Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, September 29 2005 @ 04:07 AM CDT

Weird. My intended message keeps being detect as SPAM. I have no idea why.

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Authored by: Admin on Thursday, September 29 2005 @ 10:31 AM CDT

Send me your message and I'll check it against the spam word list. I've tightened that list lately in order to stem the tide of comment spam.

The other comment about the Republicans focusing on the media is an important one. More people have come out against the war as a result of reading anti-war articles in the media than they have as a result of demos. In other words, if people would donate more money to Counterpunch, Infoshop, Dissident Voice and Indymedia, we could have a bigger voice and impact that some bad speakers at an ANSWER rally.

Chuck
chuck@mutualaid.org

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, September 29 2005 @ 07:30 PM CDT

Cemendur writes:

". . . Republicans put little to no effort into protests, yet they're the force dominating this country today. Instead of spending time, money into organizing protests, they spent time and money into influencing the media. What has a larger impact? A large protest once a year that gets ignored, or having significant influence over the media that people are exposed to all day, everyday?"

Its worth noting that the ruling class does not just 'influence the media'. The corporate media is a fundamental organization of the ruling class.

William Sargent in 'Battle for the Mind: The Mechanics of Indoctrination, Brainwashing and Thought Control' wrote, "Politicians, Priests, and psychiatrists often face the same problem: how to find the most rapid and permanent means of changing a man's (sic) beliefs." Those behind the corporate news, sitcoms, education system, and commercials - public relations specialists, "journalists", spin doctors, "teachers", textbook writers, psychiatrists, etc.- fullfill nearly the same role in our society as priests did in pre-industrial state societies. They have nearly the same 'function'.

"Another point, does the fact it took 7 years for the U.S. to withdrawal from the time the the mass Vietnam protests really began suggest they were highly effective? "
Excellent point.

"The Vietnam War didn't end until 74, with far greater casualties than the Iraq war, plus there was a draft."

An excellent case has been made that it was the Vietcong resistance that bore the bulk of burden of ending the Vietnam War.

(Chuck0, "I did not copy my previous message. If you're reading this, then my new one went through. If it happens again, I'll send you an email.")

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Authored by: thelung on Thursday, September 29 2005 @ 09:17 PM CDT

After this past weekend, I have realized Chuck0 is right.The current form of mass protest in DC is totally useless. It COULD be effective, but not the way it is done now. It would have to be more like the Orange Revolution protests we saw last winter in Ukraine, than a bunch of liberals complaining about every issue under the sun, and proposing no solutions other than "everyone should vote next election guyz!"

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Authored by: Admin on Thursday, September 29 2005 @ 10:51 PM CDT

What's really perplexing is how hot most liberals are to get rid of Bush, but they won't do anything to remove him from office. Many countries around the world have seen relatively peaceful changes in government. Why isn't Moveon and those groups organizing daily protests in the streets?

Guess that's why I'm an anarchist and not a liberal.

C.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, October 03 2005 @ 07:17 PM CDT

Well, of course the Viet Cong bore the burden of ending the war. I don't know any rational argument against that statement.

the only other thing that have historical ended imperials wars are actual civil wars at home (i.e. revolution)

no protesting, no breaking glass, no marching in circles or otherwise, no pepole dressing up in black, are going to end this war;

and i think that we all know that, but are perhaps too unorganized, uncommitted, or afraid to actually take the risks and do what needs to be done to end it.

However, the russian people got their country out of an imperial world war, by marching, but all their marches were armed.

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