Posted on 08/29/2005 7:46:19 AM PDT by conservativecorner
Have you heard of Lisa Fithian? A veteran of the Seattle WTO riots and scores of other protests, shes been with Sheehan from the start.
A notice on Cindy Sheehan's website, meetwithcindy.org, asks for donors who might be able to offer a camper, or an RV, or just money, for Sheehan's upcoming cross-country tour, scheduled to begin Wednesday in Crawford, Texas, and end in Washington at the big antiwar demonstration scheduled for September 24. At the end of the note, readers with something to offer are asked to "please call organizer Lisa Fithian."
To anyone familiar with the world of professional protesting protests against globalism, capitalism, war, police tactics, and dozens of other causes the presence of Fithian is a sign of how far Cindy Sheehan has strayed from the roots of her "one mom" crusade against George W. Bush. Or, perhaps more accurately, it is a sign that the "one mom" crusade was never just one mom. Fithian is a legendary organizer who operates in the world of anti-globalism anarchists, antiwar protesters, and union activists; an advocate of aggressive "direct action" demonstrations, she protested the first Gulf war, played an important role in the violent shutdown of Seattle during the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting, was a key planner in protests at the Republican and Democratic national conventions in 2000 and 2004, and organized demonstrations at trade meetings in Washington, D.C., Prague, and Genoa.
Although she has received virtually no attention from reporters covering Sheehan, Fithian has been part of the Crawford protest from the very beginning. In a telephone interview with National Review Online on Sunday, she explained that she was with Sheehan in Dallas at a meeting of the antiwar group Veterans for Peace during the first days of August when the decision was made for Sheehan to go to the president's ranch. On August 6, when Sheehan went to Crawford in a bus with the words "Impeachment Tour" emblazoned on the side Fithian went along. "I came the first day and helped her [Sheehan] set up the initial encampment," Fithian said. With the exception of one brief absence, she has been there ever since.
Switching back and forth between talking to NRO and giving out orders "When's your meeting? 5:15? Can you get your people together for that?" Fithian was modest about her role in the Sheehan protest. "I vary from janitor to facilitator to action organizer," she said. "There's not any one person in charge." In general, she explained, her work involves "a lot of coordination." But Fithian's history suggests it is unlikely she is playing a subordinate role.
In November 2003, Fithian was profiled by The New York Times Magazine as she prepared to take part in protests at the Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting in Miami. As she did with NRO, Fithian demurred when asked if she was a leader of the demonstrations she claimed that the movement was "nonauthoritarian" and "nonhierarchical" and had no leaders at all but the Times was not convinced. "To say that Fithian is not a leader is an admirable political idea, but it's not entirely honest," the paper reported.
And she was a tough-minded leader, not at all a peace-and-love type. Her specialty was action; she wanted to break in, cut through fences, and shut things down. "You don't go to Fithian when you want to carry a placard," the Times profile said. "You go to her when you want to make sure there are enough bolt cutters to go around." Asked for a fuller explanation of her role in the protests, Fithian said, "When people ask me, 'What do you do?' I say I create crisis, because crisis is that edge where change is possible."
That sometimes involves breaking things. In an July 2001 interview with The International Socialist Review, Fithian who told NRO she's been arrested "probably at least 30 times" spoke of moving beyond the tradition of civil disobedience as practiced by Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr.; her inspiration, she explained, was not so much those leaders as the anarchist movement in Spain in the late 19th and early 20th century. And that meant different ways of doing things. "Nonviolence is a strategy. Civil disobedience is a tactic," Fithian said. "Direct action is a strategy. Throwing rocks is a tactic."
"I guess my biggest thing is that as people who are trying to create a new world, I do believe we have to dismantle or transform the old order to do that," Fithian continued. "I just fundamentally don't believe it will ever serve our interests as it's currently constructed."
