For the record - I was in DC in October of 2002. And in January of 2003. I was in Detroit and Lansing and Ann Arbor many times throughout 2003 and 2004 and 2005. I was in DC again in September of 2005, and stayed beyond the permitted Saturday march and participated in the civil action on the following Monday with Cindy Sheehan, Code Pink, UFPJ and CALCI. We surrounded the White House and refused to leave the sidewalk and were arrested. Imagine if there were 400,000 instead of 400 of us willing to get arrested? I was also in NYC a few months ago for another big one. Not to mention that I protest almost EVERY DAY Monday thru Friday in Ann Arbor for an hour and a half after a full day's work, and I have been doing so since early April...

But when it comes to protests that actually change things, I am NOT talking about permitted marches on weekends in DC being the answer. You are right in saying that they don't work. What I am talking about is mass, unpermitted protest, civil disobedience by the hundreds of thousands, in cities across the country, during the work week, disrupting government offices, media offices, for days in a row. How do you think the civil rights movement happened? By Saturday afternoon la-di-da marches that everyone ignored? NO. How about the Vietnam War protests?

People got out in the streets and wouldn't back down. THEY WOULDN'T BACK DOWN. They didn't go out for 4 hours and then come home and wonder why it didn't work.

If we did that today, if we refused to back down, would the police fire pepper spray? Probably in some towns. Would some people get hurt? Probably in some towns. Would some police side with the people? Pretty likely in a lot of places. Would some military side with the people? Again, pretty likely, since those folks are getting fucked the worst in this mess, as far as the US goes.

So the bottom line is that most people don't seem to want to risk anything. They live their relatively comfortable lives in their air-conditioned homes and listen to the news and say 'oh, that's so sad, I wish all those people weren't suffering so' and deep down they know that it is their tax dollars, their leaders making these horrors happen, and by sitting back and not risking anything to stop it they are complicit, they are responsible. And they go to their doctor because they can't sleep at night and wonder why they need to take Ambien and Prozac and it's because they are in denial that they are guilty of murder. And you may think I am overstating it and that's fine, think what you will, maybe I am. But there is some truth to it. And unless you are in total denial you know it too.

As I mentioned in a different post, most of the people who I speak to who are receptive of the idea of mass strikes are non-voters, non-political people, who have known all along that their gov't doesn't work for them (don't forget, these people make up almost half the US adult population -they are the people, not the sheeple, or ignorant, or apathetic, or whatever else people around here like to think...). The Dem activists? They drive by and honk and wave and thank us for protesting (as if we are doing it on their behalf? Please...). But the blue-collar, low income struggling people who are on their way to the bus stop after a day's work cleaning hotel rooms - THEY are the ones who will stop and protest for half-an-hour and catch the next bus out-of-town.

So IMO, based on my experiences in 'the real world' and here on DU, I have to say that the people are ready for this shit, most of them just need some leadership. And the partisan activists are holding EVERYONE back by being so goddamn careful and comfortable.

btw, my frustration and anger (which I am guessing are pretty evident in this post) aren't meant to be directed to you in particular - I have been needing to get this out of my system for awhile. But I am hella frustrated with the attitudes of many on DU. It's like everyone sees the problem, there is only one time-tested solution, it is a difficult one, and everyone is trying to avoid having to do it. But meanwhile people are screaming in pain all over the world because of us, and I for one can't take it anymore. I can't imagine how a child in Baghdad who listens to bombs all night, every night, can take it

As a preface, I would like to say that this post was inspired by a fantastic essay by H2O Man which can be found here.

A few posters suggested I give my reply (#5) its own thread, so here it is, with a few changes since it is in a different context.

----------------------------------------------------

I have an internal locus of control (at least, I think I do). For quite awhile, I was caught up in the idea that our politicians, particularly the Democratic ones, were the people who had the power to affect change in our government (I don't mean this in relation to which party is in power right now, I mean generally speaking). So I was thinking that trying to influence our current politians to 'do the right thing' on a particular bill or nominee or whatever was the power that I had.

Unfortunately, time and time again, I was struck by major disappointment when this didn't work, and being on DU a lot I knew I was not alone - in both trying to influence them (phone calls, letters, emails, petitions) and in being disappointed when it failed (as it has dozens of times in the last several years).

