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by brokenkeyboard
First, let me say that I thought the demonstration was a huge success. A huge number of people came, and all of them left more energized than they came. That alone is a success. We saw our own numbers. We realized what a force we are. We made a lot of noise. We got a lot of attention, to spite the MSM. We hopefully succeeded in getting people involved in local organizing. We had a hell of a time.
This was definitely a victory. But a lot of people have been complaining about some of the details, about the speakers, about the mix of messages, about the lack of media attention, etc. Some of these are legitimate complaints. All of them are issues that we should look at more closely.
So, Lets talk about what worked and what didn't.
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STRONG POINTS:
Turnout:
Diversity of the crowd: The one exception to this was Arabs and Muslims. They were there, they were definitely represented, especially among the speakers, but they were not in the crowd in the numbers they could have been. Whether they felt excluded by the politics of some in the movement, or weather they are (legitimately) afraid of government repression, I don't know. Like I said, I never saw ALL of the crowd at once, so maybe I just didn't see their true numbers. Still, overall, it was definitely one of the more diverse mass protests.
Mix of Messages: The left is an opinionated bunch. That's why we came in the first place. You really don't have any right to ask everyone to come, and then tell them "you have to stick to the message" We are the message. The message is "The people demand to be heard!" So let us speak. People generally stayed on message anyway, so it wasn't much of an issue. Even those who didn't generally stuck to related side-issues. Those who wanted a "single issue" march really don't have too much to complain about.
Global Justice Slogans: In most of the rest of the world, the global justice movements really helped to seed their anti-war movements. It would be great if, when the war eventually does end, our global justice movement was re-seeded by the anti-war movement.
Defeated the Right-wingers: A lot of people at the time were telling us to ignore them, to let them speak, etc. These are the same people who were telling us not to talk about Palestine, to stay on message. I'm tired of self-censorship for the left, and free reign for the right. This was exactly the right tactic for that occasion. I also made a point of telling all the OTHER counter-protesters, the ones hiding behind the police, about what happened. I told them to bring their racist, nationalist, hateful message away from the police, and see what happened. I told the police (largely minorities) that I was sorry that they had to protect racists. All in all, I think we did a good job of demoralizing the few right-wingers who came. Which is exactly what we want. We don't want them at our marches. And hopefully, if they think about coming back, they'll remember how they cowered behind the police and helplessly watched us parade by FOR 4 HOURS. Lot of fun that must have been. WEAK POINTS:
Lack of Media Coverage:
Train Problems: Also, they were doing some subway maintenance at the time, which delayed some people. From the DC residents i talked to, this was pretty routine, and while annoying, probably didn't hold anyone up for more than 30 min. Regardless, there really isn't anything we could have done about the delays.
The Route:
Anti-Climax:
I dont know what I was really expecting, but after 4 hours of the largest and most energetic march I'd ever seen, I was somehow expecting something more at the end. Maybe that was just me.
Anyway, lets talk about strategy and tactics. Let's learn as much as possible from this success, so we know how to do better next time.
Sept 24: reviewing our strategy and tactics | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Sept 24: reviewing our strategy and tactics | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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