> Learning more about how to create effective scale simultaneities, a
> tactical issue, is important but not as important as getting more
> anarchists, greens, reds, blues to get a better understanding of what
> folks like Greenspan, Lord Eatwell and others are saying/doing. There is
> *still* one hell of a learning curve to climb -and Chuck if you don't know
> who Lord Eatwell is, that's my point. People in the streets every now and
> then is worthwhile for sure, but what we're learning to think through
> between confrontations is what counts.
I don't know who Lord Eatwell is. Is he important?
Most of my activism these days is being devoted to educational work, to spread the knowledge that we have so far. My main target audience is non-radicals. We radicals would be doing pretty good if we simply kept repeating the things we did to get the anti-glob movement going.
> One, and it's only one, small, barometer will be just how well Doug and
> Nomi's books do in the months ahead, given that folks like them don't get
> on TV to do analyses and outreach. Not just amongst the usual crowd of
> suspects, but whether we can help them approach the Michael Moore level of
> outreach without their work turning into just another coffee table text
> like Stephen Hawking's book.
Yes, their books would be an interesting metric. I'm just glad that Al Franken's book hit at the time it did.
> Again, the issue is not to see the multilogues/arguments with the NGO's
> and Unions as a zero-sum game of oneupmanship. Radical things can happen
> in friendly conversations with members from those groups. I've seen it
> happen, so writing them off is a big mistake right now and for the
> forseeable future. Walden Bello runs an NGO; do you really think it's
> worth have a 'more radical than thou' attitude with that guy and all his
> friends across the planet? Max Sawicky works for the Unions, do you really
> not want him on your side when crunch time comes?
Yes. I think that it has come time for us to be more radical and outspoken. I know that the NGOs do good work and I generall support working with them, but I've learned that there are minefields in these relationships, which means that the radicals need to focus on their agenda, not in partnerships with liberals.
> Now, now. I know lots of radical women old enough to be your mother [and
> mine! :-)] who were deeply involved in organizing Seattle. Hawking papers
> would have been a waste of time when the bullets and gas were flying. But
> what was every bit as important were the workshops that groups put on to
> further discussion about what to do next. Those are solidarity builders we
> need a lot more of, which means getting over the romanticizing of the
> confrontation with cops as if it were an end in itself
Did I romanticize confrontations with the cops? There was a lot of hard work that went into the planning of N30. I keep telling the younger radicals that there aren't shortcuts. Even a good black bloc requires lots of planning.
Chuck0