why the movement is the people

by austin pfeiffer



Over the weekend I was in D.C. and ate at a spot called Busboys & Poets. The place is a tribute to Langston Hughes and has walls plastered with revolutionaries from Lennon to Marley and Hughes of course. Looking at the walls, standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where MLK gave his "I Have A Dream Speech" I was reminded of the deep desire in my heart, not for fame, but just for impact. I insecurely confess a deep desire to flip something back onto its proper axis.

I had a conversation with a friend's dad who is an economist at the famed Brookings Institute. I told him about a campaign I had come across called 10% is Enough, to compel caps on consumer credit products' interest rates. He is a very pro-government, social democrat, so I was surprised when he told me focusing our energies in the midst of these crises ought not be to legislate a nominal interest rate, but to educate people on personal responsibility and of course, true to his ideology, he also suggested deeply that we work to see the regulatory reforms suggested by Frank and Dodds actually be realized. But I am not a political activist, so the first part really brought me back into the sights.

There are sorts of systemic injustices we face and there are systems which exploit us and we blindly submit to them. A few we blindly submit to which I can think of are the credit card debt crisis, corporate farming, and rise of oil prices. Now there are issues of injustice which simply require a fight, like education reform, labor exploitation, health care costs leading to astronomical debt, etc. But do radicals need to be afraid of encouraging personal responsibility in some contexts? By invoking such a mantra are you automatically implying washing our hands of caring for our brothers and sisters, watching out for the collective health of society? Would not a society be bettered by people shown how to fix and ride a bike to avoid gas price hikes, grow food in their yard to avoid buying unhealthy processed foods, and to help someone budget and create a living situation they can afford so they never have to use a credit card and fall into the predatory practices of the American banking system?

So whats the key here? Its the people, its meeting up with your neighbor and teaching him how to budget and not judging his finances. It is sharing a huge garden with your friends, maybe getting some chickens (more to come soon!), giving some of that food away to the neighbors. Maybe it is organizing a community bike ride so people can see what its like to ride on the street in the safety and solidarity of other bikers.

We are hoping to do all these things in the coming months. I have looked far too long at two things, 1. the government to do any of these things for me, and 2. to think being a radical would be sexy and exciting, lacking cost or sacrifice.