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>I wonder what are the current proportions of pro-war vs. >anti-war sentiment, especially in the US/UK, and how >reliable are the estimates you can offer I'm with a small peace group in the middle of largely rural Illinois, USA, and will give my perspective on the matter. A larger proportion of the people here are / were pro war than in the cities and more liberal areas of the country. One result of that is the membership of the peace group is fairly small (10 to 30 show up at meetings), and with few resources. When the war started, we discussed whether further demonstrations would change anything. There is a big campaigne from the government and the press to "support the troops" and many people have bought into this with the idea that now that the US is at war the important thing is to win it quickly and not discourage the soldiers, so many who disapproved have figured that the issue is lost, and many on the fence have simply aquiesced to the situation. Public opinion is heavily against demonstrations now and there is a lot criticism (asnd worse) against peace groups, and we are concerned about turning many people off to our message when they are particularly set against hearing it, and consider peace demonstrations to be anti-American and disloyal, even traitorious -- and this message is being constantly reinforced by the government and media. Some are concerned for their safety, socially, financially, or even physically, and hesitate to stand up too visibly. We have had a few small candle vigils, but the questions remains: What do we hope to achive? -- surely the US will not stop the fighting. The consensus seems to be that the best we can do is look to the future to prevent further wars on other countries, and to learn about what the plans are for Iraq are after the fighting stops. We are currently discussing ways to spread the word and educate people about the facts rtaher than simply demonstrating -- looking towards recruiting more people and other longer terms goals. In other words, it's a period of regrouping and re-evaluating what we should do. We have "lost the battle" and must now look to "winning the war", which includes finding ways to overcome the media and government propaganda, contesting the loss of civil rights, and strengthing the group. I suspect that this is similar to what is happening elsewhere. -Bob Steel ________________________________________________________________ Sign Up for Juno Platinum Internet Access Today Only $9.95 per month! Visit www.juno.com _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk