Received today: an e-mail plea from a colleague to join a march today to protest the war in Iraq.
A thought: Perhaps the time spent on a march no one will hear about, in a city about which the president couldn't give a shit because it will never, ever vote Republican might be put to better use campaigning, phone banking for one's preferred candidate, or generally participating in this crazy experiment we call democracy? I hear an election's coming up.
3 comments:
I spent the weekend at the Left Forum, inhabited by the far left of the political spectrum. By far the largest group consisted of academics and activists who marched and protested in the 60s. Many of these people feel that socialism (yes, socialism with the bourgeoisie, revolution, etc.) is the only way to solve America's ills. Both the democrats and republicans uphold capitalist, racist, imperialist practices, so engaging in electoral politics is a sham. It's merely a distraction for those poor saps who think it changes anything. And THESE PEOPLE are the ones running the current war protests. So...
Not that marches/protests can't work, but they need to be part of a strategy--media coverage! x-thousand people in x-number of cities protesting! The pres. is right there at the Hilton, let's show him the critical mass of our displeasure! Otherwise it's just naricissism.
But, yeah, that perfectly describes the person who sent this to me (whose partner is a self-described "socialist," brought up in awe, for maximum appreciation of his purity).
In this particular case, and I suspect in others as well, it is more important to be morally superior (and to declare to the world your superior views) than it is to actually work to make the world more in accordance with your views. This person does, after all, support Hillary Clinton, has supported Gore, although we've argued over 3rd party spoilers/Nader. Baffling.
Oh: Free Mumia!
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