> You keep advocating direct action as happened in New York City
> yesterday (which I took pictures of -
> http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/145509 ) and which you keep
> advocating, yet when this happens you say it will not accomplish
> anything!
I am unaware of any direct action that happened in New York City yesterday. Yes, I've seen your pictures and accounts. Good job. But yesterday in NYC I understand that the following happened: 1) a rally; 2) a march; 3) several stunts; and 4) civil disobedience that resulted in arrests.
Those last two are better than the ANSWER rally, but even an isloated direct action yesterday would not be effective on the level needed to end this war and roll back the U.S. war machine. The people who are protesting military recruitment have the right idea, because recruitment is the Achilles heel of the war effort right now. The movements could be coordinating mass disruption campaigns of recruitment centers and distributing anti-military agitprop in neighborhoods.
Another strategy that could prove to be more effective is a nationwide campaign against the corporate media. Not just sign-waving, but occupation of studios. Not just Fox News, but NPR. Support for this war and the overall Pentagon system is manufactured by the media. The media frames our protests and they ALWAYS frame us unfavorably. There are many possibilities in a sustained campaign against the media, ranging from civil disobedience, to labor organizing, to adbusting, to property destruction and violence.
So I've just given you two strategies that might be more effective than another ANSWER rally. I've also given you a strategy that is more sophisticated than ANSWER's strategy, which is to hold mass march after mass march, all designed to get publicity for ANSWER and the leaders of the WWP.
We know that ANSWER is not the answer, that UFPJ is timid, and that electoral politics is a dead end. The encouraging sign is that grassroots activists are figuring out a better strategy.
Chuck