> --- michael098762003 <debsian at pacbell.net> wrote:
>
>> Personally I think UFPJ should determine if and
>>when thew next
>>national rally is needed and that it should NOT be
>>in D.C. but in a
>>mid-Western or Southern city like Atlanta,
>>Charlotte, Knoxville,
>>Columbus, Ohio, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, etc.
>
>
> I fancy this idea. Since ANSWER is good at
> manipulating things to their advantage in Washington
> D.C and San Francisco, take the National March to the
> heartlands. On the one hand, this could be used to
> draw people into the movement who live in those areas
> and would not normally take part; second of all,
> having the demonstrations in DC and San Francisco is
> getting to look like a record stuck in one groove.
> Why demonstrate in Washington anyway???? Because it
> is symbolic? Why demonstrate in San Francisco?
> Because it has such a large number of activists and
> left sympathizers? All the more reason to take to the
> streets elsewhere.
>
> Hope to hear others' opinions on this, especially that
> of Chuck0.
I was actually going to respond to the above paragraph before I saw Thomas' invite.
These e-mails from the UFPJ list are very encouraging. This is the type of discussion on tactics and strategy that should be ongoing in the anti-war and peace movements. But when there is a culture on the Left of "shut up and go along" and "you are a redbaiter if you ask questions," rank and file activists don't feel the freedom to discuss these issues.
Many activists have been critizing ANSWER's strategy for a long time. I started questioning them when they were the IAC and had put on a completely boring and ineffective anti-war protest in June of 1999. IAC/ANSWER and similar groups do the same protests in Washington for reasons of self-interest, not because they have looked at all the option and decided that national mobilizations are the way to go. There is a time and place for national mobilizations, but if this is all you do, not only will your strategy backfire, but as the wannabe movement leaders you will be squandering the numbers, resources, and motivation of your movement.
National mobilizations in Washington are problematic for many reasons. The most important is that each new protest is competing against all previous protests. That why you read stuff like "the biggest protest in Washington since the Vietnam War." Your protest is also competing with the history of other big spectacles like the Million Man March. Another problems is that journalists, politicians and the general public pay less attention to protests in Washington. It's like the tourists who were taking pictures of the National Alliance march last year until I warned them to get the hell out of there, just before some rocks started landing around me. Protests in Washington also encourage the lazy school of symbolic protests. Let's face it, just about any organization can pull off a "national march on Washington" if it just involves organizing buses, getting permits, and setting up a stage.
A big anti-war protest in Atlanta or Chicago would be something different. A permitted rally and march of 50,000 in one of these cities would have a bigger impact than 300,000 in Washington. The average person dismisses protests in San Francisco, because "that's what those people do there." A big anti-war protest in Atlanta would force politicians to take notice. Remember that "town hall" fiasco at Ohio State during the Balkans War? Just look at how a few well-organized activists could embarass the Clinton administration at just one event.
If people see that dissent is happening all over the place, they start to understand that opposition to government policies is more than just a few hippies in San Francisco. I think that this is why the polls showed increasing opposition to the war last February. Remember that there were lots of local protests happening in February (F15 for example).
It's good to see activists thinking outside of the box. Symbolic protests in San Francisco and Washington are lazy activism. We can do better than this. We have the numbers, the resources, and the organizers. And we now have public opinion on our side.
Chuck0