Time Magazine's Person Of The Year: The Protester

Time Magazine gave a nod to the activists who, globally, have taken to the streets in protest of unfair banking and despotic governments by naming Time Magazine's Person of the Year "The Protester."

They credit this year's trend of civil unrest with one man with a produce cart in Tunisia:

It began in Tunisia, where the dictator's power grabbing and high living crossed a line of shamelessness, and a commonplace bit of government callousness against an ordinary citizen — a 26-year-old street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi — became the final straw. Bouazizi lived in the charmless Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, 125 miles south of Tunis. On a Friday morning almost exactly a year ago, he set out for work, selling produce from a cart. Police had hassled Bouazizi routinely for years, his family says, fining him, making him jump through bureaucratic hoops. On Dec. 17, 2010, a cop started giving him grief yet again. She confiscated his scale and allegedly slapped him. He walked straight to the provincial-capital building to complain and got no response. At the gate, he drenched himself in paint thinner and lit a match.

Bouazizi died, but a wave of protests and outrage were born in the Middle East and have grown to encompass the world as people take to the streets. I wonder: will the powers-that-be begin to listen to the chanted slogans and angry shouts at their doorstep? And if not, what next?

OneAngryCultist: Religion and the 99%

In the past three and a half weeks the Occupy movement has spread from Wall Street across the nation to over one-hundred cities and seems to be growing by the day despite arrests and threats of eviction. The 99% represents a smorgasbord of different groups representing different political and social perspectives, but little has been mentioned about the religious aspects of the protests.

Last night, your very own OneAngryCultist joined Ian Awesome at the downtown Seattle Occupy Demonstration where he witnessed the dismantling of a Sukkot booth and the subsequent arrest of ten Occupy demonstrators in what amounts to an act of religious discrimination in addition to the growing intolerance Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn has toward protestors.

Sukkot tent being, not occupied, dismantled by Seattle Parks and Recreation

As a member of the minority religious philosophy of Thelema started by Aleister Crowley following the revelations of the central holy text, The Book of the Law, witnessing the destruction of a very clearly religious gathering place affected me deeply and viscerally. As I wrote in my own personal blog, The Digital Enchiridion:

“At the time of writing this essay, we have seen in our world one hundred and seven years of non-stop global conflict: entire civilizations rise and fall in a single generation; countries, states, cities, civil and municipal governments, religions, communities, and families torn asunder cruelly and mercilessly; the rise of the nuclear age and all the anxiety that came with the mastering of the atom; economies have taken on monstrous forms, strangulating countless millions under harsh labor and new slavery of debt; and, in short, the threat of the entire collapse of “the way things were”. Not a comforting image, to be sure, but a real one and one not without hope.”

Religion and spirituality play an important role in people’s lives giving them strength in difficult times and guiding them in their individual causes. I’m reminded of the central role it played in the protests of the Civil Rights Movement led by Rev. Martin Luther King, the protests against British imperialism in India led by Mohandas Gandhi and the responses to LGBTQ bullying led by the nominally non-religious but none-the-less spiritual Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (Note from the editor: the Sisters plan to demonstrate with #OccupySeattle tonight-- IA).

In many of the Occupy cities, there are varying degrees of religiously identified groups in attendance offering their support and the support for demonstrators. Both HuffPo and USAToday have coverage of some of the religious goings on and at the Jesuit run weekly, America Magazine, Tom Beaudoin observes:

“there seems to be fairly wide latitude for people to find their way into the economic focus from many different political (and I would presume religious) commitments. (No doubt some are serving as chaplains or spiritual advisors, formally or informally, for this movement, and if so, I would be interested to hear from you.)”

Personally, I too would be interested in and like to hear from more religious groups in my city as a show of unity among people of faith, without sectarian squabble. It is this OneAngryCultist’s belief that the more people come together, the greater chance there will be for dialogue and greater understanding to be gleaned from various perspectives. I would like to see a greater religious voice in the public squares hosting these events, as a show of support and representation of the diversity that makes up the Occupy movement.

Olbermann Covers The Occupation Of Wall Street

Former MSNBC talk show host Keith Olbermann, whose popular show Countdown now running on Current TV, is taking advantage of the mainstream media blackout on the occupation of Wall Street by running a segment on the protest.  Watch the video below, he refers to the arrest of protesters under a 166-year-old statute banning masks as "crap" and questions why major newspapers are refusing to print news about the event.

Favorite quote:  "You'd think it would at least have made it into the traffic reports."

I think his guest's analysis is correct to a point.  I can't help but feeling that the news blackout is more about the corporate interests in the mainstream media, however, than about any sort of disinterest in liberal protests.  Both are probably true.

Outserve Magazine To Appear On Army Newsracks

The Army and the Air Force have authorized the sale of gay-oriented military magazine Outserve on their installations starting next month, timed with the full repeal of DADT as pertains to gay, lesbian, and bisexual servicemembers.

OutServe Magazine will hit store shelves at Army and Air Force bases on Sept. 20, the day the Pentagon plans to formally end enforcement of the “don’t ask, don'tI tell” policy that bans gays from serving openly.

The publication is published by OutServe, a group of secretly gay active duty service members that says it has hundreds of members currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The magazine, which began publishing in the spring, is currently available in limited supply at some public meeting areas and military physicians offices, the group said.

 While it will be entirely legal, I'm not sure how comfortable I would have been purchasing this magazine in the PX during my stint in the military ten years ago, even if DADT hadn't been in place.  Sign of the times, I suppose, and one I'm happy to see come about.