Prometheus Unbound: Poetics of Power and La Megamarcha Dos Mil Seis Los Angeles

To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;To defy Power, this seems omnipotent;To love, and hear; to hope till Hope createsFrom its own wreck the thing it contemplates.Prometheus Unbound, 18201Percy Bysshe ShellyIn ancient Greek myth, Prometheus is the Titan who most loves mortals. Zeus assigns him to the creation of the human race, and Prometheus designs the human race in the image of the gods. While Zeus does not provide the people with a means of survival, Prometheus gives them fire. To punish him, Zeus orders that Prometheus be chained to the highest summit of the Caucasus mountains where his liver is to be eaten by an eagle; because the Titan is immortal, the organ re-grows and is eaten anew every day.The story of Prometheus' rebellion against the Olympian chief has been adapted by writers throughout the ages, and each version has its particular uses. Though almost entirely lost, the original Greek play by Aeschylus had Zeus and Prometheus eventually kiss and make up after Prometheus is freed and their accounts are settled. In Shelly's verse drama there is no reconciliation. In Goethe's poem "Prometheus," the two are portrayed as natural enemies; one is allied with humankind, the other is an authoritarian and unsympathetic godhead.Goethe has Prometheus first ruminate on the innocence of humankind and then declare himself its protector in a notable act of solidarity against abusive power:Here sit I, forming mortalsAfter my image;A race resembling me,To suffer, to weep,To enjoy, to be glad,And thee to scorn,As I! 2Having identified with man, Prometheus, man's progenitor, vigorously asserts their common fate vigorously claims a common fate that they will share beginning with, "to suffer." This mutual condition, seen vis-a-vis Zeus' omnipotence, leads to the assertion of the final line where identification culminates in what we might today term "coalition politics." Just like (wo) man is made in the image of Prometheus, so too will s/he come to defy arbitrary and abusive power.Today, the adjective "Promethean" may be attributed to anyone with remarkable boldness, ingenuity, and creativity and I would argue these descriptors apply to the immigration megamarch of March 25 in Los Angeles in 2006. The Los Angeles Times reported police estimates of 500,000 people; organizers cited twice as much, placing the number at one million participants.3 Latinos and sympathizers of all backgrounds poured into the L.A. downtown streets not marching in homogenous unison but in polyrhythm. Observers took note of the fact that the march was multiethnic, multinational, and multigenerational. Many a baby stroller, infant backpack, and even family pet accompanied the marchers. And not all marchers were the same. A considerable amount of them came in contingents: student groups, grass roots and political action organizations, conchero dancers, a large party of the F.M.L.N., religious groups, and the South Central Farmers, among others, marched as distinct groups displaying their respective affiliations peacefully and en masse. Sensenbrenner's H.R. 4437 was the rallying cause but the potential for such a movement had always been there: as several signs proclaimed, "The Giant Wasn't Sleeping: S/he Was Working!"This was a new cultural event that went beyond the immediate and urgent political goal of rejecting anti-immigrant policy-making. Its elements, which normally extend in individually variegated, private or semi-private gestures of resistance throughout the geographical expanse of metropolitan L.A. and southern California, had been bound together and were in full swing, radiating Promethean audacity. Internal differences aside, the pluralism of the marchers promulgated a form of unity in coalition, and this was best expressed by the chosen attire of the marchers. Organizers and the Spanish-language media had asked for white to be worn. …