The Lost Well
Activists, Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
RECEIVED Sat., Jan. 24, 2009
Dear Editor,
I was initially skeptical that last year’s Republican National Convention bombers' story warranted front-page coverage. Diana Welch’s report in your Jan. 23 issue [“The Informant,” News] proved thoroughly engrossing; however, infighting to the point of betrayal is destructive of a movement when that movement is advancing but potentially creative when it has stagnated. Hopes aroused by the Seattle protests in 1999 have failed to materialize in the decade since – a gap that leaves political dialogue in the world today and not just in Austin considerably poorer. Seattle's impressive coalition of labor and environmental groups seems to have largely dissipated, while only the window-busting spirit of street mischief that marred the perimeter of those demonstrations has lingered like a nasty hangover. A radical critique of the corporate casino capitalism that continues to ravage the global economy has never been more urgent. Unfortunately, the left in America is pathetically incapable of seizing this moment, because for decades it has languished in tactical and ideological inanities, limiting its appeal primarily to souls afflicted with terminal arrested development. Insofar as it fills in an eloquent case study in the tragic dead ends to which misguided-but-still-popular notions on the left can lead, the article quickened my hopes that the progressive dialogue in Austin need no longer be so monopolized by morons with monkey wrenches in hand. Brandon Darby should be honored as a hero for what he did. And the thinly veiled attempts elsewhere in the piece to slander this young man as some kind of half-crazed, gun-toting philanderer will surely backfire and add to his mystique. More importantly, the revival of the left in America, so egregiously overdue, will only occur in the context of reverence for American freedoms and respect for the rule of law. Perhaps the thorough airing of this sad episode to which you contribute will encourage at least a few young activists to wake up and smell the coffee.
I was initially skeptical that last year’s Republican National Convention bombers' story warranted front-page coverage. Diana Welch’s report in your Jan. 23 issue [“The Informant,” News] proved thoroughly engrossing; however, infighting to the point of betrayal is destructive of a movement when that movement is advancing but potentially creative when it has stagnated. Hopes aroused by the Seattle protests in 1999 have failed to materialize in the decade since – a gap that leaves political dialogue in the world today and not just in Austin considerably poorer. Seattle's impressive coalition of labor and environmental groups seems to have largely dissipated, while only the window-busting spirit of street mischief that marred the perimeter of those demonstrations has lingered like a nasty hangover. A radical critique of the corporate casino capitalism that continues to ravage the global economy has never been more urgent. Unfortunately, the left in America is pathetically incapable of seizing this moment, because for decades it has languished in tactical and ideological inanities, limiting its appeal primarily to souls afflicted with terminal arrested development. Insofar as it fills in an eloquent case study in the tragic dead ends to which misguided-but-still-popular notions on the left can lead, the article quickened my hopes that the progressive dialogue in Austin need no longer be so monopolized by morons with monkey wrenches in hand. Brandon Darby should be honored as a hero for what he did. And the thinly veiled attempts elsewhere in the piece to slander this young man as some kind of half-crazed, gun-toting philanderer will surely backfire and add to his mystique. More importantly, the revival of the left in America, so egregiously overdue, will only occur in the context of reverence for American freedoms and respect for the rule of law. Perhaps the thorough airing of this sad episode to which you contribute will encourage at least a few young activists to wake up and smell the coffee.
Sincerely yours,
Hart Murphy
Hart Murphy
