Folks need to remember that the combined feeder marches that moved north on Dearborn and were stalled at Oak were autonomously organized by students and youth, Palestine solidarity activists, and those who organized N and S side marches. They were not centrally organized by M-19 Coalition, which assisted only with intergrating their call outs in the overall publicity and outreach work. Nor did M-19 Coalition as a collective play a role in determining the any of routes they took or their tactical orientation. That was done largely on the fly by each feeder march tactical team and organizers ostensibly in collaboration with each other. The decision to move north on Dearborn was reached the same way.

The M-19 working plan called for folks to assemble at Oak and Michigan, and march down Michigan Ave. That plan was rendered dead in the water when the press conference was dispersed at baton point by the cops, and folks were arrested. The only consensed fallback plan was to distribute a flyer calling on folks who wished to avoid arrest to make their way back to Federal Plaza, anyway they could, - avoiding the police approved route on Clark and leaflet the Loop on the way down. Here's the kicker. Direct action contingency planning beyond this was left to those groups who were willing to undertake an action, either at Oak or Michgian, or elsewhere. Apparently no one was.

IMO, one question stands out.

How many actual affinity groups existed prepared to undertake direct action on M-19 in order to access Michigan Ave. ( sit downs, lockdowns in the intersection, ect) - you know, the real deal, with a plan, logistics, legal and medical support in place - prepared to act when the feeder marches became stalled or blocked by the police? Without these, it is difficult to imagine what type of contingency planning was possible beyond what actually happened that might garner consensus from a majority of participants in a feeder march.

I posted the following on an earlier thread, but here's my 0.2 cents.

Perhaps the time has come to consider Michigan Ave. and State St, a permanent red zone and plan accordingly. We've tried twice to play by their rules. Enough.

It's apparent that the cops are prepared to enforce the parade ordinance and suppress street marches whenever and whereever they want. It is at their discretion. The dispersal of the GLN sidewalk march on M-19 was a case in point. The illusion that somehow unpermitted sidewalk marches are inherently 'legal' and exempt from this ordinance needs to be dispelled. They are not. If they are allowed to happen, it is only because the cops choose not to enforce the ordinance, for whatever tactical reasons - maybe our numbers, maybe the presence of the corporate media. - or maybe because it's just too much of a pain in the ass to arrest us when little is at stake politcally from their view. We also need recognize that expecting the courts to uphold our constitutional right to free assembly is also a dead end at this time. That's not to argue that we should abandon unpermitted sidewalk or street marches, or legal challenges for that matter, but that we are clear about the realities of the situation as they exist today. And find creative ways to respond.

So, instead of attempting to leverage mass marches down Boul Mich, maybe we should consider a tactical scenario adopted by SF Direct Action Against the War. No more permitted marches - but a reclaim public space guerilla strategy. Let those who simply can't imagine anything beyond "permitted" green events organize the usual static rallies in Daley and Federal Plazas. These also do not have to compete with anything else.

(It should be noted however, that absolutely nothing currently prevents local authorities or the Feds from denying these events permits as well when the spirit moves them -- something some liberal anti-war activists haven't quite grasped. )

Meanwhile, let's concentrate on neighborhood marches, counter-recruitment and community speakouts, with an eye toward encouraging the development of real direct action affinity groups - who on the next of day of action can spread across the Loop, including Michigan Ave with a series of short, mobile creative and dramatic actions at multiple locations - guerilla theater, lockdowns, banner drops, the works. A real festival of resistance -- Chicago style.

Finally, while numbers are critical to building the anti-war movement, they are not automatically an antidote to the power structure's capacity to marginalize or contain dissent. A lesson we learned at the RNC. Consider that the NYPD was prepared to herd 500,000 (now that's a lot of people) out onto the asphalt of New York's Westside Highway for a permitted march - a move that would have rendered the largest anti-RNC protest virtually invisible to all but the participants. Remember too that UFPJ organizers actually surrendered to this demand, in order to ensure maximum turnout and a safe area ... after protracted negotiations with the authorities failed. It was only the refusal of thousands of protesters to play ball with this scheme that compelled UFPJ to reconsider this concession.