FREE THE WEED 02
A Column by John Sinclair
In this issue of MMM Report we’re looking forward to May 25th and the massive
protest planned for our state capitol in Lansing, including an organized effort to
protest the much-discussed changes in the medical marijuana laws proposed
by Michigan’s new Attorney General, Bill Schuette, and hopefully to insist on the
legalization of marijuana for all Michigan residents.
Of course the best possible way to effect a change in the governor and attorney
general is to vote in the general elections for the candidates who best reflect our
views and not stand by while One Nuff Turd and his ideological comperes bullshit
the public into thinking they have some solutions for our social problems.
It’s an old-fashioned concept called democracy and it depends on citizens voting
in the elections rather than standing by and letting the right wing carry the day
because its adherents actually cast their votes while the people on our side sit by
and say nothing, then start to protest after it’s too late.
When we vote we can effect change; when we refuse to vote we endorse the
status quo and its defenders. It’s as simple as that.
There’s a small essay I composed for High Times magazine during the 2004
election cycle that presents my basic views on the necessity for progressive
activism and the positive results which may follow. It’s been published in my book
IT’S ALL GOOD: A John Sinclair Reader and I’d like to offer it here in the present
context.
MOVING TOGETHER
To effect a change of direction in the perilous course upon which our sorry nation
is now embarked may seem a difficult—even hopeless—task, and the problem is
so vast that it’s hard to know just where to begin.
But mass movements sprout from the efforts of singular individuals or isolated
handfuls of people who come together to make social change when they can no
longer stand the way things are.
When disgusted Americans rose up in the 1960s to demand an end to the war in
Vietnam and the institution of racial, sexual and economic equality for all citizens,
we were driven by deep feelings of revulsion for what our country had become
and the conviction that it was our personal responsibility to change the way
things were.
Then as now, the radical right and its corporate superstructure had established
what they believed would be a changeless system of exploitation and control that
would allow them to loot and plunder the populace without effective opposition.
But this social fabric began slowly to unravel as small oppositional groups started
to cohere and take concerted action in support of their needs and beliefs.
The civil rights struggle was touched off when a singular individual in
Montgomery, Alabama named Rosa Parks—inspired by the teachings of Rev.
Martin Luther King—refused to move to the “colored” section in the back of the
bus, and it grew into a massive movement that won the support of millions of
Americans.
When the military-industrial complex decided to wage war on a tiny nation of
rice farmers called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, they were severely
shocked when one, then two, then dozens, scores, hundreds and thousands of
young Americans refused to serve in the armed forces. And they were ultimately
defeated after public opposition to the war spread from tiny collectives of
students and intellectuals to the very mainstream of American society.
On the cultural front, who could have known what would follow when Little
Richard screamed out “Tutti Frutti,” Chuck Berry hit with “Maybellene” and Bo
Diddley proclaimed “I’m A Man”? When Allen Ginsberg howled “I saw the best
minds of my generation destroyed by madness” and Jack Kerouac celebrated
the ecstasies and adventures to be discovered On The Road? When Bob Dylan
sang “The Times They Are A-Changing” and the Beatles urged us to “turn off
your minds, relax and float downstream”?
America was humming along on whiskey, beer and prescription narcotics when
young people began to discover by ones and twos the mental benefits and
sensual joys of smoking marijuana and turned on the populace one person at a
time. Then Tim Leary and Richard Alpert revealed the amazing results of their
early experiments with LSD and blew the minds of millions.
The truth is that we can move as far as our imaginations will take us. We can turn
our backs on idiotic popular entertainment, shut off our television sets and make
and enjoy art and creative activity of the highest order.
In fact, we can insist upon and institute in our own lives a culture of humanism
and creative intelligence. We can inspire others by example and spread the word
through astute use of the communications media available to us in our homes,
studios and workplaces.
What follows are a few pointers from back in the glorious days of cultural
upheaval and political protest that you may find useful:
• Live your life according to your own principles and beliefs.
• Develop organic affinity groups among friends and co-workers who share your
outlook. Pool your human resources, rent a big house, share the economic
burden and live and work together collectively.
• Choose your work and your targets with great care. Be clear in your heart and
mind and clear in your slogans and pronouncements so that your fellow citizens
may be able to understand and support you.
• Never forget, as Che Guevara taught us, that the true revolutionary is guided by
great feelings of love and shape your activity accordingly. Never allow yourself to
be reduced to the base moral level of your oppressors.
• Always remember that “a revolution is not a dinner party,” as Chairman Mao
pointed out. Serious consequences beyond your control—beatings, arrest, jail,
felony prosecution, prison time—may result from oppositional political activities.
The more extreme your actions, or the more successful your efforts at organizing
resistance, the more vicious the official reaction is likely to be.
• In political action as in life itself, we must always remain flexible and we must
retain our sense of humor. There’s nothing wrong with having our fun in whatever
circumstances we may find ourselves, and if you can’t enjoy yourself in the
pursuit of your goals, you’ve probably chosen the wrong path.
• Finally, whatever you do to express your beliefs in the months before the
presidential election, be sure to get yourself and everyone you know to the polls
and cast your votes for what you believe in and against the greedheads and
warmongers. This is where democracy begins.
—Detroit
May 17-20, 2004 >
April 24, 2011
© 2011 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.
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