From ChrisG:

'What's really disappointing to me is the sector of the 'progressive' movement that plays in the electoral arena, but seems to have forgotten the reason to do this -- do get people in office who actually have utility to the rest of us. When it counts. When our basic rights are under assault. When people are being arrested for flyering -- flyering -- on Michigan Avenue.'

Take a deep breath or two, Chris, before you go lashing out and burning bridges with your allies. And I have no idea who your 'anonymous' critics are, but if I were you, I wouldn't get on their case for using 'handles,' since you frequently do the same thing yourself. Take their points seriously instead.

You can go over to Oak and Michigan and pass out flyers all day today, Chris. Just because we lost a tactical battle with the City and the cops on the afternoon of March 19 doesn't mean the Constitution has been suspended for good in Chicago. The problem was that your tactics for the day--and I speak as one who supported them and urged group after group of our folks to go over to Oak and Mich to see how far they could get in joining you-- were far from being the unified tactics of everyone who wanted to march against the war.

There were a good number who stayed in Bughouse Square or just went to the Plaza because they believed, rightly or wrongly, that Oak and Michigan was a side show and a diversion from what they really wanted to do that day. What's more, and I know this from listening to people in the week prior, that some number--who knows how many?--decided not to come at all because of the prospect of 'unpermitted' marches. We did our best to get them to come anyway, but the sentiment was real enough.

Joe Moore marched against the war that day, and encouraged everyone else among his constituents and on the council to do so as well. But he thought at least part of our tactics for the day was a diversion from what he saw as the main task of sending a message to Bush. You can disagree with him, but it seems silly to read him out over it.

The interfaith peace event at the Temple the following day, which filled the place, was also a powerful antiwar happening for those in attendence, but some seem to want to read them out because of pacifism and not putting Palestine front and center. They praised the Rev and others who got busted at Oak and Mich, and many of them--not all to be sure--marched the day before. So is our job to bring them in to the heart of our coalition, or to find hurdles we can put up to keep them and their reformist influence out?

So here's the question I think we all have to wrestle with: Compared to LA of SF or other cities, why is Chicago having relatively smaller demos? Why aren't we making some better breakthoughs?

Do we really think trashing the liberal peace people and elected officials who speak against the war will help us grow? Do we need to get more ant-imperialist in our line and list more countries and struggles to make us grow in effectiveness? Do we need to hit Jan Schakowsky harder on Israel and pooh-pooh her vote against war funding to get even more folks to come out and join us? Is it all the CAWI pro-voting reformists fault, and if we decisively defeat their pernicious influence, along with the wimps of the UFPJ nationally, then things will really take off in the right direction? Is this where you really want to go?

Or do we think we might find some answers in a different direction. I don't pretend to know the answers, but it's time for a broader, more strategic discussion than whether matters of tactics are matters of principle, and the 'correct anti-imperialist line' was to go down Dearborn rather than 'the sellout line' of going down Clark on March 19.