Why do so many DUers hate protesting?

[Melodybe]

Just wondering?

[DearAbby]

1. Where do you get that idea? MSM?

[Melodybe]

2. No I get that idea, because so few seem to actually show up at protests

[DearAbby]

4. I saw quite a few photos of people protesting over the weekend...maybe

you need to think about organizing. Getting the word out.

[WilliamPitt]

5. You're going to the wrong places

There were a bunch of DUers here in Boston this weekend, and I have always met mobs of DUers at the DC and NYC protests. Then there are the 325 threads with original protest pics posted by DUers over the last several days.

Feeling a little holier-than-thou today, are we?

[Melodybe]

11. Actually feeling kind of down, I want to protest CNN and nobody seems to

care.

This was not in reference to anyone that went to the protests this weekend, we rock!

[crispini]

20. Yeah, getting things organized on DU itself,

IMO, doesn't often work. You have to go IRL to get stuff going, or us DU in conjunction with IRL. DU, I think, is mostly good as a networking tool... just my two cents.

[bloom]

14. Did you read this about the Evansville protester?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3323918


I'll bet he'd up for an interview. It's a great story. Suing the city and winning - after being arrested protesting. Now the city doesn't want more visits by the President or Vice President - too expensive. Ha!

It wouldn't have been a problem without their stupid free speech zones and arresting people for not staying in them.

[saltpoint]

3. At my house we love it. If the original 13 colonies --

-- hadn't acted up, we'd still be licking THAT George's boots.

This means I accept that neo-Nazi groups may march through the streets of Skokie, even if I wish they wouldn't, and that far-right nutcases can grandstand for Terri Schiavo, even though I think Whittemore's decision was correct.

The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s used peaceful protest to advance their ideals.

[Booster]

6. Speaking for myself, I have been protesting for over 4 years,

have filled out enough petitions to wallpaper the bedroom, gone to peace vigils, etc., and absolutely nothing seems to work. Seems if it doesn't make the news, it's almost a waste of time - has anyone seen any war protests pictures/stories on ANY news program - I haven't. I'll keep it up, but I have a feeling a lot of people feel this way.

[DearAbby]

12. Just keep fighting, I am sure the coverage of the American Revolution

in Britan was one sided. The protests of the 60s was a tide affect, started small and grew.

Its not a Instant fix all. It takes time. People with reason, are scared. This administration has inacted strange laws, some feel if they even speak out will end up at Gitmo with Terra-ist charges.

But there are more people out there than you realize, because media is not covering it...you have to be the media.

[RubyDuby in GA]

7. Not me - and I was on CNN earlier today to prove it

I was out today......

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1678335

[cynatnite]

8. I don't hate protesting...

finances and family keeps me from attending. The protests usually are too far away and with money issues, hubby on the road, protesting isn't feasable unless it happens within 60 miles of where I live.

I don't understand where you get this idea.

[underpants]

9. Hell *I* protested in 2002 and I have never protested anything

I think your assessment is more than a bit off.

[Smarmie Doofus]

10. You mean... "in the street"? ie. at demos? That's easy.

Street demos don't work. The people that run the state couldn't care less whether people demonstrate or not. Witness the mammoth street demos around the world and in the USA leading up to the Iraq aggression.

I think people are interested in finding more effective ways of influencing gov't policy. Consumer boycotting seems like a popular subject here, as most realize that $$$$ drives the political system. Activism within the political system itself... on behalf of candidates is, of course, also big here.

[Itsthetruth]

15. Street Demos Work Consumer Boycotts Don't Work

Street demos do work. Consumer boycotts are rarely effective and the success rate is nearly 0%. Street demos can involve millions of people in activity. Consumer boycotts are pretty passive and generally require little commitment. Just promise not to buy something. A rare exception was the Montgomery bus boycott way back in 1957. But, the boycott organizers also had involved masses of people in activity such as rallies, marches and car pools.

Were you really surprised that the big demonstrations held just before the Iraq invasion didn't actually stop the invasion? I wasn't. And I don't think most people who participated expected the street demonstrations would stop it.

I heard the same thing during the Vietnam war from discouraged activists. Stuff like "I'm tired of marching" and "nobody pays attention to our demonstrations". The government paid attention. And because we stayed the the streets year after year the anti-Vietnam war movement eventually played a major role in the forcing the government to withdraw from Vietnam.

Did the civil rights activists of the 50's and early 60's get tired of marching? Of course not. Or the labor movement marchers and strikers in the 1930's? Hell no!

