>ANSWER has split
> between the Brian Becker wing and the others, rendering itself ineffective.
Good riddance.
> Local actions have been continuing. Sharon Smith mentioned student
> walkouts: "thousands of high school and college students across the
> country organized walkouts against the war on January 20, marching as
> organized contingents to counter-inaugural demonstrations in Boulder,
> Colo.; Los Angeles; Chicago; San Francisco; Austin, Texas;
As usual, Yoshie is right on target about what's going on. There is a bunch of local activism going on around the country. Here in Kansas City the liberal peace activists just observed the second anniversary of their weekly protest. I know that the folks in Columbia, Mo. are doing something similar.
Being in the position I'm in with Infoshop News, I have a good feel on the zeitgeist of the radical wing of the anti-war movement. In recent weeks and months there have been more attacks on military recruiting offices. Military recruiters are feeling the heat on college campuses and in high schools. Teenagers are stepping up and putting heat on the recruiters. We also see the flip side of this, as when some anti-recruiting articles were posted recently to Infoshop News and military recruiters started posting comments complaining about the harassment they are getting.
It really looks like the antiwar movement is entering a more radical phase, both in terms of nonviolent actions and more stuff involving property destruction. The time for big national mobilizations is clearly behind us.
I've been working for the War Resisters League as one of their Midwest and Southern organizers.
I really should go write my op-ed pieces on the state of the anti-war movement...
Chuck