the
protests in context by explaining heavy issues like
global trade and debt forgiveness, viewers of local
television news received only shallow coverage of
sporadical confrontations between the demonstrators and
police. Because the media, particularly television,
plays a powerful role in shaping the images that become
reality for so many, this type of lazy journalism
reduces a significant story to whether the police or
protesters are winning or losing. Those munching on
Doritos at home saw a few kids rushing heavily-armored
police, yawned, and continued channel surfing.
After the helicopters that hovered
over the city for the weekend landed and the rain-soaked
protesters packed up their anarchy signs and headed
home, the great question remained: what now? Will the
insiders who are the power brokers inside the World Bank
pay much attention to these young idealists? Hard to
say. But what those who came to our nation’s seat of
power have done is forced us all to think about why so
many Third World countries spend more on paying back
massive loans than feeding their people or developing
medical systems. Not a bad start for a bunch of green-
haired, nose-pierced protesters hungry for a cause.
If you are quick to criticize their
looks or methods, give the demonstrators a break. Like
generations before, they’re just trying to find their
place in the parade.
John Gehring, a recent Mount graduate
and a contributor to the Dispatch, writes from
Washington D.C.
Read other articles by John Gehring |