Chomskyist. That’s to the left of very liberal but not quite around to Libertarian. I’m 60.  

Synonymns: Constitutional Anarchy, Responsible Anarchy, Compassionate Anarchy, Direct Democracy–[bi-passing the electoral college]

 Most often in our generation, Anarcho-pacifist. I have been one for 40 years.  Direct Democracy is a good name,  I was in the room when someone brought a clipping about the six men who had been hung for asking that entities abroad divest stock in South African companies and subsidiaries.  We had a fairly normal rally that day among days, we weren’t expecting much, as per usual. 

The whole black theme house came and seeing the crowd other people stopped. Soon we had six hundred people and the black students weren’t going anywhere. There was only one person with any Viet Nam protest experience and he said  ”We’d better get them moving. Time to march.”  So we marched around the campus but no on was dropping out. 

We marched into the student union, packing it, and sat down. It was a sit in and on the same day as the Seabrook nuclear power plant demonstration. They had 2,500 people.  The next day Students at UC Santa Cruz slept in the student union–700 or so. The South African movement, and the first non-violent revolution began.  

The police didn’t wear helmets. We sang in the bus. Someone got out of his plastic handcuffs and everybody removed the cuffs of their neighbour.  Then we all began to clap. We had two policemen.  By the time we got to the jail they figured out we were of no mind to harm them. It was  funny time. I took care of the cop next door’s kids–actually it was just a flow from house to house and the rolled around on the floor giggling  “You pig, you pig.” And no, no one got paid.  When I baby sat in the evening I got paid.

We talked to the police while we were waiting for space in the jail. They talked about the violence during the anti-war demonstrations.  They were afraid it would all happen again, but that was not who we were.  That violence might not have happened if Martin Luther King had lived. But he didn’t.

We had more demonstrations, notifying the media and telling them what why when and where and that we were committed to non violence. Careful not to trash the black box. In the countries where it originated it is a physical black box, with plastic windows–no one runs anywhere–sort of like a dragon at Chinese New Year, a political centapede. Words when they cross borders are empty barrels. What is inside may be better or very much worse.  Handle words with care, they are humanity’s future.

Rambling Rose