To: JohnM who wrote (75579 ) 2/20/2003 12:04:20 AM From: Nadine Carroll Read Replies (3) | Respond to Well, we apparently have different conceptions as to what mass public demonstrations are capable of doing. I don't see them as able to engage in policy nuances. Rather, it seems to me you can only organize great masses of humans with straightforward messages such as stop this or start that formulate policy; that is the job of the political wing of whatever movement the demonstrators are following. It is that political wing that has not done its job. There is just no serious answer available to the question, "So, what do you propose to do about Saddam?" This makes it difficult for the movement to gain mass support, in America anyway, since Americans are convinced that Saddam is a problem. In Europe it's a different story as the Europeans seem to be largely pacifist - better any evil should be tolerated rather than have a war. As the President of Latvia remarked acidly the other day, it's so much easier to tolerate a dictator when he's dictating over someone else's life, not yours. The first is a distinction between what you've termed the "far left" and other folk to your left. Chomsky's political influence, whether one likes it or not, is less than minimal. Hardly worth discussing except for the right to use to caricature the left
