time travel back to 2001-2002 - Where has our movement gone?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

We suffer from a collective memory loss, and we are worse off because of it. How did it happen? Is there something in the water?

In the run up to the IraqNam quagmire, people were angry, they were committed and they marched. Here in Chicago, tens of thousands marched, polite, committed, and upset that we were about to invade Iraq. The response? many thousands of police, in black, armored robo-cop gear, all of them heavily armed, with a stack of plastic cuffs at the ready, masked, gloved and threatening. To say that they were intimidating is a huge understatement.

What happened? Where has our movement gone? I recall it clearly, despite the lack of media coerage. People were herded like sheep. People with cameras were attacked and their film, memory chips and even cameras confiscated or destroyed. If you tried to get out of the march, you were arrested. Several hundred people were arrested, some beaten up and EVERY SINGLE ONE WAS RELEASED WITHOUT BEING CHARGED. And I was there.

Again I ask, What happened? WHERE HAS OUR MOVEMENT GONE? We lost. No more marches. No more public displays. No more peace movement. The thugs in uniform won. Bush won. America lost.

Why has there been so much silence on the peace issue, the marches, the government's response and and the petering out of our movement? Why do we not again rise and stop this latest outrage? Iran will be our next battlefield, our next loss, our next mistake. We need to stand up again in the face of uniformed thugs and GOP fascists and proclaim what is right and what is wrong. Our Iraq policy was wrong, and has led to the deaths of many thousands. Iran will be worse.

Could someone please tell me, Where has our movement gone?

[bryant69]

1. It's harder to protest after troops are in the field

It's possible that once Bush and his cronies are more explicit in their desire to invade Iran, the peace movement will find a lot of people returning to it.

However I suspect that the Bush Administration, insofar as they have determined to invade Iran, may not go through legal channels this time around.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[The2ndWheel]

2. Why would it work this time?

It didn't with Iraq. If this administration wants to go to Iran, it's going to.

The smartest thing they could do is let people walk around the street with a few signs, letting them get their frustrations out. That's where authoritarian regimes go wrong, they try to stifle that type of thing. It's much easier if you just let the rabble dance around, and feel like they're getting something done. Then you can concentrate on what you want to do, and completely ignore the protests.

Peaceful protests don't work, because they're just ignored by anyone with any power at all. Violent protests can backfire on the people protesting. So it's a win-win, depending on who you are.

[aikoaiko]

3. Ambivalence

Many who didn't want our troops to go in the first place and hate the terrible fiasco Iraq has become also fear that it could even become worse (civil war, sectarian cleansing, etc) if we leave too soon.

I know, I know, let Iraqis solve these problems, but still, some people feel ambivalent about when and how we should leave (now or soon as its relatively stable).

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. good point. we DON'T want to make it worse

but staying the coarse is no option, either, not when our course involves the invasion of Iran.

[htuttle]

5. Apparently, we weren't ready for the next step

The next step, of course, would be marching and protesting WITHOUT permits, with the purpose of shutting down normal commerce in a city. Just like they did in the Ukraine, or Mexico, etc... We were apparently not ready for that, and the tactic of 'informational protesting' had become pointless without media coverage (or misleading media coverage).

I heard recently that UFPJ was ready to do a huge, unpermitted protest in NYC coming up, but then the city blinked and granted them permits. So maybe the mood is changing. But still, unless are ready to stand in the street and block the free flow of dollars for awhile (and risk arrest for standing in the street, disturbing the peace, etc...), we aren't going to be able to change anything that way. Big puppets and clever signs aren't going to be enough. To get the attention of the powers-that-be, you need to hit them in the pocket book by not cooperating and by getting in their way.

"5,6,7,8, We will not cooperate", rings pretty hollow when you get a parade permit ahead of time...