I’ll let you in on a confidential assessment of the recent 9/11 action: it was a success. What I’d prefer you keep confidential is the strategy behind why.
First off, it does no good to say attendance was “sparse.” Attendance was sufficient, in fact, probably ideal as we stayed out of trouble. We had people to occupy all four corners with banners, such that drivers arriving from every direction could read our statements and show their approval. The profiteer-contractors in the office buildings, their security guards outside, and the media in attendance saw and heard the public support which we received.
Further, people who did not or could not attend the action should be let to feel good about it happening without them. Plus, the more people who were not there, the more who think is was better than it was. For example, more people enjoy knowing they can come to Uncle Wilber Fountain than actually come. It’s the principle of open space: it serves as personal mental elbow space only as it remains uncrowded. And vicarious enjoyment has a quite better satisfaction rate, by definition.
On the organizational level, low attendance was not a fault of membership, but from complications of inadequate preparation. Surmountable errors. Likewise, low media attention was a result of the same shortcoming.
Tuesday’s event reminds us that a curbside bannering does not have to receive media coverage to make waves. We got our message to thousands of commuters and interacted with them with eye contact and they with their horns. We came away energized and empowered by the discovery of a new fruitful location.
