On Saturday, October 27th, 11 major demonstrations, across the nation, will call for ending the war now and immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. The Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace (OMJP) is mobilizing, with numerous other local activist groups, to join the Seattle demonstration, which will begin at Noon at Judkins Park, just west of 23rd and Dearborn. Citizens from across the region will rally and then march to Occidental Park at Pioneer Square.

Carpools will leave at 9:30 A.M. from Red Square at The Evergreen State College, and at 10:00 a.m. from three locations in Olympia and Lacey (the Artesian Well, on 4th between Adams and Jefferson in downtown Olympia, at Division and Harrison parking lot, and at the Martin Way Park and Ride in Lacey). We're inviting all to participate, bring family and friends, carpool, and join this important rally of spirit to bring soldiers home and stop funding wars and occupation. Our simple message is to "END THE WAR NOW!" Wear black, and carpools will begin gathering at 9:30 (see below). For further information on organizing the Olympia mobilization (including banner and sign-making), contact Peter at 360 867-6431, Larry at 360-280-6198 or Aaron at 360-790-8087. For general information about the National Day of Action, please see www.endthewarseattle.org

Attached is a flyer for print and distribution.

THE SHOCK OF VICTORY

by David Graeber

The biggest problem facing direct action movements is that we don’t know how to handle victory.

This might seem an odd thing to say because of a lot of us haven’t been feeling particularly victorious of late. Most anarchists today feel the global justice movement was kind of a blip: inspiring, certainly, while it lasted, but not a movement that succeeded either in putting down lasting organizational roots or transforming the contours of power in the world. The anti-war movement was even more frustrating, since anarchists and anarchist tactics were largely marginalized. The war will end, of course, but that’s just because wars always do. No one is feeling they contributed much to it.

I want to suggest an alternative interpretation. Let me lay out three initial propositions here:

1) Odd though it may seem, the ruling classes live in fear of us. They appear to still be haunted by the possibility that, if average Americans really get wind of what they’re up to, they might all end up hanging from trees. It know it seems implausible but it’s hard to come up with any other explanation for the way they go into panic mode the moment there is any sign of mass mobilization, and especially mass direct action, and usually try to distract attention by starting some kind of war.

2) In a way this panic is justified. Mass direct action—especially when organized on democratic lines—is incredibly effective. Over the last thirty years in America, there have been only two instances of mass action of this sort: the anti-nuclear movement in the late ‘70s, and the so called “anti-globalization” movement from roughly 1999-2001. In each case, the movement’s main political goals were reached far more quickly than almost anyone involved imagined possible.

3) The real problem such movements face is that they always get taken by surprise by the speed of their initial success. We are never prepared for victory. It throws us into confusion. We start fighting each other. The ratcheting of repression and appeals to nationalism that inevitably accompanies some new round of war mobilization then plays into the hands of authoritarians on every side of the political spectrum. As a result, by the time the full impact of our initial victory becomes clear, we’re usually too busy feeling like failures to even notice it.

Let me take the two most prominent examples case by case:

I know this guy. No, not that guy, this other guy. Anyway, he has a duck in his mouth. Whenever he starts to speak, the head of a duck pops out and quacks. Sometimes it even snatches bits of food within reach, like popcorn or bugs.

I must say it comes across as a bit odd. Also, I imagine it is very inconvenient for the guy. No, not that guy, this other guy.

That is all.