In some cases, this could be blamed on partisan imbalance/Republican control, like some of the judge and cabinet nominees that a unified Democratic party could still not defeat. But in other cases, there were bills that could have been defeated, that in fact the constituents of both parties seemed to want defeated, like CAFTA, that passed with bipartisan support. If the Dems had stood together on that one, it could have failed. But it didn't. And after watching a couple of these on C-Span and seeing it all happening before my eyes, I began to understand that in some cases (and some of the BIGGEST issues, IMO) it doesn't matter to most of them what their constituents want because they don't work for us. I know many here will disagree with me on that, and I also know there are several exceptions to this in the House and a couple in the Senate, but ultimately those who guide both parties are NOT beholden to the American people, they are beholden to the industries that fund their campaigns.

When the depth of that reality hit me over the last year or two, I did feel helpless, and hopeless, and a lot like giving up. So guess what?

I gave up. And boy do I feel better now.

To clarify, I gave up on the politicians. All of them. I expect nothing from them, and I am no longer disappointed. In fact, I don't really pay that much attention to the ins-and-outs of the daily grind on Capitol Hill.

Instead, I talk to the people. Not the online activists, not even the grassroots party leaders, but the regular everyday people.
The people who often get referred to here as "apathetic" or "ignorant" or whatever.
The people who don't vote because neither party represents them right now.
The people who are too busy working three jobs to give a shit who is running for what, because almost NONE of the condidates are running on their behalf.

They aren't stupid, they are ignored.

By the Dems, the Repubs, and quite frankly, most of the 'activists' in both parties. Sorry, but election year lip service does not count. The people I talk to don't care about gay marriage or abortion, those aren't political decisions for them. They care about health care and food and job security. And aside from election time, neither party seems to give a shit about those things (again, there are a few exceptions). Neither party makes these things a priority. Both parties passed CAFTA, and both parties passed the bankruptcy bill, and so on and so forth.

So anyway, back to the question of power. What I have been concluding lately is that our real power is NOT in electoral politics, because we can't possibly have much influence on them (and I won't go into the details why, we all know what I mean - and for those who don't, we'll start with voting machines and campaign financing and go from there). The only power we can have, IMO, is the power of the people - and the people are totally turned off by the kind of activism generally advocated here and other online discussion/activism sites. Because most of what gets discussed here falls into the 2-party framework of electoral politics, and they know it is a crock.

Most of you all know it is a crock too. So why keep banging our heads against the wall?

I am not going to imply that I know the solution. I just know that what we have been doing is NOT working, and I am sick of listening to this record skip. Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. And expecting a different result...is that insanity? I think so.

The power is in the people. Our gov't was built to be broken down when it gets out of control, when those in Washington get too much concentrated power. Well guess what? We are there.

IT IS OUT OF CONTROL!!!!

So how are we going to use a broken system to fix itself? We can't. Yet people keep trying. And feeling hopeless. I say, give it up.

Give it up and get into the streets. RIGHT NOW.

I am out there 5 days a week (some weeks only 4, I do have some other things going on ). It's not that hard. And while you are out there, holding your signs and doing your thing, TALK TO PEOPLE. Even the people who drive pick-ups and wear camouflage. Don't tell them how important it is that they vote for this person or email that Senator; instead, ASK THEM WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO THEM. Don't go to them with an agenda; instead, ask them what they want from their government. You will be surprised at what you hear.

And you will feel a thousand times better.

And much, much more powerful.

I guess what it comes down to is recognizing what you can and cannot control. And we cannot control our politicians using the system as it is, no matter how hard we try, unless we become a wealthy industry leader, for example, and that would defeat the whole purpose, right? So by using process of elimination we get closer to determining what we can control, and we are one step closer to being effective, instead of wasting our energy on futile efforts.

It may sound like I am saying 'give up on the Dems'. To be totally honest, to some extent that is what I mean. But I mean it in the context of the current broken system, and that is really what I have given up on. We absolutely need to find new ways to harness the power of the people. And we need to do it now.

It's later than you think

Now for the requisite disclaimer, my futile attempt to reduce the inevitable flames...

I am not trying to tell everyone to stop emailing your Senators and signing petitions. Last time I wrote one of my Senators a real letter, he sent me a form letter about a completely different issue. And this is a generally reasonable Democratic Senator. So I am done with it. Finis. But these letters should make a difference, and I don't want to sound like I am belittling the efforts of those who choose this method.

Similarly, despite my nearly complete loss of faith in electoral politics, I am not advocating that people should stay home on election day, or stop campaigning for their candidates. If you believe in someone strongly enough to pound the pavement for them, by all means do it. Vote early and often. Do your thing. Again, it should make a difference, and on principle I will always vote, even if I have to write-in my mother's name (which I have done in the past - she'd be a great President ).

PEACE AND SOLIDARITY!!!!

Megan Monkey

This is a great piece, and provides much food for thought. I would like to try to ground it in our current situation, or at least my perspective/experience of it.

