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NEWS & LETTERS, APRIL 2003
Readers’ Views
FIGHTING WARS AT HOME AND ABROAD There are some who say we have to support the troops
invading Iraq "because they're there." That makes no sense at all.
What is important is how much noise we've been making before it really
starts--that is, before the body bags start coming home. In that sense, we've
improved on the 1960s. But a lot of questions have been asked about where are
the African Americans and Latinos in the anti-war demonstrations today? The
truth is that we are already at war at home. Others may not have caught up to it
yet, but we African Americans have been fighting our war here for a long time.
They say that all politics is local. What that means to Black people is that
we're not going to be plantation slaves any longer. This is a decisive moment
for all of us. George, Chicago When Bush announced his war deadline, you could tell he
had his priorities straight. He didn't talk about the harm to people, he said
nobody in Iraq should harm the oil fields. I knew he had a lot of oil industry
friends, but I recently learned that even his national security advisor,
Condoleezza Rice, also has oil interests. They sure are taking care of their
corporate friends. Peace Activist, Detroit The anti-war movement's unwillingness to address Saddam
Hussein's past atrocities on the Kurds, Shi'ites and anyone opposed to him has
contributed to the limitation of the growth of the movement into a truly massive
peace movement. By keeping silent on Hussein's atrocities, there is a perception
that the anti-war movement is pro-Saddam because the Bush administration's line
is that the war is against him. If the movement distinguished clearly between
Hussein and the Iraqi people it would have deflated the Bush administration's
propaganda against "Iraq." Basho, Los Angeles It is almost as if Bush needed this war--and, of course,
Osama bin Laden gave it to him. I can recall how before the 2000 election, many
people were saying that Bush would get us into a war if he was elected. I think
people understood war to be organic to Bush's politics, just as they knew him to
be the biggest executioner of prisoners. What seems to be coming clearer to me is that the
contradictions of the post-WWII world, and then the "changed world"
following the U.S. attack on the Gulf of Sidra in 1986, are full blown. The
stage is being set for big changes and it is very frightening. Union organizer, Springfield, IL I wonder about the extent of the coverage of the anti-war movement today, when the protests in the early '90s didn't get that same kind of coverage. The same president who claims to be waging a war against terrorism is actually waging terrorism at home. They are not telling us what the war is really about. The media is giving a distorted view. We now have a lot of celebrities getting publicized for claiming to be anti-war but when Muhammad Ali took a stand on Vietnam, he was given a very unpopular treatment. I want to know where the celebrities are on other concerns. Why are they bringing all this attention to the war while they are saying nothing about the attacks going on against people of color, those on welfare and AIDS victims? Why aren't they talking about that? African American, Chicago Maybe the African-American presence is not visible at the anti-war protests, but we have to look at the whole culture to see what is going on. The cutbacks in social services, which African Americans depend on, are very important. So many workers today can't afford any medical care, homelessness has increased, especially for single moms. There are Blacks who are Muslims and have sent money to help those in the Middle East, which can now cause them to lose their citizenship. The war will provide a way to make the Black dimension completely invisible. Black studies is already invisible on the campus. Black single mom, Chicago It seems to me there is a much larger number of elderly
people participating in the demonstrations today than in previous peace
movements. Maybe it's because we've been through WWII, the Korean War, the
Vietnam War and the last Gulf war against Iraq--all showing the horrible loss of
lives, the injuries, and sacrifices that get worse with each war. One of the old people, Michigan There have been protests all over Ecuador, the largest
in Quito, where police agressively attacked students, and in Cuenca where 10,000
marched in the streets. President Gutierrez issued a lukewarm condemnation of
the war but the extremely right-wing Congress passed a resolution of
condemnation by a four to one margin. The opposition of ordinary people is
overwhelming beyond belief. I have yet to meet one person--bus driver, store
keeper, street vendor, teacher, student, friend or family--who does not consider
what Bush has done as criminal and obscene. In Quito yesterday a
"trial" was held that found Bush guilty of violating international law
and human decency. Artist, Ecuador We are beginning to see the kind of ferment that raises
important questions in people's minds--like understanding how militarism and
capitalism are linked. Like many others, I have found many people I know who
were always very quiet now speaking out. One woman I always considered quite
conservative startled me the other day by suddenly declaring that all the
problems we were talking about come from capitalism. There is a clarity you can
see happening everywhere. Counselor, Los Angeles In South Africa, for the first time in recent memory, a
wide range of organizations are getting together against the imperialist war on
Iraq. These are the first stirrings of the working class since 1994 and mark the
beginning of the revival of workers activity on the international political
front. Over 10,000 people attended the Feb. 15 march in Cape Town and the
movement is still growing. Shaheed Mahomed, Anti-War Coalition, Capetown, South Africa Who doubts that in a full war the might of America alone could crush Iraq. But a quick military victory is no indicator of a successful outcome. In some ways the campaign has a feel of Christian fundamentalism. Mr. Blair claims a high moral ground for a belief system which justifies more killing. Historically, Turkey was the foe and great effort was made to break the Ottoman empire. One of the tactics utilized was guerrilla or terrorist activity. Britain played a role in developing and fanning Arab nationalism then. Pat Duffy, England FOR RACHEL CORRIE The media are eager for body counts in Iraq, but the
