"Taking the Orange Upsurge to the Hollywood Farmers' Market”
August 26, 2007
World Can’t Wait volunteers distributed hundreds of flyers, sold numerous
bandannas and signed up dozens of new activists at the Hollywood Farmer’s
Market recently. Bordering West Hollywood, a bastion of progressives and
the 81st US city to pass a resolution calling for impeachment, the reaction of
shoppers was overwhelmingly positive.
A destitute man in a wheelchair donned an orange bandanna took a pile of flyers
and, on his own initiative, covered the side streets. A coffee shop
manager invited us to display our anti-war poster in his front window.
When asked if she’d like to help drive out the Bush regime before 2008, one
woman who had yet to hear of our movement stared at the sky and smiled in
wonder as if a choir of angels had suddenly begun to sing.
Given so much enthusiasm for our goals, why haven't we reached it?
Along with their outrage at the present government's crimes, the
majority of people expressed confusion as to what constructive actions they
could take. To paraphrase Sunsara Taylor who addressed our town meeting
in July, it's as if millions of Americans were sitting in the stands rooting
for a scrawny band of underdogs to defeat a disciplined and well-funded team of
titans. But incessant disclosures of the current regime's despicable
policies and their backlash are forcing more and more spectators out of their
seats and onto the field.
Too many, though, sit and watch as if dumbstruck. They represent a wealth
of potential energy and still need to be nudged. The World Can't Wait's
imminent drive to increase the number of college chapters and fundraise through
a proliferation of house parties couldn't come at a better time.
Before leaving the market with her organizing kit, one young mother and
musician lamented the lack of activism in America, noting that in the 60’s her
own mother had attended a massive rally in Versaillesan event that galvanized
her faith in the power of dissent. Next time, we'll stick a
can for donations in the faces of our friends who are busy shopping.
The war for oil rages on, the torture of innocent Arabs continues and our office
rent is due in two days.
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