It seems there is a movement building to organize an "Iraq War Moratorium". The idea apparently originated Meteor Blades has a front page diary, with a poll asking for the best date to hold it.
In MB's post, I made a suggestion to organize weekly events to build up support for this day.
Follow me past the jump for an elaboration on these ideas ...
First, regarding the word "moratorium": According to Wikipedia, it means "discontinuing something indefinitely". The main association people will have in this case is of course the Vietnam Moratorium. I do not know the full background for using the word "Moratorium" in that case. In the case of Iraq, "discontinuing" the occupation is the same as withdrawing. I don't have a big problem using the word, but believe it is important to distinguish between what we demand (an end to war) and how we do it (by organizing a national (and international) day of protest).
Now my suggestions for how to make this event successful - which I believe are a good match for the 5 aspects numbered here:
- Set a date for "The Big Event". As will be seen below, the weekday of this event is important, so will need to be chosen carefully. My suggestion would be Saturday at 13:00, but I am open to other suggestions (and may do a poll in a follow-up diary
- Start holding local meet-ups on this day and time EVERY WEEK, at the same venue. These events should be locally organized, but with a central database of events etc. I believe the software to do this already exists. The contents of the events can be decided locally, but a combination of a short speech, outreach to passers-by (flyers, personal conversations, gathering of email addresses (with ZIP to allow "localized" mailouts)) would be good starting points.
- After a fixed period of time (perhaps 1½ hour or so), those interested could go to a cafe/bar/something for discussion of the day and organization of the following weeks and The Big Event.
These local events will serve multiple purposes
- Making the opposition visible, both locally and national, giving it a local "rallying point" ,and a way of gauging support both locally and nationally. The visibility serves both as a goal in itself and as advertising for The Big Event
- Allow people to meet regularly, forge bonds, get ideas, organize the big event
That's all. Hope it makes sense
Disclaimers:
I am not a citizen of the United States, nor have I ever been there. I may lack some knowledge of both legal, practical or cultural issues with my plan. For instance, most suburbs in Denmark will have some kind of "city center", which has a lot of shoppers and other pedestrians passing by, reasonable access by public transport and car etc.