We, As Liberal Activists Have FAILED! (ok ME Personally mostly)

[matcom]

let me preface this by saying not ALL of us have failed, but as a group, we have "marginalized" our cause.

before the war, we marched. we protested. we stood on street corners and shouted.

the war started.

we (I) stopped.

we (I) fell largely silent.

I am ashamed. Deeply ashamed.

in a time when we (I) should be screaming louder than before, i have turned to my yardwork on Saturday afternoons rather than marching in the streets. WHY?

i don't really have an answer but i propose the following (for the Boston area anyway)

we have a Boston DU gathering coming up on a Saturday. the drinking starts at 2pm. for those that can get here, lets protest this CONTINUED ILLEGAL WAR starting at noon.

OR

Will Pitt and I come up with another flyer campaign (LIKE WE USED TO) and hit Harvard Square to educate the masses.

you old timers remember when i reached CRITICAL MASS and launched this "flyer-drive"????

well, i am PISSED at myself and am ready AGAIN!!!

sorry for the rantings. LET'S ROLL DAMMIT!!!

[TahitiNut]

1. I agree.

I've been appalled that ordinary citizens have not taken to the streets ever since December 2000. I'm appalled that we're less of a democracy than any country where labor can and does have General Strikes.

[matcom]

5. oh we have taken to the streets a LOT since then

where you been? :D

BUT when the "WAR" started......

we fell silent

[TahitiNut]

19. Moi?

Doing everything I can, while providing daily care and support for my widowed, aged (and somewhat disabled) mother. I've marched, emailed, mailed, called, argued, and (with virtually every stranger and acquaintance I've encountered in the last two and a half years) engaged in "consciousness raising" about the current madministration and our loss of democracy. "From each according to his (or her) abilities ..." and all that.

I haven't fallen silent. It's not my style. ;-) Just as a ferinstance, I've visited my local VFW (the kind of place I've avoided like a plague for 35 years) a few times and engaged members in small chats about this war of conquest and pillage. Surprisingly to me, these otherwise Perot-conservative older veterans are appalled at this "war" and view Junior as an asinine AWOL money-grubber. I'll go back and keep stirring the pot. :shrug:

[wuushew]

2. Not true, we were one of the most successful focus groups of modern times

what failed was democracy

[GOPisEvil]

3. We Texans will be out Saturday!

Not about the war, but about Tom DeLay trying to take over our state.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=106&topic_id=1046&mesg_id=1046

[arcane1]

4. splendid idea!

There is a bay area DU gathering this month too.... we should try to make this into the start of something bigger

I agree 1000% Matcom, there was never a time to stop marching..

[Gringo]

6. We have to work our asses off and have a life

But we have NOT forgotten. We will be there when it counts, esp. Election '04. Look for the biggest turnout EVER in this nation's history.(big turnouts=always good for us) I will personally badger and pester every decent human being (ie non-repuke) to get out and vote.

[matcom]

7. with all due respect

it counted the first day the bombs fell

it counted when they took over Baghdad

it counts more than ever now

[Gringo]

14. I'm sorry but that kind of fervor cannot be kept up 24/7 for years by most

Our lives and careers would fall apart - and then who would contribute & volunteer for dem candidates?

I am at present more active politically than ever in my life - buyt I still have to have a life outside of that.

[MUAD_DIB]

8. Maybe it's summer burnout.

Or excess evil overload.


Regardless I am sure of two things.

1) I am ready to protest it all over. This time let's just turn our attention to the complacent media and lying SOB, SOTU, POS occupying the WH.

2) Noon is a good time to start.

I don't think that we have failed. What the anti-war movement accomplished in size alone should be considered a dress rehearsal for bigger things to come. I don't think that this is sedition, but we should all pay our personal respects to Chimpy come the '04 RNC in NY and shut it down: peacefully of course.

[StandWatie]

9. protest what?

I was bitterly, bitterly, opposed to this war but I don't want to leave Iraq to turn into some screwed up middle eastern Balkan conflict either.

I want to see the UN take over but it doesn't seem to have much value as a protesting slogan :shrug:

[ScreamingMeemie]

10. How about we start with protesting the silencing of "We the People"?

The systematic takeover by Bush and Co of our media, our schools, our neighborhoods. How about it?

