
Rally Against Surveillance today in San Francisco - ndesaulniers
http://1984day.com/san-francisco/
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jivatmanx
I think it would be more effective to begin organizing a primary challenge to
Nancy Pelosi. Residents of San Francisco have the unique ability to send a
message to the minority leader, and therefore, the entire democratic party.

The leverage, or political return on effort, for challenging a house party
leader is far greater than for any other elected official. (Senate leaders
have far more constituents)

~~~
pstuart
Dianne Feinstein chairs the Intelligence Committee and is complicit with all
of these shenanigans. She's worse.

It's not clear how to beat the Dem machine in California (I'm a disgruntled
liberal).

~~~
gnosis
Unfortunately, it's a much more systemic problem than can be solved by ousting
a politician here or there.

I encourage everyone who cares about this to get politically involved at a
level beyond merely voting for congress critters now and then.

There's a lot that you can do, from joining and supporting organizations like
the EFF and the ACLU to getting involved in local politics, which is usually
the level that can be most affected by relatively small numbers of
individuals.

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Pro_bity
I 100% agree with with the sentiment behind this rally, but I often feel that
rallies like this in San Francisco are preaching to the choir. They make the
participants and observers feel better, but do little to effect real change.

~~~
gtaylor
You're right, maybe they shouldn't do anything at all and just accept the
status quo.

Comments like this just boil my blood. Get off your tail, stop being
apathetic, be a part of the solution.

~~~
clicks
Rayiner: your comment is marked as dead, I think because you used the word
circle.... Perhaps try re-posting without it.

Edit: actually here, I did it for you:

 _False dichotomy._

 _Rallies in San Francisco are just excuses for like minded people to have a
merry old time. It 's a politically irrelevant city, because it has no votes
in play. Want to have some actual impact, some actual chance to change hearts
and minds, go protest in Utah, where you can connect the cause to the site, or
DC, or heck Iowa, where you can take advantage of their natural libertarian
streak and there are votes to be swayed._

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rayiner
Hope it attracts more than the shamefully pathetic 400 that turned up to the
last one.

~~~
mtgx
It's possible some apathy towards this issue and a feeling that this is no
immediate threat to them, because US hasn't really been under dangerous
regimes before, are at play here, but I also think people like to be _led_ and
organized. I think organizations like ACLU and EFF should do a lot more
grassroots organizing of the protests, and get people to say "Yes, I'm coming
to the protest tomorrow".

Reading about the protest on a website won't guarantee many will go (and most
will not). People need to be contacted by these civil liberties organizations
and asked to come.

~~~
rayiner
Yes, people do need to be led. Civil libertarians have proven completely
unable to lead in the last decade. Certainly, a bunch of people who think you
can do it all on the internet won't be able to lead.

If you want to impact political change, you need to do it the way other groups
do. I have teenagers coming to my door asking if I know about Jesus. Where are
the young people going door to door to spread knowledge about NSA spying?

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zmanian
We are also going to live stream. Link around 11. Speakers at 12:45

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ndesaulniers
Link?

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w1ntermute
It's not 11 yet.

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zmanian
Live Stream: [http://youtu.be/vbMf9sc1NL0](http://youtu.be/vbMf9sc1NL0)

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weisser
I wish I had found out about this before today (I would have returned to
Boston for it). I'm sure many people are in the same boat.

~~~
WalterSear
The organizers of this local group don't inspire any confidence.

~~~
bendoernberg
Please let us know when you've scheduled a date for your well-planned,
confidence-inspiring protest.

