Report to UFPJ Member Groups on the 10/27 Regional Demonstrations - Nov. 28, 2007 - Below is a summary report on the October 27th regional mobilization effort.

At the end, you'll see brief reports from each of the 11 regional sites, which come from a wrap-up conference call held about 10 days after 10/27. Many of the regional coalitions have by now had de-briefing sessions -- either in-person meetings and/or conference calls -- and have posted more in-depth reports on their regional page within www.oct27.org, or linked to that site. To find those reports, please visit www.oct27.org

The first part of this report is based on discussions within the national staff, the administrative committee and the national steering committee of UFPJ, as well as with many of the local/regional organizers. Hopefully, it is a pretty accurate reflection of what happened and some of the challenges that were dealt with. The report also tries to raise some of the issues and concerns that came out of this experience -- things we need to think about as we move ahead...

Please feel free to share this report with others in your organizations or group, as well as other groups that you worked with on the October 27th effort.

peace,
Leslie Cagan
National Coordinator, UFPJ
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Summation of the 10/27 Regional Mobilizations Organized by United for Peace and Justice

Background
At UFPJ's 3rd National Assembly in June 2007, representatives from more than 200 organizations around the country all agreed: It would be important to organize a highly visible national demonstration in the fall of the widespread sentiment against the war in Iraq. Further, there was agreement that we needed to find ways to tap into the 70% of the population that public opinion polls were continually showing against the war. More specifically, delegates to the assembly were seeking ways to bring more people into visible opposition to the war, to turn antiwar sentiment into antiwar action. And there was one more major concern: Could we construct a way to do a national mobilization that did not require bringing large numbers of people to Washington, DC? Organizers were clear: It would be very hard to bring folks to DC in massive numbers this fall.

In the context of these challenges, the assembly agreed that UFPJ should call for a day of coordinated regional actions: On Saturday, October 27th, there would be 6-8 regional demonstrations tied together by a common theme and under the umbrella structure of UFPJ. Several of the sites were selected at the assembly; other regions needed a process that would include discussions with groups not at the assembly. But the date and the concept were set: regional antiwar demonstrations on October 27th, organized by groups within each region with support from the national coalition's structure.

In some of the regions, organizers got their efforts off the ground within a few short weeks of the UFPJ assembly; others needed more time to decide on the location and to get more groups to come on board. In the end, there were 11 sites selected as regional centers for the 10/27 demonstrations. Throughout the process, the organizing dynamics varied from region to region. There are lots of reasons for this, including: The organizing got started at different times, the amount and quality of the connections among groups in the regions varied, different histories with organizing large protests, etc.

All of the organizing faced a common set of challenges:
(1) How to structure decision-making for a regional action, given there were not already regional structures in place. Within this, how to balance the reality that some decisions would have to be made by the people in the city hosting the regional event against the reality that organizers around the region had also made major commitments to this project.

(2) How to ensure the regional nature of the organizing. What would need to be done to help people think regionally -- something we don't usually do -- while organizing locally? How could we all communicate the concept of the powerful statement that would be made if we gathered in truly massive numbers in regional actions on the same day?

(3) Given other programmatic commitments, including a pretty full agenda of antiwar actions in the fall, how could we all maximize the organizing efforts for 10/27?

(4) How could we use the mobilizing for the 10/27 regional actions as a vehicle for bringing new folks into the antiwar movement? Would it be possible to reach into that 70% of the population and encourage folks who had never marched before to be with us on this day?

(5) And, always a major challenge, how do we do what we know needs to be done while lacking the resources we know would help our efforts?

Role of UFPJ as a National Coalition
While the UFPJ National Assembly had agreed on the regional actions, there was only the most general discussion about how the actions would be tied together and how the structure of the national coalition could help ensure the success of the day overall, and of each regional action. At the same time that this work needed to be done, the newly elected steering committee was just getting its feet wet and so not yet fully functioning. In addition, the national staff had several practical realities impacting its work related to the 10/27 efforts: a smaller staff than ever before, the very real need for several staff members to take vacations during the summer, a few other coalition projects that needed ongoing attention, and then, just to complicate everything, the need to move the national office in Sept.

