What's Orwellian about it is that, left up to Corns & Coopers, a host of activists and their concerns (from Mumia to Lynne Stewart to other issues, individuals, organizations that are or may be in any way controversial) would be marginalized or excluded altogether. As you note, Corns & Coopers are projecting what they want to do upon those whom they criticize. A shade of Dubya here:
***** As Jonathan Alter notes in his on-line column in the 8/6 issue of Newsweek (on MSNBC - "Fighting the HMO Meanies"): "'...A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier - there's no question about it,' he said again last week, repeating what appears to be his favorite quip." (In the book Fortunate Son, J. H. Hatfield has Dubya, as governor of Texas in 1996, saying this to a business group - "It would be a heck of a lot easier to be a dictator than work in a democracy". This is not a "new" joke for him.)
<http://www.turnyourbackonbush.com/source.html> *****
As a matter of fact, WW/IAC/ANSWER don't have control over crowd behavior at rallies they organize. I'll recycle my report on the Oct. 26 demo that I posted to marxmail:
***** From: Yoshie Furuhashi Subject: Re: The emerging antiwar movement Date: Mon, 04 Nov 2002 13:45:00 -0800
Lou Proyect wrote:
>Although I did not make it down to Washington yesterday, I listened
>to the rally over Pacifica radio in NYC. This was just one of the
>fruits of the recent victory at the network, which used to provide
>regular coverage of such events before it was hijacked by the
>NPR-izing clique.
Columbus, OH organizers (including yours truly) sent a bus and a caravan of cars to the Oct. 26 demo, so I may be allowed to speak authoritatively from personal experience. ;->
>Most speakers were clearly reflective of the Workers World Party
>orientation, which was understandable given its key role in ANSWER,
>the protest organizer. But I was pleased to hear Medea Benjamin as
>well. She is the executive director of Global Exchange, a west coast
>group that has been heavily involved with anti-globalization
>protests and not part of the WWP network. Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry
>ice cream fame also spoke. He has launched a businessmen against war
>in Iraq group that took a full page ad in the NY Times about a week
>ago. Figures like Cohen played a significant role in the Vietnam
>antiwar movement and it is gratifying to see him speak from the
>ANSWER podium. But most importantly, Jesse Jackson spoke as well. It
>is of key importance for the emerging antiwar movement to integrate
>Democratic Party operatives like Jackson without giving an inch to
>reformist illusions. Why? Most Americans identify with the
>Democratic Party and would find the presence of a politician like
>Jackson at a rally welcome, just as the presence of a Ted Kennedy
>was important for antiwar actions in Massachusetts in 1971.
>
>After the march began, the Pacifica station switched to a discussion
>of what next for the movement, which included Leslie Cagan, the new
>head of the network board and a veteran of the Vietnam antiwar
>movement. She said that not only is there a growing conviction that
>a broader movement is needed, but that key figures have already
>begun to act on that. She stated that a meeting was held in
>Washington the day before the protest that involved ANSWER people
>and others who were not part of that formation. This is excellent
>news in my opinion and the rally probably reflected this development.
From the point of view of rally participants, the list of speakers was way too long (at least long enough to make a number of speakers who got to the podium late in the rally lose a large chunk of the audience). The initial announcement from the podium in DC was that the rally was to last from 11 AM till 2 PM and then all would march to the White House. The initial rally plan was already too long, but the actual rally went on until at least 2:45 PM or so. That in itself would have made the rally a trying experience (especially as our group included a 5 year old boy and a 82 year old woman), but unfortunately the grass was wet and swampy all over, too, so rally participants couldn't even sit down (unless they had the foresight of bringing some tarp), which pissed off a good number of people, including myself. Tired of standing around and listening to endless speeches (many of which resembled one another in style and content), groups after groups of activists left the rally behind and marched off on their own (our group took off as Al Sharpton began to speak). When a rally goes on too long and many participants vote with their feet and start marching on their own, leaving the rally organizers and speakers behind, the energy of mass action gets dissipated. There is no need to have more than one or two WW/IAC/ANSWER speakers and three or four non-WW/IAC/ANSWER speakers at any given rally. That way, all the speeches would be over in 30 minutes or so (the max should be about one hour); the rest should consist of music, stand-yp comedy, street theater, and some form of direct action.
<http://www.mail-archive.com/marxism@lists.panix.com/msg38224.html> ***** -- 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/>