Today, the Blamblog has a discussion going on about demonstrations and whether or not they work.
I posted my views on the matter as a comment, but then decided to also decided to post that comment here:

Demonstrations do a lot more good than letting the powers that be know that people aren't happy with them. Demonstrations help build feelings of solidarity, and can help give people the courage to do something about things they feel strongly about. It is the rare person, who, when believing they are alone against the masses, will work to effect change.

Demonstrations also display the spirit of a nation.
How many demonstrations have YOU heard about in the USA? Precious few. The media isn't doing a sufficient job of covering the ones that have happened. What does that show?
1. The citizens of the US no longer embody the spirit of the founders
2. Americans have grown complacent and lazy
3. Americans feel powerless and alone in the face of the mess we ourselves, in our own inaction,(think of the 2000 election) have created.
4. Unless we get our enormously apathetic asses away from the TV and the Game Boys, we are in Big Trouble.

It is important to remember that demonstrations do NOT have to be loud, outdoor gatherings full of people shouting slogans. Refusing to be kept in the dark, and helping others to form their OWN opinions, rather than telling people what you believe they ought to think, is one very important form of demonstration. Which leads me to want to advertise this:

HAROLD WASHINGTON LIBRARY CENTER

Panel Discussion: Attack Iraq? The Missing Debate on Peace, Justice andSecurity
Mon., Jan. 6 at 5 p.m.; Auditorium
Cosponsored by The Public Square

Should the United States go to war against Iraq? Alone, or only as part of the U.N.? What are the goals of military intervention? What are the costs? What are the peaceful alternatives? Why Iraq? And why now? Join us for a debate of these and other crucial questions, with panelists from differing points of view:

Peter Berkowitz, contributing editor to The New Republic, professor of law at
George Mason University and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution
Rashid Khalidi, Palestinian activist, frequent commentator on National Public
Radio and professor of history and Near Eastern languages and civilization at the University of Chicago
Katha Pollitt, sharp-witted and provocative columnist ("Subject to Debate") for The Nation
Raymond Tanter, a regular on MSNBC, a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and professor of political science at the University of Michigan and former advisor to President Reagan
Moderated by Shirley Jahad, Chicago Public Radio

For reservations and more information, please visit thepublicsquare.org or call (312) 933-0862.

Reservations aren't manditory, and the lecture is free. I know my 4 faithful readers aren't in Chicago, so you can bet I'll be posting my impressions here.