Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook

Uproar After NC State Agent 'Fixes' Girl's Lunch Preschooler has to eat chicken nuggets instead of mom's meal »

Right Steals Left's Language of Protest

From 'Nazi' to 'my body,' conservatives are the new liberals

By Jason Farago, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 18, 2009 7:57 AM CDT

(Newser) – If you go to Amazon to buy Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky's classic treatise on left-wing protest, you'll see authors that other readers are also interested in: Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin, and GOP Sen. Jim DeMint. For Politico, that's one of many signs that conservatives have co-opted liberal techniques, from singing the pro-labor song "This Land Is Your Land" at tea parties to wearing pro-choice-esque "Keep Your Laws Off My Body" T-shirts.

"They've taken all the progressive arguments and made them conservative arguments," one professor said. Last week's anti-Obama rally, for example, called itself a March on Washington, and its logo featured a stylized raised fist reminiscent of the black power movement—intentionally. "We’re trying to borrow some from the Civil Rights movement,” said an organizer. “This is something people said in the office. If we had been alive back in the 1960s, we would have been on the freedom bus rides."

[Images (4)]

[Quotes (1)]

Clennon Alexander of Florida, holds up banner as she walks in Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009, during a taxpayer rally. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Demonstrators hold up banners during a taxpayer rally on Capitol Hill in Washington, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Demonstrators hold up banners on Capitol Hill in Washington, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009, during a taxpayer rally. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Demonstrators are shown during a rally at Freedom Plaza in Washington on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

If we had been alive back in the 1960s, we would have been on the freedom bus rides. It was an issue of individual liberty. We’re trying to borrow some from the Civil Rights movement. - A leader of the anti-government Taxpayer March on DC last week

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

Militia Kills 11, Burns Tents in Egypt Clash

Pro-democracy protesters fear generals will retain power

(AP) - Egyptian soldiers and police set fire to protest tents in the middle of Cairo's Tahrir Square and fired tear gas and rubber bullets in a major assault today to drive out thousands demanding that the military rulers quickly transfer power to a civilian government. At least 11 protesters were killed. It was the second day of clashes marking a sharp escalation of tensions on Egypt's streets a week before the first elections since the ouster of longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in February. More»

Bloomberg: 'Occupiers' Can Stay Indefinitely

'People want to express themselves': mayor

(NEWSER) - Turns out our huddled masses can breathe free as long as they want to. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said today that "Occupy Wall Street" protesters can continue to use Zuccotti Park as home base indefinitely, reports Politico via the Wall Street Journal . The park is just a few blocks away from Wall Street. “The bottom line is—people want to express themselves," Bloomberg says. "And as long as they obey the laws, we’ll allow them to." More»

Wall Street Protesters Refuse to Fade

They even have a makeshift hospital

(NEWSER) - The spirits of Wall Street protesters are apparently riding high despite yesterday's 700 arrests, the AP reports. Still camped out in New York's Financial District after more than two weeks, they're running laptops on a portable generator, eating donated food, and using a makeshift hospital. They even have their own newspaper: the Occupied Wall Street Journal. Officials "thought we were going to leave and we haven't left," says one protester. "We're going to stay as long as we can." More»

Iran Censors, Slows Internet to Quash Protests

Text messaging and mobile service also slowed, blocked

(NEWSER) - With the Iranian opposition staging a fresh wave of protests in the wake of the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings, authorities have stepped up a campaign to slow and censor the Internet to sabotage protesters' communication, according to Reporters Without Borders . Broadband service has slowed in major cities, a phenomenon noticed before major rallies in the last wave of demonstrations. More»

Bachmann: Obama Has Created a 'Nation of Slaves'

Rep's running with health reform=slavery

(NEWSER) - Looks like the far right is running with this health care reform-as-slavery meme. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann accused President Obama of “turning our country into a nation of slaves,” this weekend at a conservative summit in Denver, Politico reports. She was riffing on a quote from Revolutionary War poet John Jay, who declared that “posterity shall never reproach us with having brought slaves into the world.” More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Right Steals Left's Language of Protest