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

Thu Sep 3 22:21:54 EDT 2009

The protest against torture-Judge Bybee was attended by about 10-12 people. My main objective was to talk with people---particularly groups---about getting behind building for October 17. And this was easy to do in such a small crowd. But WCW, of course, already knew all about it, while the PDA circles were polite but non-committal. An unconnected guy said that he would be at the demonstration. I passed out 15 leaflets. 
Total reported by all to date: 1333.

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

From: chr2eemail at comcast.net

To: antiwar at lists.hcoop.net

Sent: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:49:50 +0000 (UTC)

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

23rd and Jackson, Sunday, 8-29. 

Passed out 40 leaflets advertising the event, which I think was good considering that there were few people there. About 10 of these went to the youth march which formed up at the same place. (There were about 8-10 youths present, the majority of whom wanted leaflets. Of the 15 or so adults, only a few wanted leaflets.)--Fk.

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

From: Eric Gordan 

To: antiwar 

Sent: Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:49:46 +0000 (UTC)

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

I was out doing mass work from 11:30 to 1:30 today, and I split my time between three locations.

Broadway:

Foot traffic generally slow.  Rate of interest comparatively low relative to the rate I had last weekend on the streets in the CD, but not bad.  Only one negative comment, from someone who identified himself as military, and disputed reasons for the war that I gave.  I gave one to a young man who identified himself as an RCP supporter.  I recognized him, but I don't know his name, and I didn't have a chance to converse with him.  No other real conversations, but a good handful of comments like "keep up the good work", "I support you all the way", and "the President sure isn't going to [end the wars]".  Passed out about 15 leaflets with the demo announcement.

University District:

Foot traffic also slow, perhaps slower than Broadway.  I had one conversation with an older man who agreed with the headline.  When he said he thought it was because of "stupidity", I countered, describing the bases for the wars as I understood them, and he agreed with that, also, but he kept going back to "stupidity" as the root.  As we talked more, it was clear that he had some strange ideas about things in general.  Passed out only 10, partly as a result of this man.  

23rd & Union:

At the same location where I leafletted several cab drivers last weekend, there was a moderate-sized Muslim gathering breaking up, so I paused to leaflet.  A young kid, probably 10, who was moderately fluent in English translated for me to his father (?) explaining that the leaflet was opposing the wars in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  The kid was _very_ excited about the leaflet, and asked first for one, then for four, and then for "a whole bunch", "to give to everyone".  I stayed outside the gathering place, and leafletted people as they left, and he ran inside to leaflet.  100% of those who passed by me took a leaflet, and between the two of us, we passed out about 60.  

Since I was bussing between the three places, I also leafletted the all of bus drivers and a couple of the passengers.  I didn't have as good a reception on the busses this time as I have other times I tried it.  I think it depends a lot on the route, time of day, day of week, and how crowded the bus is (the more crowded the better, up to a point).

In total, 97 leaflets passed out.

Date: Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:07:57 +0000
From: chr2eemail at comcast.net
To: antiwar at lists.hcoop.net
Subject: Re: [Oct. 17 Seattle] Report, one mass-work thread

University Ave., early-afternoon Saturday:

Phil and I passed out about 70 leaflets with advertisements for O-17. After first rejecting it, several people came back to get a leaflet when it registered on them what it was about. When intently reading it as he walked away, one guy exclaimed, “totally!” re: something he’d read.

Phil had 2-3 quite wide-ranging political discussions. 

I talked with an older guy who’s around FSP. He hadn’t heard about the demonstration, and was enthusiastic for it. But he thought that FSP must be part of the Oct.17 Mobilization and just hadn‘t spread the word yet. I explained that it wasn’t, and told him about the meeting, etc. He replied: “Yeah, we should be part of that. I’ll talk to Chris.“ 

So we’ll see what happens. (FSP and Radical Women people have received all of our e-mailings, by the way.)

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

From: Eric Gordan 

To: anntiwar 

Sent: Sun, 23 Aug 2009 09:12:23 +0000 (UTC)

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

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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