>>For one thing, small-towners generally do no like outsiders coming to their
>>towns and cause "trouble." It does not matter how those issues fall on a
>>political spectrum in big cities or Washington, all that matter is that they
>>are not local issues. Small-towners do not like to be used as pawns in some
>>outsider's game. They already feel that they have been such pawns in the
>>hands of big business, big government, big politics and what not all their
>>lives. They do not want any more of that, especially outside agitators
>>telling them what to do and think. It is insulting their dignity.
>>
>>Wojtek
>
> As a resident of a small town I have to disagree with Woj a bit here.
> Small towns are certainly insular to some degree but never underestimate
> the draw of "out-of-towners".
> Too many small town residents chafe at the idea of being small town and
> groups from "the-big-city" affirm
> in their mind that they are not so small town after all. They are
> greeted openly as proof of such.
> It is also sometimes easier for out of town organizations to get permits
> that would be denied locals.
> The town does not want to risk being seen as backward by denying a
> permit to an organization from NYC.
> There is no hesitation to deny a local group a permit since it will not
> be reported and the risk of looking "small-town" is minimal.
I should have clarified what I meant when I asked why the anti-war coalitions aren't protesting in the Midwest. The anti-war movement could see a big boost in numbers and recognition if it organized protests in *cities* around the Midwest and South. Instead of organizing buses from the Midwest to take people to Washington, DC, why not organize buses to bring people from the East Coast to protests in Columbus, Detroit, Chicago, Nashville and Kansas City? There are plenty of symbolic targets in these cities to organize protests around. All of these cities have local anti-war and peace groups. Large protests in these cities would get more coverage by the media, because they would be unusual and because the media tunes out protests in D.C. as being the same old protest in Washington.
It's also a mistake to misrepresent what people in small towns think about protests and the war. The war is very unpopular across the country, maybe even more so in small towns where people feel like nothing is being done. A protest that left the politicians back in the East Coast and played to populist anti-war attitudes might play well in Peoria or Lamoni.
People in small towns are just not this one dimensional.
One last note: those of you who read "What's the Matter With Kansas?" may remember how Frank talked about that anti-abortion campaign in Wichita. The right wing has been successful because it does smart things like the Wichita campaign. The left is ineffective because we spend too much time listening to comrades who tell us what isn't possible, instead of trying to think outside of the box and be willing to try new strategies.
Chuck