There were a number of specific areas of work that the national office focused on. In some cases we were more successful than others, but some effort went into each of these:

a - Helping to get regional mobilizing efforts up and running.
Especially in the initial stages of the organizing, staff spent a lot of time on conference calls with folks in all 11 regions. We attended several of the in-person planning and organizing meetings. Most of this was done by Leslie Cagan and Judith LeBlanc, and, between us, we meet with folks in New England, Mid-Atlantic, New York/New Jersey, New Orleans, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It took longer than we would have liked, but with the help of Siri Margerin in San Francisco, we did prepare a national leaflet and poster design. By the time we got it done, lots of regions had already prepared their own material, which was fine. In addition, Judith spent a lot of time in New Orleans helping to build that action and Leslie, as well as other people in the UFPJ national office, helped with the NYC demonstration.

b - National 10/27 website.
We got this up and running later than we would have liked, but it worked well for many of the regions. A few regions had their own websites that the national 10/27 just linked to. For sure, it would have been even more useful if we could have had it up and running a lot earlier, but the site helped people get information and in general we got a lot of positive feedback about it. Oct27.org was also a significant step forward as a mobilization website in terms of interactivity and community-building – it allowed organizers and interested individuals to post and access resources, updates, and questions in the weeks leading up to the mobilization, as well as a wealth of photos, videos and written reports afterward. This took a tremendous amount of work from two people: Susan Chenelle on our staff, and David Meieran, who worked as a consultant.

c - Generating endorsements and support from national organizations for the overall concept of the 10/27 regional actions.
We were able to get quite a few national organizations to support the effort, but we did not have the wherewithal to follow-up with groups to see what they were actually doing to push their folks around the country to get involved in the regional organizing. This included both national organizations that are member groups of UFPJ and others. For instance, we secured an endorsement from USAction (which usually focuses its work on domestic issues), but we don't know how many of their local chapters got involved in any of the regional work.

d - Creating a national buzz, helping to put 10/27 on everyone's radar as an important day of action against the war.
We did get some articles on a few prominent blogs and on large email lists. In addition, Robert Greenwald and Brave New Foundation produced a mobilizing video promoting all 11 regional actions, but that was not available until the last week before the events and so had limited impact. A young woman from Alabama – Ava Lowery - also produced a strong mobilizing video, and that helped get the word out. So, some work on promoting the national buzz was done, but overall it was not as successful as we would have liked. Groups on MySpace and Facebook were created for the national mobilization and some of the regional demonstrations. Together, the groups ultimately had a few thousand members. Many MySpace users downloaded our oct27.org web button and posted it on their profile. Both social networking sites were actively used to promote Oct 27th, though it is difficult to gauge what effect it had overall.

e - Media work.
We did hire a national media person -- Mahdis Keshavarz -- who worked hard to get some pre-event national media interest. Not totally sure why, but there were no bites at all...we couldn't even get on Democracy Now! in advance of 10/27! Our media person helped some of the regions with pre-event work. As it turned out, day of coverage was OK -- it varied around the country, although many stories did mention the regional event as part of the national day of protest. We raised some money ear-marked for outreach work but because it came in late we decided to use it for radio ads. It was not s great deal of money and we decided to place ads in the greater NYC area and in New Orleans.

f - Help with fundraising.
Aside from some fundraising through the 10/27 website, we were not able to generate national financial support for the regional actions. The good news is that we had never promised any financial support. But there is no doubt that had we been able to provide some upfront financial support to at least some of the regions, they would have greatly benefited.

g - Prominent speakers for the 10/27 actions.
This was perhaps out biggest weakness. We were not able to produce anyone for any location! We started late, the lack of a national media buzz and who knows what else ...we didn't get anyone.

h - Banners and posters.
We got these done at the last minute, but aside from San Francisco, every location received them in time to use them. We got lots of positive feedback, especially about the posters. We had to charge for the printing/shipping of the posters, but we did not charge any of the regions for the banners. Both of these items were important to help with UFPJ visibility around the country. In several locations our banners and posters were quite prominent. In other locations, while people liked our posters, the sea of ANSWER posters made ours harder to find.

i - Broadside.
Again, we were a little late in getting this done, but it did get done and lots got out to folks. Our estimate is that about 15,000 where distributed throughout the regional actions on 10/27. We also posted it on the UFPJ website, although we are not sure how many people saw it that way.

Overall Assessment
The reports from each region give a much more detailed picture of what happened and how people felt about their efforts. (See below and www.oct27.org for longer reports.)

