Protesting is a waste of time

[Pryderi]

Whenever I see a 20 second news clip showing hundreds of thousands of people travelling to Washington or NYC, I think to myself, "Why would people travel hundreds, possibly thousands of miles to do something that gets little or no media coverage?"

Then I think of all the money they spent to get get to and stay at the protest.

Let's say 200,000 people spend an average of $50 in food and travel expenses to attend a protest. That would be 10 MILLION dollars that could've have gone toward Feingold's Progressive Patriot fund or some other worthy, progressive PAC.

You want something done? You want politicians to pay attention? $10,000,000 for a one-time event will get you heard.

[C_U_L8R]

1. It's not either / or

it's "AND"

Go and contribute... time AND energy AND money... AND bring your voice

[Pryderi]

2. I know quite a few people that can't afford to do both. Don't forget,

part of the cost is taking a day off work.

[blondeatlast]

5. If one can't give funds, they can put leather/rubber/wood soles

on the ground.

Or cell phones in their hand.

Or clever messages on signs, bumper stickers, etc.

Don't count any mode of protest out.

It's all good when it's for the good of the country.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. Protests are passe.

No one pays attention anymore, ESPECIALLY here in DC. I work near the Capitol. I'm no longer even curious as to what people are protesting about anymore. There's one every single day. They have been so overdone that simple protest accomplishes nearly nothing.

I will say, however, that if harnessed properly, could be an incredible organizational or fundraising tool. It doesn't seem like many actually do this though. Think about it - you've got a group of people that obviously care enough to make the trip someplace and stand around all day, why not make sure someone's taking down their contact information and asking them for a donation while they're there? Seems like a no-brainer to me, yet it doesn't seem to happen very often.

[mctrotter5]

4. I would add that if we had the same number of people walking

precincts and making calls to get progressives/Dems/liberals to the polls, we would make a much bigger difference. I get frustrated as we have worked to get our local Dem Club up and active at how many people are "too busy". It feels like the political work has to compete for time with so many other protesting activities. I personally make the choice to work at the political level after participating in many demonstrations prior to the Bush Iraqi war choice and found we (millions) were simply "focus groups" to this PResident!

[Pryderi]

8. That is so true. Canvassing is a more effective form of protest. n/t

[endarkenment]

6. Until we take to the streets nothing will change.

The republic is held hostage by a plutocracy that controls both official political parties and the media. They are not going to surrender control peacefully. Yes of course $10M for buying media time would help, but we have seen routine rejection of progressive media buys and this will only get worse. We have to both give money and put our asses on the line.

The successful peaceful revolutions of recent history have all been the result of persistent mass protest.

[allisonthegreat]

12. I hope they are doing that here..protesting

Although they have been run off..Even with a permit, and the mayor is a democrat.

[ACK]

7. The poster was a bit harsh but correct except its not all about money

You want to change the world?

You want that revolution?

Organize locally and work hard for local progressive candidates. Get them in local and state offices because that is where the districts are drawn.

Once the districts are not drawn against us then we have a chance of not just winning for a moment of discontent like this election but for decades we have a chance of winning the bigger battle of control long-term control of the houses of Congress.

Organizing and fighting locally is far more effective in the long run.

But sometimes a protest or gathering of progressive voices has a bigger benefit than just the protest itself instead it can be an exchange of ideas which is also important.

[RethugAssKicker]

9. Totally disagree !

IT is our duty to take to the streets... If the media isn't covering it... that does
not make it a waste of time...

We just need to make sure the MSM will cover it.

If we stop protesting...which many here in the US have, how do we dissent!.. How do we voice our opinions... How do we let the government know that "We the People"
are the ones that are in control ?

[Pryderi]

10. I gave you an idea as to how to be heard. Others have pointed out that a

better use of energy would be to canvass for a candidate or organize your precinct.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

11. Here in the UK, one million people took to the streets

to urge the government not to back the invasion of Iraq; that's the equivalent of about four million Americans.

Political protest is not an efficient way of changing the world, in general.

[KurtNYC]

13. I think marches are less productive than rallies

but either one is better than doing nothing.

Since the MSM won't cover protest marches (500K marched against B*sh and the occupation prior to the 2004 GOP convention), then I think it would be far better to just get a location like Van Cortland Park or somewhere else where you can set up a sound system. Have bands, speakers, picnic. Take the media out of it. The goal without them should be for people to connect, see how many of us there are and be counted.

I went to Charlie Rangel's birthday party and saw part of how politics really gets done. No one was screaming into a microphone about Abu Jamal Mumia or anything else that people didn't come out to support (as happens frequently at less focused protests). No police, no Protest Warriors stealing the photo op. Just people with checkbooks talking quietly with office holders.

[Pryderi]

18. 500k marchers giving $20 each might have pushed Kerry to victory...

[Katzenjammer]

14. I agree. They know the demo will be the end of it, so they ignore it

The only real way to get attention is either to show up with 5M people on a workday, without any advance warning, or show up with a half-million and start taking things apart in a way that lets the cops know that they better not try to interfere.