I have an internal locus of control (at least, I think I do). For quite awhile, I was caught up in the idea that our politicians, particularly the Democratic ones, were the people who had the power to affect change in our government (I don't mean this in relation to which party is in power right now, I mean generally speaking). So I was thinking that trying to influence our current politians to 'do the right thing' on a particular bill or nominee or whatever was the power that I had.

Unfortunately, time and time again, I was struck by major disappointment when this didn't work, and being on DU a lot I knew I was not alone - in both trying to influence them (phone calls, letters, emails, petitions) and in being disappointed when it failed (as it has dozens of times in the last several years).

In some cases, this could be blamed on partisan imbalance/Republican control, like some of the judge and cabinet nominees that a unified Democratic party could still not defeat. But in other cases, there were bills that could have been defeated, that in fact the constituents of both parties seemed to want defeated, like CAFTA, that passed with bipartisan support. If the Dems had stood together on that one, it could have failed. But it didn't. And after watching a couple of these on C-Span and seeing it all happening before my eyes, I began to understand that in some cases (and some of the BIGGEST issues, IMO) it doesn't matter to most of them what their constituents want because they don't work for us. I know many here will disagree with me on that, and I also know there are several exceptions to this in the House and a couple in the Senate, but ultimately those who guide both parties are NOT beholden to the American people, they are beholden to the industries that fund their campaigns.

When the depth of that reality hit me over the last year or two, I did feel helpless, and hopeless, and a lot like giving up.

So guess what? I did. And boy do I feel better now.

To clarify, I gave up on the politicians. All of them. I expect nothing from them, and I am no longer disappointed. In fact, I don't really pay that much attention to the ins-and-outs of the daily grind on Capitol Hill.

Instead, I talk to the people. Not the online activists, not even the grassroots party leaders, but the regular everyday people. The people who get referred to here as apathetic or ignorant or whatever. The people who don't vote because neither party represents them right now. The people who are too busy working three jobs to give a shit who is running for what, because almost NONE of them are running on their behalf. They aren't stupid, they are ignored. By the Dems, the Repubs, and most of the 'activists' in both parties. Sorry, but lip service doesn't count. The people I talk to don't care about gay marriage or abortion, those aren't political decisions for them. They care about health care and food and job security. And aside from election time, neither party seems to give a shit about those things (again, there are a few exceptions). Neither party makes these things a priority. Both parties passed CAFTA, and both parties passed the bankruptcy bill, and so on and so forth.

So anyway, back to the question of power. What I have been concluding lately is that our real power may not be in electoral politics, because we can't possibly have much influence on them (and I won't go into the details why, we all know what I mean - and for those who don't, we'll start with voting machines and campaign financing and go from there). The only power we can have, IMO, is the power of the people - and the people are totally turned off by the kind of activism generally advocated here and other online discussion/activism sites. Because most of what gets discussed here falls into the 2-party framework of electoral politics, and they know it is a crock.

Most of you all know it is a crock too. So why keep banging our heads against the wall?

I am not going to imply that I know the solution. I just know that what we have been doing is NOT working, and I am sick of listening to the record skip. Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. And expecting a different result...is that insanity? I think so.

The power is in the people. Our gov't was built to be broken down when it gets out of control, because the power is supposed to be in the hands of the people.

IT IS OUT OF CONTROL!!!!

So how are we going to use a broken system to fix itself? We can't. Yet people keep trying. And feeling hopeless. I say, give it up.

Give it up and get into the streets. RIGHT NOW.

I am out there 5 days a week (some weeks only 4, I do have some other things going on ). It's not that hard. And while you are out there, holding your signs and doing your thing, TALK TO PEOPLE. Even the people who drive pick-ups and wear camouflage. Don't tell them how important it is that they vote for this person or email that Senator. Instead, ASK THEM WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO THEM. Don't go to them with an agenda, ask them what they want from their government. You will be surprised at what you hear.

And you will feel a thousand times better.

And much, much more powerful.

on edit: I guess what it comes down to is recognizing what you can and cannot control. And we cannot control our politicians, no matter how hard we try, unless we become a wealthy industry leader, say, and that would defeat the whole purpose, right? So by using process of elimination we get closer to determining what we can control, and we are one step closer to being effective, instead of wasting our energy on futile efforts.

(Sorry, this is pretty much a hit-and-run, as I need to get out to the Federal Bldg with my signs and my fellow protestors shortly, and I don't have internet access at home right now since I live in a tent. )

A group of concerned citizens are protesting every Monday through Friday from 5-6pm at the corner of Liberty and Fifth. We have been doing this for about 2 months now.

