The Season for Insurrections?

Call the marching around that went on in Russia over the weekend what you want -- "coup," "rebellion," "mutiny," etc. -- there's one specific label that works well for me: "insurrection."

In short, that means the two most powerful nations on Earth have both suffered insurrections on their soil within the last 30 months. At least the USA and Russia are widely seen as the "most powerful," when considering their nuclear weapons arsenals. 

In both cases, the sitting governments fended off the sudden challenges to their authority by hordes. While the specifics of those two events vary, it's easy to think the sentiments that fueled both insurrections are still much in the air in both countries. No doubt, Insurrection Part Two plots are being hatched as you read these words.  

Among other things, now I wonder if it's a coincidence that these rather unusual uprisings happened so close together, time-wise, or are insurrections about to become a thing, internationally?   

Meanwhile, over the weekend folks everywhere have had their concerns ratcheted up, to do with dangerous instability in any of the countries whose governments have their fingers poised over the nuke button. 

It all takes me back to the disarmament talking points of 40 years ago, when one of the biggest worries was over doomsday insurrectionists gaining control of some bombs. Ever since those days, I've imagined that scenario to be a more likely calamity than a legitimate government getting insulted and raining planet-killing bombs down on their declared enemies.  

So, like I said, in the 2020s, are insurrections about to become a thing, internationally? And, if they are, this is a damn good time to think again about disarmament.   

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The Classified Boxes Scandal

Yes, it's frustrating watching the gears of various justice systems grind away, chewing on Donald Trump's crimes. It's easy to dwell on worry over the tedious soap opera pace of the process. 

Still, there really isn't all that much we, the people, can do to help Jack Smith or any of the other prosecutors do their jobs any quicker or any better. Our job rests outside the halls of justice in the court of public opinion. 

Pursuant to that, the ongoing Trump-spawned info crisis ought to be promoted to become a much-discussed political issue in 2023. Making that happen should be a high priority for Democrats. Good messaging on this front will lead to election day victories.

Obviously, some of the USA's top secret geopolitical information has been dealt with recklessly. We're just beginning to learn the true extent of the exposure. No one will be much surprised to hear tomorrow that yet another stash of Trump's "boxes" has been found where it ought not to be. 

Moreover, we're still guessing why Trump has coveted possession of the particular forbidden material he has been schlepping around and hiding. That's a mystery that may be solved by some crackerjack investigative journalists before Jack Smith's busy team can get around to it. 

When it comes to securing top secrets, America's government can't afford to be seen as butterfingered. Thus, the Biden administration has some work to do, in order to restore allies' belief that in D.C. sensitive information can be protected. 

Which means catching and punishing all the malfeasors of this classified boxes scandal is vital. Calling it a "scandal" is a bull's-eye. However, at this point the most important thing we, the democracy-advocates, can do concerning state secrets will be to make damn sure Trump and his sleazy accomplices never enter the White House again.

To stiff-arm the fascism threat in the USA, Trump's worshipers, who are candidates at any level, must be defeated on election day. No matter the outcomes in the courts in New York, Miami, Georgia and D.C., losing in the court of public opinion must be avoided.   

Bumper sticker: Secrets aren't safe in MAGA world. 

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1989's Goddess of Democracy in the Fan

May 30, 1989: As a symbol of their call for democratic reforms in China, the original Goddess of Democracy was built by art students who erected it in Tiananmen Square. The gathering protest on that site had begun in mid-April; tension was mounting.

Subsequently, on June 4, following orders, elements of the People’s Liberation Army put an end to the demonstration. Mayhem ensued. Although reports varied widely, hundreds, if not thousands, were killed.

Made of chicken wire and plaster the Goddess was destroyed during the brutal routing of the determined protesters who had remained to the end, in defiance. As the drama played out on television, via satellite, those events shocked the world.

In Richmond, as their art student counterparts in China were being murdered in the shadow of their 33-foot-tall sculpture, a group of local artists heard the call of inspiration to stand in support of those who had fallen. The impromptu team of the willing and able -- VCU-affiliated artists -- worked for the next couple of days to give form to their tribute to courage. The courage of those who had risked it all for the sake of freedom of expression.

While the ad hoc undertaking was not sponsored by the university, wisely, VCU didn't play it safe and discourage the gesture. Maybe the university's top dogs decided that it was a natural outgrowth from having a world class art school. 

Richmond’s Goddess of Democracy (pictured above and below) stood the same height and was made of the same basic materials as the one in China had been. Thirty-four years ago, facing the 900 block of West Main Street, it stood as a memorial for about a month in front of the student center. Eventually, weather was its undoing.

While it stood CNN had a report on it, as did many other news agencies. Its image was on front pages of newspapers all over the world.

The June 16 -30, 1989 issue of SLANT ran a story about construction and display of the Goddess. It included mention of a handbill that I found posted at the site of the VCU memorial. Here's a portion of the text that appeared on that small poster:

On May 13, 1989, Beijing University students began an occupation of Tiananmen Square to call for democratic reforms and an end to official corruption. The ensuing peaceful and often festive protest drew world attention and gained support from the citizens and workers of Beijing. On Sunday, June 4, at 3:30 [a.m.] Chinese time, troops of the 27th Division of the People’s Liberation Army entered the square with orders to disperse the students. At approximately 6 a.m. these same troops attacked the protestors with automatic weapons, tanks, and bayonets. 

According to government estimates only 300 students were killed, but local medical estimates put the death toll between 500 and 1,000.

The brutal suppression of unarmed students by a powerful totalitarian government has moved the world’s conscience. Many of the Tiananmen victims were art students who aspired to same basic freedoms which we enjoy daily. As American artists we cannot overlook, and we must never forget, the suffering and sacrifice of our brothers and sisters in Beijing. 

Their peaceful struggle was a cry for human rights everywhere, and their symbol, the Goddess of Democracy, was the highest artistic tribute they could pay to humanity’s noblest ideal -- freedom.

The little red-on-white placards on sticks that surrounded the sculpture (seen in the photos) were added a few days after the Fan District's Goddess was completed. To say the piece was thought-provoking is quite an understatement. As far as I know, nobody made a penny out of it.

Thinking back on it, this episode was also a good illustration of how the traditional left and right, liberal and conservative, characterizations of all things political don’t always do justice to the truth of a given situation. For instance, was the stubborn and heavy-handed Chinese government situated to the right, or to the left, of the upstart students calling for reform?

When communists are the conservatives clinging to the old way, how does that play out on a straight line spectrum of left-to-right thinking? It seems to me authoritarian regimes are what they are, regardless of how else they wish to be viewed from the outside.

Until what happened to the pedestal of the Robert E. Lee Monument in 2020, the Goddess of Democracy on VCU’s campus in the early-summer of 1989 was the most successful piece of guerilla art this scribbler had ever seen firsthand. Both happened spontaneously in my neighborhood, the Fan.

-- My photos 

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