NYC die-in; 140 arrested

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

At 11:44 AM -0600 3/27/03, Carrol Cox wrote:
>  > Anti-War 'Die-In' Snarls New York
>>
>>  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Police arrested more than 140 protesters who lay
>>  down in the middle of New York's 5th Avenue during Thursday morning
>>  rush hour as part of a "die-in" to protest the U.S.-led war on Iraq
>>  (news - web sites).
>>  [clip]
>>
>>  The two-hour peaceful protest, which closed part of 5th Avenue and
>>  snarled city traffic, was the latest of several acts of civil
>>  disobedience and anti-war demonstrations in New York and other large
>  > U.S. cities.
>
>It seems to me that these tactics could be carried out _without_
>arrests. (I believe this was the case to some extent in SF on the first
>day of such protests.) If there are enough to divide up into smaller
>groups, each of which can block traffic in one spot for a few minutes,
>then depart before the police arrive, it should make for a grand traffic
>snarl, without all the hassle and expense (not just to the protesters,
>but to everyone who has to help bail them out, help in the defense, etc.
>When arrests pile up costs pile up -- resources that could be better
>used elsewhere.
>
>I just don't see the point to "minor martyrdoms."
>
>More uncivil disobedience -- take risks, but don't deliberately invite
>arrest.
>
>Casualties (from small fines to death) are acceptable, but martyrdom
>(trivial or big) just isn't worth it.

This is one of the points on which anarchists and Leninists agree.  :->
-- 
Yoshie

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