Re: Reply to Adam Starr about "activist demonstrations"

Steven,

Your critique of my question leads to what I initally
stated about 'activist demonstrations'. They are
mainly 'symbolic'. Thus, I  maintain that they don't
amount to major policy change.

Consider the one event that has created the greatest
wave of policy change at a world wide scale. Four
crashed planes, two fallen towers, and a damaged
Pentagon has initiated more policy and legislative
change in the opposite direction from what we are
aiming towards (a more equitable society) than has all
the hundreds of thousands of activists marching
through out the world with all their hours of:
preparation and hard work, endurance of police
violence, dodging rubber bullets and tear gas, and
spending time in jail in all the activist
demonstrations combined. I am not advocating terrorism
in any manner but do you see my point?

Did anti-war demonstrations pull the US out of
Vietnam. I would argue no! The fact that the US was
loosing the war ended the military campaign. Instead,
the UScontinued its front in a subversive manner by
sending the CIA to Cambodia to train and fund the
Khmer Rouge in guerilla warfare against the Vietnamese
puppet government (post 1979) in Phnom Penh at the
cost of a million additional lives through out the
1980's.

I'm not suggesting to stop activist demonstrations at
all. If you interpreted my question this way, then I
apologize. They do serve an important function. As you
stated, there is the sense of solidarity, provide a
means for networking, and generating public interest
(not to mention, they can be a lot of fun). 

I do suggest looking into other avenues of protest and
mobilization. As Dennis Blewitt suggested with
bringing the Legal system back to the people, how can
these offices of power be infaltrated in such a way
that impliment policy change?

Adam



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Adam T. Starr
Undergraduate of Political Science, UVic
3009 Quadra Street, Victoria, British Columbia
V8T 4G2 Canada
(011) (250) 472-1223
adam@hornbyisland.com or reunitedhornby@yahoo.com

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