Again, sorry.
I should have chosen a more pointed way to critique the statements which bothered me.
I lumped them all together and replied in a non-contextual manner that didn't connect the reply to the statement.
The critique (below) about not going to the demo if one has problems with a certain org that sets up the demo wasn't a critique of your statements. It was to the people who say that they wouldn't go near an ANSWER or UFPJ with a 10 ft. Black Flag.
I also have major issues with the ideology of some of these organizations, and I made sure the people who I know and were going to the DC demo, knew some of the problems with ANSWER, but I am happy they went, and I would have gone if I were within a short train ride (instead of a 10 plane ride).
As an example...I have major problems with Shalom Achshov (Peace Now), and they are little dictators about how their demos are run (we have the permit and we say which signs can be shown and which can't)...but I still go (when I am not stuck in my house night and day on the last week of finishing my MA thesis)...and I bring what signs I want, and talk to people in the crowd and if I have a critique of something they say, I bring it up... And I critique them before during and after the demo, but hell, they got the permit, they have the funding, and as long as the specific demo is on something that I think is worthy of showing myself as a number, I will go and try to use the space they opened up to widen the discourse a bit more.
And Wojtek, as to your statement below...I agree with you...
Bryan
Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
> Bryan:
>> God knows it ain't worth going to that demo tonight...they're fascists
>> and it won't matter anyway if I do go.
>
>
> Where does that conclusion come from? I said that if a social movement
> wants to be successful it needs to follow the right strategy which involves
> taking advantage of a window of opportunity when it opens, and joining the
> establishment (or "working within," if you will) instead of maintaining its
> countercultural contumacy and contrarian rhetoric. Some - usually those who
> miss the boat - call it "selling out" - which may or may not be the case.
> The essence of politics is compromise - so settling for as much as can be
> won under the circumstances is not a sellout. On the other hand, not
> seeking a compromise to maintain ideological purity of the self-styled gurus
> is betraying the movement.
>
> Wojtek
>
>
>
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