Protests ?

[blues90]

I was involved in these during the 60's . I see all the protests that happened before this Iraq war started and while it was going on , large numbers but it stopped nothing .

I do have hopes these protests will render a result . With an out of control corrupt admin we need all the help we can get .

What worries me most of all is that these protests will be out of sight as usual and not in the numbers needed . Plus candle light and signs just don't seem to be enough . I worry this will take more than peaceful action this time around , after all it's been close to four years since this began .

Cindy Sheehan said on the Malloy show last week that they need one million just to shut down DC .

[rodeodance]

1. a million in DC would be GRAND

[Wiley50]

2. We Need To FOCUS OUR PROTESTS!

We Must Apply Force To The Puppeteers, Not Just The Puppets!

Say Instead Of One Million People at the Washington Mall One Afternoon
What if we had ten thousand people assigned to each of 100 evil executives
and rotating to always keep 1000 people on each of their doorsteps
INDEFINITELY

I think we would see much better progress

When the bull attacks the bullfighter's cape
the bull gets the sword
When the bull attacks the bullfighter
the bullfighter gets the horns

Because we do not have publicly financed elections yet
our politicians (except for a very few like Bernie Sanders and Russ Feingold
who do not take corporate money) do not work for us.
They work for the richest and most powerful corporations on the planet,
The Oil and Energy companies and the Defense Contractors.
They have no interest in ending this war. They are making a killing.

This is just a fact of life and we should disillusion ourselves
that it is any other way. Our politicians from Bush on down are puppets.
We may take down some of their puppets but they will just get others.

We must apply our forces toward the puppeteers themselves
if we wish to see any real changes come about.

Because the Boards of Directors of most corporations are interlocking
with most members sitting on multiple boards of directors
This makes our job easier.

We can't expect to end an occupation with an afternoon's demonstration,
no matter how large. They will simply ignore us as they have done many times already.
We must stage occupations ourselves before their occupation of Iraq will end.

When enough of these board members grow tired of having 1000-1500 people
camped out indefinitely outside the gates of their estates, under siege,
being pelted with insults and more every time they come or go,
This crap will finally end.

We must lay siege to the puppeteers.
We must never back down.

Can we start making preparations to do this together?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=3075491

[blues90]

3. Then we need to protest the source , the corporations

Of course this will never happen , something like protests and boycotts of their products .

I don't have much faith protesting the house or it's members at their districts . We are not the ones they depend on .

Personally I don;t what is the best over-all solution or if it takes protests in many forms on all fronts but this takes personal dedication and personal loss from many at all times .

Other countries do this but they have been around much longer and are not so very comfortable .

[Wiley50]

5. Not Just The corporations but, specificly, their owners individually

Make the protests personally threatening to the boardmembers

[SteveM]

4. Even liberal/alternative media smirks at demonstrations.

They don't like the bushel basket approach: every damn special interest and identity group glomming on and drawing attention (and hostile cameras) to themselves like they were celebs. I understand that reluctance on their part. What I don't understand is what one lefty editor said to me once. "Elections are the only game in town, that's why we don't cover them ." I'm not sure how a "focused" demonstration would be practical. Perhaps the rationale has merit (corporate power begets the political superstructure), but operationally, what would such demonstrations do? What are their goals? If boycott is the objective, that method has a spotty record at best.

Perhaps mass demonstrations are better, but they must be conservative and limited in their approach: most Americans oppose the Iraqi war; but most Americans are suspicious of the Yee-Hah approach of 60s-style actions. Look at street actions before the 60's. A lot of formality, organization, style. People watched soberly and gave them thought.

One little girl strewing flowers before a battery of American flags, followed by a million people walking in silence would disorient the most jaded text messenger and cell phone addict with too much reality.