FWD: ANTI-WTO: Don't throw the radicals overboard

[Rich Littleton]

Ken makes some good points, so I've done an interlineated response belowe.

______________________________________________________________________


On Mon, 27 Dec 1999, Kenneth Crandall wrote:

> Hi,
> 
(snip)
> 
> It has been clearly shown that non-violent actions can make major changes.
> Gandhi and Martin Luther King are recent examples of people who have
> accomplished unprecedented change.  I believe that a strong element of the
> non-violent approach is that it makes the populace think about the issues
> and to search their inner selves.  They are then converted to a new way of
> thinking.

I think Ken is mostly right.  And I'd like to point out how excellent it
is to have arrived at a stage in human history where (1) non-violence is a
viable subject of discussion and (2) that we have recent and superlative
models that Ken mentioned to illustrate the non-violent approach.

> 
> Violence tries to force changes by coercion or fear.  I don't believe this
> will change peoples way of seeing things.

I'd place a 35% disagreement on the table at this point.  Violence makes
an issue "messy" and thus something that gets heightened attention so it
can be "tidied up."  I remember the Watts riots in the 60s.  The damage to
property was senseless and even self-defeating (the destruction was
mostly in the poor sections of town). HOWEVER, from then on, embarrassment
that such a social explosion did occur in the US of A and the worry
that this destruction could re-occur lent impetus to efforts to look for
solutions.

 > 
> When politicians believe that people require finance reform, we will get it!
> Make it an issue when you vote.

Ken, I would place a 100% disagreement on the table here.  Polls have
shown that the people want campaign finance reform, and congress (esp. 
Republicans) have done everything but go in that direction.  There is an
all-too-human tendancy for people who hold power to resist the populace's
efforts to share that power.  (...even happens in SCNA)  As long as a
decision-maker can get more control by consolidating power, the will of
the electorate will lose.  (See our local examples where Washington
politicians re-ran an election when the stadium lost once, thereby going
directly against the will of the voters, and see that, even though voters
passed an initiative for extending the monorail, the efforts go everywhere
else. 

So I think politicians deliberately ignore the voters if there is more
benefit to the politicians in ignoring those voters.

> 
Good points made, Ken.  Thanks.

Rich



> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-scn at scn.org [mailto:owner-scn at scn.org]On Behalf Of Rich
> Littleton
> Sent: Thursday, December 23, 1999 12:45 PM
> To: Scot Harkins on SCN.org
> Cc: scn at scn.org
> Subject: Re: FWD: ANTI-WTO: Don't throw the radicals overboard
> 
> 
> 
> I second what Scot said.
> 
> I'll add one item.
> 
> Back in the 60s, when I was state coordinator for Nebraskans For Peace, we
> got a report on non-violence.  It said that the organizations that use
> violence generally get more done.
> 
> I was bothered by this report and would like to see a well-researched
> counter report.
> 
> However, note the complete lack of progress in getting campaign finance
> reform.  (Complete lack!!!)  Maybe we should send a note to the Eugene
> people and suggest that they visit Wash. D.C.
> 
> later,
> 
> Rich
> 
> 
> 

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