> They're already full and no one pays much attention. You talk about
> jail like it's a camp-out.
>
> To use one of the best lines I've seen on lbotalk--- Are you a
> cartoon? Do you have to draw yourself every morning?
Don't start coveting Jon Stewart's job.
I never said that jail is a picnic, but that there is the tactic of doing mass civil disobedience and relying on numbers to bust the jail, thus minimizing the charges.
Sometimes the state figures out ways to subvert this strategy, like they did in NYC in 2004. Sometimes the state screws itself, like it did with the People's Strike of 2002 or Seattle in 1999.
What's really odd about this discussion is that a few of you are arguing against *any* form of illegal activism. I'm suggesting mass civil disobedience against *different* targets as a component of a new strategy. I'm not advocating violence or property destruction, although I support these tactics.
This argument against *any* form of illegal protest is odd because there are thousands of activists out there doing these tactics and they aren't being subject to any harsher legal penalties than they were 5, 10, 15 years ago. Of course, some people are experiencing tougher sanctions. But there is still plenty of political space for these tactics.
Chuck