Demonstration Numbers
I was at the national demonstration against the Iraq war in London yesterday. Hearteningly, thousands took part: BBC says that Stop the War Coalition, one of the three organisers, estimates 100 000 people and the police 20 000. The real number is probably somewhere in between. The demonstration concluded the European Social Forum, which had about 20 000 participants, and I don't think the majority of the protestors were from ESF, so 20 000 seems a bit low.
At any rate, the demonstration was large in absolute terms, but small compared to the massive events before the start of the invasion. One simple reason is advertising: the historic demonstration on February 15 2003 with perhaps two million people was very well publicised, for a long time in advance. Probably not many people knew about the one yesterday.
However, I think that more important are the twin facts that many people feel helpless about the war and that it has little impact on daily life. If you don't bother with the news, there is nothing to suggest that you're living in a country engaged in a brutal occupation. It's quite easy to get on with other things and ignore the whole business. Even for those who follow the news, it's now easier to be convinced that things are going better precisely because the situation has gotten so bad that it is not safe for journalists, NGO personnel or independent activists to go around Iraq and report on the catastrophe.
Whereas industrialised war in the early 20th century required massive propaganda to mobilise the population for action, today people need only be convinced not to act, to let sophisticated technology and mercenaries recruited from among the poor do the government's bidding without interference. As long as the immediate cost to the population is perceived to be small, this is quite feasible. (Of course, the war in Iraq costs immense amounts of money, and is quite harmful to society in the long term.) But passive support is fragile: most people see little benefit in the war, and were they to experience a tangible cost of continuing it, passive acquiescence would turn to active opposition. For example, terrorist bombings in Madrid (and the Spanish government's attempt to blame them on ETA) decided the Spanish election.
At any rate, the demonstration was large in absolute terms, but small compared to the massive events before the start of the invasion. One simple reason is advertising: the historic demonstration on February 15 2003 with perhaps two million people was very well publicised, for a long time in advance. Probably not many people knew about the one yesterday.
However, I think that more important are the twin facts that many people feel helpless about the war and that it has little impact on daily life. If you don't bother with the news, there is nothing to suggest that you're living in a country engaged in a brutal occupation. It's quite easy to get on with other things and ignore the whole business. Even for those who follow the news, it's now easier to be convinced that things are going better precisely because the situation has gotten so bad that it is not safe for journalists, NGO personnel or independent activists to go around Iraq and report on the catastrophe.
Whereas industrialised war in the early 20th century required massive propaganda to mobilise the population for action, today people need only be convinced not to act, to let sophisticated technology and mercenaries recruited from among the poor do the government's bidding without interference. As long as the immediate cost to the population is perceived to be small, this is quite feasible. (Of course, the war in Iraq costs immense amounts of money, and is quite harmful to society in the long term.) But passive support is fragile: most people see little benefit in the war, and were they to experience a tangible cost of continuing it, passive acquiescence would turn to active opposition. For example, terrorist bombings in Madrid (and the Spanish government's attempt to blame them on ETA) decided the Spanish election.
posted by Syksy at 22:30
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