> All right. Go ahead an try to organize this. If you get more than 100
> people willing to sign up for this suicide mission, I'll be surprised.
This is a "left" discussion list, right? I haven't accidentally subscribed to a list for liberal historians, right?
I'm trying to pick my jaw off the floor after the shock that you, of all people, would dismiss some standard activist tactics as a suicide mission. You haven't succumbed to this post-9/11 fear have you?
> You seem not to care at all that there's almost no support for your
> style of politics in the American public, even though anarchism is
> supposed to be more democratic than democracy. Doesn't that give you
> pause at all?
Doug, I have been an anarchist for over 20 years. I'm well aware that left and anarchist politics aren't popular among the majority of Americans. But I've also seen an anarchist movement that has grown by leaps and bounds over the past decade. This didn't happen because we sat around at conferences talking about when and where we should get out of our comfort zone and practice our politics. I've seen plenty of victories and successes created by people who got out there and put their ideas in action. Social change involves some risk. You are, after all, going up against violent people who will stop at nothing to maintain their control.
Militant action, or illegal protest, or whatever you want to call it, is the best way to change the political conditions for dissent. You ain't going to change the atmosphere if you sit around and wait for things to go your way.
It's like you are arguing that some nice guy should just sit at the bar and wait for the cute girls to make passes at him. You gotta go take some risks, face rejection, and take action.
If we collectively sit on our hands, then that means the state come sdown harder on those who refuse to stay silent.
Chuck