And the comedy award winner is...

Not, but here's something so silly and juvenile I thought it'd never get a mention elsewhere, yet it did - a Stand Down post mentions this really stupid joke which, depending on how you like stupid jokes, can be funny, or simply idiotic, or both, but I thought it was clear enough the joke was precisely on the peace movement, not the reverse. I mean, after all, they do have a point. The levels of inefficacy that current "opposition" to anything our governments decide has sunken to are something close to what the site suggests, indeed... No particular reference, just a sad fact of life in western democracies as of November 2002.

There's always a risk of self-congratulatory pats on the back among even the best-intentioned protest movements. The efficacy of protests doesn't depend on their nature or scope alone, seen as public opinion is not that relevant to political decisions of the highest order like, indeed, wars, or economic policies. The strongest effect of lack of popular support for war, as detected by polls, is usually of forcing the war-posse governments to supply slightly stronger justifications to press their case (hopefully not involving the expectation of new attacks...). I know that sounds cynical, but it's true. That doesn't devalue the right to protest itself, seen as it's one of the foundations of democracy (elections were granted as a foundation of our political system only after riots and people demanding the right to vote - nevermind that voting has become a more limited choice than what was contemplated in Henry Ford's motto "customers can buy cars in any colour they like, provided it's black" ).

Still, in practice, protesting today has become a waste of time, unless one is focused on very precise, very specific and possibly local issues. How can you protest against "globalization", for instance? Try protesting against the local factories disregarding environment protection laws and it's more likely to succeed. It also makes more sense. War is also a local issue, in that every government planning to join the military effort on Iraq is going to devolve huge funds to that support, taking them away from other sectors of public investment that might be more necessary. So, fair enough to protest against it. But what about the rest? Why are there no huge protest movements when the issues are not related to US intervention, or the military? Why are so many people ready to criticize the hypocrisy of dressing a war for oil in terms of "exporting democracy" but spend so little effort checking how pipeline projects are being implemented in ways that betray all existing laws and established conventions, not to mention human rights and environmental principles? Check this for instance:

Corporate Accountability â?? Not!

BP and other oil companies have demanded an extraordinary and outrageous deal, giving them complete freedom from regulation for a pipeline they propose to build across Turkey.

The planned 1760km oil pipeline is backed by BP (UK), Unocal (US) Statoil (Norway), Turkiye Petroleum (Turkey), ENI (Italy), TotalFinaElf (France), Itochu Oil (Japan), Delta Hess (US/Saudi Arabia) and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan. It would stretch from Baku on the Caspian Sea, through T'blisi in Georgia, to Ceyhan on the Turkish Mediterranean coast. Slated for completion in 2005, it would operate for at least 40 years.

The BP-Turkey agreement, known as the Host Government Agreement (HGA), creates a corridor running through some of Turkeyâ??s most politically volatile regions. The corridor would effectively be outside the national governmentâ??s jurisdiction for the lifetime of the proposed project.

A consortium of corporations taking over the laws - that's even more worrying a possibility than the US bypassing international conventions and agreements to wage a unilateral war. Shouldn't it deserve the same if not even more attention? I'm not aiming at anything here, and the primary responsibility for lack of information on these issues is obviously at the mainstream media level. But just a thought for well-intentioned protesters worldwide: the side-issues sometimes are even more relevant than the bigger picture.