These days, Fithian's tactic for dismantling the old order at least her tactic for the moment is Cindy Sheehan. On Wednesday, Sheehan will begin her cross-country tour, winding her way toward Washington. And Lisa Fithian will be with her.
Byron York, NR's White House correspondent, is the author of the book The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy: The Untold Story of How Democratic Operatives, Eccentric Billionaires, Liberal Activists, and Assorted Celebrities Tried to Bring Down a President and Why They'll Try Even Harder Next Time.
Indeed. "Legenmdary organizer of anarchists" is a hell of a thing to put on a resume...
LOL.
That is a very good synopsis.
Pretty much sums it up.
This can't be true. The OLD MEDIA says it's just "one mom who sparked a movement." One mom who came alone to ask the President to meet with her...(again).
They really believe that they lost the White House in 2004 because John Kerry went duck hunting in Ohio.
Maybe they will try running antiwar vets in some key races.
Camp Cindy is where they are floating ideas for the upcoming campaigns, trying to see if they'll fly.
I also think Mr. Bush likes seeing the press camped out in Texas ditches in 100 degree heat.
I know I do. LOL.
Especially when every once in a while Mr. Bush takes them out brushing. :0)
Never bring a rock to a gun fight.
"I guess my biggest thing is that as people who are trying to create a new world, I do believe we have to dismantle or transform the old order to do that," Fithian continued. "I just fundamentally don't believe it will ever serve our interests as it's currently constructed."
Whats up with anti-globalism? and pro-socialism?..
Somebodys defintely confused.. Socialism is all about globalism..
Has been from the beginning..
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Democracy is the road to socialism. Karl Marx
Democracy is indispensable to socialism. The goal of socialism is communism. V.I. Lenin
The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism.- Karl Marx
stretch: The Old Geezer here:
I read this entire article, along with all the comments and I never once saw a comparison to the #@%#? HILLARY. It reads just like her resume.... Hippie liberal, anti american slut, support for terrorists... college demonstrations... shut down the universities... suports and defends the black panthers.... abortionists, traitors, loves Karl Marx; the ACLU; fights with the unions agianst our way of life.... This Lisa is really Hillary in disguise.... hateful @#&%?; hates God; hates America hates Bush and all of us freepers; She probably got her training from Hillary and Bill... I see no denunciation of any of this unamerican rhetoric.
Hate is the dark side...
I want to know when we are going to open season on these traitors. I am sick and tired of these people who think they know what I want and what is best for the masses. What in the hell gives them the right to defame me, my country, our Armed Services and my President? The Constitution? That is not how I read it! They are traitors pure and simple and should be treated as such! It is hight ime we used the Constitution to fight back against those who wish this country harm.
I kid you not, when I was first told of the planes crashing into the WTC on 9/11, I immediately said that it must be the work of the "anti-globalists." It was just a couple of weeks before the IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington and they had announced plans for massive demonstrations. Some of us were well aware of the dangerous nature of this group and would put nothing past them.
LOL.....cleaning beer off the keyboard.....
Check this out...I ran across some LEFTY photos of the Crawford rally.
http://flickr.com/photos/viewerblur/38235785/
I think this loonie thinks her side looks normal and ours did not. How sad is that?
Also, she said Fort Qualls was a copy of their memorial. The idiot didn't even realize that these are crosses that the parents who don't support Cindy have removed from Camp Kookyville. Liberals are so dumb.
And these are the people screeching for "traitor" Rove's head over Plamegate.
Lisa Fithian United for Peace and Justice 213-840-1972 fithianl@igc.org Lisa Fithian, a long-time organizer is the National Co-Chair of United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ). UFPJ is a national coalition with more than 800 peace and justice groups under its umbrella. Since its founding in October 2002, UFPJ has spurred hundreds of protests and rallies around the country on a range of issues, including the two largest demonstrations against the Iraq war.
from: http://www.nog8.org/article.php?id=63
WOW this bio sounds like she deserves the nobel prize...lol. I wonder who wrote that?
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