How United for Peace and Justice can take control of the message

[Walt Starr]

All UFPJ needs to do is start off quietly applying for permits to march and have a rally in DC and the ten largest cities in the country. Once the permits are issued, then UFPJ pays for the stages for the rallies in DC and the ten largest cities in the country.

Once all of this is accomplished, THEN UFPJ announces the date and the cities in which a nationwide anti-war rally occurs.

BANG, ANSWER is SHUT OUT and UFPJ can focus like a laser beam on the issue of the Iraq War.

Hell, they could even have Closed Circuit satellite feeds to big screen TVs on each of the stages so there is a coordinated set of speeches nationwide.

That sort of coverage would get you congressmen, Senators, Governors, and a slew of other elected officials, too. Hell, you might even get some Republicans in the mix because they can read the numbers in the polls like anybody else!

With all the coodination of the effort, you might even get day long coverage from the CNNMSRNCFAUX news consortium.

[New Earth]

1. i agree

an organization other than ANSWER that focuses on the Iraq War and not a load of other issues that cloud the message and keep important leaders away. UFPJ is a good choice.

I have actually been wondering lately why PDA doesn't do something like this. They seem to have good funding and are pretty popular :shrug:

[Walt Starr]

2. Anybody but ANSWER

but it seems too many DUers suport ANSWER.

Ahh well, :shrug: I guess I'm getting too moderate for DU these days.

[Ken Burch]

3. It's not about "supporting A.N.S.W.E.R."

It's about being against redbaiting.
Get it through your head, Soviet Communism doesn't exist anymore, so it doesn't matter if somebody USED to be communist.

Deal with the present, for Christ's sake.

(BTW, if HE came back today, HE'd be called a "communist"!)

[Walt Starr]

5. The Socialism and Liberation Party IS A COMMUNIST PARTY

Get it through your head, the definition of communism is a Marxist-Lenninist doctrine which advocates the overthrow of capitalism by revolution.

This is precisely what The Socialism and Liberation Party advocates on their own web site:

http://socialismandliberation.org/PSLsite/whoWeAre.html

Read it and weep. The Socialism and Liberation Party is a Communist Party BY DEFINITION!!!

[Ken Burch]

8. So what? Marxist-Leninism is extinct and will never rise again.

There is no more International Communist Conspiracy, and we don't need McCarthyism or HUAC.

Let it go already.

[Walt Starr]

9. YEah, that's what they said about the KKK

in 1890.

Fast forward fifteen years...

[Ken Burch]

10. There is no situation that could cause a revival of Stalinism.

The people who said the Klan was dead were idiots. It is nowhere near comparable.

We need to be working on building the new world that's possible, not on endlessly ragging people about the past.

[Emit]

4. I think the number of DUers supporting ANSWER

are well outnumbered by the amount of DUers not supporting them.

[DancingBear]

6. At the risk of sounding trite, I don't give a flying f#@k about ANSWER

I agree with little (if any) of their platform, but I did not come to D.C. because of ANSWER - I came because of George W. Bush.

I would argue that the more the anti-war movement grows, the less relevant ANSWER becomes.

They are a fringe element, but up until now no one else has been able to put people in the streets.

As the war becomes the central (and ONLY) issue to many future protesters, the antics of ANSWER won't be tolerated. We will not need folks handing out newspapers anymore.

They will fade away. and UPJ will (rightfully) take their place.

That being said, I would love for Walt's scenario to come to fruition, but I have no idea if UPJ has the financial backing to make this happen.

[Ken Burch]

7. And I'm not an apologist for that group either.

I just remember all the damage that the progressive side of the spectrum did to itself when it got on these kicks of disowning this or that group, this or that party. It always ended up turning progressive politics into what they were against rather than what they were for.