Heavy Weather for Patriotism

Heavy WeatherHeavy Weather for Patriotism
4th of July, 2006 Austin, Texas

We gather in the big park waiting for the evening concert and fireworks. I have an uncontrollable feeling of deja vu. Some semi-familiar music is playing: American songs, kind of patriotic, kind of rock, kind of spiritual... those same songs that we in Europe, out of context, associate with an American dream.
Here on the ground, Texan families, mostly poor people, gather under the menacing clouds, with food, drinks and flags. Less than a month ago I saw a turbo-folk crowd in Belgrade: and I know that Ceca' s music, for those who don’t understand her, may sound exotic. It's no more exotic than this Texan country music. These Texans don’t raise three fingers in nationalist Serb gestures, but they have have red-white-and-blue flags on their heads, clothes and babies. One middle-aged cowboy reprimands us for touching "his" pigeons in the public park. He has a small flag sticking from of his back pocket of his pants. The American flag dangles like a straw tail, in grave danger of catching fire.
As the crowds gather, so do the storm-clouds, and by the time the music is playing the rain is heavily falling. When the American national anthem is played, we are required to stand and applaud, if not sing along. The couple with two small kids behind me are placing their hands on their chests. He has tears in his eyes, while she is solemn as only a mother of soldiers can be. People persist in the rain, crouching under plastic throws, umbrellas, or nothing. Booming thunderbolts lighten the dark sky. I am alarmed because of the metal objects we are wearing. When the cannons explode in the 1812 Overture, I jump, startled: the old Russian cannons that rescued Moscow from Napoleon are bad taste for somebody who survived a modern NATO bombing.More heavy WeatherPatriotism The Code Pink women for peace have rallied in a small group, protesting the war at the top of a hill. An activist tells me: I don’t want to do this any more. These are the same ten anti-war Austinites who always show up for these things. I want to take action that matters. We Americans don’t know how to live any more. These people here are full of fear and blind faith. That’s what brought them here with their flags. My American friend is increasingly rainsoaked and growing rather gloomy. He glumly explains the three major corporate sponsors of this patriotic national event:1) HEB, a grocery chain whose mass-produced food makes these people fat and sick.2) A private Bank for the rich, which keeps them in debt and that robs them. 3) Exxon Mobil, the giant petrol company which brings them wars for oil, pollution cancers, and also wrecks the climate. Global warming... the roiling, bruise-colored sky make this one the true dark star of this national disaster celebration.