body counts have already begun in Palestine. Under the cover of world attention
riveted on the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the Israeli army is having its brutal way
with the Palestinians. Yesterday (March 17) they shot and killed 11 Palestinians
in the Gaza Strip, including two teenagers and a two-year old girl, cowering
inside her home—and another two in the West Bank. But with all eyes on Bush
and Baghdad, is anybody looking at this? In the past few weeks, 26 Israeli and
Palestinian organizations have joined together in the Palestinian-Israeli
Emergency Committee, to try to prevent just such events from worsening. The horrifying death of 23-year old Rachel Corrie, a
peace activist from the U.S., gripped me painfully. I awaken from sleep ever
since with the image of this brave young woman standing in front of the
bulldozer, asking with her eyes for the driver to have compassion on the home he
was about to destroy, while he drove directly onto her. I did not know Rachel,
but can only imagine that she could not envision the force of darkness about to
envelop her. I shudder to recall similar acts of nonviolent resistance in recent
years which ended with only injuries. This killing reveals the hardening hearts
of those now giving and carrying out the orders. Gila Svirsky, Jerusalem (see also Corrie’s Funeral) THE WAR ON WOMEN March 8 this year was when the 4th global women's strike was launched, where women worldwide go on strike against no pay, low pay and overwork. The theme this year was "Invest in Caring, not Killing." In solidarity with the women in 80 other countries around the world, Milwaukee's Welfare Warriors organized a "Moms on Strike" bus tour for that day, stopping at Maximus and UMOS, two welfare agencies which put moms to work for no pay; Walmart, the second richest corporation in the world which pays extremely low pay; and some temporary agencies which embody both low pay and overwork. Women do two-thirds of the world's work, mostly unwaged caring work. We care for young, old, sick, dying, for neighborhoods, churches and schools. Yet this work isn't recognized and now women are being denied the time to do this work properly. The U.S. spends most of the people's money to fund killing and none to fund caring. With our strike we are saying "Stop the world and make a change." Help us stop the war on the poor. Welfare Warriors, 2711 W. Michigan, Milwaukee, WI 53208 While the world has been fixated on "The War," the Bush administration has continued its attacks on the home front with much less scrutiny from the press, and the population as a whole. Consider the "gift" just given the anti-choice forces who now have legal authority to return to their strategy and tactics for blocking access to abortion clinics and to "counseling" (i.e. harassing) women. I just heard on public radio part of a new "educational training tape" developed by Joseph Scheidler and other anti-choice leaders in which a "sidewalk counselor" is challenged by a pro-choice protester who indicates they are going against the law. The voice-over then recites the exact working in the legal authorization for what is being done and the "guarantee" the Constitution provides for their actions. This is only part of the increasing invasion on women's rights we are confronting in our war right at home today. Women's Liberationist, Chicago CRITIQUE OF HOLLOWAY Peter Hudis' review of John Holloway's book on changing
the world without taking power was intriguing in the way it responded both to
what is positive and what is negative in Holloway. It shows that in following
Adorno's logic, Holloway doesn't see the negation of the negation and thus falls
short of the Marxist-Humanism of Raya Dunayevskaya, who seems to be the only
theorist who recognizes it and appreciates it. The review gave us a lot to think
about. Longtime reader, Detroit Hudis' review of Holloway's book is a little unfair. Holloway moves away from the Left as it exists now. He is calling for negating the Left as it exists now. He is saying that the Left needs a second negation. This book seems fairly praiseworthy, he is so far ahead of even Lukács and Adorno. As Hudis points out, Holloway caught that CAPITAL was not just about capitalism, but about the destruction of capitalism. The review would be great without the last paragraphs, where he critiques Holloway for not bringing his thinking to his own roots. Praising something and then knocking it down for coming up short seems sectarian to me. David Mizuno'Oto, Oakland, Cal. U.S. IN THE PHILIPPINES An "explicit agreement" to allow 1,700 U.S. troops in to Jolo Island, a predominantly Muslim island south of Mindanao, was said to have been struck by U.S. department of war head Donald Rumsfeld and Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The deal was supposedly to hunt down and kill members of the 250-member kidnapping and bandit group Abu Sayyaf and was abruptly retracted in response to a huge public outcry there in late February. This was right around the dozen-year anniversary of the U.S. abandonment of its two huge military bases in the Philippines under the pressure of mass opposition among Filipinos, and the 17th anniversary of the people power uprising that resulted in the constitutional ban on the presence of foreign troops in the country. Initially, when asked about the ban, a Pentagon spokesman responded that the Philippine government would "just have to finesse that problem." Recent Visitor to Philippines, New York VANGUARD TO LEAD, WHERE? The response by N&L to the reader who complained
that N&L is a mere commentator instead of being in the vanguard made me look
at the way people all over the world are making history while the vanguardists
are still trying to write a new program for the workers. The protests in the
U.S. especially remind me of what was expressed in Marxism and Freedom--that
