good news

[Chuck0]

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> 
> >Hi Listers,
> >
> >Just want to point out that while the WWP/IAC were initially -- and in my
> >view, unfortunately, for all the reasons Nathan and ChuckO have mentioned --
> >the most prominent anti-war "coalitions," they certainly don't control the
> >movement anymore. Not on campuses, not in numerous IAC-free coalitions in
> >cities and communities nationwide, not among religious types and not among
> >people of color and immigrants working against the war in their own
> >communities.
> >
> >WWP is still more visible than I'd like, but I agree with Paulsen's comment
> >that some on the list are exaggerating its power. The eclipsing of the WWP
> >doesn't mean that the anti-war movement doesn't still have a lot of the same
> >problems it did; one of reasons the WWP bothers some of us so much is that
> >its flaws aren't unlike much of the rest of the left, just in a more
> >exaggerated cartoonish form (bland mechanistic slogans, boring protests,
> >cookie-cutter analysis, self-marginalization). Still, the emergence of all
> >these other elements in the anti war movement is a very good thing.
> >
> >Liza
> 
> 99.99% of any organizing, be it anti-war or anything else, is rather
> "bland" and "boring," however.  The most important jobs of a
> political organizer are among the most mundane & tedious: to collect
> phone numbers, e-addresses, & addresses of activists & would-be
> activists, organize them in a usable database, & update it
> continuously; to send info of upcoming events & meetings in a timely
> & reader-friendly manner; to know what skills & resources other
> organizers have at their disposal; etc.  You marginalize yourself if
> you avoid the mundane & tedious.
> --
> Yoshie

Yoshie: I think you are missing Liza's point. The WWP always organizes
the same *types* of protests: permitted marches and rallies. They don't
engage in direct action, civil disobedience, or anything militant or
illegal.

There's nothing wrong with a specific group that doesn't want to do
those things, but if you want to pretend that you "lead" a movement,
then you can't be stifling coalition members who want to do somthing
different.

Yes, organizing work is boring and tedious, but it is not the same thing
as a protest. Organizing work means going to meetings, calling people on
the phone, putting up posters, updating the website, sending out emails,
knocking on doors, putting together literature, talking to printers,
doing interviews, and a thousand other details.

Chuck0