three simple points

1. no serious commentator would make the assertion that int'l ANSWER did all or even most of the work to organize the March 20 protests. anybody can easily discover that such an assertion is absurd.

for example, more than 60 organizations have been working with United For Peace & Justice to put together the March 20 protest in New York - and that's just NY. UFPJ lists more than 200 March 20 antiwar events in the USA. they say there will be protests in more than 50 countries. more than 500 organizational endorsers work in solidarity with United For Peace and Justice. it is also very important that the participatory structure and process of UFPJ is stated openly on its website. friends of int'l ANSWER should absolutely demand equal accountability from ANSWER. that is just elementary.

constructive criticisms of int'l ANSWER are by no means confined to an anarchist fringe within the antiwar movement. The Nation, Z net, and many others have all raised similar issues, usually evoking reactions from ANSWER supporters that are much like the reactions from 'black bloc head' in both tone and content.

2. all antiwar activists, even int'l ANSWER, share the concern that repressive police crowd control actions threaten to damage the effectiveness of the March 20 protests.

for example, Brian Becker (a prominent ANSWER spokesperson) stated recently: "The police hope that if they can get the word out about their intended obstructions, they can discourage and frighten people from joining the opening rally, or cause a boycott of the demonstration. This blockading of streets is a political act by the police department exercising an illegal and unfettered authority that fundamentally negates the First Amendment."

the notion that "joining the opening rally" is the principle intention of protesters may be a pitiful fantasy but in this statement Becker certainly seems to understand the problem with protesters being penned in and herded around like cattle. indeed it would be hard for ANSWER to deny such an understanding given the amount of discussion about freedom of movement that is occuring around these upcoming protests. even mainstream media outlets are talking about it.

3. it is trivially obvious that a stationary, condensed, and passive audience is more easily isolated, contained, and controlled, than a mobile, expansive, and active public multitude. many people have proposed that this simple observation can inform constructive changes in our protest tactics. but naturally there is resistance to any such change. it is significant that those who are most hostile to any discussion of alternative tactics are themselves silent concerning solutions to the problem of repressive crowd control by police, even though they do not deny that there is a problem. naturally, advocates of tactical discussion and change have not been silent.

Richard K on NYC-IMC writes: "Feeder marches are key. This gives people flexibility in dealing with the police. Since the police will be controling access to the pens, if you don't arrive as a group then you won't be able to find people or even choose a reliable meeting location. If the police are limiting access like on Feb 15, then people in feeder marches can stay together and wait for the march to begin. Basically if everyone just forms feeder marches and stays out of the pens then the police will have to quit using this tactic."

Luke from DC writes on NYC-IMC: "Pens didn't work on F15, they won't work next week-and the won't work on the RNC protests. Why? Because as we saw at F15, enough people WON'T enter the pens that the protest will spread out and jam traffic in a larger area than originally intended. As for me, I always refuse to enter pens..."

why not now? writes on NYC-IMC: "Leslie Cagan gets some credit for making this an issue. But she wouldn't have made it an issue if activists hadn't gotten in her face about it. ANSWER would never have confronted the NYPD about the barricades.

However, Cagan has yet to send out an announcement calling for activists to REFUSE TO ENTER THE BARRICADES. This is the next step and it's going to happen eventually. Why not now?"

March 20 and the corporate structure of our protests
March 20 and corporate structure (pt.2)