On September 15th, members of The Seminal staff attended ANSWER Coalition’s antiwar march in Washington, D.C., dressed in professional attire. Our aim was to reclaim the symbols of power and show that protesters are speaking for ordinary Americans. By dressing professionally, we believed we would appear articulate, serious, and organized.
The response was overwhelming. So we created Serious Change, a new national protest movement.
Read on for more and for ways to get involved.
Cross posted at The Seminal
The response we received before, during, and after the protest has been astonishing. Our articles were featured twice on the front page of reddit.com and we were invited for an interview on the Bryan Suits Show, a major conservative radio talk show in Seattle. At the protest, we were perceived positively by our fellow protesters. Everyone understood our reasoning, and many supported it. Most importantly, after the event we received emails from activists saying they wanted to join us at the next event we attended.
In response to these expressions of support, we decided to create Serious Change as a formal platform for our tactics. The idea of dressing in professional attire is neither original nor complicated, and it does not belong exclusively to us. In fact, we encourage people to use the tactic with or without direct contact with Serious Change. However, we believe we can assist the antiwar movement by organizing, by putting like-minded activists in touch with each other, and by helping activists present themselves effectively to local and national media.
Serious Change is a movement committed to ending the war in Iraq. We stand in full solidarity with everyone who supports an end to the war, no matter what your approach is. But if you like our tactics, we invite you to join us. More information is available at our webpage, www.theseminal.com/seriouschange, where you will find materials to help you get started. If you are interested in joining the movement, please sign up for the Serious Change email list to receive updates on our latest events.
The next event we plan on attending is United for Peace and Justice’s nationwide October 27th protest. If you are interested in organizing in your city, email us at seminal@theseminal.com. We hope you can take part!