>As the article makes clear, Corn is reflecting a lot of activists views who
>debated endlessly whether they would even attend the event because of its
>dominance by the WWP. When I know many activists with decades of
>organizing experience who debated heavily on whether to attend, and many of
>them decided not to, this means that even greater numbers of non-organizers
>were not organized to attend.
So where is their demo -- when is it scheduled? What are they getting done?
>
>As Corn notes, with 40% of the population agains the war, the numbers at
>these rallies are not that impressive given the large size of DC rallies
>that have happened with other crucial issues in the past.
I would have gone had I the means and perhaps lots of folks are feeling squeezed for dollars right now given the economy. Please name a recent protest in which over 100,000 showed up except for the Million Man March? Maybe the Promise Keepers? No recent demos have opposed government policy directly that I can recall.
>In my stay in DC
>over that weekend -- for other reasons although I went to the rally -- I saw
>a close friend and some family members, all three with decades of organizing
>history, from disability work to homeless advocacy --- and all three of
>them didn't feel it was worth the effort to go downtown to the rally because
>of the alienation from this kind of rhetoric that they knew would happen.
Give the rally a chance I say rather than prejudge what you cannot know. As it turned out it WAS noticed in a way that was not alienating. The LA Times did an article and it got closer to the real turnout numbers than the New York Times.
Seattle was composed of lots of groups as well. If the Left doesn't shoot itself in the foot with articles like Corns and whiners like Hitchens - it can grow. If it does not it is because the people like your friends are sitting on their butts rather than taking action. Where is their demo if they feel so strongly about it?
>
>If activists who only needed to take a Metro ride to the rally didn't show
>up, you know that literally hundreds of thousands of other people were not
>mobilized for action who could have been with a broader organizing message
>and effort.
So let them organize one. Where is Labor? Is that a broader message? As I recall all the anti capitalist demos have had a wide range of separate groups who do their thing. The Seattle Turtles, Labor, the black block, etc.
I say take the sign that 100,000 showed up as a GOOD sign and go forward.
Marta
>
>--- Nathan Newman
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Marta Russell" <ap888 at lafn.org>
>To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
>Sent: Friday, November 01, 2002 1:50 AM
>Subject: Re: Fw: David Corn: troubling origins of the anti-war movement
>
>
>David Corn left out that Ben of Ben & Jerry's also spoke at the
>protest -- for a long time. I'm tired of these people like Corn who
>make a living off what others do, in this case bashing the ones who
>take action. What has he done? What IS HE anyway -- another
>armchair liberal it seems from here. The Cooper-Hitchens-Corn axis.
>Have any of them ever organized any protest in their lives?
>Marta
>
>>http://www.laweekly.com/ink/02/50/news-corn.php
>>------
>>
>>L.A. Weekly | NOVEMBER 1 - 7, 2002
>>Behind the Placards
>>The odd and troubling origins of todayís anti-war movement
>>by David Corn
>>
>>FREE MUMIA. FREE THE CUBAN 5. FREE JAMIL AL-AMIN (thatís H. Rap Brown,
>>the former Black Panther convicted in March of killing a sheriffís
>>deputy in 2000). And free Leonard Peltier. Also, defeat Zionism. And,
>>while weíre at it, letís bring the capitalist system to a halt.
>>
>>
>>When tens of thousands of people gathered near the Vietnam Veterans
>>Memorial for an anti-war rally and march in Washington last Saturday,
>>the demands hurled by the speakers extended far beyond the call for no
>>war against Iraq. Opponents of the war can be heartened by the sight of
>>people coming together in Washington and other cities for pre-emptive
> >protests. But demonstrations such as these are not necessarily strategic
> >advances, for the crowds are still relatively small and, more
> >importantly, the message is designed by the far left for consumption by
> >those already in their choir.
>>
snip
--
Marta Russell
Los Angeles, CA
http://www.disweb.org