Nothing has ever been accomplished by doing nothing. When large numbers of people gather to speak with one voice it is difficult to ignore them, even for the mainstream media, and it raises awareness. Protests also allow the anti war movement to better organize.
It is also a form of lobbying and we all know well that works with Congress. Just look at what AIPAC has done with its pro war lobbying efforts.
Lawyers who stand with the anti war movement should file suit against the Pentagon/Government for this.
On the eve of the invasion of Iraq, somewhere between thirteen and twenty million people (depending on whose version of the story you believe), on five continents, demonstrated against the invasion. We were completely and totally ignored. The powers that be don't give a flying rat's ass what we think. To them, we are nothing but livestock. The only thing that will ever change their mind are firing squads.
Up till now, the ruling class has hardly ignored these public outbursts as the repression has proven.
We must talk about a nation wide General Strike and Boycott. It will take preparation, commitment and organizational focus.
Nothing else will work. Consider these mass actions as practice and learning sessions.
They're good places to network, too. But they do not influence policy. Worse, the give us the illusion that we are making progress. We go home and wait for the next demo. Even worse, most of those few of us who do work between demos, work building the next demo.
During the Viet Nam War, we took a different approach. Between demos we organized things like an underground railroad for deserters, coffee houses, entertainment and one on one, f2f, outreach to individual soldiers who hadn't deserted yet. Acts of sabotage were committed against the war machine's infrastructure. Groups like the WU and the BLA waged a guerrilla war against the police and FBI, that ranged from bank robberies bombing and sniping to bombing police stations. Mobs burned banks and fought the police in the streets isn neo-medieval melees.
At the other end of the resistance scale were the pacifists and the Democrats. They weren't idle between demos, either. They published, and canvassed and registered voters. They held teach-ins, and organized tax resistance. The underground press blossomed, then federated in an Indymedia like network called the Underground Press Syndicate. Pirate radio stations sprang up across the country.
None of this did any good either. Violence didn't work. Non violence didn't work. The combination didn't work. Nothing we did at home worked, not even storming the Pentagon. Nothing.
What did work, was mutiny by the soldiers. You can't fight a war without soldiers.
See:
http://www.geocities.com/cordobakaf/gis.html
"What DID work was mutiny by the soldiers. You can't fight a war without soldiers."
Yup, EXACTLY.
That's why the brainwashed "morale" of the soldiers is THE key target
which is precisely why Madison Ave. keeps telling all the stupid cattle "Support the Troops. Moo. Moo."
Madison Ave and the billionaires who hire them have this shit completely figgered out, 'dawggy.
Question is, why don't YOU?
I just don't like demonizing the troops when they're back from service as we need to form solidarity and mutual support instead of leaving them by the side of the road - again.
And wanking w/o constructive actions.