From: "Dave Coull" <coull2-AT-btinternet.com>
Subject: RE: amerikan hegemony
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2003 09:41:40 -0000



Roger wrote


> i've actually been rather impressed by the muted tone 
> or even absence of public nationalistic displays over here.  
> contrary to Dave's opinion, only our leaders are talking trash.  
> i think most amerikans are worried.  and here in seattle, not 
> a day goes by without a public protest on a freeway or overpass.  
> there are more anti-war car stickers than pro-war.  and though 
> this is a notoriously 'liberal' bastion


I'm glad to hear about the protests in Seattle, but as you say
it is a notoriously "liberal" place (in American terms). Things
are probably very different in Texas, for instance.


> i think that when war comes, bush will have a small majority 
> behind him.  he has his hard-core base, but the swing support 
> comes from those that bush has deluded into confusing saddam 
> for bin laden.  sad to say, there are a lot of very uninformed 
> people over here, even now.


Now, correct me if I have got this wrong, Roger, but it seems 
to me that there is a rather defeatist tone about your post
which suggests that you think it inevitable that Bush will
have  _enough_  support to go to war. But if Bush will only 
have a "small majority" behind him, and if that "small majority" 
includes a large element of "swing support" who are "very uninformed", 
then clearly it ought to be possible to swing them the other 
way by making them better informed. And if there is a large
active anti-war movement, even though the numbers of activists
are of course a minority of the population as a whole, then 
that large active anti-war movement, combined with the more
passive support of a lot of others, could bring the country
to a halt through non-violent direct action. As Kristopher
Barrett pointed out, the percentage of folk required to do
this is actually surprisingly small. Certainly, here in Scotland
and in the UK generally, the anti-war movement does intend
to bring the country to a halt through direct action.
It  _can_  be done. The war machine can be stopped 
in its tracks. The only thing that prevents this
happening is the psychological barrier in folks' 
minds which causes them to feel defeatist.


Dave Coull