setting aside your gratuitous insults, can you explain how seattle was a victory? what were the goals? just shutdown one WTO meeting in a city that was unprepared? or scale back and even reverse the negative effects of "globalization"? who's talking fondly of "seattle" other than list members? farmers in india? (oh wait, they [some of them] committed suicide, but we are not supposed to talk about that on this list, are we?). whose morale are we boosting, and why?
yesterday's rally featured cindy sheehan, and her supporters. the latest entrants to the anti-war position. she lost her son in the illegal war. one would expect her to protest. there were people on stage and in the crowd who had been against such things for all their lives, even though they were not motivated by a personal loss. their commitment was not personal, but moral. many of them were and are getting sidelined by the cindy sheehan phenomenon. but thankfully, there are many who do not care. the reality is that she has brought these issues to the forefront and changed the minds of mainstream americans more than a committed peace movement activist could have.
at the end of the day, if we can get to our shared goals without compromising ourselves too much along the way, IMHO, we have achieved success. my morale is boosted by both seattle and sept 24.
--ravi