Joan, who daily and desperately tries to represent herself as "Everywoman", whose own personal experience relates to every historical happening and every ethnic dynamic in the United States, wants us to believe that this fellow, Joe Diaz, the Left's very own equivalent of "Joe the Plumber" (Joe the Professional Student?), is an honest, sincere, forthright and down-to-earth good guy. Hey, he's on our side. The future of the country is safe in Joe's hands.
He'd tell us all to eschew voting for the main parties; instead, we should find the nearest socialist candidate, and vote for him or her. I guess if there's none running in your state or Congressional district, you can write your own name in on the ballot - especially, if you're the only socialist you know.
Walsh's interview with Diaz is interesting to read, although I know a lot of people are boycotting Salon at the moment. It's interesting, because smack-dab in the middle of it, it gets surreal to the point of being almost scary. For example, there's the part where Joan refers to the fact that there's an anarchist element which has infiltrated the OWS movement, and she asks him if he's part of that. Take a gander at his reply. The italics are my own, and keep in mind that this guy, this kid is a 24 year-old PhD student, who's probably never worked a real job in his life, and who must have some kind of good financial backing, because graduate school financial assistance is pretty much like flying pigs.
Ms. Walsh, I am not an anarchist. But they are good people.
The scary part of the interview occurs when Joan touches on the fact that many elected Republican state legislatures and governors are now intent upon what is actually open disenfranchisement of certain demographics - making it more difficult for certain types of people, specifically, students, people of colour, Latinos and the elderly, to vote. Diaz acknowledges this, but when Joan asks him, pointedly, if his goals are anti-electoral politics, Diaz chillingly replies:-
My specific goals for this movement are often characterized as broad, but they seem specific to me – do away with a for-profit prison system, end both wars, make full employment a reality. This movement must not allow itself to be co-opted and turned into a voting bloc. We all know that this will only lead to disappointments and broken promises – we’ll be back at square one again, or worse. There has been some talk that OWS will call for boycotts and general strikes. If they prove successful, the end goal may be the declaration of a provisional government in NY. This sounds wacky to some, but it must be seriously considered.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this sounds more than just a bit like the overthrow, at least, of a state government. It actually sounds more than a bit like anarchy, and Diaz sounds a lot like an anarchist. Ne'mind, he subsequently tries to justify all this by cloaking it in Christianity and invoking the name of Jesus Christ, and ne'mind, that Joan then caves in her desperate attempt to portray her own relevance, and allows this statement to pass without pouncing and challenging, he's revealed an anarchist core that's part of this movement.
Well, this morning, OWS went global, and here are the scenes from Italy, where real anarchists led a mob of 100,000 on a trail of destruction through Rome. By the way, these are the same masked and hooded people who show up at G8 summits, worldwide, and wreak havoc.
Yes, those anarchists sure are good people!
You have to ask yourself if these are the scenes Diaz wants to see enacted in New York or Atlanta? If he wants to see these black-clad people, hiding behind their masks, burning cars in the street or axing or sledgehammering businesses along the way - not to mention, lobbing petrol bombs?
Anarchist groups often infiltrate demonstrations on the Continent and turn them violent in a trice. If that happens in the US, whether or not OWS wants to be associated with any political movement, the GOP and their spin machine will indelibly insure that this movement is ineradicably associated with the Left and the Democratic Party.
Once again, perception is reality; and Joan Walsh scored a massive fail when she ignored the message and warning of an anarchist.
All of the talk about what Diaz hopes to accomplish via OWS doesn't mean jack if people don't vote. Protests without a means to achieve what one is protesting against is known as showboating.
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