Are Marches Pep-Rallies? (was Antiwar Protest Largest Since '60s)

Nathan Newman nathan at newman.org
Tue Nov 5 13:49:53 PST 2002


----- Original Message ----- From: "Doug Henwood" <dhenwood at panix.com>

Michael Pollak wrote:
>Don't small local demos do everything big demos with less effort and less
>need for the party structure? And denser connections made with people who
>live close enough to easily consider doing something else with?

-Small demos, big demos, local demos, national demos - let a thousand -flowers bloom. And if Nathan wants to knock on doors, that's fine -with me too.

Except people have limited time and if the effort is too defused, it won't register much publicly. One reason I like door-knocking is that it has the advantage that it doesn't have to register publicly, since you are talking directly with the public, bypassing the media filter.

But if you are looking for media impact, coordination does matter. The idea that tactical strategy and sustained coordinated campaigns are unnecessary-- you do your thing, I'll do mine -- is one reason the conservatives have dominated the agenda, not because they have more support, but they are better at coordinating simple "talking points."

Where the left can't restrain itself from listing everything from Mumia to farm aid at every rally, the rightwing is much better at picking a particular issue, pointing all their guns at it, and blasting it onto the front page. Each issue group gets their turn on the talking point list, but on different weeks, so the messages don't drown each other out. This is one of the things Freeper conservatives make fun of the left for mercilessly; they perfected sequential scandal talking points to keep a series of headlines going. They even post talking points and debate how to simplify the message to hit the media.

Where coordination and coalition-building matters is in building the trust among activists that they will support a rally that doesn't mention their issue, trusting that other groups will support them when their issue comes around. That is hard to do given the network model of the left currently, so groups rationally demand their turn at the podium TODAY, no matter the headline issue, leading to the tedious incoherent message at most left rallies.

-- Nathan Newman



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