From: Aaron Shuman <maruta_us at yahoo.com> Date: September 10, 2006 11:45:41 AM EDT To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: Re: where have all the protesters gone?
AS: Here are some speculations to provoke discussion...
1. Katrina solidarity work brigades in New Orleans (and the failure of the anti-war movement to link with this movement in a substantive way that changes policy is one of the biggest failures of the past year);
2. Decentralization is a drawback. (The last time there was a major anti-war mobilization in San Francisco, I remember press coverage emphasizing how even in the burbs of Walnut Creek et. al., there were anti-war rallies and how wonderful it all was. And that made me think that people are treating mobilizations as pep rallies, opportunities to voice their previously held opinions, rather than actually change the course of the war. The leadership and the unified national co- ordination to do something from the Vietnam era like surround the Pentagon does not seem to exist.)
3. Emphasis on mobilizing, not mass arrests. (It feels like I'm getting an email every other week from another organization having an anti-war rally, and no one--with one exception; see below--is talking about civil disobedience. People *are* doing time all over the U.S. for protesting the war, but this does not seem to be built in to the awareness of the mainstream anti-war movement and it does not get mentioned nearly enough.)
4. U.S. liberals and imperialism. (I wonder how many liberals belive Gore would not have invaded Iraq and so don't see this as their war. Venting spleen at the Bush Administration takes the place of substantive anti-war action, and perhaps some are perfectly content to watch the B.A. take it on the chin, believing that it will help the Democrats return to power and--manage the war better?)
5. "Anti-terrorism" prosecutions, police infiltration and harassment, are no joke. See the Northern California ACLU's report on "the state of surveillance", for instance. http://www.aclunc.org/ surveillance_report/index.html
All of the above said, school is back in session, and we'll see what the old-school pacifists pull off the week of September 21st with their Declaration of Peace. http://www.declarationofpeace.org They're putting the emphasis back on taking action as well as talking...
The Declaration of Peace is a nationwide campaign to establish by September 21, 2006 a concrete and rapid plan for peace in Iraq, including: a prompt timetable for withdrawal of troops and closure of bases a peace process for security, reconstruction, and reconciliation and the shift of funding for war to meeting human needs.
If this plan for peace is not created and activated by Congress by September 21, the International Day of Peace, Declaration signers across the U.S. will engage in nonviolent action in Washington, D.C. and in communities throughout the nation.
> Even the New York Times bemoans the absence of an anti-war
> movement. :-0 -- Yoshie
>
> <http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0831-21.htm> Published on
> Thursday, August 31, 2006 by the New York Times There Is Silence in
> the Streets; Where Have All the Protesters Gone? by Andrew Rosenthal