Doug Henwood wrote:
>
>
>
> I loved hearing about QC; I regret not having been there. I love it
> that when elites meet, mass actions are almost certain
> accompaniments. I love it that the ruling class is losing control of
> the agenda. But what more can we say? What's next? Where to from
> here? That's why I asked Chuck what he thought we should be
> discussing about it; I'm all ears.
>
What I have missed in the discussions both in print and in cyberspace of Seattle etc is accounts of the local organizing that went into creating the mass demonstrations. With rare exceptions, mass demonstrations (peaceful / aggressive / violent) are not so important in themselves as they are as benchmarks of the level of local activity and of the success of that local activity in linking itself to national and international issues.
To put it another way -- the main 'target' of the large mass demonstrations are the demonstrators themselves, who are to be energized to raise the level of their local activity when they return home.
What is happening in the areas where the demonstrators come from? Did any of those demonstrators in their preparation include attempting to organize support demonstrations in the localities from which they came?
The genius of the Moratorium was in its linking of local activity to the mass demonstrations in Washington & San Francisco.
Carrol