Comments on: The moderate march chant http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/ Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:57:38 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Michael Mouse http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/comment-page-1/#comment-202075 Michael Mouse Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:40:14 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/#comment-202075 My student days were good preparation for this sort of thing. I once went on a protest march against the abolition of student grants, and I and like-minded friends switched our chanting from the official: "What do we want? Grants not loans! When to we want them? Now!" to the more achievable: "What do we want? A flexible but equitable system of student support, not based on ability to pay, and free at the point of entry. When do we want it? As soon as the appropriate administrative arrangements can be implemented!" My student days were good preparation for this sort of thing. I once went on a protest march against the abolition of student grants, and I and like-minded friends switched our chanting from the official:
“What do we want? Grants not loans! When to we want them? Now!”

to the more achievable:

“What do we want? A flexible but equitable system of student support, not based on ability to pay, and free at the point of entry. When do we want it? As soon as the appropriate administrative arrangements can be implemented!”

]]> By: ejh http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/comment-page-1/#comment-202005 ejh Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:05:48 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/#comment-202005 <i>Jaroslav Hašek, author of The Good Soldier Svejk, once wrote a short story about A Political Party in Favour of Revolutionary Progress Within the Limits of the Law.</i> <a>Not quite</a> <em>Your link was irretrievably chewed, I'm afraid</em> Jaroslav Hašek, author of The Good Soldier Svejk, once wrote a short story about A Political Party in Favour of Revolutionary Progress Within the Limits of the Law.

Not quite

Your link was irretrievably chewed, I’m afraid

]]> By: jacob http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/comment-page-1/#comment-201951 jacob Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:08:45 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/#comment-201951 I should add to my above comment that I doubt many communists use giant puppets. Their propaganda tends to be more centered on sectarian newspapers. I should add to my above comment that I doubt many communists use giant puppets. Their propaganda tends to be more centered on sectarian newspapers.

]]> By: jacob http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/comment-page-1/#comment-201950 jacob Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:07:31 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/#comment-201950 Andrew R @ 12: One of the major parts of the "new anarchism" is a sense of play and freedom. Thus you get puppets, radical cheerleaders, soccer games in closed off streets, etc. The idea is to celebrate that "another world is possible," as the slogan goes, and that a world unconstrained by capitalism would feature more art, fun, and playfulness. David Graeber wrote about this in 2002 in the New Left Review: http://newleftreview.org/A2368 Andrew R @ 12:

One of the major parts of the “new anarchism” is a sense of play and freedom. Thus you get puppets, radical cheerleaders, soccer games in closed off streets, etc. The idea is to celebrate that “another world is possible,” as the slogan goes, and that a world unconstrained by capitalism would feature more art, fun, and playfulness. David Graeber wrote about this in 2002 in the New Left Review: http://newleftreview.org/A2368

]]> By: Peter http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/comment-page-1/#comment-201940 Peter Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:35:48 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/#comment-201940 Jaroslav Hašek, author of The Good Soldier Svejk, once wrote a short story about A Political Party in Favour of Revolutionary Progress Within the Limits of the Law. Jaroslav Hašek, author of The Good Soldier Svejk, once wrote a short story about A Political Party in Favour of Revolutionary Progress Within the Limits of the Law.

]]> By: Andrew R. http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/comment-page-1/#comment-201934 Andrew R. Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:33:57 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/#comment-201934 As long as there's a thred on protests, I figured I'd throw out a question. What exaclty is the link between communism/anarcho-syndicalism and giant paper-maché puppets? Is there something about it somewhere in the text of <i>Das Kapital</i>? As long as there’s a thred on protests, I figured I’d throw out a question. What exaclty is the link between communism/anarcho-syndicalism and giant paper-maché puppets? Is there something about it somewhere in the text of Das Kapital?

]]> By: Doug http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/comment-page-1/#comment-201913 Doug Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:48:38 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/#comment-201913 Just because it seems appropriate here: "As Canadian as... possible under the circumstances." Just because it seems appropriate here:

“As Canadian as… possible under the circumstances.”

]]> By: John Quiggin http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/comment-page-1/#comment-201900 John Quiggin Tue, 26 Jun 2007 03:45:36 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/#comment-201900 #5 Perhaps it was "system", not "sister", though with the RCP you can never tell. #5 Perhaps it was “system”, not “sister”, though with the RCP you can never tell.

