David Corn: troubling origins of the anti-war movement

[Chuck0]

Liza Featherstone wrote:
> 
> Chuck writes:
> 
> 
>>"People 
>>watching the tube or reading the newspaper in Nashville, Tenn. can write off
>>the Washington protests as "just those lefty Mumia folks," whereas a protest
>>in Nashville shows that local folks oppose the war."
> 
> 
> David writes:
> 
>>Here we go with these sweeping assumptions of "people's" subjectivity again.
>>Completely meaningless, and totally unscientific. There is way too much of
>>this crap going on on this list.
>>
> 
> 
> Unscientific????? What Chuck writes here is common sense, based on
> experience as an activist and as a person. I happen not to agree with him
> about the  futility of mass protests, but very much agree the local protests
> are much better way to reach some publics. Do you have any "scientific"
> evidence against what he says?

Thank you, Liza. I'm not totally opposed to mass protests, but my chief 
problem with them is how they are used by some groups as the sum total of 
their strategy. If you look at all the protests organized by the 
International Action Center over the past 5 years, you will see the same 
formula repeated over and over again. Mass rallies and marches, always permitted.

The Mobilization for Global Justice here in Washington, on the other hand, 
organizes a mixture of mass rallies and marches, illegal and unpermitted 
actions, educational events, and much more. This choice of tactics and 
methods allows a diverse range of people to participate and allows them to 
choose what they want to do. This give the MGJ greater flexibility in terms 
of long term strategy.

I also want to reiterate that I don't think that mass rallies and demos are 
without effect on the general public or the rulers. However, we need to be 
savvy about what we do with this tactic and not make assumptions about the 
historical use of mass spectacles.

Let's face it: four straight hours of speeches is going to turn people away 
no matter how many times Jesse Jackson speaks.

Chuck0

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