Anti-war Protests Grow Quirky in Search of Attention BY DRU SEFTON c.2003 Newhouse News Service
http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/sefton040103.html More stories by Dru Sefton
Anti-war protests are getting quirkier.
And the longer the war in Iraq goes on, experts say, the more outrageous these events will become, as protesters strive to capture the attention of media currently mesmerized by battles overseas.
Just in the last few weeks, protesters have:
-- Regurgitated on a federal building in San Francisco in a "vomit-in," to show that the war makes them sick.
-- Tossed chocolate eclairs, called "chocolate bombs" in Portuguese, at the U.S. consulate in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
-- Hang-glided into St. Peter's Square at the Vatican to hoist a protest banner.
-- Stripped naked en masse to, as one male organizer put it, "denounce small men with big guns." Nude protests are proliferating, with hundreds of men and women baring their bodies from Sydney, Australia, to New York's Central Park.
These seemingly outlandish tactics are working, said Dan T. Carter, a history professor at the University of South Carolina who studies anti-war sentiments.
"They got you to think about the war," Carter said from his office in Columbia. "All these versions are a reflection of protesters figuring out: What can I do in an age when nothing is considered outrageous? What can I do to get a reporter interested?"
As Aaron Toso noted, "Any press is good press." Toso is creative director of Cause Communications in Denver, which helps activist groups and nonprofits get their message covered.
"Look at the saturation of war news," Toso said. "Breaking through that cycle is going to be tough. You have to be pretty original. No talking heads at press conferences."
Cause Communications recently worked for True Majority, a grass-roots activism group founded by Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's ice cream fame. Last summer the group drove a "pink pigmobile" from the East Coast to Chicago and back, towing two tiny pigs. The large pig, its belly full of dollar bills, symbolized the size of America's military budget, compared with the much smaller pigs, representing federal spending on education and hunger. Banjo music played, soap bubbles drifted -- and the press noticed. "This little piggy motivatin' 'round town," read the headline in the Boston Globe.
"But not every stunt is built for every organization or message," Toso added.
That's an ongoing debate within the anti-war movement. Tony Murphy, spokesman for International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism), was careful not to criticize the tactics of any peace organization.
"I think it'd be a big mistake for one part of the movement to tell the other that they should do this or shouldn't do that," Murphy said from the group's New York City office. "We support anything someone can do to hasten an end to the war."
Such as when Code Pink, a women's anti-war group, recently barged into the Tiffany's jewelry store in Manhattan, then staged a "die-in" when they were asked to leave.
Murphy said International ANSWER has "concentrated on demonstrations that anybody can come to. We get permits, have rallies. Bring the family, kids and grandma."
The National Network to End the War Against Iraq currently is planning a day of bake sales and car washes across America, dubbed "Patriots for Peace," to raise money for the Veterans Administration, said Mike Zmolek, outreach coordinator. The action is an attempt to underscore that money spent on war is money not going to war veterans, who need it.
But even "Patriots for Peace" is prompting debate within the group. "There's already discussion that we're playing too much to white, middle-class America" with the idea, Zmolek said.
That creative contention within the peace movement is healthy, said Randy Shaw, author of "The Activist's Handbook: A Primer."
"It's harder than ever to keep the media's attention,' said Shaw, head of Housing America in San Francisco. "If you have a march with 200,000 people this Saturday, and next Saturday there are 75,000 people, that's not a big deal. The media say, `We've seen the march."'
And other actions may be counterproductive: "You block a bridge, and people might think, `Why are you targeting commuters?' You really need to have a target, or people will start to wonder what you're doing."
One recent protest Shaw thought was both creative and effective was a sit-in across from the White House in which two Nobel Peace Prize winners were arrested. The media are always interested in celebrities, he said. "Every time one gets arrested, that's news."
"West Wing" actor Martin Sheen attracted news attention March 26 when he sealed his mouth shut with a piece of duct tape that read "Peace," carried a huge cross and led marchers through Los Angeles.
Both Shaw and Carter said peace protests will continue to creatively evolve as the war goes on.
"I keep track of a lot of Internet peace groups and there's this kind of frustration," Carter said. "People ask the question over and over: What can we do? There's a sense it's extraordinarily difficult to get their message out."
April 4 -- Friday -- is being targeted as a day of national protest, Shaw said. "We'll see what ways there are to keep the media focused."
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