More thoughts on the protests
I was active in the Vietnam war protests. For years the participants were primarily hippies, old line Lefties, SDS, etc. It wasn’t until years into the protests that middle America began joining in.
The protests of day are different. Middle America already has joined in – and the war hasn’t even started yet. One of the things that impressed the most yesterday at the San Francisco demonstration was just how broad-based the support is.
There was lots of everyone there. Middle America most especially. Once the war starts, and I expect it will, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was spontaneous mass civil disobedience across the country, blocking federal sites from doing business. I mean, if we can pull this many people to protests before the war starts, imagine how many will be there when it does starts.
The size and scope of these protests has gotten way bigger than their original foundings in small Communist parties – Not in Our Name being started by the revolutionary Communist Party and International Answer by Worker’s World. Dozens if not hundreds of groups have been involved in both groups by now, and, in my opinion, those real live commies who started organizing here a) should be commended, and b) have done a superb, non-doctrinaire job.