win without war

[kelley]

i still haven't figured out who it was that i was listening to on NPR the 
other night. i caught while in the car, so missed the intro, was distracted 
by driving, and talking with the kids. the guy who was on had been an 
activist in the 60s while at seminary, IIRC. was talking about how he and 
others like him were marginalized as radicals in that environment. i'm 
going to call the station today to find out, just to satisfy my curiosity.

at any rate, he was on the show representing Win Without War which, as I 
said yesterday, is probably going to be the big 'winner' in this war you 
guys are having over who is actually going to win "hearts and minds." heh.

http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1166885 (notice their 
rhetoric here. we're mainstream, those other groups are fringe weirdos. 
unfortunately, that's going to work. they're not necessarily describing 
folks as reds, just weirdos.)  let the slashing begin. weeeeeeee.

win without war's Janeane Garofalo was also on CNN last night. both fox and 
cnn covered them. had to cover them and had to talk about them as "not 
kooks" :) and, to that end, they legitimated this group, even as they tried 
to discredit them.
http://www.winwithoutwarus.org/

they are also spearheading the campaign to fax/email/phone in your protest 
on Feb 26th. (GW I broke out on 2/23, a Monday, right?) and, they're behind 
the big media push of celebrities. www.moveon.org

Win Without War has taken advantage of some massively huge organizations. 
whatever you think of those organizations and whatever you think of WWWs 
message, they have resources and infrastructure that can be mobilized 
rather effectively. they know how to run PR campaigns.

i'm not saying that is what the left should be doing. what i am saying is 
that this is new territory folks.

the reason why it intrigues me is akin to something, i think, carrol said 
yesterday. basically, people begin where they are, and in the course of 
struggle, their views become more radicalized. or, at least, they can.

kelley


>I listened to Edgar (i think) on NPR last night. This guy has it all over 
>people on the left.
>
>"It is far more important that the movement should
>proceed harmoniously, take root, and embrace as much
>as possible the whole American proletariat, than that
>it should start and proceed from the beginning on
>theoretically perfectly correct lines. There is no
>better road to theoretical clearness of comprehension
>than to learn by one's own mistakes... A million or
>two of workingmen's votes next November for a bona
>fide workingmen's party is worth infinitely more at
>present than a hundred thousand votes for a doctrinaly
>pure platform"
>
>--Engels, letter to Florence Kelley Wischnewetsky, 1886
>
>kelley
>
>boring lefty thread: I've got a can of shit; can you open it!