Re: [Marxism] Lebanon and Palestine: what should we do? [request for discussion]

["Sayan Bhattacharyya" <ok.president+marxmail@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 8/6/06, Loupaulsen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <Loupaulsen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I would like to ask for more discussion about what it is that we should do
> about the war crisis.  What are we doing that is working?  What should we do
> more of?  What methods of outreach and propaganda are people using?  How can
> we improve our approach?  What are our opportunities to have a practical
> effect in the short term?  In the medium and long term?  What is our
> perspective?

Some suggestions I have:

At marches, etc. a good job needs to be done of communicating with
people on the street who watch the march go by. The nature of
marches/demonstrations is that what the curious bystander gets are
usually shouted slogans -- mere sound bytes which by their very nature
tend to be reductive and stripped of complexity. When that message
sounds very different from that constantly purveyed by the media, it
proves, for the bystander, easy to dismiss.

It may be helpful to have printed sheets of paper detailing the
marchers' position in some detail, distributed to the bystanders as
the march proceeds. Also, I think these days it'll be helpful to carry
placards/banners with a short URL of a website, where the organisers
of the march have put up  position papers, contact information,
details about the next demonstration, etc. Many people will look at
the march from a distance, or only at pictures of the march in the
newspaper or on TV. So having the URL of the marchers' website very
visible in the march will helo. If they are curious, they may remember
the URL and look it up.

Also, I recommend avoiding maximalist slogans. As sound-bites, they
will not convince bystanders unless there's time to talk and explain
in detail why those demands are being made -- time for which is not
always there in a march.

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