Fractal Politics; microcosm Whether it's a local peace march or war-ending efforts in congress, it takes strong, tough leadership. Anything less is ineffective and will accomplish nothing except further loss of hope and participation by the grass roots.

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Yesterday, the local peace coalitions put together a "Peace Demonstration and March."
I have begun participating in one of the coalitions-- the one nearest my town-- and have grown to really respect the leader.

I arrived at the stated 2:00 start time for the march, discovering that the marchers were inside the church meeting place. Looking now at the email notice, it did say "There will be speakers before and after the March."

It ends up, the volunteer who was providing the sound system had a family emergency, and they ran half an hour late getting a last minute sound system up and running. Then, the antithesis of an inspiring, energizing, rousing woman started running a disastrous run of "performers." It started off with a very elderly woman who did a poetry reading. It was followed by a local guitar player singer, then another poet, then... the poets and players and speakers droned on and on.

By 3:15, some of the activist friends I'd met up with there and I were getting antsy. We'd come to march, not listen to a poetry slam. We stepped outside. People were starting to leave. This march was floundering. We went inside, only to overhear some of the leaders discussing the fact that a priest at the Catholic Church, St. Martin of Tours, in New Hope, PA, had thrown out the group setting up the audio for the end of the march. Apparently, arrangements had been made with the pastor, and this junior priest hadn't gotten word and was taking the cowardly, cover his ass way out.

Apparently, two people decided that the 360+ marchers would sit to listen to all the people who were scheduled to speak, read poetry and play the guitar after the march-- even the marchers who hadn't planned on staying and listening.

Meanwhile, the day was slipping away, and more people were leaving.

The 2:00 start had dragged on for an hour and a half. And they were just getting started with the "post-march" "entertainment."

Now, my activist friends and I got to know each other when we were participating in "run against Bush" back in summer 2004. Our whole purpose was to get local pedestrians, passers-by, drivers to be aware that there were a lot of us opposing Bush. Every Tuesday evening, as many as 100 would walk several miles of the streets of the county seat. We knew that the goal is visibility-- to get people's attention.

And here we were, participating in another group's activity, feeling frustrated. But this was happening on a day when vigils and actions were taking place all over the country. Another friend had asked me to participate in a vigil that same day and I had encouraged him to join the march.

The decision by the leaders who were making calling the shots in the church seemed very wrong to us. We asked how much longer the "show" would go on and were told about half an hour. We went upstairs to see a woman reading page after page of lecture-- saying things about Iraq that every activist in the audience already knew. I've learned that she had a five minute allotted time. But she stretched it into 15-20 minutes. As a conference organizer, I believe that people who go over their time limit are extremely disrespectful of both the people who are supposed to follow them and the audience. It may be weak or non-existent self awareness and self regulation, or it may be selfish ego driven ignoring of the terms the speaker agreed to. But it was clear that this was not going to be 30 minutes. There at least five speakers, guitarists, poets... and it takes time for set-up, between "acts."

So Rich and I approached one of the two leaders. We suggested to her that this was a bad idea. She explained she was keeping things going in consideration for the people who were supposed to do their thing after the march, since the church was no longer available.

I said the march was not about the needs of a few guitarists, poets and speakers. She said they'd be done in 30 minutes. The women who was already on overtime kept droning on, reading her talk. (I hate it when speakers read a talk. They're not even speakers-- they're readers and have no place at a rally. Even Jesse Jackson uses notes for his talks, but he gives an impassioned speech, doesn't read and read and read.)

I suggested to this woman running things that we the people should be deciding whether we should be marching or sitting for another 30-60 minutes. We're doing it as fast as we can, she replied. The "reader" at the podium droned on, minutes ticking by like hours.

Keep in mind, we had a very nasty snow on Friday, the weather was very cold and, luckily, we had some brigh sunlight. But it was approaching 4:00 and the plan was for us to March across a bridge over the delaware river. Windy!.

Rich and I went to the back of the church, having made no headway. We went outside, and there was a crowd of people, milling, all frustrated, more leaving. We went back in to see what would happen when the "reader" finished. She was getting the next speaker up at the podium. Suddenly, someone out in the hall behind the main church area called out, loudly, "March." That broke the ice and Rich and I started talking/shouting... "we're here to march, not sit." The MC running things informed the audience that they would watch the rest of the people who were supposed to go on after the march and then leave. I said, "let we-the-people decide."

A few dozen people got up and started leaving, while the next speaker was preparing.

"March now," we called out. More people got up.

