Follow-up reports are very useful as well, as I've already recommended. The process of discovering, comparing notes on, and sometimes critically responding to the mainstream and (for lack of a better term) "alternative" coverage of an action in which activists participated is one of the important means of collective political self-education.
That said, one of the things that WW/IAC/ANSWER have done well is to create the coverage of an _upcoming_ event even in such corporate media outlets as the _Washington Post_ -- for instance, they got the following (largely favorable) 1127-word article about the Oct., 26, 2002 protest _before_ it happened.
***** The Washington Post October 25, 2002, Friday, Final Edition SECTION: METRO; Pg. B01 LENGTH: 1127 words HEADLINE: Organizers Aim for Loud Protest of War in Iraq; Groups Play Down Controversial Politics in Hopes of Drawing Larger Turnout for D.C. March BYLINE: Monte Reel, Washington Post Staff Writer
Demonstrators who take to the streets of Washington tomorrow will try to make a point that hinges not so much on what they say -- their message opposing war in Iraq isn't likely to surprise anyone -- but instead on how they say it.
They want it to be narrowly focused and thunderous, which means that numbers matter. To help attract the mainstream participation needed to achieve greater crowds, organizers from groups on the far left of the political spectrum have downplayed some of their potentially alienating political positions in favor of a simple call for those opposed to war in Iraq. They are hoping that attendance nears 100,000, which would make it the largest anti-war protest in Washington since the Vietnam era. "We will mount an angry, loud, massive opposition, just as we did during the Vietnam War," said Brian Becker, co-director of the International Action Center, a group instrumental in founding the International ANSWER coalition that is organizing the protest. "Our goal is to create a firestorm of opposition at the grass roots."
The International Action Center was founded by former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark, who on behalf of International ANSWER announced plans in September for this weekend's demonstration. Since serving in President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration, Clark has become an advocate offering legal counsel or public relations support for a list of causes that reads like a Who's Who of enemies of the U.S. government or the United Nations: Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the Egyptian cleric convicted of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; the Branch Davidians, who had a standoff with FBI agents in Waco, Tex., in 1993; Libya's Moammar Gaddafi; ex-Nazi concentration camp guard Karl Linnas; Lyndon LaRouche; and former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.
Clark has traveled to Iraq almost every year since the Persian Gulf War, often contributing monetary aid for a population he says has suffered enormously under United Nations sanctions, and he has met with leader Saddam Hussein. Clark and the group have been criticized frequently for what they say is a valuable role in providing legal help to those who might be denied it elsewhere.
The group does not support the current Iraqi government, Becker said, but instead supports the Iraqi people. The Iraqi government is Iraq's business, he said, not that of the United States.
"If we say George W. Bush can go in and decide what's best," Becker said, "then he can do that with Libya, with Syria, with North Korea. It's a prescription for endless war."
That message seems to be attracting many to Saturday's march, people who otherwise might not embrace all of the views of the organizing groups. Some of those who have volunteered to turn out protesters said they were not aware of the politics of those groups. By marching, it does not mean they endorse the views of the event's organizers, they said; they simply oppose war in Iraq. That's fine with the organizers, who have not tried to link the protest with any of the other causes they have supported in the past.
Members of International ANSWER said that connections with the Muslim community throughout the United States have added a new dimension of participation in an anti-war movement, and representatives from many mosques and Muslim organizations plan to attend this weekend. The demonstration also has attracted a lot of people who have not marched in decades, even during the Gulf War. In January 1991, during fighting in Iraq, police estimated that the largest anti-war protest in Washington drew about 25,000 people.
"Our organizers vary across a wide spectrum," said Sarah Sloane, youth outreach coordinator for International ANSWER who also helped organize the April pro-Palestine rally that drew an estimated 75,000 to the District. "We've had an unprecedented level of phone calls -- more than any of the other protests."
Karen Porter of Chester County, Pa., said she was unaware of IAC or International ANSWER until she saw Clark on C-Span last month announcing plans for the demonstration. She asked International ANSWER if it had buses arranged that were coming to the rally. Organizers responded by asking if she would help arrange such trips, and, suddenly, Porter became a protest organizer herself.
As of yesterday, Porter had filled three buses, with attendees that include a contingent from the retirement village in her suburban Philadelphia county. There are few passengers who fit the mold of the protest movement's "usual suspects," she said, and few who would be likely to join many of the left-leaning organizing groups.
"What I tell people, quite frankly, is that I'm not a member of any of the organizations, but this is the only national thing that's happening," said Porter, 55, who said she hasn't demonstrated since the Vietnam War. "So I say that if they want to be counted, this is what's happening now."
Porter said she does not care what group organizes the demonstration "as long as they're not out there throwing molotov cocktails."
International ANSWER, and the IAC before it, has a history of organizing peaceful protests, such as the pro-Palestine march in April. D.C. police said they plan to have extra officers on the street, including platoons from the civil disturbance unit, but Chief Charles A. Ramsey has said he expects the march to proceed smoothly.
The demonstration is to start at 11 a.m. at Constitution Gardens, near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the intersection of 21st Street and Constitution Avenue. A program of about 30 speakers will precede a march around the White House, which is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. Scheduled speakers include Clark, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, actor Ossie Davis, singer Patti Smith and others.
The march will be led by veterans of past wars, representatives from Arab American groups and members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union from California. In addition to the Washington protest, coinciding rallies tomorrow are planned for San Francisco, Mexico City, Tokyo, Brussels and other cities around the world.
A group of counter-protesters organized by the national conservative group Free Republic will meet on the Washington Monument grounds.
Although some of the anti-war organizers said they believed fears of the region's sniper had scared some potential demonstrators away earlier in the week, the arrests of two men in Maryland on yesterday may have a calming effect, they said.
"It might very well relieve some of the apprehensions people have," said Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation.
Staff writer Manny Fernandez contributed to this report. *****
NION and United for Peace need to learn to get something like the above (which is practically an advertisement for the rally and march next day, with directions to and graphics to show the sites of action to boot), and if _The Washington Post_ and the like don't oblige them, you, Doug, _The Nation_, etc. can. I can't think of any reason why "movement journalists" should do less for activists than reporters for _The Washington Post_. -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>