[URBANTH-L]CFP: the Anti-War Movement and its Discontents

Sat Apr 21 17:47:42 EDT 2007

-----Submissions Call Out-----
The AntiWar Movement and its Discontents
a reader on social movement theory and practice

Four years into the Iraq war public opinion is dead-set against it.
Yet does the antiwar movement really deserve the credit? Some of the
movement's discontents say that it is "toothless behemoth", a farce of
spectacle actions and ineffectiveness, racked with the baggage of
party politics and isolated-issue activism. Others suggest that the
movement's preference for tightly scripted and permitted marches and
top-down organizing has come at the expense of youth self-empowerment,
diversity of tactics, decentralization, participatory democracy or
other successful models of mass actions and movements.

The purpose of this reader is to stimulate a discussion on movement
theory and practice because a better movement is possible. We
especially want to hear the voices of activists on the front lines as
we combine theory, politics, analysis, and stories of experience and
application of various movement principles to form a body of work that
can move us foreword.

We are calling for articles on any of the following:

. Centralization vs. de-centralization in social movement organizing.
. Transparency, openness and accountability in coalitions and networks.
. Bureaucracy and hierarchy in national coalitions.
. The antiwar movement's relationship to socialist and communist
parties and vice-versa.
. The effect of the mainstream antiwar movement has had on the global
justice movement and vice-versa.
. The meaning of "mass" and its implications.
. Movement strategy and tactics, as well as antiwar stories and experiences.