Inauguration 2001: A Citizens' Oath of Office

Robert Jensen

On Inauguration Day 2001, standing on the steps of the State Capitol just a  few blocks from the governor's mansion that George W. Bush recently had  vacated, about 1,000 Austin residents raised their hands as I administered  a Citizens' Oath of Office:

"I do solemnly pledge that I will faithfully execute the office of citizen  of the United States, and that I will, to the best of my ability, resist  corporate control of the world, resist militarism, resist the roll-back of  civil rights, and resist illegitimate authority in all its forms."

Bush's inauguration in Washington earlier that day made it clear to all of  us that whatever radical and progressive political organizing we had done  during the eight noxious years of the "New Democrat" administration of  Clinton must be intensified during the toxic four years to come under a  Bush administration.

The possibilities for that organizing were plainly visible from looking at  the range of people in the spirited, noisy and passionate crowd -- from  Democrats to the Radical Anarchist Marching Band. On the platform,  representatives of the NAACP and Green Party, the American Civil Liberties  Union and University of Texas Radical Action Network, the National  Organization for Women and International Socialist Organization, all spoke  to a common theme: the need to build a popular movement to challenge power  and keep alive radical and progressive politics.

While many in the crowd voted for Al Gore, there was a consensus that a  Democratic Party which has moved so clearly and consistently to the right  -- embracing reactionary domestic policies, such as Clinton's so-called  welfare "reform" law, and pursuing brutal and inhumane foreign policy, such  as the ongoing bombing/sanctions policy toward Iraq -- is not going to be  at the forefront of a progressive movement.

In Austin we chanted, "He's not my president." But I also said that if Gore  had been elected, for me the chant would have been the same. The  politicians of both major parties who have surrendered the promise of real  democracy to corporate interests will never be leaders of the people.

If Bush is not our president, and Gore wouldn't have been either, the  question is clear: Who can be our leader?

At that moment, I asked the people in the crowd to turn to the person next  to them, then turn to the other side, and then to look at themselves. If  our movements are to be truly popular movements, leadership will come from  us. It will be diffuse. We will all, at some point and in some fashion,  have to step forward to claim both the right and the obligation to lead.

Popular movements don't search for leaders, they produce leaders. Such  movements -- to abolish slavery, win labor organizing rights, end wars --  have won real gains for human freedom and justice, not because of leaders  but because of the moral vision and courage of all the people who did not  turn away from the struggle.

The last phrase of the citizens' oath we took in Austin echoes the "Call to  Resist Illegitimate Authority" issued in 1967 by Americans struggling to  end their government's barbaric attack on the people of Vietnam. Those were  grim times, certainly no less scary and threatening than the situation we  face today. But people struggled, fought, resisted -- against the grain and  against the odds.

The powerful have added new weapons to their arsenals -- structural  adjustment programs and World Trade Organization rules whose effects are as  lethal as a B-52 bombing run. Just as their strategies for domination and  control have "matured," so have our analyses and strategies for fighting back.

But the essence of the struggle is unchanged, and our pledge should  conclude with the same words as the 1967 pledge: "Now is the time to resist."

Robert Jensen is a professor in the Department of Journalism at the  University of Texas at Austin. He can be reached at  rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu.