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@h2o
The 2003 demos didn't stop the war from happening, but they did catalyse resistance to it and helped people realise that there were a lot of other people out there that felt similarly. I think they certainly shocked the media into realising there were two sides to the story, and without that I suspect that political discourse partic in the US would have carried on in the neocon vein for much longer than it did.
But all the same, the 2003 protests were too chaotic and the messages were too garbled - although at least there was a central point that was easy to absorb.
These G20 demos are even more chaotic and I can't figure out what the message is beyond an inchoate anger that things have gone 'wrong'. Unfortunately, I think we're all to blame for that one - too few questions asked when the going was good.
Even so, they'll generate coverage and the Graunidista's economics editor will have a field day proclaiming the end of capitalism (I don't mean this flippantly - he's a bit like that).
Still, I will duck out of the office when I can with my camera and a couple of rolls of Provia I reckon.