The politics of calm - Fear and caution are paralysing progressive politic

"Once upon a time, progressives in America believed in the politics of protest. Today, they seem more concerned with whether protest will discredit them in the eyes of a mythical mainstream public. Rather than risk being marginalised for taking a strong stance against the right, progressives now espouse "safe" positions in order to appease what they believe (in the face of evidence) to be the majority of Americans. They define this imaginary mainstream public by its disdain for radical views and direct action, and retreat from both in the vain hope that such caution will bring political reward.

There is evidence of this new progressive preference for a "politics of calm" in the contrast between two recent responses to major political attacks on civil rights in America.
There are two reasons for this.
First, progressives are trying to live down a reputation for being violent that has attached itself to them since the late 1960s. Protests at the World Trade Organisation summit in Seattle in November 1999 were a public-relations disaster. Skirmishes around the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas meeting in Florida in November 2003 made things worse. Fights with New York police during the Republican convention in 2004 reinforced progressives' fear and caution about their public image. (The fact that police usually instigated whatever violence occurred on these occasions was ignored.)

Second, the many public setbacks progressives have suffered in the past decade have had the effect of shifting their priorities towards consensus-seeking and keeping up appearances. The attacks of 11 September 2001 exacerbated fear of dissent and direct action. Later, when massive protests against the war in Iraq in 2002 were completely ignored, activists felt worn out. It's the most benign repression. The right has been so successful at discrediting progressive positions that – even among progressives themselves – strong defence of values like peace, social justice, and reproductive rights is increasingly regarded as frivolous or unstrategic. This is the causal nexus of the politics of calm."

http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-americanpower/politics_calm_3617.jsp


I think this may be fairly close to the mark. what does anyone else think and what does anyone think should be done?

go medival on their collective arses!
Pussyfooting around is not gonna cut it anymore!(except when my SamIam is doing it)
Stop the nuances speek and call it as it is.For crying out loud!I'm so angry for such a long time!
I'm too old for this,I should be getting ready to be this motherly,serene grandmother or is it ok to take my grandkid to the barricades?

I agree. people should stand up and say what they believe otherwise it is us who are the hypocrites