Accusations of piecemeal change get nothing done

Editor,

I am one of those who has stood in solidarity with the (un)Occupiers since the beginning, and while I cannot speak for the movement as a whole, I can speak for myself as one of the protesters who often uses a smartphone and other mobile devices.

The argument against the local (un)Occupy group written in Friday’s Daily Lobo by Chris Quintana is as frivolous and ridiculous today as it was when it was made against the occupiers in New York last fall by members of the national media.

We live in a world in which almost everything we do is mediated by corporations that put profit before people. The gas you pump into your car is inexorably tied to the slavery of millions of Saudis, who are tied to an ideology supported by their leaders to keep their people in check.

The food on your dinner table is picked by wage slaves with no rights, who fear to speak out because Americans are unsympathetic to “illegals.” Your clothes are made by children in Bangkok who will never receive an adequate education. Further, the power which you use every day to do most of the basic tasks of daily life pollutes the air of Navajos living in the Four Corners region of this very state.

Piecemeal attempts to change the system, like those championed by the author, are not enough on their own. For most of us, everything we do, every single day, is drenched in the blood and pain of our fellow human beings. The only way to change this is by changing the whole system.

The real crux of the argument made by Mr. Quintana against the iPhone and other mobile devices seems to surround the idea that they are a luxury without recognizing the incredible amount of personal and organizational empowerment such devices afford.

These devices are tools as well as toys. They have allowed protesters to report how they are oppressed by the police and recruit others to their cause. They ensure the bought media notices us. It is only through the use of these devices that people on a broader scale actually know what is going on in our movement.

The mistake of the ‘60s was the idea that personal action, commitment and sacrifice are all that is required to change the system. This is not true. We need visibility and organization to get our points across. These devices help us with both tasks.

Further, to ask us to “smash our iPhones,” after they have already been produced and sold, is the moral equivalent of asking for a book-burning because you don’t like how the book was made. To give them up is to play the game with one hand behind your back. You can do that if you want, but I won’t. I want a world where my every action isn’t drenched in blood. I want to change the system.

Thomas Jones
UNM student