Unless it is super rainy we are there religiously.

Please join us. Bring a sign, or hold one of our extras. We have some professionally made ones including IMPEACH BUSH yard signs (which you can buy, btw) and lots of hand-made signs. We range from 3 people to 33 people, depending on the weather and mood, I guess.

We are NOT an organized group, we are not affiliated with anyone. We are just people who have had enough.

The woman who started it is named Libby, I have been involved since the get-go, as have a few others. We are bringing more and more people into the fray every day.

This is what inspired it:

The Limits of the Internet or The Silence Of the Streets
by Brigitte Schön

While we're all sitting comfortably at some desk looking at our computer screens, reading articles by people whose opinion we cherish, celebrating the feeling that we might be able to change whatever we want to change by just writing the kind of highly opinionated piece I am about to write, I have lately been giving this complacent feeling of mine a thorough cleansing which led to the following musings:

What if the world, this world of TV images we know, still was pretty archaic at heart and what if it still primarily reacted to centuries-old images and trigger patterns after all? In other words: What do political campaigns and articles via the internet really manage to accomplish? And: Does this mean that I still ought to brave icy winds or pouring rain instead and hold up some banners in demonstrations in order to really achieve anything, and does this mean that all these thoughful articles on the net don't have as much influence as all of us couch revolutionaries would like to believe?

Let me lead you through a little time machine experiment. All I'd ask you to do is imagine that there was an internet around when any of the following occured (there are thousands of cases to choose from; I just randomly picked a few):

The British are occupying India. Instead of rallying hundreds of thousands of Indians in peaceful marches, Mahatma Ghandi launches an internet campaign against the Raj (=British rule of India). Your best bet: Do you think that the British would still be ruling India?


more... http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0305-2...

NYC Union Chief Roger Toussaint Remains Defiant Hours Before Heading to Jail for Leading Transit Strike

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roger Toussaint, president of the Transport Workers Union, Local 100, heads to jail today to serve a 10-day sentence for authorizing a strike in December that shut down New York City's Transit system for a little more than two days. Hours before heading jail, Toussaint joins us in our firehouse studio to discuss the strike, the future of the union and what he calls the "extortionist media."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By this evening, the President of the Transport Workers Union, Local 100, Roger Toussaint, will be in jail, serving a ten-day sentence in a lock-up in lower Manhattan known as "The Tombs." Toussaint was sentenced to jail earlier this month by Judge Theodore Jones of the Brooklyn Supreme Court for authorizing a strike that shut down New York City's Transit system for a little more than 2 days. The strike took place in December and violated the state's Taylor Law, which forbids public employees from striking. Toussaint and union supporters maintained that the strike was a defensive strike to stop the Metropolitan Transit Authority from, among other things, creating a two-tiered pension system. Toussaint was the only union member ordered to jail even though lawyers for the MTA and the state Attorney General said they wanted community service for union officials as opposed to jail time. And in further punishment for the strike, last week, Judge Jones fined the 33,000 member union $2.5 million and suspended its ability to automatically collect member dues.
In addition, last week, transit workers overwhelmingly ratified the contract offer that they had previously rejected. The package entails a 10.9% increase in raises and a new paid holiday. It also requires workers to put 1.5% of their earnings towards health premiums. MTA head, Peter Kalikow has stated that the agency is not legally bound by the second vote and the matter will go into binding arbitration. Roger Toussaint was elected head of the TWU Local 100 in 2000. He is originally from Trinidad and Tobago, settling in Brooklyn when he was 18. He was hired by the MTA as a cleaner in 1984, and became a track worker in 1985. In 1994, he became a formal union member when he was elected leader of the 1800-member Track Division. In 2000 he was elected President of the TWU.


Roger Toussaint, President of Transport Workers Union, Local 100.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIPT

AMY GOODMAN: Roger Toussaint joins us here in our studio. In just a few hours he will be headed back to our area to turn himself in at the Tombs. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Roger Toussaint.

ROGER TOUSSAINT: Good morning.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about why you are headed to jail today?

ROGER TOUSSAINT: Why? Well, that was up to the judge. But essentially, they are trying to send a message to the entire labor movement and all the social justice causes that if you stand up and fight, they are going to crush you, so it’s important that we send back a message to them. That's why they’re subjecting us to what is the equivalent of a public flogging. The fines, the dues checkoff elimination, as well as the jail, is truly excessive, makes no sense other than to send a message.

much more at link...

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid...

