St. Pete Food Not Bombs stands in solidarity with St. Pete for Peace, both in their efforts to bring attention to the issues of war, violence and oppression, and in support of the protesters arrested last Saturday evening at Baywalk.
In our view, the recent appearance of barricades at Baywalk is part of a larger and disturbing trend – one which uses tactics ranging from intimidation to privatization in order to restrict and limit the use of public, community space to activities that corporate America deems acceptable and, more important, profitable. In an historical sense of the word, this is nothing new – the native Americans could probably tell you a lot about the taking of public space - however in this era of mega-corporations, consolidated media outlets and intermingling of the State house and the executive board room, the corporate land grab has been raised to a veritable art form, often – no, always – at the expense of its most vulnerable citizens…the homeless, the poor, the youth, the aging, the disabled, and the environment with all its precious life-forms that occupy property not yet commodified by rapacious developers.
But in addition to all this, access to the marketplace of ideas and diversity of culture is also being snatched away from the public square. This is not just a loss to a handful of anti-war demonstrators. It is not just a loss to the homeless and the youth in this community – the city has plans for them, too, by the way. This is a loss to all citizens who are rapidly being compartmentalized, labeled and pushed into a box marked either “target market audience” or “inconvenient non-consumer.”
Whether it is Equality Florida in Tampa, fighting for the right to celebrate its gay and lesbian authors in a public library or a 14 year old protester in St. Petersburg fighting for his right to use a public sidewalk as a forum for dissent, the loss of their voice is a blow to the democratic health of an entire community. This is true whether you agree or disagree with any given struggle, because it is impossible to find new solutions to old problems such as war and violence in corporate-controlled uni-culture of “yes men.” One wonders if Sembler Company would have allowed Galileo to stand on the public sidewalk proclaiming that the earth revolved around the sun if it disrupted the bottom line. An extreme example, yes, but it should be noted that this theory was much less popular in its time than opposition to the war is today.
There is plenty of private space in this country. Look at the block upon which Baywalk sits and note how much space on this city block belongs to Sembler Company. Compare it to how much belongs to the public – this, even though public tax dollars not only paid for the streets and the sidewalks, but subsidized the construction of the complex itself. Private space on this block consists of a huge multi-million dollar consumer compound where those who choose to do so can immerse themselves for hours in a spectacle of shiny objects, unperturbed by the sight of poverty, death, disease and despair. Public space, on the other hand, consists of a narrow strip of sidewalk a few feet wide. Now this public space has become even smaller, and if Sembler has its way, it will become non-existent.
The old analogy of boiling a frog is relevant to this discourse. As the American public gradually becomes more and more immersed in the boiling pot of corporate control, we are losing our lives inch by inch. The loss of public space is just another symptom of a much deeper issue. Because when we begin arresting 14 year olds for participating in the democratic process, it is clear that we are also losing our souls.