COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio State University police and the Ohio State Highway Patrol arrested about three dozen people Thursday night for staging a pro-Palestine encampment on campus – carrying out what is likely the highest number of protest-related arrests there since the Vietnam War.
After hours of peaceful protest on the South Oval behind the Ohio Union, dozens of officers clad in riot gear descended on the crowd, handcuffing protesters and carrying them to Franklin County sheriff’s buses parked nearby. Several protesters were arrested earlier in the day for pitching tents on campus, but police watched for hours – occasionally issuing threats of arrest – when hundreds of protesters returned in the evening.
Sorry to be pessimistic. Voting local is a good thing, but I just dont see how local elections could ever add up to large systemic change that we agree is necessary. There is no way to vote out the military industrial complex.
What else is there to do? I think broad-based protest movements, like the moment for Palestinian liberation that we are watching today, have a shot at changing things. It’s a long shot though - the same forces that crushed George Floyd, Occupy Wallstreet, anti-WTO, etc. will be back again with their winning tactics.
Overall I think our best hope is with organized labor. Join a union or create one.
Great point, I agree with you on that. Joining a union was the best thing I ever did, even though I’m no longer in that industry/active. In order to tackle the money side of this, it’s important to remember that most Americans are all three: workers, voters, and consumers.
For those who can afford to do so: consuming/supporting local goods/services and avoiding national brands/distributors goes a long way. The new McDonald’s that just got constructed in my town is way cheaper than supporting the local food truck but I’m fortunate to be able to support the local guys–I rued the day that McDonald’s broke ground. I order straight from manufacturers when it makes sense, I buy books from small (online) book distributors or used at local small brick and mortar stores. I don’t know if it makes any damn difference but it feels good, I have to speculate it will have a cumulative effect.
If I take a step back, the general throughline of any of these ideas is decentralization. We’re doing it now, right here. For the individual, the easiest and most accessible way to apply it to politics directly is voting in local elections, which is why I first mentioned that. And of course, the very act of voting can be prohibitive for many, I’m not discounting that.
Broad-based protests do work in my mind, and I posit that they sort of have an inverted bell curve effect. Immediately during and after the protests, they raise awareness, draw media frenzy, and stay afloat in current events and discussion. However, months to years later, after the media has moved on and something else is more novel to talk about (like how the West pivoted from Ukraine to Palestine), it can feel like nothing came about, or too little, too late. However in the long term, it seems like a shift can come about that colors the mindset of a generation and those after it. In the case of George Floyd, I’m a white guy and never had many issues with cops. Before that instant I may have even occasionally been a cop apologist when I was younger. But once that event happened and I joined the marches for awareness, I could never see them the same way again. I will now always have my eyes open when seeing cops interact with others. To turn away and pretend every interaction someone is having with a cop is innocent is naive and dangerous, certainly enabling.
Sorry for the ramblings, I’m no poly sci major, I’m probably not even smart enough to write the above with any confidence. It’s all just my opinions there so take it for what you will.