University of Virginia Library

'Getting Together' In Washington

essentially a passivist phenomenon.
It's spiritual father was Woodstock,
not Chicago. It is because of this
that half a million people came, it is
because of this that ninety-percent
of those did not feel like looking
for trouble, and it is because of this
that the Movement if there is such a
thing, will be able to stop the
American tyrant cold and change
the course of history, as soon as it
realizes its true identity.

If you were in that crowd on the
Mall about four that afternoon you
would have seen some mighty
bored and tired looking people,
almost unanimously disgusted with
the rhetorical garbage they were
getting from political speaker
(only Dick Gregory really inspired
enthusiasm as a speaker and not a
symbol, like, say, Spock). Then you
would have heard the introduction
of "a new member of the movement..."
and then a kind of tired
silence... and then WOW the most
incredible banjo picking in the
world and everybody coming alive
all together and YAHOO!! grabbing
hands with your neighbor and
dancing around a circle and running
together in the middle hugging each
other for happiness and relief and
warmth and love and screaming
MORE MORE MORE!

That was not a political crowd.
Those people came for love, they
came for each other. Although out
of that love they were willing to
walk a cold mile for whatever help
it might give a good cause, they
came, not for the cause, but for
each other.

The trouble with radical activism
is that sooner or later, to keep
on fighting, it helps to hate. The
crowd refused to hate Jerry Rubin
wasn't kidding when he said he felt
like an outsider.

The opposition is clearly there,
but it is passive, not active. It is
radical, not liberal, remaining uniquely
and incorruptibly true to its
ethic which is love and its tactics
which are not to have tactics (or
speeches or marches or confrontation
or wars). This is the opposition
that the government will not be
able to handle, for this is not the
'new rhetoric' of some 'new politics,'
this is the new life style of a
new culture.

This is a cultural revolution.
Don't try to make it political
because politics is passe, politics
fights wars to end wars, politics has
its head up its ass, politics is what
Richard Nixon does. This may well
be the first generation in the
history of the world to turn down
politics.

It's about time.

Where the whole thing goes
from here is hard to say. Keeping
firmly in mind the desire of this
generation not to be forced to
cooperate in war, and the fact that
the Government would be hard
pressed to have wars without our
assistance, it might be a good idea
to use the power of the cultural
revolution to create an opportunity,
as Woodstock did, for people
to get together simply for the
pleasure of each other's company
and music (the kinetic art and
literature of the generation) and
dope or whatever. If a million or
two million people (who knows
what the limit is?) could get
together and simultaneously commit
one great big radical passive act
which would include one million
burned draft cards as a symbol of
with the government,
the effect would be incredible.
The effect would be at least
incredible.

Most people, if given the choice,
would rather not be drafted, and
would rather not have draft cards.
Most people would turn them in if
they didn't think they would go to
jail for it. Nixon couldn't operate a
draft if most people refused to
support it.

We support the draft out of fear.
We support the war out of fear. We
support the Government out of
fear.

We are afraid because we are not
together.

We are getting together. Finally.

Look out, Nixon. If the young
of America decided to fight you,
(which is playing your game) you
could do something about it. But
what will you do when the youth
of America decide to ignore you?

Mr. Gan, a second year man
at the University and formerly
associated with Rapier magazine,
will be featured as a regular
columnist in The Cavalier Daily.
Another new Column, by
fourth-year men Stefan
Lopatkiewicz and George Yates,
made its initial appearance in last
Friday's edition.