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A Live Moment
Submitted by John Lindsay-Poland on July 3, 2007 - 3:15pm.
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Back from the US Social Forum in Atlanta, and still with me is something many of us witnessed on the last morning, during the procession of people presenting resolutions and declarations in the Civic Center. It was a long line, and each person had only a minute or 2, facilitated by a couple people on the stage, who would approach a speaker and lightly touch her or him when the time was up. Mostly it was individuals. Two people, both indigenous, came to the mike, the woman spoke, and she was followed by a man, an indigena from Ecuador. As he spoke passionately about unity, one of the moderators came and touched him; he continued speaking, she turned the mike away from him and then took it away from him. He continued speaking from the stage without the mike, as some in the hall shouted to let him speak, then both he and the other speaker left the stage. A tense and odd moment, that went unremarked by the moderators.
A few minutes later, about 50 people, mostly indigenous men and women, took the stage, and talked about the insult it was to take away the mike from the Ecuadorean brother. Tom Goldtooth spoke of how this was necessary for healing. Another man scolded the audience, saying people made signs and put things on paper but would never change things until they are ready to go to jail for what we believe. The group had brought a drum onto the stage, and beat it and sang. The man from Ecuador spoke, not angrily, but passionately. A woman who'd worked with AIM asked to speak, said, crying, "I want you to know, we don't see you as the enemy. We respect your time, and know many people want to speak, but what was said here had to be said." The moment was alive. The group then left the stage, and the presentation of resolutions continued.
Even then the visceral sense of what is at stake remained. Another group tried to stay on the stage after presenting their resolution. When a moderator then took the mike away, one woman protested. A moderator intervened, and spoke directly to her, saying, "We take the criticism, but I refuse to let this forum be broken," that we have to keep going. And this time, the feeling was with her.
In this gathering of movements, it was testament to the way we can be powerful together, even when - especially when - we face our own contradictions, and address them head on, from the heart and with respect.
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