Next Event? (was Re: [free-sklyarov] Chicago Protest Report)

[Mark K. Bilbo]

Down here in LA we had a good turn out considering that any location is going 
to be a long way for large groups of people and that limits how many can get 
time off (still, we managed 25-30). 

I'm thinking--and hope folks will consider it--that we do something along 
these lines:

--Pick a date a month or something away (what if he's released before then, 
well, we celebrate <g>).

--Pick a handful of cities within "caravan range" (avoiding anybody having to 
fly maybe so if the protest is called off because of Dmitry's release, we 
won't have people holding non-refundable tickets).

--Focus our efforts on getting together the biggest protests we can manage in 
the few cities.

Big protests get media attention. If we work towards some "regional" protests 
and merge our efforts, I think we could put on some impressive marches. 
Though we would need time to get things together and coordinate it all.

Mark (and then, the million coder march on DC!!! <g>)

On Monday 30 July 2001 18:23, Neale Pickett wrote:
> Klepht  writes:
> >>>>>> "PAP" == Peter A Peterson <pedro at tastytronic.net> writes:
>
> PAP> We'll probably take a week or two off -- I think that we can
> PAP> organize a better, more coherent protest as well as muster up
> PAP> more returners (we had about half totally new people today)
> PAP> if we make a little breathing room before the next
> PAP> protest.
>
> > Talking today after the event, some of us here in SF think we can make an
> > _even_bigger_ event with a little more lead time (e.g., more than 3
> > business days). None of us want him to be in prison that long, but
> > it's probably the best to start planning around that kind of lead
> > time.
>
> Yes, that's what we were thinking in Seattle too.  We're dealing with
> what sounds like about 1/10th as many people coming to our protests, and
> with a little more lead time we can absolutely get more.  I had people
> mailing me saying they couldn't get off work, couldn't get the car
> today, etc.
>
> I'm going to use the next week or so to get my act together as a Seattle
> organizer.  That means doing some real press releases, some good graphic
> design, having a sign-making party, and drumming up local support.
>
> > Of course, the challenge is to keep Dmitry in the public eye during
> > that time. Perhaps doing some work to get statements from prominent
> > friendly organizations over those N weeks (e.g., American Library
> > Association, academic freedom organizations, ACLU, Amnesty) would keep
> > Dmitry's name in the news until the next big event.
>
> Yessiree.  I'm thinking a letter-writing campaign, combined with a
> petition, combined with leafletting.  I think we could get some really
> great coverage and some really great flyers.  A lot of us *are* the
> graphic designers and web masters of the world, aren't we?
>
> > As usual, it seems like we make more of a splash when we synch up our
> > events across the country. I'm wondering if maybe setting up an
> > IRC-based "global summit" of protest groups (maybe on Wednesday
> > night?) to pick a good date say 2-3 weeks from now would make sense.
>
> Wednesday night would be *awesome*, that's the same night I want to have
> our meeting (in a wired cafe, of course).  Having an IRC presence at a
> face-to-face local meeting would be too cool, especially if other cities
> were doing the same.
>
> > Also, I think there's opportunities for smaller events -- leafletting,
> > hitting legislators' offices, etc. -- in that time, too.
>
> Word up.  We've already started to talk to Washington state Senators
> with someone visiting a local office.  We fully intend to follow up on
> this.
>
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