-----Original Message-----
From: Dominic Fox <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, March 31, 2005 9:17 PM
Subject: Re: "Expressive anti-politics"
>> We are the electorate.
>No, you're not, and that's the problem.
Of the electorate, an electorate denied the opportunity to vote
>If you, the marchers, were
coextensive with - or even substantially representative of - the
electorate, then you wouldn't need to march.
Not substantially representative, no. But what does that have to do with it?
If we are to have this pluralistic society and if democracy works.
But the electorate is not even given the option in this case.
>I didn't notice the March against Militarism (in about, ooh, 1992)
having any noticeable effect on Militarism, which has been waxing
mightily ever since.
Maybe. How do we measure it? Isn't it worth trying? And if more people join
in it may have more effect
>I don't see how [snip]
I know you don't... I know you say you don't. The quibble arises from your
triavialising the matter into custard pie throwing. I wonder why you do
that.
>I am very much more convinced by what I take to be Mark's argument
that the real purpose of all this street-politics is to build
coalitions, that its value lies not in its ability to effect immediate
change but in its ability to bring people together into a cohesive
political movement.
I have no problem with that
though how we are going to build a cohesive political movement out of people
who don't have the same aims is a bit of mystery to me
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