Nathan Newman wrote:
> Organizing is all about recognizing that there are a whole range of
> different people in society, who will be moved to action and changes in
> social consciousness through a range of different tactics. If you are
> unwilling to go to jail for your beliefs, no radical change will likely be
> possible. But if you disdain letter writing campaigns and other tactics
to
> reach and empower new folks, no radical change will be possible either.
-Damn, I forgot! That letter writing campaign secured that pardon for -Leonard Peltier.
Funny Chuck- you are so busy trying to be more-radical-than-thou, you missed the point. I wasn't even talking about results - since breaking windows at Starbucks or even the shootout that landed Peltier in jail in the first place also do not necessarily get certain results.
But my point was about reaching people to mobilize them, following up on the other Chuck's point- people are not always ready to get arrested, so if you don't start them on letter writing, they may never get to the point of getting arrested.
>When you argue this old liberal canard about the activists taking
>responsibility for their actions, you are using the nonviolence
>yardstick to measure the dimensions of our protest. We make no pretense
>of being law-abiding citizens who are using nonviolence to challenge
>unjust laws.
Fine- but why you whine about others having different strategies is beyond me. You want to undermine their strategies and they want to pursue theirs. The Black Bloc types are more authoritarian in dictating tactics to others than any group of activists out there.
>I don't know if you've ever been in jail for a political offense, but I
>have.
I have, a number of times. Nothing particularly bad happened to me, so I won't write elegies to my courage, but as I've noted, I don't talk where I haven't done.
>Yes, a range of tactics can accomplish great goals, but I snicker when
>those who lecture about these historical lessons try to narrow the
>parameters of dissent. Those of you who were activists in the 1960s did
>some great things, but you guys certainly didn't invent mass resistance
>or civil disobedience, for that matter.
I was in preschool in the 60s, so I don't know what you are talking about with this. I'm an activist of the 80s and 90s who has been arrested with anarchists, priests and every other variety of activist, and probably participated in most forms of activism that have been invented. And I agree new ones are being created all the time-- in fact, innovation is probably the most important part of activism.
And who is trying to "narrow the parameters of dissent"- I noted that dissent ranges from letter writing to direct action. It is the Black Bloc types who are attacking the folks who marched nonviolently.
As the saying goes, get the plank out of your own eye.
-- Nathan