But quality, not size, was always the issue for me. There were both pro- and anti- Democratic Party speakers among the trade unionists (the "pros" signaled this of course not by uttering the name "Kerry", but by emphatic "Bush must go" declarations), making this one of the few venues for a rational discussion within the US Left of the burning issue of political independence. There were also criticisms of the AFL-CIO tops coming from some of these trade unionists, as well as a desire to break out of the confines of narrow trade unionism into a more overt political terrain that would engage the middle-class radicals of various causes (antiwar, gender, race, environmental, etc.).
Behind the leadership of such trade unionists, naturally and by default since they were the only ones with the courage to organize such an event in the face of the tremendous pressures exerted by the bipartisan regime, before the conclusion of the regime's quadrennial exercise in plebiscitory self-flattery.
In particular, Earl Silber of the Midwest MWM gave an excellent speech. And there were others whose names I can't recall offhand.
-Brad Mayer ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We've got three eyewitnesses to query on Tuesday: Brad Mayer, my daughter (10 yrs old and Seattle veteran), and Yoshie.
Joanna
Doug Henwood wrote:
> So how was the MWM turnout? A Google news search reveals nothing, as
> does the WashPost site.
>
> Doug