Friday, May 18, 2012

O que é mais importante: movimentos sociais ou governantes?

The Strength of a Movement Is More Important Than the Warmth of a President's Heart, por Jesse Walker (Reason Hit and Run):

As I've said more than once, I'm less interested in electing officials who agree with me than in building movements that can pressure officials who don't agree with me. From January 2009 til yesterday, the president of the United States almost certainly agreed with the supporters of gay marriage but he wasn't willing to say so in public, thanks to the potential pressure to be felt from the other side. Then gay-rights activists organized some pressure of their own, and they got results.

(...) It isn't a big victory. But it's a victory, and it's a lesson in how victories are often achieved -- one that activists around other issues, such as the drug war, can learn from. At any rate, with gay marriage the most important battleground has always been the culture, not the government.

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