US Out of Pittsburgh

I wasn't planning on going to any G20 protests. It's not that I approve of the G20, but protests generally end up being mostly symbolic regardless of the intention, and often I'm not even convinced that the symbol is an effective one. Actually, I read some kind of surprising comments on the subject in the Huffington Post today:

President Obama, in an interview with the Toledo Blade, cautions would-be protesters of the upcoming G20 Summit that while such protests are "are a sign of a healthy democracy," they're not likely to have much of a net impact:

"I was always a big believer in - when I was doing organizing before I went to law school - that focusing on concrete, local, immediate issues that have an impact on people's lives is what really makes a difference and that having protests about abstractions [such] as global capitalism or something, generally, is not really going to make much of a difference."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/21/obama-calls-g-20-protests_n_293620.html

Much as I hate to admit it, that's pretty much how I've been feeling too, and the sentiment that I've been getting from many of my friends. Actually, it reminds me of something I was told in the context of Navajo sweat lodge ceremony once: that praying for things like world peace is too vague to make much of a difference, and it's better to pray for, say, someone you know who's struggling somehow. (It would be nice if Obama would maybe follow his own advice a bit more, but that's sort of a different subject.) As an idea, it makes a lot of sense to me. Sometimes it doesn't seem like enough, but it's pretty much all I can do at the moment.

Anyway, I wasn't planning on going to anything until I found out about the anarcha-feminist hula hooping event shown in the photo above. That meme collision was too much for me to resist, and besides it was billed as a safe, non-confrontational demonstration, which is pretty much all I can get into these days, being all unarrestable 'n'at... Unfortunately it was only about ten hoopers (almost all from out of town) who actually did seem pretty confrontational, but they get lots of points for effort and creativity from me.

Overall I feel kind of jaded about the whole process, but I was happy that I got out at least once to support people who are making an effort (and in many cases, taking significant personal risks) to stand up for the things that they (and I) believe in. And I got a chance to hoop a little, which is kind of hard in our apartment.