Above: Rolling Rebellion Denver, torches and pitchforks protest says “Democracy Is Not For Sale!”
The movement to get money out of politics has started to roll. At a time when over 40 states either have 28th amendment initiatives passed or in progress – to overturn Citizens United and declare that money is not speech and corporations are not people – it’s clear that activists across the country are bringing political power back into the hands of the people.
And as individual cities, counties and states forge ahead to stop the corrupting influence of money in politics, there remains a need for national cohesion – to highlight the many and varied grassroots efforts, and to tie them together into the fabric of this growing national movement.
This was the thinking behind the Rolling Rebellion, a week of artful activism that spread nationwide this month linking cities and citizens in creative efforts signalling that it’s time to get the money out of politics.
Supported by Backbone Campaign, Popular Resistance, Move To Amend, Occupy.com and others, the Rolling Rebellion from July 5 to July 12 sparked [a range of events and actions in which organizations helped paint, build, project, sing, act and dance this fight onto the national stage. (See this author’s previous articles about the Rebellion here and here.)
In Los Angeles on July 11, Occupy Venice collaborated with Backbone Campaign to put on a variety show in Downtown LA complete with speakers, poets, live painting and performances by local political hard rock band Rooftop Revolutionaries and activist comedian Lee Camp.
The show brought in money for activist training as well as Occupy Venice’s initiative to buy sleeping bags for the homeless – a great example not only of artful activism but the way that local organizations, through a cultural event, can highlight the urgent need to get money out of politics. Speakers discussed topics like the Trans-Pacific Partership, Net Neutrality and Move to Amend’s work at establishing a constitutional amendment, as poets slammed on issues from immigration and the environment to the prison industrial complex. Lee Camp scathingly, and hilariously, took on everyone from apathetic consumers to the titans of Wall Street, while Rooftop Revolutionaries got the crowd dancing and singing with biting political commentary set to hard rock music.
Further south in San Diego, the SD Overpass Light Brigade sent the city’s residents a clear and bright message on July 12 when itprojected this statement over the freeway and on the wall of a popular mall located next to it.
Meanwhile, Artful Activist San Diego staged daily “Flush the Politician” actions around the city, bringing humor and frustration to an action that encouraged people to “just add water.” From the Civic Center to the USS Midway Museum and from Balboa to Belmont parks, the organization’s traveling band of activist actors creatively demonstrated the power of the people – providing a model of political theater to engage people with the issue of money in politics.
Due east, in Denver, activists marched to the state capitol to showcase their distaste for money’s corrupting influence on politics, entertaining and engaging attendees and passersby with theater, sculptures and a light show. Put on in collaboration with the Denver Light Brigade, this July 13 event, entitled “Denver Rebels with Torches and Pitchforks,” began with a chase to drive corporate persons out of the capitol – complete with torches and pitchforks, as promised. Once night fell, the street theater gave way to a patriotic light show that proclaimed “Money is Not Speech,” expressing in simple words how Denver activists – and those campaigning nationwide for a 28th Constitutional Amendment – feel about keeping their democracy.
And in Dallas, activists on July 11 took on a highly controversial issue, particularly considering Texas’s history with reproductive rights, when Codepink Dallas, Veterans for Peace Chapter 106 and the North Texas Light Brigade collaborated on the bold, bright message that corporations are not people – and therefore neither is Hobby Lobby. Holding up a huge BOYCOTT sign outside the entrance to a Hobby Lobby store, activists tied their local concern over the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision into the greater fabric of moneyed interests’ corruption of our civil liberties, personal rights and health care.
One week and nearly 20 actions later, the Rolling Rebellion envisions this first wave as a jump-off point for bigger, better, brighter and louder actions in the near future. Seeking to make even greater use of alternative media, social media, radio, and local and national publications, the Rebellion’s organizers are already at work on upcoming strategies to trigger the next round of citizen outreach, entertainment and engagement – elevating the message of money in politics to the forefront of the fight for economic, social and political justice.