From sdf2008@stygianlabyrinth.com Mon, 30 Jul 2001 13:24:31 -0500
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 13:24:31 -0500
From: Sean D. Francis sdf2008@stygianlabyrinth.com
Subject: [sklyarov-chicago] July 30th Protest

I wasn't present for the first protest, but I felt today's went pretty 
good.  There was a lot of interaction with the public, which I think is 
our strongest weapon.  Creating awareness is the first step in creating 
action.

Action is where I think we fall a little short.  The new flyers with the 
address of Durbin and Fitzgerald on them, but in the spirit of 'silver 
platter service' we should come up with a solid non-reactionary, sample 
letter for the people to send in.  My thought is to reproduce about 100 
form letters that people can simply sign and mail, if they really don't 
want to go to too much effort.  The easier we can make it for people to 
express their concern about Dmitry's case, we'll have more people 
expressing their concern.

Additionally, since we seem to be having some problems getting media 
coverage, we could also have sample letters to the editor.  

In the spirit of the 'continuing protest' make sure you take any spare 
flyers and put them up on public bulletin boards (coffee shops sometimes 
have these, as does Whole Foods ask permission first).  

--
Sean D. Francis
sdf2008@stygianlabyrinth.com

From sterno@bigbrother.net Mon, 30 Jul 2001 13:34:33 -0500 (CDT)
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 13:34:33 -0500 (CDT)
From: Steve Stearns sterno@bigbrother.net
Subject: [sklyarov-chicago] July 30th Protest

> Action is where I think we fall a little short.  The new flyers with the 
> address of Durbin and Fitzgerald on them, but in the spirit of 'silver 
> platter service' we should come up with a solid non-reactionary, sample 
> letter for the people to send in.  My thought is to reproduce about 100 
> form letters that people can simply sign and mail, if they really don't 
> want to go to too much effort.  The easier we can make it for people to 
> express their concern about Dmitry's case, we'll have more people 
> expressing their concern.

Might I suggest a petition as a more useful way to do this?  If you give
people a letter to send in they might forget about it and get lazy.  If
you just have them sign their names and give their address, then you can
send that to a congressman or senator and have a far greater impact.
 
---Steve

From pedro@tastytronic.net Mon, 30 Jul 2001 16:18:14 -0500
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 16:18:14 -0500
From: Peter A. Peterson II pedro@tastytronic.net
Subject: [sklyarov-chicago] July 30th Protest

Quoting Steve Stearns:
> Might I suggest a petition as a more useful way to do this?  If you give
> people a letter to send in they might forget about it and get lazy.  If
> you just have them sign their names and give their address, then you can
> send that to a congressman or senator and have a far greater impact.

This is an excellent idea. I've been muellering over (ha ha) the last
two protests, and I have a few ideas for the next time around.

FIrst of all, we're going to wait at least two weeks -- skip the next
Monday at the very least, but not more than 3 weeks. We want to stay
current if possible. This will give more people a chance to get time
off, or get psyched up to protest again.

Secondly, I'd like to have more of a coherent demonstration along with
the flyer passing out -- by that I mean having everyone with nice,
readable, similar-looking signs. This grabs people's attention. These
people are say, marching back and forth IN FRONT of the federal
building. THen there are people just inside from them, with stacks of
the papers, or moving up and down the sidewalk distributing flyers.
Maybe they have a flyer taped to their shirt, or a large-font text on a
piece of paper taped to the shirt, like some have done already. THese
people are just disseminating information. THen, we have two people,
maybe at either end, with a clipboard and a sign saying PETITION or
something like that, inviting people to sign the petition, which we can
then deliver to Dick Durbin or whomever.

Someone mentioned having a bullhorn or some kind of mini pa. This
requires a particular kind of permit, but I'm willing to look into that
for the sake of higher visibility. This might not get as many flyers
handed out, but people will see a more cohesive unit, in FRONT of the
federal building. (Which is actually around the corner from the Calder
statue). 

      .-----------------------------------.
          P  P   P  P   P   P    P   P 
        p  L     L    L    L     L  L p

It would also be very important that we had a great turnout -- the more
the better. And this kind of organized protest would garner more media
attention than random people on the street.

THe other idea I had was to put people on opposite corners all through
the loop, for maximum, regular corner coverage -- so that people walking
through the loop would constantly be greeted by another person with a
sign. You could do this like so:

  [].'[].'[].'[]. [] 
  [].'[].'[].'[].'[]  
  [].'[].'[].'[].'[]

Where the points are right on the corners of the curbs -- and they can
rotate and face the pedestrians from the direction they're coming from.
It could be a cool thing for people to witness though, mobilization on a
broad scale.

Anyway, both of these ideas, particularly the picket line-petition thing
are more of a media-friendly thing than what we have been doing. And the
couple of weeks ahead will make it easier to try and mobilize that
media.

Thoughts?

pedro

From korbomite@yahoo.com Mon, 30 Jul 2001 14:26:24 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 14:26:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: Michael Cannon korbomite@yahoo.com
Subject: [sklyarov-chicago] July 30th Protest

Sorry I didn't make it today:  been in 'bunker/hunker
mode' since 0230 this morning due to the 'Code Red'
and SirCAM worms...

As to petitions, the International organization has a
sample/approved one on their site at 

http://boston.freesklyarov.org/ny-petition.txt
(NY)

and

http://boston.freesklyarov.org/releases/30-jul-2001/
kennedy-petition.txt
(boston's)

Mike
--- Steve Stearns <sterno@bigbrother.net> wrote:
> > Action is where I think we fall a little short. 
> The new flyers with the 
> > address of Durbin and Fitzgerald on them, but in
> the spirit of 'silver 
> > platter service' we should come up with a solid
> non-reactionary, sample 
> > letter for the people to send in.  My thought is
> to reproduce about 100 
> > form letters that people can simply sign and mail,
> if they really don't 
> > want to go to too much effort.  The easier we can
> make it for people to 
> > express their concern about Dmitry's case, we'll
> have more people 
> > expressing their concern.
> 
> Might I suggest a petition as a more useful way to
> do this?  If you give
> people a letter to send in they might forget about
> it and get lazy.  If
> you just have them sign their names and give their
> address, then you can
> send that to a congressman or senator and have a far
> greater impact.
>  
> ---Steve
> 
> 
> 
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>
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