It's been over 20 years, but I'm still kind of haunted by a particular press conference during the Bush II administration. It was two weeks before he invaded Iraq and about three weeks after the massive, record-setting demonstrations across the US and around the planet in opposition to the coming war. Millions of people participated in those rallies and marches, and collectively they have been acknowledged as the single largest political demonstration in human history.
And when someone in the press corps asked Bush what he thought about the enormous amount of popular worldwide opposition to his invasion plans, he smiled and told them how much he loves free speech and how great it is that people can say whatever they want. And that was that.
A few weeks later, the US invaded another country that had done nothing to provoke it, resulting in mass death, extreme political instability (which did not remain exclusively within Iraq's borders), ecological destruction, and large-scale loss of irreplaceable historical artifacts in what, by now, is recognized by a very broad swath of the political spectrum as a pointless war justified through deceit and outright fraud.
The transcript of the press conference is at the link below, but it doesn't do justice to his delivery: the patronizing smile, the fratty camaraderie with the fawning press corps, the disarming affability. I was really jaded already, but if I still retained any shred of confidence in the power of big marches to accomplish anything much, that was really the end of it. Bush's reply was arguably the most cynical act of rhetorical jujitsu I've ever seen, which is saying a lot at this point.
When people ask why I believe in direct action and, yeah, even "violence"* as a means to political ends, it's because I've seen, through the example of people like Bush, that power doesn't listen if it doesn't see a cost in not listening. They hear us and they know what we need from them, but they just don't care. Asking politely just isn't even an option.
https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030306-8.html
=> More informations about this toot | View the thread | More toots from ThatWeltschmerz@kolektiva.social
text/geminiThis content has been proxied by September (3851b).