[GiveUsHope]

15. The MEDIA kills protests

Protests are incredibly powerful in that hundreds of thousands of people come together get off their butts and stand for a cause. It is not our fault they are not effective. It is the media that turns them into 10 second clips.

I think that protests of the immigrants and in France show how concerned protests can be incredibly powerful.

[Katzenjammer]

16. "concerned protests can be incredibly powerful."

Sure. And look how the protests were done in France. The last time anything like that happened in the US, it was in Watts.

[welshTerrier2]

17. as a blanket statement, that is not correct ...

first, there are a few fallacies in the OP's financial calculations ... for example, i attended two anti-Iraq war demonstrations in Boston ... took the train one way to the first one ... ran up a whopping $4.50 tab ... many of the demonstrators took local transit to get there ... that's a buck each way ... let's say the average was $3 or even $4 per person ... the crowd for the first demonstration was about 25,000 people ... the second one might have been roughly 5,000 ... that doesn't run up much of an "event fund" ... the point is there were dozens of these demonstrations all over the country ... could we have sent money off to some far away place to organize an event most would not have attended? i suppose ... but that misses an important element of attending demonstrations ...

demonstrations take democracy to the streets ... they remind us that it is we citizens who have, or at least should have, power in this country ... demonstrations energize movements ... you don't get that in the same way by watching a bunch of speeches at an event on C-Span ... it just isn't the same thing ... and yes, it's true that any given demonstration is not going to change the world ... but in getting out with those of like mind and sharing the emotional high that good demonstrations can bring, some are moved to sustain and even deepen their commitment ... otherwise, many remain isolated from the core of activism ...

it is true that many demonstrations SINCE Vietnam have not been overly effective ... but i remember the Vietnam protests very well ... one of the many mottos was "we're bringing the war back home" ... we can argue all day about whether the anti-war movement shortened the Vietnam War ... i believe it did ... and it was more than that ... it indoctrinated many of us into a life of progressive politics ... for a while, whether true or not, we believed we were approaching a populist revolution ... the nightly news was filled with the confrontations between student protestors and national guard and police ... America was ablaze and no one knew how far it might go ...

we don't have national protests like that anymore ... at least not with any kind of regularity ... our campuses are no longer hubs of progressive resistance ... so these times are very, very different ... but to say that it must be as it seems to be today and that protests are a waste of time fails to understand what once was and could be again ... i have no problem seeking other means, as the OP suggested, to gain a stronger voice in the national dialog ... all avenues should be pursued ... but to make a blanket statement that demonstrations are a waste of time is just not correct ... in the right time, in the right place, revolutionary change often eminates from the people and not from their more conservative elected representatives ...

[bonito]

19. I think it's fuel for the spirit

Its the WILL of the people that always wins out in the end.

[Fire Walk With Me]

20. Given the "no news" regarding opposition to Bush after 9/11,

it was effective isolation and made it seem that everyone was just sitting at home despite what everyone obviously felt, and communicated here and on other boards.

When five, ten, twenty and more persons started gathering at intersections and waving signs, they broke the silencing peer pressure that the government had shoved upon us. It broke a lot of tension and has aided in the current anti-Bush movement.

They really had control of communication, and without any sign of opposition, or even an opposing opinion, aside from high-profilers such as Moore and the Dixie Chicks, we were stuck wondering what to do. Take it as an ugly sign of how effective these monsters can be using the most basic aspects of our culture. If you don't see it, you might not start it. Someone has to break the trends.

[Tinksrival]

21. It would be except for one thing.........

He knows I'm there

Thats all I need.


As a bonus, when he came to do a photo-op with Hastert,

I had a sign that said:

Naperville Soccer Mom Against Bush. on one side and Not in my name, IMPEACH on the flip

The local media ate it up. I got interviewed and quoted for the local paper:
>>>>>>>>>>

Aurora plant the backdrop for science spending push

By Lisa Smith
Daily Herald Staff Writer

snip>>>>>
President Bush’s Chicago visit Friday included a tour of an Aurora technology plant, where he thanked hometown U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert for supporting his plan to double the federal government’s research budget “to help companies like this stay on the leading edge of change.”


snip>>>>>
More than a dozen protesters were among the throng of onlookers gathered outside the plant, shouting anti-Bush and anti-Hastert messages at drivers passing through the Meridian Business Park on the city’s far east side.

Holding up a sign identifying herself as a “Naperville soccer mom against Bush,” Wendy xxxxxx said she wanted to send this message to the commander in chief: He doesn’t enjoy blanket support in middle America.

“Mainstream America is feeling frustrated with this administration,” xxxxxx said, adding that she disagrees with the president’s policies on health care, Social Security and the Iraq war.

A few feet away, Anna Wills of Plainfield hoisted a navy blue Bush-Cheney sign into the air. She said she supports the president.

“It’s difficult to take a country to war,” Wills said. “War is difficult for everybody. It’s important that we be a little more united, a little more patriotic.”


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BITE ME ANNA !!