Lefti on the News comments on something I’d noticed too, that the liberal blogosphere almost completely ignored the antiwar protests this past weekend. In fact, it’s a demonstrable fact that mainstream media gave the protests way more coverage than did progressive blogs.

For the most part, they [liberal blogs] completely ignored those hundreds of thousands of people. Not only didn’t they do anything to promote or even mention the demonstrations before they happened, which you might have expected if they really were against the war as many profess to be, they didn’t mention them after the fact either.

If someone thinks these demonstrations were a waste of time and accomplished nothing, they should use this opportunity to say so. Say something. Completely ignoring the actions of hundreds of thousands of people makes them even worse than the corporate media. Which is saying something.

A number of explanations come to mind.

1) Many liberal blogs aren’t really opposed to the war. Or they’re conflicted. In any case, their opposition to the war is tepid at best.

2) They don’t want to get too ‘radical’ or take a firm editorial stand because that might alienate readers and then their click-through revenue from BlogAds might drop. (Actually, it could go up. Every time I get more ‘radical’ here, readership increases. Go figure.)

3) They are focused on Democratic politics, on what the Right is doing, and what the other blogs are saying. It’s a big self-referential debating society without much actual action emerging from it, sort of a Mini-Me of the Sunday Talk shows.

Some no doubt have swallowed Right wing smears on ANSWER (of which I am a member) without investigating the facts. If they did, they’d see the smears are baseless. I’ll be happy to explain to anyone who asks.

Yes, some people have a problem with ANSWER (and if they do, they ought to get over it. Any “problem” they have with ANSWER should pale in comparison to the problem they should have with imperialism and its murderous wars of aggression). But only a tiny fraction of the 500 demonstrations (albeit the three largest, in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago) were organized by ANSWER, so there was plenty to write about even ignoring ANSWER if they wanted to do so.

Leaving comments to blog posts won’t end the war, nor will chattering endlessly about what the Right is saying. Organizing and taking action will.

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Excerpts from a talk by ANSWER organizer Muna Coobtee at the March 18 L.A. rally.

Only a people’s movement will change history

There is no force stronger that a strong and united movement of people. That is what changes history. That is what won Social Security, the eight hour day, the voting rights act. That is what stopped the war in Vietnam and advanced the struggle against racism and sexism in this country.

Each new demonstration brings together thousands of new activists to continue the process of building a massive militant movement that can shake loose the foundations of war and bigotry that dominate the world today. It’s time to get involved and keep building the struggle.

It’s not just Bush and his cronies. Again and again, Congress has cow-towed to the agenda of conquest against Iraq . Billions have been looted from social programs to bankroll the war. And it’s not just that they are bad people, which we know they are, it’s because the whole system is based on profit and greed and disrespect for the rights of people everywhere to live in peace and enjoy the fruits of their labor. The system has to change!

As public disgust with the current situation continues to rise, we will be hearing voices who now promise to take charge of the situation and claim to represent the will of the people. They’ll say things like: “Just vote for me, and I’ll set you free.” But we’ve heard that one before.

Some feel that if we can just replace Bush then everything will be OK and we can relax. However, we need to remember that the war against Iraq spans decades, and that both Republican and Democratic administrations have participated in bombings, invasions and 12 years of sanctions killings millions.

We can’t rely on Democratic politicians to save the day. That will suck the energy and activism out of the independent movement we are building. Like in Vietnam , it was the heroic determination of the Vietnamese and an anti-war movement of millions that brought the troops home and left Vietnam to its people.

We are building that kind of movement against war and racism that can transform society, disarm the Pentagon and win back all that has been stolen from us - from Los Angeles to Baghdad , to Manila , Port au Price, Caracas , Gaza and everywhere. Let’s keep it real and keep it in the streets.

Let’s not get sucked into the upcoming elections. There are few, if any, major candidates running anywhere who genuinely oppose the war, the invasions, and the destruction of civil liberties. Believing the Democrats will save the day is delusional.  We need to, and can, do it ourselves.

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