Dear
laffatlibs:
I can name 3-4 events that come to mind where liberals and progressives hosted peaceful effective events:
1. the anti-Klan PEACE rally organized by a Marxist professor where the crowds were kept SEPARATED
and the professor successfully sued the city of Tomball to agree to change their policies and not allow
public facilities used by groups to host another such event which discriminated against attendees by race.
2. the 1997 rally for Headwaters Forest where participants were required to sign agreements in advance
not to engage in any violence, vandalism or acts to provoke arrest. The coordinator had agreements with
the police in advance, where the only citation was Woody Harrelson driving without a seatbelt when he left the rally.
3. the past and current threats by liberal elitists to take over KPFT radio management and suppress dissenters
who voted and elected other managers fired and banned from the station to subvert the nonprofit policies.
The peace and justice activists have used the bylaws and lawsuits if needed to address their own revolts civilly.
These have remained nonviolent, though highly politicized makings of civil war among their own ranks.
Many of the same peace and justice activists have also held meetings with Occupy to spell out objectives and means
of working toward effective activism to achieve those goals instead of meaningless protests that only publicize the plights.
We don't see these peaceful meetings in the media because they are not violent news.
They take place in the community, where the real solutions are implemented. This takes
so much time and longterm effort, no news station could cover it. If it ends up in a documentary
we are lucky. The real successful activism takes years, and is not won by some overnight protest that gets in the news.
4. successful meetings between environmental activists and loggers to team up to stop
corporate destruction of the Headwaters Redwood forest. Before, there was violence and dangerous
protests against loggers, but through the workers union they were able to unite on a common cause
to save their jobs through sustainable logging that also preserved the indigenous species and ecosystems from destruction.
Judy Bari was the activist credited with this peaceful reconciliation to stop the violent protests.
her story is documented in "The Forest for the Trees"
5. Both the election of Obama and of Trump demonstrate peaceful civil means of
using democratic process to vote for mass social change and protest the govt administration.
When the Democrats had to unite around Obama instead of Clinton, there was plenty of uprising and coercing
the other supporters to stand down. But there was no violence, so it didn't make the news. With Sanders and Clinton
there were lawsuits against the Democratic party, which is still civilized nonviolent means. There were more
visible protests that got into the media, but even the protests against political abuses of manipulating the delegate votes were nonviolent.
At the last meeting to hear from Perez, Ellison, and other candidates for DNC Chair, again,
there are mass protests against Obama and Clinton for supporting the status quo;
but this is all done by civil democratic process. So with no punches physical thrown, it doesn't get into the media.
But that's where the real protests and fights take place. And where the real policy changes can happen
if we start taking and using the democratic process seriously, for empowering people to take back responsibility directly.