We went out to front of the church. THere were about 50 people already outside, a steady stream of more people were walking out of the church, and there were two guys pounding on big drums, strung over their shoulders. Rich and I asked them to start walking-- believing that they could get the march started. I ran back in, up the stairs to the main area of the church. About half the seats, which had been filled to standing room only, were now empty. I called out-- the speaker still hadn't started yet-- "the march has started." More people got up. Other people were speaking out too, by that point.

Rich and I started walking. The march was under way. The drummers were doing a great job. We caught up with our friends after a few blocks, crossed the bridge, went another few blocks, to the church where the jr. priest had blown us off, and where most people had parked their cars.

I caught up with Al, one of the organizers of the event-- not the one running things at the church, but one of the leaders of the peace movement. He was frustrated. Things hadn't gone as planned. The planning had nice-- a half hour to 45 minutes to talks, guitar, poetry to lead of the march, then 30-45 minutes of talks after the march, at the Catholic Church. Between the half hour delay, the failure of the MC to control speakers going overtime and the decision to add all the end of march entertainment, the plans had gone far awry-- by no fault of Al, who I respect greatly. We ended up at the Catholic church, 360+ people-- a great number for our community-- energized from marching and chanting, and ... nothing.. People just went to their cars and went home. It was a shame that the plans to cap the march didn't happen.

Some thoughts.

Leadership matters. Organization matters. The various peace coalitions did a decent job putting together the march. The problem with the sound system was probably unavoidable, though I don't understand why the church didn't have a sound system, or, if not, why the talks could be given without a sound system, which was apparently good enough for regular church services. My guess is that some of the speakers and performers needed the amplification-- frail poet, acoustic guitar...

The situation at the end of the march-- the Catholic CHurch that wasnt'- apparently, that was no-one's fault except the pastor who didn't leave word that he'd approved things, and since it was a last minute arrangement,well, stuff like that happens.

That leaves us with leadership. It was a bad choice to give the moderator job to someone who had zero energy, zero, passion, who read from (hid behind) a clipboard. She probably did a great job organizing. But besides being the wrong person to MC the pre-march events, she was a worse leader.

It's very rare that so many people in our suburban area show up for an action. It's a real opportunity. Choosing to use frail, elderly poets and readers was poor leadership, poor decision making. Deciding that the interests of a handful of speakers and performers come before the 360 people who showed up to march, just concluding that two people should be the ones to decide opposed the whole idea of grassroots activism.

When leaders don't get it that a march is about visibility, that you march to send a message, they fail to do their job. If a march is just for the sake of the marchers, then it is marchsturbating, not marching.

The last speaker to go on, before the march finally began, spoke about unity. We do need unity, but unity is built by strong leaders who make good decisions.

In a microcosm, up here in the boonies of Bucks County Pa, we saw what is happening in Washington, where the democrats in congress are dancing with trees, not seeing the big picture of what is happening in the forest, which is burning.

We were able to kick start the march and take it away from two people who decided what the 360 people needed to do, without consulting them.

We the people need to do the same thing with the war in Iraq. We are witnessing a congress we elected with a powerfully strong message diddling with bogus, non-binding legislation, weakening already weak bills, delaying and delaying.

There has to be a way that the majority of Americans who want the US out of the war can do it. We did it at the church in Lambertville, NJ. It's a bigger challenge to do it with congress-- but they're also demonstrating poor leadership. We CAN do it. We may have to get VERY creative. We may have to put pressure where it hurts, on businesses, on the economy... but it can be done.

Word has it that Moveon.org is toadying for the democrats again, sending out a poll set up to get an answer that supports the weak, lame, Democratic plan to maybe end the war in 2008. It's pretty clear that moveon.org won't solve the problem.

Dailykos had a poll over the weekend asking whether "kossacks" support the dem plan to exit the war by 2008. A solid majority supported the dems. So much for kos.

It will take progressives left of kos, left of moveon.org to make this happen. Fortunately, there's a strong progressive caucus that the Dems need support from to pass their bill. We need to support them and work on all the rest of the Dems to block the funding of the war. That's the only way this war will be stopped.

Another thought. The march this weekend was a peace march-- not even billed as an anti-war march. My experience with the peace movement is that is old-- most of the people over 65, many over 70 or 80. No problem with that, except, it is a bit sedimentized, petrified, including the hierarchy, which seems to be led by national level Quaker leaders who are very willing to compromise one what they think is viable.

The only way we are going to get the troops out of Iraq is to convince the people from 25 to 65. The younger people are already there.

This may seem to be tough on the march organizer. I've already said the organizing part was well done. The dems did a decent job of working the opportunity a Bush popularity meltdown offered them in the November elections. But now, the Dem leadership is failing. I chose to wait, to see if they'd get their footing when they started, in charge of the house and senate in January. But the longer I wait, the worse they look. We need leaders who think fast, make smart decisions and act tough when necessary

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