Strikes me that Cindy Sheehan is not a veteran activist, but rather a good hearted mom who got whapped and took it in a direction that empowered her, by fluke or not, it happened. She could not do what she has if she had children young enough to require care.
I found out from right wingers that WCW was RCP and was not surprised as i recognize the style. Personally i am tired of these control freaks with so much voice and resources who define and manipulate some of what happens. Sad, really. Takes some educating and i wonder if Cindy would be so slap happy about the RCPWCW if she had more experience. Who knows. Medea Benjamin is a politician with her own steam engine of an agenda.
As a stand out freak in the right wing area where i live, i deeply appreciate the way i fit in while living in Berkeley. I was able to do all night vigils in solidarity with the homeless several times and the support, tents, food and other donations that came were amazing. People respond even if one acts spontaneously. What bothers me are the elite of the area who have not acted to truly solve the homeless emergency (which is small compared to San Francisco where they are even more negligent about the urgency of such desperation), or the plight of prostitutes, poverty stricken mostly Black south Berkeley and the usual struggles of the most desperate in big cities. What bothered me most was the failure of activists in Alameda County to notice, much less act upon, the beating death of a Mexican migrant mother and her 19 year old daughter in Fremont on Feb. 1, 2003 early in the morning by 4 white guys who got away even tho a witness saw one of the guys standing over the bodies with a tree branch used to club the women and then run away to hop in a red honda with the other 3 killers. Then an air force guy robber a porn store, then shot 2 homeless women to death. I think in Fairfield, which is also Alameda County - where Berkeley is.
As a mother, i was able to include my child in most of the activism we participated in. Too often, child free activists dislike or ignore kids. Tho there were not many kids at such events, people were good to my daughter. She liked it but was bothered there weren't more kids.
Just wonder why you all malign Berkeley. I have lived in Seattle, Bellingham, Olympia, Santa Barbara, Flagstaff, Tucson and in these mountains way north of Spokane, but find Tucson and Berkeley to be my favorite places to be an act