So don't get tired of marching! Expecially if you're a younger person with lots of energy!

That's not why we demonstrated. We were building a movement that at some time would both convince most people to oppose the occupation of Iraq, lead to anti-war activity among the soldier and their loved ones and at some point for the Bush government to pull our of Iraq.

Unfortunately the anti-war movement that had so tremendous potential to grow and have an impact was permitted to all but dissolve during the 2004 elections. Most anti-war organizations and activists withdrew from the fight against the occupation. And most actually campaigned for a pro-war candidate who voted for the war and clearly supported the occupation declaring that "we can't cut and run" from Iraq. John Kerry sounded a bit like LBJ during the Vietnam war!

Now the anti-war movement is beginning to rebuild and come back. March 19th was a good start. Much more needs to be done.

[Smarmie Doofus]

16. That's the truth? Yikes. We're on the same side, so,no offense,

but there is something wrong with virtually every paragraph in the above.

However, P.3 is so outlandishly misguided that it's damn near laughable.
Consider the chronology of VN protests: half a million or so in Washington '69. About 1/2 that many on the streets of DC getting arrested in 1970. Hundreds of thousands protesting the war in the streets around the country from the beginning to the end of Nixon's first term.
Now consider:November, 1972: Nixon runs for reelection against antiwar candidate and *wins* reelection by the largest electoral margin in history.

If there is a connection between street protests and the end of the VN
I think it was probably an inverse relationship. The vehemence ( understandable to me) of some protesters repulsed people who were potentially sympathetic to the antiwar movement.

Street demos have value only in that they make the demonstrators feel good. ( Not a small thing; I myself marched against the RNC slimefest last summer. But of course... to answer another question, I did NOT expect it to persuade anyone persuadable... and certainly not to persuade republican conventioneers.)

Targeted boycotts and threatened boycotts do indeed have impact, under the right circumstances and if pursued with energy and persistence. Ask Sinclair broadcasting and anti-gay radio "Dr" Laura Schlessinger... no longer heard in NYC market, to my understanding the industry's most lucrative, due to organized sponsor boycott.

[Itsthetruth]

21. Why Nixon Became A "Peace" Candidate

"However, P.3 is so outlandishly misguided that it's damn near laughable.
Consider the chronology of VN protests: half a million or so in Washington '69. About 1/2 that many on the streets of DC getting arrested in 1970. Hundreds of thousands protesting the war in the streets around the country from the beginning to the end of Nixon's first term.
Now consider:November, 1972: Nixon runs for reelection against antiwar candidate and *wins* reelection by the largest electoral margin in history."

The biggest and most sustained national anti-war protests actually happened in May 1970. And they continued well into next year. Without the mass protests it's inconceivable that public opposition to the war would have developed so strong. And it's improbable, to say the least, that effective and organized anti-war activity would have been organized among the troops. What do you think the anti-Vietnam war movement would have looked like without mass protests, especially big ones? It would have been an invisible movement, in fact, you could not have honestly called it a movement at all!

The anti-war movement and anti-war sentiment reached such immense proportions that, as you pointed out, Nixon had to campaign as a "peace" candidate in 1972! Nixon claimed he had a plan to end American occuption of Vietnam and his "peace" campaign pulled the rug out from the Democrat George McGovern, who also had a plan to end the war. Nixon did have a plan to end the war in Vietnam. It was called withdrawl. He just didn't call it that.

And by the time of the 1972 presidential election several hundred thousands GI's had been withdrawn from Vietnam. The last U.S. soldiers left Vietnam less than 2 years later.

If and when George W. Bush, or whoever is elected President in 2008, announces he/her have a secret plan to end the war in Iraq, you will know that a real mass anti-war movement has done its job.

[guinivere]

13. I don't hate it

Even though WI went blue, it is really still red. There aren't many protests close by. Ancient, leaky truck won't make it far, can't afford to go too far.

[tjdee]

17. Just because we don't broadcast it, doesn't mean we're not going.

What makes you think we're not there? Because we're not holding DU signs, or talking about it here?

[merh]

18. How about RubyDuby in Georgia

She made the NY Times

[crispini]

19. Here

is WestHoustonDem (in the blue) on CNN's home page:



As for me, we didn't have a big protest in my area and I had a previous engagement to speak at a precinct chair's meeting about using technology to help your precinct. I'll protest if there's nothing else going on, but I prefer to organize. A la Mother Jones: "Don't get mad -- organize."