therevolutionwillnotbetelevised

last night, as halloween raged outside, michael and i sat at my desk and watched the documentary "the revolution will not be televised" at freedocumentary.com. it is a well done piece filmed from the inside of the coup that briefly deposed venezuelan president, hugo chavez. i watched it several years ago with my sister marie, and i remember watching the papers like a hawk while it was all happening. still, it was heartening (and nerve wracking) to watch the venezuelan people reclaim their constitutional government and beloved president within days of losing both in an elitist, media-manipulated, american-backed coup d'etat.
several things amazed me. one: one of the first things chavez did as president was to encourage every venezuelan to learn to read and then to read their constitution. he calls it, "the people's book." how many of us have read OUR "people's book?" two: how the people responded immediately and in tremendous number when he was abducted. the barrios were empty, and it was all "organized" by word of mouth, as the news stations were all broadcasting propaganda insisting that chavez had resigned and left of his own accord. three: how anyone could accuse hugo chavez of suppressing opposition media when it was a free (and opposition owned) media that orchestrated the coup in the first place. four: (and finally) how millions of (mostly) unarmed poor people managed to retake their democratically elected government after it was stolen by powers better armed, better funded, and backed by the largest hegemonistic government in the world.
as the film drew to a close, i wondered about our own stolen elections, and wondered what it would take to draw "we the people" into the streets on our own behalf. is this the year, with more than a few military leaders in our corner, an unprecedentedly popular candidate, and a still-lingering stench of vote rigging in the air, that we mobilize? what will we do if this election is stolen from us? chalk it up to the bradley effect, shake our heads at "those closet racists," and hunker down for the end of the world?
to quote (or paraphrase) Tennessee Williams (and my mother and uncle michael,)
what shall we do for the rest of our lives?
sit here and watch the parades go by, play with the glass menagerie, and forever listen to those worn-out records that your father left as a painful reminder of him?
O, NO! NOT ME!
now, get out there and vote.
and if that fails, put on your shoes and get ready to march!
lovepeace
h.