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How
Flagstaff Tea Party got its name
By Lisa Rayner
Tea Party Publisher
In November 1999, a small group of Flagstaff residents began
meeting to discuss the possibility of starting an alternative,
progressive newspaper. One of our points of discussion was what to
name the paper. A number of possibilities were tossed around,
including the “Flagstaff Monthly Moon” — a spoof of
Flagstaff’s daily newspaper, the Arizona Daily Sun, with feminist
and environmental connotations, “Flagstaff Watchdog,”
“Flagstaff Alternative Press” (FLAP) and “Flagstaff
Defender.” Dan Frazier, later to become the new newspaper’s
editor, came up with the winning name, “Flagstaff Tea Party.”
“Monthly Moon” eventually became the name of our monthly
calendar of events. “Flagstaff Watchdog” became the name of
former City Councilmember Norm Wallen’s occasional column.
Flagstaff Tea Party is a reference to the Boston Tea Party
(You might be surprised how many people don’t immediately
recognize the connection, asking what our newspaper has to do with
tea drinking).
The Boston Tea Party was a 1773 rebellion in which American
colonists led by Samuel Adams boarded three East India Company ships
and threw cases of tea overboard into Boston Harbor. The rebels were
disguised as Mohawk Indians. The Tea Party was a protest against
undemocratic and monopolistic practices by the British Monarchy and
British corporations.
England, in serious financial debt due to expenses incurred
during the Seven Years War (1756–1763), began imposing taxes on
many products to increase government revenue, especially goods sold
in the American colonies. One of the products, tea, became a target
for protests and boycotts. Colonists organized to drink teas made
from local herbs and berries instead. Many merchants joined the
boycott and refused to buy or sell English tea. The experience
galvanized citizen’s desire to form a new, more democratic nation.
Due to the effects of the boycott, the East India Company
veered toward bankruptcy. The multi-national corporation (one of the
world’s first) convinced the English government to pass the Tea
Act of 1773, which gave the company the right to sell tea directly
in the colonies, bypassing the merchants without having to pay the
taxes that the merchants were required to pay. Thus, the corporation
was able to undersell American merchants still selling tea and
monopolize the tea trade. “Taxation without representation”
became a new rallying cry of Americans who despised living under a
Monarchy located thousands of miles away. The resentment of
colonists eventually led to the American Declaration of Independence
and the American Revolution.
The organizers of Flagstaff Tea Party also hoped that the
newspaper would become a voice of rebellion against the unjust
powers of global corporate rule and wealthy aristocracy. We wanted
to provide Flagstaff with an alternative source of news and analysis
about local issues including local politics, ecology and
sustainability, sprawl, locally grown food, economic democracy, the
unfair competition to small businesses from Big Box retailers,
regional tribal issues and many other topics.
We also
envisioned Flagstaff Tea Party as a forum for discussion — a tea
party in print — of topics usually avoided in the mainstream,
corporate-owned press. We wanted to stimulate discussion about how
to make Flagstaff, Arizona, the U.S. and global civic society more
democratic. We also hoped that our efforts would encourage greater
activist involvement in the Flagstaff area.
As an afterthought, we also realized there was a connection
to the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party in Alice in Wonderland. This
also seemed fitting, as we hoped to offer interesting and thoughtful
perspectives outside the status quo to a wider audience.
Flagstaff Tea Party began organizing just before the launch
of the global democracy movement at the November 1999 WTO Seattle
protest (Flagstaff Tea Party Publisher Lisa Rayner attended the
demonstrations).
The Tea Party name is now being used by a variety of
organizations seeking to extend the democratic aims of the
Declaration of Independence to their full social, political,
economic and ecological potential around the world. For example,
Marjorie Kelly author of The
Divine Right of Capital, writes, “How did the American
Revolution start? Not with writing laws, but with folks dressing up
like Indians and throwing tea off ships. It started with a prank.
… We can think of these (pranks and other activities that get
people thinking about democracy) as Tea Parties, like the Boston Tea
Party. We hope to encourage Tea Parties like these around the
country.”
Flagstaff Tea
Party is an experiment in citizen journalism, a way for residents to
write and discuss progressive issues with one another. Won’t you
join us?
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