Editors Note: What follows are observations from Scott M. Eilers on his experiences attending the anti-war protest in Seattle dressed in professional attire as part of Serious Change.

Having arrived in Seattle on Saturday morning by charter bus with about 300 others from Oregon, we were greeted by a picturesque day and the sounds of the marchers preparing. After assisting a few groups with their signage, I was struck most by the range of viewpoints represented by the various marchers and their signage. The only thing holding so many people with so many different interests together (even just for an afternoon) is a disgust with the status quo and the absurdity of this war. I couldn’t help but think that a more unified image might make a larger impact with the public. On the other hand, conformist probably wouldn’t have come out at all.

My day actually started some hours earlier in Portland when I overheard an older gentlemen (a demographic well represented) comment that perhaps we could send a better message if everyone “dressed up”. I unbuttoned my over coat far enough for him to notice my suit, and struck up a conversation. While we were speaking, I overheard two negative comments about my attire. I was pointed out by a passerby to their companion as an example of someone “from the other side” and another accused me of being a politician. When attempted to explain my/our position and to hand out flyers, most people agreed with the concept, but all had a “reason” why they couldn’t wear a suit (the most common being that they only own one). I also had with me pictures of MLK and marchers from the Civil Rights movements, and more recently the lawyers in Pakistan. The visual reminder that this isn’t the first time someone dressed professionally in such a setting seemed to disarm any who would listen.

Once in Seattle, there were similar comments made, but mostly I noticed that I got just as many snapshots taken of me and second looks as the people who had gone to apparently great lengths with their attire. I should point out that a button down shirt and tie take far less time to prepare than giant paper-mache costumes. I also noticed at least one other individual in a suit. I was unable to reach him, but did notice his picture on the pdxpeace.org web site.

My thoughts by the end of the day were returning to the seeming futility of changing any minds through such action, as some of the speakers were uninspiring and the rally seemed to just “peter out”. (I will defend your right to speak your mind to the death, but PLEASE speak it coherently!) On the other hand, all movements start some where, with someone. I try these days to remind myself: Don’t ask how to get 1 million backsides out of their chairs – start with the one you're sitting on.

Scott M. Eilers originally hails from the Midwest, calling Chicago home until earlier this year. He is currently in Eugene, Oregon planning the next move for him self, his society, and world.

Serious Change is about reclaiming the symbols of power. We do that by protesting in professional attire. We believe that by showing the world we are comfortable wearing the trappings of power, we are worth taking seriously. While our efforts have brought us attention both online and offline, recently some unaffiliated protests with the same idea have caused quite a stir, proving once again that this idea is a powerful one.

Perhaps people have tired of Vietnam era tactics, but whatever the reason, the mainstream media's coverage of typical demonstrations is full of barely concealed disdain for those protesting. A perfect example comes from the New York Times' coverage of the large anti-war march in Washington D.C. on September 15th. For one, their article concentrates on the civil disobedience aspect of this protest with the headline, "Antiwar Protest Ends With Dozens of Arrests." This is misleading. The protest, which I attended, was largely peaceful, with civil disobedience being only a small part of the day's events and coming at the end of a peaceful rally with many speakers (which were barely mentioned in the article) and a peaceful march from the White House to the Capitol (which was also barely mentioned in the article).

If fact, the discussion of the actual march was dominated by quotes and sympathetic descriptions of counter-protesters who attended the event as well. I understand that the Times wants to get both sides of the story and appear "unbiased," but even though there were maybe 200 counter-protesters that day as compared to close to 10,000 anti-war demonstrators, the counter-protesters were given four of the article's fourteen paragraphs. When you eliminate the paragraphs dealing with violence as well, only five paragraphs dealt with the peaceful portions of the march, which were the actual substance of the event in my opinion.

On top of that, the Times presented the counter-protesters in a very positive light, interviewing a family with multiple relatives serving in Iraq and using the quote, "It’s not just Iraq, it’s the whole Middle East. It’s not a red, blue or pink issue. It’s an all-of-us issue." Event though these protesters were cursing at and confronting those demonstrating against the war, they seem reasonable with this quote. In contrast, the Times quotes some of the more extreme anti-war protesters, including one who planned to get arrested and another who wore an orange jumpsuit and a dark hood to the event.

