So You Want a Revolution (Part 2)

It is hard to believe another year has gone by.  It seems I say that every year, but this year, I seem to be saying it more often.  I've noticed that I no longer think in days or seasons but in year, as in, "Can you believe it's been xx years since ....."

Even the Occupy movement has been around long enough to be celebrating an anniversary - or Strike Back convergence, as they call it.  It seems that at least some of the (Re)Occupiers are becoming Yippies in their old age, talking about love and billing this year's reoccupation as a festival full of "Occuplay and other special performances."

I remember walking through Farragut Square last year where many of the D.C. Occupiers were encamped.  It was an interesting experience on many levels that brought back memories of my own protest trips to Washington during the 60s and 70s.

The first person I encountered among the many tents and make-shift shelters was a homeless man who looked somewhat bewildered by all of the energetic young people joining his quest for spare change.  As I continued, I was approached by someone who looked decidedly un-homeless.  "Got a few minutes to talk about fracking?  It's destroying our water tables and ruining the environment."  Earth Day meets The Blind Side.

I think back to the 60s when taking over the streets and controlling guns had a very different, and more personal, meaning to us and the National Guard blocking our way during those civil rights and anti-war demonstrations.  Too bad we didn't have Facebook, Twitter, and texting to provide instantaneous updates, streaming, and video postings.  Take a look at the Krishna-like sound explosion called GlobalNoise.  [occupywallst.org/.../160-cities-joining-globalnoise-o13-get-banging/].

Sounds more like Trilling than Trotsky.  Take the in-your-face Hungarian Prime Minister, for example.  Displaying the bravest act of nationalism since the Ottoman Empire, Prime Minister Viktor Orban decided to unfriend the International Monetary Fund last month for having the nerve to impose tough loan conditions on his country.  And where do you think he announced his brave deed?  In a video message on his official Facebook page!

Learn something from the Boomers and the Occupiers, Viktor.  Make love, not war.  Start your own T-shirt company and sell out to Urban Outfitters.  Your country will thank you, and someday, you will have a square named after you where hordes of idealistic Hungarians will Tweet your name.