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Meet the Radical Cheerleaders
Edited for laughs:They fight bombs with pompoms and kick high for consciousness. The Radical Cheerleaders, a loose network of young, mostly female activists, have put a new face on protest. Using the same moves performed by a high school pep squad, theyâve heckled for livable wages at an Alabama Taco Bell, chanted anti-war rhymes on Boston Common and marched in the Saskatchewan Pride Parade. "We do for our fellow activists what cheerleaders do for sports players: we get people going," said Betsy Housten, 24, of the New York City Radical Cheerleaders. Housten has cheered at the mayorâs doorstep to demand citywide recycling and at a burlesque club to raise money for a feminist bookstore. Now her group is collecting anti-globalization cheers for a trip to Miami, where large demonstrations are planned for Nov. 19-21, when Pan-American leaders meet to discuss the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Thatâs next week, we need pictures. "Itâs not just the same "1, 2, 3, 4, we donât want your racist war" stuff thatâs been around since the sixties," Housten said. Cheers have changed, agenda still the same. There are squads in Phoenix, San Diego and Ottawa and on several college campuses, with names like the Rocky Mountain Rebels and the Memphis Dirty Southern Belles. Many have their own Web sites, featuring cheers and links to other activist groups. Some, like the New York cheerleaders, use Internet newsgroups and telephone hot lines to organize practices and rallies. Itâs hard to estimate the number of radical cheerleading groups in the country, since nobodyâs keeping track. Their largest gathering to date was in 2001, when squads from all over North America attended a convention in Ottawa. Organizers expect about 1,000 cheerleaders to protest in Miami. Well, theyâll be more entertaining than the other puppets. The cheerleadersâ reach extends beyond North America: In 2000, OâHara said, American activists started a cheerleading squad outside the International Monetary Fund meeting in Prague. It included women from all over Europe. "Now there are squads in Sweden, London, Warsaw and Ireland," said 26-year-old Emily OâHara, a founder of the New York squad who is known on the protest circuit as Mary Christmas. "Itâs becoming this new crazy thing there." Youâll got the "crazy" part right. Groups like the Radical Cheerleaders contribute to the sense of festivity at a political rally, says Todd Gitlin, a social activism expert and professor at Columbia Universityâs Graduate School of Journalism. Another example of why journalism continues itâs downward slide. "Often people who organize demonstrations want to do more than apply their presence to political ends," Gitlin said. "They want to project a presence that seems like an embodiment of their values. Cheerfulness says, âwe are having a better time than they are. It promises recruits, âstick around, youâll have more fun.â" Hot chicks will do that. Posted by: Steve 2003-11-14 |
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