[lbo-talk] No Business As Usual-National Day of Absence

Chuck0 chuck at mutualaid.org
Wed Nov 23 08:26:46 PST 2005


Doug Henwood wrote:


> Wow, two months of prep and it's still this obscure?

Of course, Workers World does stuff like this all the time. These protests end up as even more pathetic than their mass spectacles, which is what they spend all of their resources on. If you haven't noticed, ANSWER has called for a national day of protests in March 2006. Why March of next year? Because ANSWER organizes protests six months apart. These protests aren't designed to end the war or change public opinion, but to convinve the left that ANSWER is a player.

The fact that ANSWER's next big protest is next March--following a pattern they've used for years--simply confirms my criticism that they have no strategy and should be rejected by the antiwar movements. Any reading of the current political situation would come up with the conclusion that the Bush administration and the pro-war crowd is on the defensive. Public opinion is hard set against them and their war. The time to be protesting is NOW, not at a convenient time for ANSWER five months from now.

What would be my strategy? What I've been planning to suggest to my network is that anti-war activists step up the frequency of their local protests. People around the movements should come up with a day each month where everybody goes out and protests. This would make dissension against the war more visible and would undermine the Republican/Democrat policy of staying the course. Frequent local protests would also demonstrate how widespread opposition to the war exists in this country.

Here is some good news: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051123/D8E26S1O0.html

Chuck



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