Now What?
There is no shortage of post-march analysis in blogtopia (thanks, skippy). The consensus on the anti-march side is that A.N.S.W.E.R. is an impossibly unpopular group that hijacked the good intentions of everyone who showed up on Saturday. They’re an easy target for the corporate media’s derision. In fact, the only thing that saved the peace movement from being tarred with the anti-A.N.S.W.E.R. brush was Hurricane Rita. The consensus on the pro-march side is that if you build it, we will come. A.N.S.W.E.R., in conjunction with United for Peace and Justice, are building it.
But enough about the blog chatter. We didn’t march on Saturday to impress the blogging community or the corporate media. That’s a fool’s errand. Three hundred thousand of us came from all over the country not only to publicly express our opposition to the BushCo agenda, particularly his War in Iraq, but also to re-energize and to connect. We came to remember that no matter what the corporate media and both miserable political parties do to discourage us, we are not alone in wanting an end to BushCo’s War. And this year - please remember that we have been marching against this war reliably since it began - we also came to celebrate the fact that the voice of peace is finally an official majority voice in our country. We’ve won the battle, there’s no question about it. Undeniably A.N.S.W.E.R. was part of that victory because they were part of the fight. The question now becomes how to win the war.
One thing the anti-march crowd is right about is that mass mobilizations don’t end wars. This is especially true with the Right Wing Noise Machine setting the corporate media’s agenda. But even if the march had been covered adequately and reported accurately, the march is a two-day story at best and the bottom line really is “you had to be there.” What ends wars are local, persistant highly visible actions that turn voters against warmongers. The march on Saturday will only be a success if the people who showed up take the enthusiasm of the day back home and do something with it.
If you’re looking for something to do on that score, dKos diarists smintheus and Meteor Blades have some ideas.
