Protesters have hit the streets of U.S. cities in extraordinary numbers over the last year, most recently at the national political conventions. Now those who organized and participated in these actions are taking time to consider their value and plan for the future. PNS commentator Sarah Ferguson writes widely on issues of housing and eco-politics.

Now that the dust has settled in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, activists around the country are regrouping, assessing, and planning their next moves.

The overwhelming police response in both cities has forced some to reconsider the idea of trying to "recreate" Seattle, where 50,000 activists temporarily shut down the World Trade Organization meeting last fall.

Indeed, with much of their protest messages lost amid TV footage of rubber bullets and car-smashing hordes, some are even questioning whether mass demos are an effective way to draw attention to such diffuse issues as global inequity and corporate power.

"These big demos may make us feel radical, but is it going to bring about radical change?" Jeremy Louzao, 19, of Bellingham, Washington asked last week. He was one of a thousand or so marching on the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles to demand universal health care, cheaper AIDS medications, and hate-crime legislation for gays.

"We need to be more logical," said Louzao, as police choppers swooped over the crowd. "We have these romantic notions of mass movement struggle and direct action, but are we really winning people over to our cause?. . . I think we need to go back to our communities and build a better base for a real popular movement."

Many protesters heading home last week expressed similar concerns. "Many of us have been going from action to action and haven't had the time to sit down and debate each other about beliefs and tactics," says Brooke Lehman of Manhattan.

Clearly, it's not fun and games anymore. With 37 protesters still imprisoned in Philadelphia on felony charges and police officials there calling for a federal investigation of activists, the mass movement that emerged on the streets of Seattle is facing a critical juncture.

In Los Angeles organizers canceled three civil disobedience actions for fear of escalating police violence. Although at week's end the mood was jubilant because protesters refused to be scared away, many agree that their strategy needs fine-tuning.

"Mass actions are appropriate when there's a very clear target or focus," says Juliette Beck of the San Francisco-based advocacy group, Global Exchange. "But the Democratic convention was so diffuse. A lot of the protesters wrote off the Democratic Party a long time ago but a lot of others were trying to hold them accountable. It was hard to unify around specific actions and messages, or to come up with a clear set of demands."

Efforts to squelch protest have fueled more activism according to some participants.

"After two weeks in the Philadelphia prison system, 400 hardcore prison activists have been born," says ACT-UP's Kate Sorensen -- one of two organizers arrested during the Republican convention and held on unprecedented $1 million bail.

Lawyers are collaborating to file class action suits, charging Philadelphia officials with everything from physically abusing activists to systematically suppressing First Amendment rights. Similar lawsuits are under way in L.A., where the ACLU's lead attorney was shot between the eyes with a rubber bullet after police stormed a free concert.

For some, these demonstrations were interludes. The real "Sequel to Seattle" comes September 26 at the annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank in Prague. Here -- unlike Seattle -- organizers are making no effort to lay down guidelines against property damage and violence.

European police, who have received training from Seattle police and came to Philadelphia and L.A., are laying battle plans. So is the FBI, which last month opened an office in Prague.

"S26" organizers are calling on activists in major cities to stage their own "Carnivals Against Capitalism" to coincide with the Prague protests.

U.S. activists plan to "bird-dog" Bush and Gore to "challenge the sale of our democracy to corporate interests," says Beck. Organizers also plan "guerrilla debates" for third-party candidates Ralph Nader and Patrick Buchanan, to be broadcast to more than 100 public access cable TV stations, as well as the 2-million-subscriber-base Free Speech TV network.

Live-streaming video, audio, and print coverage of street protests around the world via the Internet give activists a strong alternative media network. But the new foot-soldiers for global democracy have yet to agree upon a direction.