When GI Joe Says No
Christian Parenti

A young former US Army sniper wearing a desert camo uniform, an Iraqi kaffiyeh and mirrored sunglasses scans a ruined urban landscape of smashed homes, empty streets and garbage heaps. His sand-colored hat bears a small regulation-style military patch, or tab, that instead of reading "Airborne" or "Ranger" or "Special Forces" says "Shitbag"--common military parlance for bad soldier.

This isn't Baghdad or Kabul. It's the Gulf Coast, and the column of young men and women in desert uniforms carrying American flags are with Iraq Veterans Against the War. They are part of a larger peace march that is making its way from Mobile to New Orleans. This is just one of IVAW's ongoing series of actions.

---snip---

Since 1973, when Congress ended the draft, the armed forces have been restructured using unit cohesion as a form of deep discipline. In other words, social control in today's military operates through a system that could be straight from a text by French philosopher Michel Foucault: Soldiers are managed not with coercion but with freedom. Because they join of their own free will, they find it almost impossible to rebel. Volunteering implicates them, effectively stripping them of the victim status that conscription allowed. Soldiers who would resist are guilt-tripped and emotionally blackmailed into serving causes they hate. During my time embedded in Iraq, I met several antiwar soldiers, but none of them considered abandoning their comrades. They said things like "you signed that paper" or "they got that contract"--as if contracts are never broken or annulled.

---snip---

Is a Vietnam-style collapse of military discipline imminent? Some peace activists think so, pointing to the estimated 400 US military deserters who have made their way to Canada, twenty of whom have applied for asylum, and the roughly 9,000 military personnel who have failed to report for duty since the war began (not all of them have been classified as deserters). Recruiting numbers, meanwhile, have flatlined.
Yet while today's military certainly faces a crisis of quantity, it does not have the Vietnam-era problem with quality.

more at link...
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060508/pare...

I am sitting at my desk crying now, thanks a lot, LOL

It is so hard these days to remember how kind people actually are, and how ultimately, in our souls, we are creatures of cooperation, not of competition and hatred. If we weren't our species wouldn't have lasted this long.

We need to get back to a spirit of cooperation - not just one-on-one, like your story - but in the big picture, or we will ruin ourselves.

is that they are disrupting the normal course of things in a way the anti-war movement seldom does. The are continuing their protests for days, they are leaving school and work, and they are doing it on business days so everything gets disrupted.

The anti-war movement has these big demonstrations - but always on weekends - that last one day. I am not trashing these events, I went to DC for the first time to protest in Oct 2002, 6 months before the war started, and I have gone several times since, as well as attending many, many, local events. I am also planning to go to NYC in a few weeks (see sig line).

But what we really need to do, if we want to shake things up, is to get things going during the week, have events that last for days, that disrupt people's daily lives, and shake up the status quo. We need to take more risks and get out of our comfort zones. I am doing it locally, on an almost daily basis at rush hour, and it amazes me how many people say they will join me but they never come back.



edit for spelling

It really may be that simple.

The question is, WHERE IS EVERYBODY???

I demonstrate at a busy corner at rush hour almost every day. At most there may be 5 other people with me, but usually there are only 3 or 4 of us. We talk to tons of people and almost every single one supports what we are doing, and they say they'll come back another day and join us, but they almost never do.

Why not?

Imagine thousands, tens of thousands, millions of people in the streets at the same time in cities across America. It happens in other democracies all the time. Think France and the students for a current example.

Are we waiting for the politicians to decide to return the power to the people? Because it isn't going to happen. We need to DEMAND it. And we need to refuse to function until things change. End of story.

I have a sign that reads:

99% OF POLITICIANS ARE IGNORING 99% OF THE PEOPLE

Not one person has disagreed with that one. Not one.

But they still won't stand with us for more than 5 minutes. WHY???

I should warn you, I have recently fallen over the edge of the precipice and there is no more waiting, IMO. I am sick of the killing, lying, cheating, stealing and abusing, and I am so tired of watching well-intentioned people try to use these broken systems to stop the inevitable.

I am convinced that a general strike is the only way and the time is NOW. I don't know how to make it happen, so for the last couple weeks I am spending about 5-10 hours a week doing it - demonstrating at the Federal bldg almost every day after work, and talking to the people passing by, and everyone likes the idea. We just need to DO IT. Because the people (and I don't mean Democratic activists, I mean everyone) are ready. I have a sign that says

99% OF THE POLITICIANS ARE IGNORING 99% OF THE PEOPLE

and not one person has disagreed with that. Democrat, Republican, Independent, Apolitical, doesn't matter. They all agree. Even if they don't like the "Impeach Bush" sign that my partner-in-protest is holding (a lot of people think that won't make enough of a difference).

The people are ready. So why are we all just sitting around?