For me the conversation here has been very interesting. First, I have not seen any evidence presented that the "walk in the park" type demonstration does much good. Nathan, brought up a very interesting point: that the archetype of all american demonstrations, the ones carried on during the Vietname war, were not very effective.
In its role of current leadership, WWP is going to channel the anti-war movement into the direction of such feckless efforts. WWP and some others on the Left are in love with these kinds of empty spectacles. It gives them goose bumps and makes them feel heroic. "Tutto fumo, niente arrosto". All smoke, no roast.
The best way to conduct the anti-war effort is to carry out actions that will in some way really hamper the war machine. Some will argue that not everyone has that level of commitment. Fine. They can stay at home and still be against the war. As someone mentioned earlier in the week, why waste the fossil fuel, especially if it is for an ineffective march. Such people would help the anti-war movement much more by staying at home and discussing the matter with family and friends than engaging in yelling tired cliches and playing leftist "ring around the posy" in the presence of the already converted and the police.
Of course, the WWP folks on the one hand are self-hynotized by their own rhetoric, thinking they are stopping the war by such spectacles. However, I suspect, they are even more enamoured by the power they have over so many people. Burroughs: "Power and junk are symmetrical and quantitative: How much? If you're CIA, you dont want to be the cop on the beat." You can replace "CIA" with "WWP" and "cop on the beat" with "one of the less fortunate vanguard groups".
I will not be going to another one of these leftist "passion play" spectacles. The are ineffective and do nothing but legitimize the WWP. I WILL go to demonstrations where the aim is to tangibly "fuck up" the war effort.
Thomas
===== "A question is always the desire to know, and to preserve simple human truths, we need secrets. The secrets of happiness, death, love."
>From the movie "Solaris" by Andrei Tarkovsky
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