On Sun, 19 May 2002, Carrol Cox wrote:
> and if you are talking about appealing to more than that narrow populace
> who every day read the WSJ, the NYT and the Washington Post, and every
> week read the Nation, and every month or quarter read Foreign Affairs,
> then you had better start giving serious thought to how you are going
> find an audience among the rest of the population.
Actually I have given some thought to that. I think maybe what we need is a chain form of organization, that combines the internet with face to face interaction. A talking campaign, where each person, rather than deciding to march, pledges to try to persuade four neighbors or strangers in face to face conversation that military aid to Israel should be cut off and replaced with a commitment to fund the eventual costs of peace. And then to persuade four more people (who could be like-thinking friends, or through the internet) to attempt the same. It would be great if we persuaded a lot of people. But it would be halfway to victory if we could simply manifest ourselves as a large enough phenomenon. That in itself would make the topic topical. And the nice thing is, whenever events made you want to do something again, you could go out and try four more. Each person acting independently, but identified with a larger effort.
I've come up with some ideas for how such a campaign might be fostered and sustained. I'm thinking I might write a FAQ, listing all the standard arguments and their counters, and inviting anyone who ran into a new one to send it in. But any suggestions would be appreciated.
Michael