[matcom]

11. you might not know of my website

:)

http://www.participatory-democracy.org

enjoy!

[ScreamingMeemie]

15. Thanks for sharing...

I did not see your original post as a summons to protest just the war. I saw it as a call to make our voices heard again.

[StandWatie]

12. sounds good..

the post was specific about the war though, I'm not sure where to go from here.

[matcom]

13. depends if you think the "war" is "over"

can you say "QUAGMIRE"???

[KoKo]

16. Matcom...I think alot of our energy has gone into the campaigns. We

weren't covered by the press.....we were ignored. So many of us in our own ways expended so much energy on keeping us out of Iraq, trying to fight Powell and the Media Giveaway, and all the other issues of last fall and this Spring and we finally realized that the campaign is what we have to do. They don't listen......they don't care.....until we get more Americans involved and agnry it will be what it finally came to in April of this year just as the war started.....with me and 12 other people in Raliegh,NC standing on a grassy knoll in front of our big mall with signs saying "Support Our Troops..Bring them Home" and "No War for Oil," and "Who Would Jesus Bomb" and the rest of the great sayings. We all did what we could.....they didn't listen.

I came home after the last protest when there were so few people and said......"That's It!" We aren't getting new people and the war has started." Next week it will be 5 then 2 then 0.......What was the point then. Should I have stood alone.

I had done other things that I won't talk about to protest........but at that point the issue was dead. We were in Iraq......no one wanted to protest because what was the point.

Who's going to take to the streets now? There aren't any more folks who would do it now than then.

And it can't be just up to us. We have to go after the system now...and we have Move On.Org. to help us. They came out of our efforts. And, they can make the difference. It's money now........and organization..

I hope you understand what I'm saying. I went to probably 15 demonstrations here in NC....all small except for the big Raleigh one with 8,000 people. I did what I could with being in the streets....Someone else needs to get angry enough to go there again. A new group.

[bloom]

17. seems like the time has come to campaign

help people know about the candidates...

[sandnsea]

18. How about Democracy Marches

instead of any protest. Marches for Democracy in Iraq, Democracy within the UN, and Democracy here at home. When a Governor is elected he stays elected. When we have Congressional rules in D.C. or Texas, they stay the rules. And like MrsGrumpy said, we the people are the democracy and it can only function when everybody participates. A kind of march that moves us forward instead of just being anti.

Protestors are targeted by Republicans and marginalized. Be for something that nobody can argue with, in a way that provides the solutions to the issues that we talk about all the time.

Or something like that.

[mandyky]

20. Dumbya, Oil, and PNAC

were gonna have this war come hell or high water, so if anyone failed they did. I like the idea of Democracy Marches and working _for_ something. Protesting now, is much like crying after the horses got out of the barn. What we need to focus on is a candidate for the next WH and administration. Protesting just gives right wingers more ammunition against Dems and progressives.

[Career Prole]

21. If they're too complacent

for macro-activism, shrink it. But don't hang it up. I'm a New England Yankee living in a small town in central Texas...read that as zero local credibility. When I got to my current job there was one other Democrat working in the pressroom at this paper. Every day we made it a point to have a very loud and animated discussion of the Dubya screw-up du jour...if the repukes would move away, we'd sidle over to 'em. I gotta admit, the foul-ups committed by bush made it easier tipping people away from the Dark Side than it otherwise would have been...but maybe that's an important point. The blunders and deceit are so obvious all you have to do is point them out to the FOXwatchers...it'll be epiphanous to them because they're blissfully unaware what a jackass they've elected. If you need to point the lies out loudly and repeatedly, well....it's worth the effort. Where there were two, we now have a half-dozen engaged in "lively debate within earshot of the unwashed". And I know these guys will influence their families' vote. It ain't much...I'm not deluding myself on that...but damn it, it's something! I've got no bulldozer handy, so I'm tryin' to tear it down a brick at a time.

Rick
I'm Working The "Young Republican" Crowd In Graphic Design Now:kick:

[matcom]

22. kick

whaddawegonnado?