[Peace-discuss] Protesting on Private Property

[Chuck Minne]

I could not oppose the war any more than I do. I think Bush is absolutely wrong. That being said, I find equally disgusting your attitudes that the owners of property should not be able to dictate what happens on that property. This includes your double standard that if the owner is a little guy he deserves more protection, but if he is a corporation, heaven forbid, then he should have none. To think you can discriminate between types of property owners reeks of exactly that: discrimination. Can’t you see how two-faced you are in doing this. You are no different than Bush! 
You are really turning me off, which is no big deal, because I am unalterably opposed to the war. But the point is that you do not want to turn anyone off unnecessarily. About-to-be-bombed Iraqis don’t give a rat’s ass about gay rights, women’s lib, legal marijuana, or the other baggage agendas of some “anti-war” protesters. They just want all the support that they can get. They want you to get support from people you do not have supporting you now; and pissing off shoppers and business owners (some of them are small, just trying to make it,) is not the way to do it. Sure, invade private property and some of you will all have an orgasm and think you’re hot shit, but you will just end up with more people hating you and your cause, and thus making war that much easier for the Bushies; and death for Iraqis that much closer. You will probably feel good though, because you showed “big business” something-or-other (you tell me what.)

If I were Bush, I would make a big deal out of those peaceniks who have no respect for private property, and a lot of on-the-fencers (aka voters,) would buy it 

These are my last words on this subject. I think my opinion is clear and I do not care to argue it further. If you don't like it, that's OK.
 Ricky Baldwin <baldwinricky at yahoo.com> wrote:I agree with John, and would add that...

We should recall that there is a big-big difference
between your front yard and Walmart or the mall:
Walmart, malls, etc. are not a real persons, but
corporate "artificial persons". They do not have
mothers, driver licenses, obligations to serve on
juries, or feelings that anyone can hurt. (But they
do have guards, tax breaks, and publicly-funded
construction you or I would never get for our front
lawn.) Nor should we be concerned about their rights -
they are quite powerful enough without our help, thank
you very much, and can well take care of themselves.

Chuck is right, however, that the First Amendment only
says the Government can't interfere with our free
speech and not that businesses can't (though that
right to free speech- originally intended for
individuals- has, by some amazing logical twisting and
turning, been extended to corporations), which is part
and parcel of the problem with "privatization".

Ricky


--- John Fettig wrote:
> * Chuck Minne : 
> > This is just my opinion, but I think it is very
> counter-productive to
> > “invade” private property to protest against the
> war. If the point
> > is simply to piss everybody off, then it works
> fine; but if the point
> > is to work for peace by trying to convince
> “undecideds” to our way
> > of thinking, it is a real loser. A mall just
> happens to be private
> > property. 
> 
> While I do agree that most of our efforts should be
> focused on appealing
> to people rather than doing things that cause them
> to hate us, I do
> think that the recent mall arrests and protests have
> been given
> extremely large amounts of press coverage, something
> we could only dream
> about up on north prospect. For this reason, it
> does have it's utility.
> 
> It has also brought into question the rationale of
> the pro-war crowd,
> when a man can be asked to leave a mall for no other
> reason than wearing
> a shirt that says "give peace a chance". This is
> good, people on the
> fence will look at this very critically.
> 
> Also, I do think that there are some people you
> cannot convert. These
> are the ones that will most likely be pissed off by
> a mall protest.
> 
> John
> 
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