Or marching from point A to point A which is what ANSWER had everybody doing this last weekend. It was aprpos that ANSWER had everybody marching around in a big circle. The authorities are more than happy to give our permits for any group that wants to walk around in circles.
So, in the spirit of the current discussion, I present the WORST INTERNATIONAL ACTION CENTER PROTESTS THAT YOU MISSED!
#3 - No War in Kosovo - The WWP/IAC sectarianbots call for a big national mobilization against the NATO war against Yugoslavia. Proving that the Vietnem Syndrome afflicts more than just the boys at the Pentagon, the IAC decides that this will be a long war, so they schedule a protest for June of 1999 in Washington. They give themselves two months to organize this spectacle, so they can "build" for it. The IAC rally and march takes place the day AFTER NATO stops bombing Yugoslavia. The rally involves several hours of speakers in an out-of-the-way park near the Lincoln Memorial (I've played softball there), plenty of sunburn, and a permitted march across the Potomoc with a bunch of Serbian nationalists. This march ends up at the Pentagon, on a Saturday, when there is nobody around to see the entire thing. HIGHLIGHT OF THIS EVENT? Hearing Pam Africa use the word "motherfucker" dozens of times as she speaks on the steps of the Pentagon.
#2 - Anti-WEF protest in New York City - The anti-globalization movement scrambled to organize these protests of the World Economic Forum after they were moved from Davos, Switzerland, to New York City, as a "gesture of good will to the residents of New York." Despite being criticized by the anti-globalization movement for its recent pattern of organizing competing events on the same day as summit protests, the International Action Center organizes their own little anti-WEF protest. The regular protests were criticized for being quite tame, but at least they came together as a result of groups in the movement working together. Only several hundred people turned out for the IAC's event, which spent most of the day in the police protest pen next to the Waldorf Astoria. The IAC really loves to work with dem cops! HIGHLIGHT OF THIS EVENT: For all the complaints about how the police controlled the AWIP march, the IAC demonstrated that there were levels of powerlessness that we hadn't even explored.
... and the winner of the complete collection of the works of Sam Marcy:
#1 - No Iraq Sanctions March, October 1998, Washington, DC - Granted, this was called by the local chapter of the IAC, but it ranks hand down as the worst protest I have ever been part of. I was actually somewhat friendly at that point with the local IAC organizers, but I was amazed when 1/3 of the people at this event were simply people I had told about it. Around 100 people got together for a rally outside of Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. We then proceeded to march down the street to F Street, where we marched in the street until we got to the Treasury Department. The protest abruptly ended at that point, without having gotten past the cardboad cutouts of the Clintons on the sidewalk next to the White House. We had been able to march down middle of F St. because it was a Saturday without any traffic or spectators. If we had a protest march and nobody saw it, did it really happen? HIGHLIGHT OF THIS EVENT: Two days later we had a spirited and fun protest against the FCC and NAB, which involved pirate broadcasting, puppets, and the hoisting of the skull and crossbones on the flagpole outside the National Association of Broadcasters.
Chuck0
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"...ironically, perhaps, the best organised dissenters in the world today are anarchists, who are busily undermining capitalism while the rest of the left is still trying to form committees."
-- Jeremy Hardy, The Guardian (UK)