Overall, it is accurate to say that the turnout was lower than we had hoped for. The turnout at each regional action (except perhaps in Orlando and in Seattle) was smaller than we would have liked, and therefore the overall national turn out was smaller. Probably, in the 11 sites all together, we had somewhere about 115-120,000 people. Given the antiwar sentiment in the country, given the numbers we have turned out before, and given what we had hopped for, this is a relatively small number. There might have been a few thousand more people when we add those who participated in some two dozen other actions on 10/27. (The fact that there were these other actions highlights the difficulty people had in projecting the regional nature of what was being done...or, in some cases, local organizers understood the regional idea, but just didn't want to do that, they wanted to stay locally focused.)

But while the numbers were low, the energy and spirit and enthusiasm of the day were high -- very high. In fact, the reports from all 11 sites include a lot of comments about how positive the day was: energizing, good to be on the streets, moving, lots of young people, etc. Given how much energy and effort went into all of the regional actions, it was actually a little surprising that we didn't get more negative reports given the relatively small turnout! People were pleased with how their events went, even with smaller than hoped for numbers. In several regions people were especially pleased about the opportunity to connect with other organizers in their regions.

It seems that while most places did get the message across (including in the mainstream media) that their action was part of a national day of protest, UFPJ as such did not necessarily get the visibility we would have liked. Our posters, banners and broadsides all helped, but it still did not add up to the national day being understood as a UFPJ project. In the three west coast cities, the demonstrations were organized by coalitions that included UFPJ groups and ANSWER. In several other locations, the regional coalitions that were created for the 10/27 mobilization did not necessarily have a strong connection to UFPJ, even though many of the groups moving the regional work were UFPJ member groups.

In terms of energy and spirit, our assessment has to be positive. In terms of the numbers of people we put into the streets, and whether or not we reached beyond the hardcore activists, an honest assessment would lead us to conclude that we did not reach our goals. That does not mean it was a waste of time or that we shouldn't have done it. Overall the people who did participate found it a very positive experience, even in the several locations where bad weather was a reality.

Some Lessons Learned - Or to Be Learned
1) Organizing by region is not necessarily the most organic structure. We need to think through whether regional organizing makes sense, given the geography of the country and the limited resources we all have.

2) This is not a new lesson, but one that probably bears repeating. Except in specific circumstances, more time is needed to do this type of organizing. In many places the real organizing did not get started until early or mid-Sept.

3) Mobilizing is different from organizing. Too often we rely on mobilizing techniques and not enough attention is paid to the organizing that needs to take place.

4) Perhaps we need to re-think our attempts to reach the 70%. For one thing, even if all of those folks are really with us, it does not necessarily translate into them all being able or even interested in expressing themselves the same ways we like to...maybe they don't want to march! Perhaps public protest is not the vehicle many people feel the most comfortable with. But this might be even more important: Not all of those 70% oppose the war for the same reasons we oppose it! We need to absorb this reality and then figure out what it might mean for both our organizing and our mobilizing.

There is surely more for us to learn from this experience, but this will suffice for now.

Reports from regions - these were expressed in the wrap-up conference call we convened about 10 days after 10/27, and so they do not all reflect the full consensus of organizers in each region.

1) Boston/New England. Good initiative, largest New England rally in four years in spite of downpour right up to the beginning of demo -- energetic, spirited crowd of about 10,000. Working on this has sparked a new New England network. About 1/2 the crowd was under 30, lots of students and a lot of networking of students. Over 200 endorsements from around the region. Not great turnout from the neighborhoods of Boston or from people of color communities. Financially turned out well with some $5,000 extra! Very good as a regional effort (all 6 states), but didn't do the job to bring folks in, esp. from Boston neighborhoods. Good for folks that did participate -- energetic and some new people.

2) NYC/New York and Northern New Jersey. It rained all day and that impacted the numbers -- the people there were the very committed and felt very good on the day. On reconsideration, it was probably more like 25,000 or 30,000 people, which is small for NY. There were limitations on regional organizing -- an upstate demo on Sept. 29th (which was very good) had a negative impact on the organizing for 10/27. Most of the turnout was from Bergen County in NJ, LI, and the greater NYC metro area. Not very successful in bringing new folks. Some student organizing, a lot of support from labor, but not large numbers. Peace and justice fair at the end of the march got positive reactions. The plan for 2 minutes of silence during the march didn't happen because of the rain.

