Within the perspective or set of perspectives I'm trying to roughly map out here, there is no way that the MWM can be other than a success, though I suspect that from the perspective of those who can't stand public embarassment and who live in the present it will be an utter failure. Its actual degree of success won't be clear for half a decade or so. But for those who participate in it (and in the follow-up envisaged by those who called it) it will have kept a movement alive. Presidential election years are usually movement-killers in the U.S.
Carrol
___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
It's stunning that you've done so much footwork and drawn this conclusion. What if Martin Luther King had held the March on Washington in 1954, instead of 1963, instead of organizing the bus boycott? That dumb decision would have brought out 25,000 (at best) people instead of 250,000. It would have produced no tangible results. It would have made Dr. King look like a lunatic. It would have embittered its attendees, who would've realized they'd been led on a windmill-tilt. It would have gone almost uncovered in the press, and it would have received ridicule in what coverage it got. King would have returned to Montgomery and found the bus segregation hadn't changed.
Activism without brainpower is a truly depressing thing. We are small and cannot afford to waste our resources and credibility. Strategy and results matter, and are highly susceptible to intelligent debate and assessment. Cripes.