Direct Action at the Holland Tunnel RIGHT NOW!

Nathan Newman nathanne at nathannewman.org
Tue Feb 11 09:08:06 PST 2003



> Matthew Snyder wrote:
> > I'm not saying that it's wrong, it's just that forming a human
> > chain at the mouth of a major tunnel seems to me, well,
> > counter-productive.
>
> Of course it isn't counter-productive.
> So, would you ask the same question about labor strikes?

Yes, all the time in the case of public employee strikes. Measuring likely gains against likely disruption and alienation of the public is a constant discussion in such strikes.

That you would even not reflect on that comparison with union internal debates reflects why this kind of action is so ineffective, since such basic questions of costs and benefits haven't even been discussed and planned for.

And here's a big difference. When say the transit strikers in New York go on strike, their immediate employers are under real pressure to sign a contract to end it. In the case of New York, Bush has made clear that he doesn't care if it sinks into economic misery, so why should making its commute hellish effect him in the least?

Why fuck up the lives of New Yorkers, who are probably more sympathetic to the antiwar cause that most places in the country?



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