Doug Henwood wrote:
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>
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> If the broader public thinks that demonstrators = al Qaeda, then
> agitation and sloganeering have to correct the impression, not
> reinforce it. Make the guys inside the Waldorf into the real
> perpetrators of violence. Talking about burning banks is exactly the
> wrong thing to do. I think militancy itself can be made plausible, if
> not acceptable. If it's done right.
>
As I have said before (and in fact Engels made the point in Anti-Duhring), what you are doing is complaining about the weather. There are _always_ going to be all sorts of riff-raff surrounding any movement. Are you recruiting your own contingent with different slogans.
"The Broader Public" of course is a myth -- you are not going to please them regardless of what you do. But you can expand your reach if you do it right. (I like that tautology.) You need a slogan that will reach those along the march (no one else will ever hear of it: don't depend on the press or TV) who _might_ have thought of joining the march and bringing a few friends along if you had reached them sooner. Reach them. Then they will be there with friends (and perhaps even new ideas) the next time. Forget about the crazies. Forget about the "broader public." Nothing you do will make a difference to either.
Carrol