Anton,
I was in town, and I knew the drill, and I was right in the thick of events on Saturday. I was at Oak & Michigan, marched down Oak, stood at Dearborn & Oak, Bughouse Square, marched down Clark, and was at the Federal Plaza. I have figured out ways to get around these events without getting hemmed in by cops. I was also standing about two feet away from the Deputy Chief as he freaked out when the crowd went down Clark.

But you and I really don't disagree much on how it happened. Yeah, the people on Clark were not the people who were inclined to mess with the cops so, despite the fact that they caught the cops unawares, and were marching in what was then a red zone, the cops really had no choice but to let it happen, and figured they had to leave the bulk of their troops on Dearborn, where people were inclined to confront the cops. But it did happen against the will of the cops. It is a basic rule of Chicago politics that, if you show people you are going to do what you want whether they like it or not, they will give you respect. The crowd on Clark was totally leaderless, and spontaneously took an opportunity left open by the cops.

In doing this, the crowd on Clark achieved the two goals that the organizers of this event had set for this march, i.e., (1) protesting the war, and
(2) doing so where they wanted to. You are right that they were not interested in confronting the cops, and the cops knew this, and that was part of what let them get away with it. But confronting the cops was not a stated goal of this demonstration. The people on Dearborn, who did want to confront the cops, effectively provided the distraction necessary for the Clark people to do what they wanted.

I think that the participation of the Band and the Rat Patrol was crucial to this coup. The Band has experience with spontaneity, and the Rat Patrol are veteran Critical Mass people. Those two groups have a lot of experience with un-permitted street demonstrations. They also have experience with spontaneous, improvised, consensus-driven operation.

I have, on many occasions, seen these groups take to the streets as they saw fit, despite the opposition of the City, and carry off very successful street actions. They have no leaders, they have no strict plan. They react to events as they occur, improvise, cooperate, and take any opportunity offered.

The Clark Street march was exactly what this march was supposed to be about. It is only if confrontation with the cops is considered a goal (which was never one of the stated goals of the march) that you can criticize the Clark Street people.

Come to a Critical Mass event some time. See how people can take control of their streets, and go where they want to. I have been down Michigan Avenue with CM. If we did it like CM, we could have gone wherever we wanted to.

The Clark street march was not what we wanted before the day started. But, in classic bottom-up, improvisational, spontaneous consensus-drive style, the people on Clark accomplished exactly what we set out to accomplish that day.

I don't belong to CM, or the Band. But I have seen, on many occasions, their success with operations like this. I think we have a lot to learn from them.

They know how to pull off street demonstrations. They were the only groups on Saturday which managed to achieve the two goals set out by the organizers (that's not to take anything away from the others on Clark, including the ISO -- I don't belong to that either -- who improvised their responses, and got what they wanted.)

I don't belong to any of those groups. I'm not a leader, not an organizer. I can take no credit whatsoever for the success they achieved (except for the credit that belongs to every person on Clark.) I'm not trying to sing my own praises, or push any ideology.

I'm just trying to say that Saturday was a success, that the people on Clark pulled off a brilliant street action. They accomplished the goals established by the organizers. And they did it without leaders, without organization, without any specific ideology.

Anton, I'm just suggesting we give some credit where credit is due, and recognize the success we achieved on Saturday. I learned a lot from watching that crowd take control of the street. And I think we can all learn from that.