I appreciated your column, "Well, that was fun," in the NY Press <<http://nypress.com/17/36/news%26columns/Taibbi2.cfm>http://nypress.com/17/36/news&columns/Taibbi2.cfm> and I had some comments.
1) Instead of calling a rally in which no mention was made of the war against Iraq at all, the NY Labor Council SHOULD HAVE called a general strike and shut down the City. But that entity never has and never will do so. And no individual union or organization felt strong enough to actually pull that off, even among their own members. It's one thing to say that we SHOULD HAVE done this, and another to develop the means for actually doing so. Clearly, this should be a main avenue of work over the next year or two.
2) The direct actions were mostly about shutting down streets and not specific corporate or relevant governmental targets. This was a major weakness, and it remains as such.
3) The Planned Parenthood march also did not address the War against Iraq and the murder of Iraqi women's children. Instead, it continued to parrot the narrow "alternative" proposed by the Democratic Party -- "Choice" -- which in their hands has become limited to abortion rights instead of a full panoply of Reproductive and Sexual freedom, tying it into US empire and what it means for women everywhere (including here at home).
4) On the other hand, the IMAGE of the demonstrations conveyed in the media has inspired people all over the world. Whether the demos in their immediate form did not pose a real threat to power, the coming together yet again to show that there are many US residents who oppose what the government is doing in our name is not insignificant and triggers other activities internationally as well as domestically. Lawsuits over the 1,821 arrests -- most of them absurd and illegal -- should be made to target the policy-makers individually and heads should roll. If they don't pay, personally, what do they care how much money the City's coffers are made to pay out in lawsuits?
5) We need to widen the charges for impeachment and War Crimes, continue tribunals for all of the mass murderers, and bring them into international courts. We need to begin making citizens' arrests, and acting as we always said we would while growing up had we lived in Germany in the 1930s. We need to treat the situation in the US with that degree of seriousness, organizing and, yes, risk-taking.
The last item is easy to say, but what does that mean for each of us in reality -- including for YOU, commenting on the shortcomings of the demos in the NY Press but posing no alternative strategies nor what YOU will do in the coming few months to make things different. This is always a weakness of press commentaries -- some excellent critique, but with no personal statement on how you (and the rest of us) should act, so that we could develop the capacity to actually make things different instead of just griping about it the next time, and the next time.
Your suggestions are welcome!
Thanx.
Mitchel Cohen Brooklyn Greens/Green Party of NY State