[thechat] protests?

[Tara Cleveland]

Ken Kogler wrote:

>> they're almost certainly still working on the notion that
>> large enough, and noticable enough demonstrations will change Bush's
>> mind. I'm guessing it's noticable they're going for, but I think
>> there are better ways to do it.
> 
> Is that was these protests are supposed to accomplish? Bush is just
> going to look at the TV one day, and say "oh, I didn't know. Shit." and
> just call all out troops back?
> 
> I understand that people are looking to voice their opinions, but can
> these protests really be viewed as a force for change, or are they just
> people venting their frustration?

Well, I can't speak for everyone on the demos, but I don't honestly think
that anyone really believes that Bush will stop the war until he thinks he's
finished. 

Part of it is to give strength to the notion that this war is unwanted by
most of the world and that most of the world thinks it's unjustified. There
are certainly good arguments that it's illegal.

Hopefully, mass demonstrations will give the UN the strength to condemn the
war (massive hoping here) and to encourage multilateral humanitarian relief
in the future, to hope that the US will allow a multilateral force to
protect Iraq after the war instead of the US military controlling the
country. To encourage most of the rebuilding to be paid for by the US and
not taken out of proceeds from the sale of Iraqi oil. To not let the US get
away with attacking and then abandoning.

Don't forget that these situations (horrible dictators that threaten
American hegemony) will come up again. What will the US do? It allows the
democrats to push for more multilateralism in it's foreign policy. After
all, they could get elected next time around. What will the world do? Next
time will they push for more inspections sooner to avoid this type of
situation from happening again? Will they be more aggressive in trying to
deal with countries that have dictators who abuse human rights? Can we
convince the next US administration to ratify the International Criminal
Court? And strengthen the ICC?

And hopefully, it will discourage other countries from launching wars
against enemies that they claim threaten their security. The US does tend to
be a special case because it is a superpower and it can threaten and buy
support. It's military is so far superior to any other country's that no one
can really do anything about it if they declare war unjustly. But smaller
countries may be dissuaded if they know that people around the world would
support action against them if they launched an unjust war.

I think many - myself included - see this war as "wrong" in one way or
another and can't stand idly by while the injustice and horror happens. Many
are coming out to say "not in *my* name" because they think it's wrong and
they can't let it happen without protest. So in that sense maybe it's
frustration, but I don't really feel frustrated, I feel dismay, anguish,
perhaps a little anger and I feel like I can't sit here and watch this
horrible war happen without expressing that.

Sorry, this is so long. There's a million more little points I'd bring up,
but I won't bore you ;-)

Regards,
Tara