3) Philadelphia/Mid-Atlantic. The rain was a problem -- ended just as the human chain started and that stretched over 30 blocks through center of Philly. The regional organizing was weak, especially south of Philly...MD, DE and DC -- organizational things didn't happen. The peace caravan from Arlington Cemetery did come up but didn't make all of the stops....regional organizing not too crisp or clear. The Philly demo was primarily folks from greater Philly area and Camden, NJ. The human chain and the march was the high point...probably most people did not stay for the rally. Feeder march from Camden. Police said 5,000 in Philly, but press kept talking about NYC numbers. Have not seen any press from outside the Philly area. Largest demo in Philly since before the war (2/03). Had a lot of union support but not a sense about their turnout. Youth -- recognizable turnout. Financially, did well...paid all the bills and have some money left over. Not sure what will come next. On the other end of the human chain, they marched past each other and people got to interact. A lot of support from people seeing the chain...good union support on the west end of the chain. UPenn was a bust but otherwise very energizing. Because of the rain, the puppets on the bridge didn't happen....people ended up not marching from Camden but came by bus. A lot of energy. Very local coverage at train stations. Better than anticipated...big crowds in the center of town. 138 groups endorsed and this was a wide range of groups that usually don't talk to each other.

4) Jonesborough/South. Had a beautiful day with perfect weather and, as expected a small crowd, but people did come from NC, SC, GA, KY and students from around TN and other states - pleased to see the student turnout...small but vigorous attendance at the rally. All of the speakers came (and came on time). 400 people total. The march truncated because they didn't want to have to deal with the county sheriff's office which seemed to want to have a fight ... stayed within the confines of Jonesborough ... and then drove out to Aerojet and did a rally out there. Came from all over the region -- mostly through the internet and the network of UFPJ member groups, and depleted uranium groups. Came in under budget ... didn't spend a lot of money ... less than $200, got most things donated. Thanks to UFPJ for posters and banners, and thanks to George Friday from the UFPJ national leadership -- she came in a few days early and helped out, on the day also.

5) Orlando/Florida. They had first thought about reaching out beyond FL but decided to stay focused within FL ... divided the state into a few regions for outreach purposes. Had 4 committees (logistics, program, outreach, media), lots done online (website and email), followed up with calls. Ended up with about 80 endorsing organizations. Never did anything like this in FL before. Police reported 2,000 ... others say up to 3,000. As good as could have hoped for. Diverse in age, but not racially diverse. Most people had never been involved in a national rally...glad to do a state event...students liked it. People energized and charged by the day and want to stay involved. Created a statewide network, and the groundwork is done for future work. Had to pay for the park but got a waiver for the march route and that was approved. March route cut short at the last minute, but it poured and that made it possible to accept the shortening of the march. (Rain was welcome because it was so hot!!) Okay with money...might have a little left over.

6) Chicago/Mid-West. They estimate about 10-12,000 people -- strong regional mobilization in WI, 50-60 buses from outside Chicago and 3 peace trains. Work throughout the region, at least 3,000 people from out of town. The Chicago turnout was good in that the character was changed....not just the lefties, successful in that it was a very diverse march...more labor participation and larger African-American participation than before. The antiwar wing of the state's political establishment, every level of government supported the demo. Had 2 rallies, 2nd one at federal plaza and since that was filled and overflowing they could estimate their numbers. Controversy: hard battle throughout the process with the far left -- they tried to organize a boycott, tried to get people to pull away and to dis-endorse. They were furious that Obama and Durbin (the 2 senators from IL) and mayor of Chicago were invited. There was never an expectation that they would appear, but several partners in the coalition felt it was important to make the gesture...they did not show up, but other electoral campaigns did sign up and participated in the day. Ron Paul had an airplane fly over the demo with an antiwar demo. Future - new highwater mark, but the antiwar majority is still not ready to march. We need to find other forms for people to participate...intervene in the presidential campaign - make the war the main issue to address, voter registration efforts, train people to get involved, put initiatives on the ballot, etc. Not turned off to mass actions (DNC and RNC and others)....but they also understand the need to work in the left electoral arenas. Positive experience with World Can't Wait and ANSWER folks.

