[Peace-discuss] lowe's etc: an alternative perspective

[C. G. Estabrook]

At mass this morning I found myself thinking about Peter's quite
reasonable reflections during a predictably inconsequential sermon.  As it
happened, one of the readings for the day was from the beginning of the
gospel of John: in it Jesus leads a militant political demonstration
(including notable civil disobedience) in the temple at Jerusalem.  The
author pictures him as saying, "Stop making my Father's house a
marketplace."

Our problem seems to be that we're trying to make a marketplace into the
Father's house -- i.e., we're trying to discuss serious matters, literally
matters of life and death, in a typical mall of mammon.  There's a
standard suggestion about the difficulty of serving both.

We're trying to preach in privatized, commercial space.  That's why we're
there -- to talk to the people who are going to the stores.  But it's been
pointed out that modern retail forms represent another privatization of
the commons -- there's no public square for us to talk in.

We might solve the immediate problem by moving to the edge, so to speak,
and walking a bit farther to demonstrate.  We might also point out to
merchants that they've confiscated public places, with the acquiescence of
our representative institutions, and they should make some allowances for
their occupation of that space (as for example "public accommodation laws"
did as a result of the black civil rights movement.)  Perhaps they could
avoid asking demonstrators to move their cars (or worse, towing them) if
their lot is only partly filled.

Perhaps we should also ask out public authorities -- i.e., the Champaign
City Council (remember to vote April 1 for the Green and AWARE candidate,
Ken Urban) -- to mandate public access to the "private" parking lots,
under a reasonable arrangement.

And we probably should point out vigorously to the merchants that we won't
shop in occupied public space unless that space is in part made available
for public purposes.

Regards, Carl


On Sun, 23 Mar 2003, Peter Rohloff wrote:

> 
> Howdy all. I was the member of the P4P 'security' on parking lot
> detail, and here are my observations:
> 
> 1. In a space of two hours, I redirected around 100 cars. This is a
> lot of cars, and would definitely have impacted Lowe's parking. I
> think the management has a point.
> 
> 2. Before we all get our persecution complexes up, my observation was
> that the Lowe's employees who were assigned to 'towing' were equally
> targeting pro- and anti-war parkers. I think the manager himself had a
> pro-war bias, but this did not appear true of the employees who were
> actually doing the spotting.
> 
> 3. I was non-partisan in my activities, and I redirected nearly as
> many pro-war as anti-war demonstrators. Both the police and the Lowe's
> people noticed this, and the police in particular made a point to
> thank us for our help and cooperation. I think building up this kind
> of currency when possible is a good thing, since we peaceniks usually
> seem to be on the police's bad side. I was disappointed to see a few
> folks specifically targeting the police with angry comments.
> 
> 4. In general, the pro-war people that I re-directed were much more
> understanding than the anti-war people, and much less likely to accost
> the Lowe's employees with angry comments. Giving the Lowe's manager a
> piece of one's mind was probably appropriate, but I started to feel
> sorry for the peons who were taking the brunt of the anger.
> 
> 5. I had a lengthy conversation with the police about parking
> alternatives and, although they were reluctant to give official
> 'suggestions', they let it be known that the old Best Buy on the
> frontage road is vacant. Perhaps we should investigate this as an
> alternative? I'm not sure how far the walk is, but is can't be any
> more distant than Borders, which is where many people parked.
> 
> Now the standard disclaimer: Just my $0.02. :-)
> 
> In peace, Peter