Contrast this biased coverage with the coverage in the same paper of the recent protests by Pakistani lawyers and a sympathy protest by lawyers in Washington D.C., both of whom demonstrated against Pakistani President Musharraf's recent turn toward tyranny. All of these protesters, it should be noted, were dressed in professional attire.

Serious Change Claims Another Success

On October 27th, Serious Change supporters attended antiwar protests in six cities:

New York

Chicago

At the last minute, we've added Seattle to the list of cities Serious Change will be protesting in!

If you live in or near Seattle, please join Serious Change, dressed in professional attire, at 11 am at the corner of 23rd Ave. S and S Judkins St., right outside of Judkins Park. (map)

Let's end this war!

This Saturday, October 27th, United for Peace and Justice will be holding simultaneous protests against the Iraq war in 11 US cities. Serious Change supporters will be attending protests in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Orlando, and Chattanooga, Tennessee dressed in professional attire. We stand in full solidarity with all other antiwar activists, but we believe that a professional appearance projects seriousness and determination to the Bush administration as well as the American public.

Our protest action on October 27th will build on our success at the antiwar march on September 15th, where even our small numbers provoked a large and positive response from other protesters, media, online communities at websites such as reddit.com, and the public. As we dramatically expand our numbers for this Saturday's protest, we will once again demonstrate the power that online organizing has to bring about change at the street level.

We believe that continued demonstrations against the war are important for reminding American leaders that the majority of Americans oppose continued American military involvement in Iraq. In this spirit, we invite all antiwar activists and protesters who live in the abovementioned cities to join us on Saturday. Anyone interested in marching with us is welcome to contact us in advance at seminal@theseminal.com or by telephone at 914.806.1939. We also welcome anyone to meet us at the following times and places:

New York

The New York group will be meeting at 11 am at Union Square, on the steps across the street from the Whole Foods. (map)

Chicago

The Chicago group will be meeting at 1 pm at the northeast corner of W Randolf St. and N Ogden Ave. (map)

Philadelphia

The Philadelphia group will be meeting at 12 pm on the southwest corner of Spruce St. and S 38th Ave. (map)

Orlando

The Orlando group will be meeting at 12 pm on the southeast corner of Robinson St. and N Rosalind Ave. NW of Lake Eola Park. (map)

Chattanooga

The Chattanooga group will be meeting at 1 pm at the Hamilton County Courthouse, 625 Georgia Ave #311, Chattanooga, TN. (map)

Seattle

The Seattle group 11 am at the corner of 23rd Ave. S and S Judkins St., right outside of Judkins Park. (map)

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Serious Change is a social movement fueled by the efforts of ordinary citizens, and it will not grow without grassroots support. We encourage all readers to visit Serious Change's website and pass the word on to your friends, families, coworkers, and social networks. We hope to see you on the 27th.

Let's end this war!

Update:

At the last minute, we've added Seattle to the list of cities Serious Change will be protesting in!

If you live in or near Seattle, please join Serious Change, dressed in professional attire, at 11 am at the corner of 23rd Ave. S and S Judkins St., right outside of Judkins Park. (map)

On October 27th, United for Peace and Justice will hold simultaneous protests against the Iraq War in 11 US cities. Their coordinated national approach to protesting is important and timely. In support of their efforts, Serious Change calls on activists across the country to join us in wearing professional attire - whether you choose to officially affiliate yourself with us or not.

Our belief, as we have stated before, is that this tactic projects seriousness and determination to the administration and the American people. We stand in solidarity with all protesters. But by reclaiming the symbols of power, we will strengthen the antiwar movement.

So far, we have organizers and supporters committed to attending the New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago protests. We are excited that the movement is expanding, but we believe we can do better. Our goal is to have representatives from Serious Change in as many of the 11 cities as possible. These locations are:

• Boston
• Chicago
• Jonesborough, TN (map)
• New Orleans
• New York
• Orlando
• Philadelphia
• Salt Lake City
• San Francisco
• Seattle

If you live in or near one of these cities and would like to help Serious Change with local organizing, or would like to attend the protest as part of our movement, please visit www.seriouschange.org or contact us at seminal@theseminal.com or 773.396.8266. We also encourage you to sign up for our email list:

If you want our support as you protest, we are excited to help you. We have materials available that explain further how the Serious Change movement's tactics work. We can put you in touch with other protesters in your area. We will help local activists coordinate their contacts with media outlets. We also have ways for you to follow up on your protest activism by helping to organize further Serious Change initiatives.

We ask for your support. Let's end this war!

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.

To get involved, please sign up for the email list:

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!

Yesterday Ish finally appeared on the Bryan Suits Show on KVI radio out in Seattle to discuss protesting in professional attire. For those of you who don't live in Seattle and missed the interview yesterday, here's the clip:

As Ish stated, we stand in full solidarity with every other protester in D.C. last weekend. And we will be back, dressed to impress, at future protests. Email us at seminal@theseminal.com if you want to be notified of future protests.

At 3:45 PST, Ish will be on the Bryan Suits show on KVI out in Seattle, WA. For all of you in Seattle, tune in your radio to 570 AM. For everyone else joining us on the Internet, you can listen online right here.

It's going to be an interesting discussion. Tune in!

Update:

Dave Carson, the producer for the Bryan Suits show, just emailed me back. He aplogized for bumping Ish from the show on Friday without notice, saying that "radio is a fast moving, dynamic creature" and the show went in a different direction.

As on now, Ish is scheduled to be on the show at 3:45 PST tomorrow, September 20th. Bryan Suits is in fact still interested in talking to Ish about our protesting ideas, and debating the Iraq war. We hope you'll join us then for a listen.

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One of the more interesting responses we received from Ish's popular article on protesting in formal attire and taking back the symbols of power on Thursday was an invitation for Ish to be interviewed on the Bryan Suits Show. The show airs from 3 pm - 6 pm PST, Monday through Friday, on AM 570 KVI in Seattle, WA, a FOX affiliate.

Bryan Suits is a conservative talk show radio host. He is apparently the only conservative talk show host who served in Iraq, and though he discusses the news of the day on his show, he devotes the last hour to discussion of the war.

After a short meeting, we at The Seminal decided to take the interview. Sure, we were in some small way helping to legitimize FOX News as a "fair and balanced" organization by agreeing to play the part of token liberal, but we felt we had more to gain then they did from the publicity. What's more, Ish was confident that he could out-debate Suits, even on Suits' own turf.

Ish responded to Dave Carson, Brain Suits' producer who had originally contacted us, that night via email. Ish explaining that we were interested in participating in the interview and asked for more information. Then we prepared.

Ish and I listened to the Bryan Suits show to get an handle on his style. A bit we found particularly enlightening was an interview he did last week with an activist from Code Pink. Bryan's main argument for continuing the war in Iraq boils down to the "then what" question that I've thoroughly taken on and debunked. In effect, Bryan says that we have no choice to continue the war in Iraq because things will get much worse once we leave. As soon as the representative from Code Pink realized this, she was able to shut Suits up with a good, strong statement. After a study of the show's style and the host's debating techniques, and a couple of mock interviews, we were pretty confident that our list of talking points and rebuttals was sound.

We heard back from Carson the next afternoon, saying that he would be in contact with us in a few hours after he talked with Suits. At 5 pm, Ish received a call from Carson.

"So," Carson said, "you're protesting the war, but you don't have piercings, correct?"

"Correct," Ish told him.

"So…you think all these freaks are giving the antiwar movement a bad name?"

"No," Ish replied. "As I said in my article, we stand in solidarity with everyone who will be protesting against the war. We have our own tactics that work for us, but we aren't here to criticize other protesters."

"Okay," Carson said, "we're on."

Ish was told that the 10-20 minute interview was scheduled for 6:45 pm EST and that we would receive a call shortly beforehand.