]]> By: jacob http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/comment-page-1/#comment-201881 jacob Mon, 25 Jun 2007 21:16:41 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/#comment-201881 At the protests outside the Republican Convention in 2000 in Philadelphia, I found myself near dueling groups of anarchists and communists. The anarchists taunted the communists with "What do we want? Socialism! When do we want it? After the next five year plan!" I also once took part in a mock "Billionaires for Globalization" demonstration in which we changed "WTO helps us evade/ Non-tariff barriers to trade!" At the protests outside the Republican Convention in 2000 in Philadelphia, I found myself near dueling groups of anarchists and communists. The anarchists taunted the communists with “What do we want? Socialism! When do we want it? After the next five year plan!” I also once took part in a mock “Billionaires for Globalization” demonstration in which we changed “WTO helps us evade/ Non-tariff barriers to trade!”

]]> By: magistra http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/comment-page-1/#comment-201860 magistra Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:28:52 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/#comment-201860 There's also the <a href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20041025/ai_n12821232" rel="nofollow">chant for those protesting about changes to Radio 4</a> There’s also the chant for those protesting about changes to Radio 4

]]> By: magistra http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/comment-page-1/#comment-201859 magistra Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:25:09 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/#comment-201859 Let's not forget the classic piece of graffiti: 'THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH - if that's OK with the rest of you' Let’s not forget the classic piece of graffiti:

‘THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH – if that’s OK with the rest of you’

]]> By: Chris Williams http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/comment-page-1/#comment-201855 Chris Williams Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:59:12 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/#comment-201855 I think that the IMG chant was: (indeed, is) UNemployment AND inflation ARE not caused by IMMigration BULLSHIT Come OFF it The EneMEE is PROFIT. Not a bad chant, I think. I think that the IMG chant was: (indeed, is)

UNemployment
AND inflation
ARE not caused by
IMMigration
BULLSHIT
Come OFF it
The EneMEE is PROFIT.

Not a bad chant, I think.

]]> By: Henry (not the famous one) http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/comment-page-1/#comment-201850 Henry (not the famous one) Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:37:03 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/#comment-201850 Taking Mr. Brighouse's invitation, I remember that some left grouplet had a similarly unorthodox chant when Reagan was visiting the Century Plaza Hotel in the depths of the Iran-Contra scandal: "The ruling class is in deep shit . . . hold them down . . . keep them way down" or something like that. More like a high school cheerleader's chant than the usual stuff. But better than that was the chant that the RCP led us in repeating as we marched through Chinatown in San Francisco in support of the tenants at the International Hotel in the late 1970s: "Hey mister, your sister, is rotten to the core." I wondered, as I chanted, just who this guy was we were yelling about and why we were so hard on his sister. I also wondered just what we had been chanting in Chinese just before then. Taking Mr. Brighouse’s invitation, I remember that some left grouplet had a similarly unorthodox chant when Reagan was visiting the Century Plaza Hotel in the depths of the Iran-Contra scandal: “The ruling class is in deep shit . . . hold them down . . . keep them way down” or something like that. More like a high school cheerleader’s chant than the usual stuff.

But better than that was the chant that the RCP led us in repeating as we marched through Chinatown in San Francisco in support of the tenants at the International Hotel in the late 1970s: “Hey mister, your sister, is rotten to the core.” I wondered, as I chanted, just who this guy was we were yelling about and why we were so hard on his sister. I also wondered just what we had been chanting in Chinese just before then.

]]> By: harry b http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/comment-page-1/#comment-201847 harry b Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:07:03 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/#comment-201847 Slightly off-topic, but when I was a kid I remember the IMG (with whom I did not get along) having the most fantastically complicated and elaborate chants. One ended as follows: ".... Blacks are the problem? Come off it! The enemy is profit". Are they collected anywhere on the internet? Who made them up? (On CND marches one sometime SWPer whom I knew pretty well used to hand out roneod copies of very elaborate lyrics he'd made to well known tunes for us all to sing, but I shan't name him). Slightly off-topic, but when I was a kid I remember the IMG (with whom I did not get along) having the most fantastically complicated and elaborate chants. One ended as follows: “…. Blacks are the problem? Come off it! The enemy is profit”. Are they collected anywhere on the internet? Who made them up? (On CND marches one sometime SWPer whom I knew pretty well used to hand out roneod copies of very elaborate lyrics he’d made to well known tunes for us all to sing, but I shan’t name him).

]]> By: Nameless http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/comment-page-1/#comment-201843 Nameless Mon, 25 Jun 2007 13:47:26 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/06/25/the-moderate-march-chant/#comment-201843 <i>WHAT DO WE WANT? A REASONABLE COMPROMISE ! WHEN DO <b>WE</b> WANT IT? IN! DUE! COURSE!</i> Yeah, I'm a prig. <em>Fixed thanks - JQ</em> WHAT DO WE WANT? A REASONABLE COMPROMISE !
WHEN DO WE WANT IT? IN! DUE! COURSE!

Yeah, I’m a prig.

Fixed thanks – JQ

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