Costs of big marches- Re: [lbo-talk] DC

Nathan Newman nathanne at nathannewman.org
Sun Sep 25 08:00:44 PDT 2005


----- Original Message ----- From: "ravi" <listmail at kreise.org>

On 25/09/2005 8:19 AM, Nathan Newman wrote:
> No question in my mind that such use of funds and volunteer time
> would be infinitely more effective in both reaching the uncommited
> and pressuring the political class than a one-day story in the
> newspaper.

-aren't you the guy who was boasting about a "millions more march"? -what's the difference? i am curious...

The difference is that both the buildup to the march and plans afterward are all about building integrated organizing back in the communities when people go home. I don't like Farrakhan that much more than ANSWER but at least he is promoting real organization as a solution, not just more mindless marching as the next step after this march.

And frankly, a bunch of black people marching in DC is much more threatening to the establishment than the usual rally suspects. Part of what makes a march worthwhile is when people who don't normally march do so.

The 1963 March on Washington carried that message. Doing a similar march a year later would have been a waste.

But the antiwar movement keeps doing the same kind of march over and over again. We have 500,000 people in the streets of New York two years ago.

Why should having fewer people in the streets of DC yesterday accomplish anything?

Nathan



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