civil rights farters

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: GUEST,ossonflags
Date: 12 Mar 03 - 01:38 AM

Just thought someone might be intrested.

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 07:35 PM

Talk about 'pressure groups'.

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: GUEST,ossonflags
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 02:57 AM

As my original thread stated it was a genuine request for info that started this. I have now gleaned what I was after and I thank you all.

I believe the following to be tne basis of the story I was told.
Saul Alinsky, who called himself a "professional radical," had a national reputation as a rambunctious organizer who got results. Born in Chicago in 1909 and raised in a family of Orthodox Jews, he had followed an unconventional path through the working-class battles of the 1930s. Neither a Communist nor a Trotskyite, but rather a Midwestern populist with an abiding faith in "the people," he believed that the poor would succeed in political struggle only if they formed their own pressure groups. Unlike the staid old leftists, he wasn't afraid to use obscenity or to be irreverent, if not downright crude. Among his legendary tactics were the "piss-in" and the "fart-in." At "piss-ins" thousand of demonstrators would invade bathrooms to urinate and flush toilets simultaneously. At "fart-ins" demonstrators would eat massive amounts of beans and later break wind together at corporate head quarters, forcing executives to evacuate offices. By merely threatening to use these tactics, Alinsky often won his demands, making himself highly in demand as a community organizer.

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: catspaw49
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 04:32 PM

Well Genie, I'm not even making minimum wage anymore. I guess the demand for us has dwindled since people are getting all they want along these lines out of Washington DC.............It's a sad situation for those of us in the Flatulence And Rectal Tones Union.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: Genie
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 04:00 PM

BTW, Stewart's links to the woodcuts showing "professional farters" begs the question:

How much could a professional farter earn in a good year?


Genie

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: Kim C
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 03:58 PM

Like Ben Franklin used to say, Fart Proudly.

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: greg stephens
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 03:52 PM

Is there a connection here to Harold McMillan's famous speech "there is a wind of change blowing through the African continent"?

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: GUEST,ossonflags
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 03:44 PM

Thanks RichM,I was nearly right!!!!!

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: GUEST,JohnB
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 12:15 PM

This is one form of protest which has to be done extremely carefully OR you can end up in the shit ;0
JohnB

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: CarolC
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 11:30 AM

Plus, in the deep south, in that era, Black folks wouldn't have been allowed into the opera in the first place.

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: CarolC
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 11:28 AM

ossonflag's initial post asked if this was a practice in the deep south during the civil rights era.

"Organizer Saul Alinski once had poor black folks eat beans, then attend an opera in Chicago to fart for economic justice."

That's hardly the deep south, is it?

I'd still be very surprised to hear about that sort of thing happening in the deep south. As I mentioned before, Black people were killed for less in that part of the country back then. And in the deep south, the Black activists were being organized by Martin Luther King, not Saul Alinski. You can bet your beano that Dr. King would have counseled against such tactics.

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 09:42 AM

I think the picture that Stewart links to is of one of the first Punch the Horse gigs, you can see Harpmaker at the bottom right of the pic!

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 09:09 AM

In the woodcut one of the farters appears dangerously close to the flames. The blowback can be most uncomfortable!

Nigel

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: RichM
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 09:08 AM

"Organizer Saul Alinski once had poor black folks eat beans, then attend an opera in Chicago to fart for economic justice. "

quoted from http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/archives/Aug99/0266.html
after google search for the words "beans fart protest alinski"

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: Genie
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 01:23 AM

My, my, Stewart, you really are a storehouse of such wondrous archival treasures!

Genie

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: Stewart
Date: 03 Mar 03 - 07:39 PM

Sorry, that should be 1581, see also CLICK HERE

S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: Stewart
Date: 03 Mar 03 - 07:33 PM

That's nothing new. Professional farters (known as bruigeadoiri) are shown in a 1851 woodcut print by John Derricke CLICK HERE

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: David Ingerson
Date: 03 Mar 03 - 06:18 PM

I tend to concur with the postings above. Carol and Spaw put it in context. I was not deeply involved in the civil rights movement but did spend two weeks at the Poor Peoples' Campaign in Washington, DC, and then a month in the federal pen, much of that time with other protesters. I never heard of it.

David

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: catspaw49
Date: 03 Mar 03 - 06:04 PM

I can't believe it at all. Carol and all have voiced it well. You would more likely have seen that behavior out of white (KKK style) protesters across the street! No matter which angle of African-American attack you take, be it MLK, Panthers, or Muslim, the pride factored in heavily and to do something to show themselves in any other light is ridiculous to contemplate. I never saw or heard anything about it in the late 60's and on past. If it happened anywhere, I'm sure it would have been shut down immediately.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: Amos
Date: 03 Mar 03 - 05:17 PM

Never heard of it from any of the civil rights people of any color that I worked with.


A

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: MMario
Date: 03 Mar 03 - 04:10 PM

sounds like urban myth to me - I certainly don't recall any mention of it during the 50's,60's

Subject: RE: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: CarolC
Date: 03 Mar 03 - 04:00 PM

Back then, in the deep south, that sort of thing could get a person killed. I'd be interested to see if this was really done, but it sure doesn't sound right to me.

The other thing that bothers me about it is the fact that Black people who were involved in the civil rights movement understood that behaving badly would only hurt their cause, not help it. If you look at old film footage of Civil Rights actions, you'll see only very well groomed and polite people behaving impeccably.

My mother was involved in the civil rights movement, and I sure don't remember any of her black friends talking about anything like that back then.

Subject: Folklore: civil rights farters
From: GUEST,ossonflags
Date: 03 Mar 03 - 03:18 PM

Contrary to how the thread name might sound,is a seriouse request for information.

Some one once told me that in the deep south of america during the strive for civil rights, our black comrades were allowed to attend, but could not speak at political meetings.

To show their contempt for this piece of injustice they would "fart" at the white speakers at the appropriate moment.

I have actually seen a bumper sticker from that period that say's
" I FART THEREFORE I VOTE" Have scored the net for any info but drew a blank.

is there any one who can help?