[Oct. 17 Seattle] Report, one mass-work thread?

Sun Aug 23 05:12:23 EDT 2009

I wasn’t able to get to the demo downtown today, but I was
able to get out for a while later, around 5.  I almost didn’t get out, because my time was tight, and the
printer kept jamming, but I did finally get 100 SAIC leaflets printed.  I still had about 50+ of the coalition
half-sheets.  I went to the
Garfield “community” event, which was very small, maybe 75 people there
total.  It was just a lot of booths
advertising replacement windows, Pepsi, etc.   There were also a few non-commercial booths, like a woman
with some org that wasn’t familiar who was trying to get Single Payer “on the
table” in DC, and some kind of foster care agency, and others.  

I had a couple of conversations there. One clean cut young
guy selling something took a leaflet and started asking questions -- what does
this title mean? Isn’t the US removing troops from Afghanistan? Why is the US
there?  The older man he had been
talking to when I came up jumped in and explained that it was for control of territory,
no, it wasn’t about helping the Afghan people, etc.  He had some facts wrong (like he thought there was
significant oil there), but he understood US motives well.

After about 20 minutes there, though, I had made the circuit
and offered everyone there a leaflet. 
So I circulated through the neighborhood, walking along 23rd, across
Cherry, up to Union.  There are a
number of coffee places along there that cater to cab drivers and there are
other small storefronts.  
There were a moderate number of people out on the streets, and a high
percentage of them took leaflets.  

On that walk, I had several good conversations, one with an
Asian woman behind the counter at a coffee place.  When I offered her a leaflet, she took one, and asked what
is this about.  When I explained
(there was a little language barrier) she said, “yes, why not!  The soldiers should all get out of
there”, and she volunteered to put a poster up.  I gave her a small stack of the half-sheet flyers, and she
said she’d put them out.

I also talked with a man for a long time, who wavered
between understanding that the US was in Iraq and Afghanistan/Pakistan because
it served the whole ruling class -- when I said this to him, he agreed -- and
talking about the wars as “Bush’s mess”, that he started the Iraq War because
Saddam had tried to kill his father, etc.  He was very mad about the wars.  The conversation was quite
friendly.  He read the first
paragraph while I was there, and he argued that it was beside the point that
the drone attacks into Pakistan were “cowardly”, what was important was that
they were killing civilians.  It
wouldn’t be any better if it was troops the imperialists were sending across
the border to kill.  He agreed when I said the motivation behind the drones was to avoid US casualties, and limit domestic
opposition to the wars.

I also swung by the cab stand around 24th and Union, and
every cabbie there took one, thanked me, etc.  I talked with one man (again there was a language barrier)
who I think was trying to ask me “Are you arguing that the US is there to bring
peace?”  When I did finally get it
across that no, the US isn't bringing peace, it is dropping bombs on civilians, he smiled and shook my hand
vigorously, “yes, they are dropping bombs on the people”.

In all, I handed out 62 SAIC leaflets in about an hour.

Date: Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:59:10 +0000
From: chr2eemail at comcast.net
To: antiwar at lists.hcoop.net
Subject: Re: [Oct. 17 Seattle] Report, one mass-work thread?

The VFP action (10-15 people) was probably the biggest since Folklife weekend. Three ANSWER people were also there. One person told me that Marty and Anton had gotten the Oct. 17 info into the VFP minutes, which is good; and nearly everyone I talked with about the demonstration was aware of it.

While there, I passed out 62 more leaflets (most lySAIC). 3-4 pro-war comments were a good reminder that the battle for the hearts and minds of the masses continues. Also talked with someone about putting the demonstration info on stickers (he likes to put up political stickers around town), and I’m pretty sure that he'll do it. 

----- Original Message -----

From: chr2eemail at comcast.net

To: antiwar at lists.hcoop.net

Sent: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 03:15:48 +0000 (UTC)

Subject: Re: [Oct. 17 Seattle] Report, one mass-work thread?

University Avenue, Thursday evening---

Passed out 52 leaflets in about 1 hour 20 minutes. One young guy had already gotten it at Hempfest, and said he liked it. Another young guy was very happy to get the leaflet, but very unhappy that he’s going to be in Portland on the 17th. Wondered if I knew if there was going to be an eighth anniversary demonstration there, but I couldn’t answer. A young woman wanted three leaflets.

Frank

----- Original Message -----

From: chr2eemail at comcast.net

To: antiwar at lists.hcoop.net

Sent: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:50:57 +0000 (UTC)

Subject: [Oct. 17 Seattle] Report, one mass-work thread?

1) I passed out 60 of some combination of the SAIC and “Mobe” flyers on Broadway this evening. Best response was from a woman my age who said “I agree w/ that TOTALLY” when she saw what the leaflets were about. She was in a rush, but upon returning from her errand she thanked me some more. The only negative comment was from a guy who asked, “What are you going to do when they land at Alki?” 

Ran into several anti-war people who I already know, and gave them details about the September 2 meeting: They included:

--The owner of a bookshop who said that she would clear space on her bulletin board to post the flyer, which she did.

--WWP’s Jim M. First words were to ask about the demonstration. (I was worried that WWP hadn’t gotten the invitation to the first meeting because we didn’t have a good address, but it turned out that he’d seen the Indymedia announcement. Now also have his phone number.)

--PM of the old SCCCAWC. Unhappy that there’s no longer a mass anti-war organization at SCCC. Very happy to hear the news of the demonstration and the formation of this mobilizing effort. (Of the people who I talked with about the 2nd, I think that he’s most likely to attend.)

--M, originally of IVAW. Another person who expressed enthusiasm about the demonstration, which he’d heard about through our e-mailings. Unfortunately, he’s soon moving to California.

2) Reports of leafleting experiences have begun to be posted here, which I think this is just what we should do. It gives us a concrete picture of what we’re doing, where we might pick up slack, and so on. Additionally, I think that news of articles, postings, radio announcements, etc., should also be posted here. For example, SDS Tacoma today posted the information from the flyer on its website. Further, SAIC has had experience in trying to keep reports of leafleting, postering and so on all in one thread. I think that this is a convenient way of keeping track of this info that seems to work well for us, and can work well for this united front effort. 

Cheers,

Frank

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