7) New Orleans. Big thanks to Judith and UFPJ with all of the help...felt a lot of unity with the whole nation. Small turnout, but a great day. Over 20 different groups attended the planning meetings -- people/groups not previously connected with one another. South LA has been against the war, especially since Katrina, but this was the biggest antiwar demo. Zero cops anywhere, marched without a permit, but no police. 99% approval along the route. Gathering of Eagles did show up but no problem. Got some local press coverage -- 2 TV and some radio coverage. Some folks from Okla. and TX. Broke even on the budget if they get the park deposit back...technicality. Want to use it to help push for a big DC action on the 5th anniversary.

8) Salt Lake City/Mountain States. Disappointed with the numbers -- 750 people -- think they could have done better. The shortcoming was in their organizing -- too few people doing too much. The people who came and reported on it felt good about the day; it all went smoothly and there was a good spirit. Newer people, generally younger, less older people. Older liberal community that's been to previous marches seem to be involved in presidential races. Turnout from Idaho and Utah...over 100 from Idaho...not much further. Seem to have broken even financially. A step forward -- twice as big as the demo last spring. A positive experience for participants, even though there were some frustrations and disappointments for organizers.

9) Los Angeles/Southern CA. Turnout was a disappointment -- about 10-11,000. But it was colorful, had some ethnic diversity, and there was a good youth turnout. Had a problem with ANSWER in that within 48 hours of Chicago assembly, the ANSWER people had a leaflet out. It was a continuing struggle for UFPJ to be visible but they eventually worked it out and there was agreement to have the demo called in the name of the Southern CA Stop the War Coalition. Member groups of UFPJ involved but not all identified as UFPJ. The national posters got out well at the march...and the lead banner did not have any specific group on it. Regional outreach OK...Santa Barbara, etc. Just a handful from San Diego. Mass die-in at the end was very good and a great photo op but not a lot of press to get it -- 10,000 people all did the die-in, very effective. Very poor press coverage -- not due to lack of press outreach. Good program -- cast of HAIR appeared on the stage, Martin Sheen, and lots of veterans, military families, etc. Ethnic diversity...same as most past marches...not a big growth of communities of color but some big Spanish-speaking contingents. African-American organizations supported but not large numbers of individuals. Good support from national UFPJ. A lot of UFPJ groups marched together and marched with the UFPJ banner.

10) San Francisco/Northern CA. In terms of reaching beyond the choir -- more youth than before, but not involved in the organizing, just came for the day; a lot of faith people, Episcopal Bishop led a march; labor did a pre-march rally and USLAW did a great job -- 500 to 2,000 estimated -- big presence. While working with ANSWER on this was a conflict for a number of people, it ended up being a positive experience and they made progress. It was also clear that we really have different things we want to do and different perspective on what motivates people...a struggle but in the end our folks were finally "permitted" to do our thing. Worked very hard on the convergence at the end of the march -- very successful, although not one word of press. Die-in got lots of press...it was spectacular to see. Good press, better than before...but still not all that great. UFPJ banners came on Monday!! Signs were great...showed up in pictures. Stage program too long but very happy with convergence at the end. MFSO, Vets For Peace and lots of others came out in big numbers. Still need to reach out beyond the choir. Fewer volunteers than for previous events. Big disappointment: couldn't get together the national audio stream for live reports form around the country. Next time.

11) Seattle/Northwest. Uncommonly beautiful fall weather -- 5,000 people -- much larger than recent events in Seattle have been. Positive -- had not previously done regional connections and this was a good start....especially in OR and WA state. There have been a lot of factions in Seattle that have not worked together in the past few years, but this pulled a lot of them together and it seemed to work well, including ANSWER. A few groups were difficult to work with. Making it a regional mobilization helped the Seattle people work better together. Legal observers had to come in from Portland, sign of dysfunction within Seattle. 5 buses from Portland, one students. People were excited about the number of youth and the regional character. A lot of folks from outside Seattle...they did not do great outreach within Seattle. Decent press coverage -- not great but not bad. A meeting the next day with folks from around the region talked about a regional network to support resisters. Stronger for having done this. A lot of northwest people don't identify as UFPJ...good to have UFPJ presence in banners and posters...but not seen as UFPJ. Broadsides good...helped people connect to a larger movement.

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