What Does Democracy Look Like?

This last weekend, I was one of about fifty students from Middlebury College to travel down to Washington, D.C. to take part in the "largest climate rally in US history" against the Keystone Pipeline. I don't want to make this post terribly political (as this is a photo blog), but suffice it to say the main arguments against the building to the pipeline are the risks of building such a large pipeline over sensitive land, issues of indigenous sovereignty that have not been resolved, the incredible uncleanliness of oil from the Tar Sands, and of course opposition to the fossil fuel industry in general. Anybody interested in more information on it might want to start here or here. 


It was also a good opportunity to take some pictures. Be warned- lots of them follow.

The rally began beneath the Washington Monument, where ground rules for activism were laid down and several famous figures, including Bill McKibben, Van Jones, Rosario Dawson, Reverend Yearwood, and the chiefs of several Native American tribes, gave speeches to the crowd. The energy was really incredible.

This is a terrible picture, but that's Rosario Dawson with the mike. Several other famous people can also be seen.

The crowd

One of the things that really struck me about the rally was the composition of the crowd. General stereotypes would imply that it would be mostly be patchouli-infused college students with radical ideas and a poor grasp of the real situation (to my college student friends reading this: this is in NO WAY my opinion of you. Chill.). Instead, I was shocked by how many older people were in attendance- I think I saw more people over fifty than under 20. Just that in and of itself was encouraging, and inspiring. There were people of all ages and all races and backgrounds; often the only unifying factor was a deep concern for the environment.

Naturally, Anonymous appeared.

Lest the sunny skies deceive you, it was cold cold cold in DC, with a really brutal wind. I think that made the huge numbers that turned up even more impressive.

Why he was blowing a shofar I have no idea. With activism, there are many things you learn not to question.

Like I said.

I thought the symbolism in this was really amazing.

The brass band was a little unexpected, if not unpleasant.

The point of the rally was to march around the White House, a symbolic way of putting pressure on President Obama to reject the pipeline. The president, however, was in Florida golfing with major businessmen involved in the pipeline. Not exactly encouraging.

This man was in his 80s, and traveled all the way from Boston (from what I could hear) to be part of the rally, despite the fact he was on oxygen.

So what does Democracy look like? Does the rally represent democracy? I can't say I really know. On the one hand, I think our political system would be much more effective and, well, democratic if a larger portion of the population were this involved in politics. On the other hand, despite the huge turnout, I don't know if the demands of the crowd were reflective of the desires of the majority of the population, in the same way that I don't think the Tea Party rallies a couple years ago were reflective of the majority viewpoint (at least I hope not). Recent polls have suggested that a majority of Americans are in favor of construction of the pipeline. Personally, of course, I couldn't be more against it, and I think that if more were informed about it there would be less popular support. But nonetheless, there's a need for a balance between activism and popular will. 

Overall though, it was a really interesting experience, and I'm glad I came. I can't say I'm hugely optimistic for the outcome of it all, but I also haven't given up hope. I think this is an issue that will become increasingly important as time goes on, and it's a nice feeling knowing I'll be able to say I was on the right side of history.

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