there is another face in the U.S. that the rulers don't want the world to
see--the oppressed workers fighting against the state. Today we see women,
children, old people, young students, factory workers, intellectuals, farm
workers--all uniting against war. We see youth carrying slogans: "down with
capitalism." What I would like to tell the vanguardists to study most in Marxism and Freedom is Raya Dunayevskaya's statement that "the idea of any genius has been first in the mind of the simple person" and that history has been made by the people. Marcos, California I appreciate the point of Brown Douglas' column about ANSWER in the March issue of N&L. The remnants of the vanguard party in the U.S. are a laughing stock. Among their flaws is their hyper-sectarian character, so that they more resemble cults. The Revolutionary Communist Party, frozen in Maoism, appears to be a Bob Avakian cult; the Socialist Workers' Party, frozen in Trotskyism, appears to be a Jack Barnes cult, and so forth. Isn't vying for a role in the leadership of the rapidly emerging antiwar movement among these comically sectarian cells, otherwise consigned to the nether regions of American public discourse, a sort of practical joke on the Left? Vanguardist organizations ironically re-enact the precise sense in which Marx criticized philosophical idealism, by imagining that the idea comes from above, and therefore that the idea ought only to be inseminated in people from on high, by reading the correct newspaper like a religious fundamentalist. Tom More, Spokane INTERNMENT HISTORY In his pseudo-apology for remarking that the WWII
internment of Japanese Americans was justified, U.S. Rep. Howard Coble excuses
himself with an argument from hindsight: "I can see why FDR made that
decision...Today we can look back and see the damage that it caused." They
didn't need 50 years of raised national consciousness to see the damage
inflicted on the Japanese-American community and on the principle of due
process. Thousands of internees and outraged ACLU activists took the U.S. to
court. It wasn't hindsight that transformed any once accepted
practice into an injustice after the fact. As the March Archives column on
"the American Roots of Marxism" shows, there had always been Black and
white opposition to slavery. Its abolition and the subsequent shortening of the
working day were not simply gifts conferred on the oppressed by a nation that
had grown older and wiser. On the contrary, it was the struggle of those who
fought and died for such freedoms that prompted the nation to grow older and
wiser. Japanese American, Oakland, Cal. HOMELAND SECURITY? The dissent aroused by the crises today has been
accompanied by increasing attacks by the right against the forces of revolt.
What we have been seeing in all the steps taken since 9/11 are giving a legal
basis for a police state. It is now taking the form of an even more dangerous
Patriot Act II. Under its definitions, very nearly anyone can simply be labeled
a "terrorist" and be stripped of citizenship. We all know of the
increased surveillance at the growing demonstrations and the threat of mass
incarceration of protesters. But what is important is that plans were in place
for military compounds even before 9/11. It is because the rulers have not been
able to get control over their masses that such drastic new solutions are being
prepared. World War II Veteran, Michigan When Irish activist and former Member of Parliament,
Bernadette Devlin McAliskey arrived in Chicago on Feb. 21 she was denied entry
into the U.S. allegedly on "national security" grounds. She was
photographed, fingerprinted and immediately returned to Ireland against her
will. She had travelled to the U.S. with her daughter, Deirdre, to attend a
christening. Deirdre is quoted as saying: "I can't imagine what threat they
could think she poses to U.S. security. Unless the threat is knowing too much
and saying it too well." The McAliskeys have a long history of fighting
government repression on both sides of the Atlantic. Astounded, Chicago BUSH 'LOGIC' ? This is what I call Bush Logic: Nouveau Toussaint, Chicago I typed in "March," "War," and "Bush," and your web site came up. I feel so helpless to stop this madness. How can this man have the power that he does? Is no one in Washington able to stop him? Thanks for wanting peace. What can be done? I am a medical missionary, penniless and 68 years old. God help this country. Bush is trying to finish it off. New Web reader, North Carolina CLASS STRUGGLE 2003 The article on the Fred's boycott (January-February N&L) speaks eloquently to the battles with management over organizing a union. Non-union support is very important. These struggles are repeated year after year; union organizers are blacklisted even when there is a positive ruling from the NLRB, which always takes at least two to four years. This story recalled what I wrote about on the class struggles in the mines in the N&L pamphlet about the 1949-50 Miners' General Strike. At least back then labor had a little power. Now there is a real conspiracy between union bureaucrats and management. Job loss has increased so much that recent figures show over a million unemployed. And that doesn't include part-timers and people who have stopped looking for work. The whole of N&L shows what families have to go through to get a job today. Andy Phillips, Detroit KILLING ACHEH'S PEACE ACCORD For many years demonstrators and human rights activists in Acheh have been arrested and killed by government security forces. Since the accord signed in December between Indonesia and the separatist Free Acheh Movement there has been a significant decrease in the number of violent incidents. But recent attacks and killings indicate that government forces are trying to destroy the prospect for peace. Four Achehnese were killed on March 15 alone and a drive-by shooting killed another two people riding a motorcycle. Such incidents appear designed to keep the population from even hoping for real peace in Acheh. A lot of Achehnese feel hopeless and very scared. The Indonesian government is trying to crush the demand for self-determination by keeping the military in every corner of Acheh. Correspondent, New York PHILOSOPHY AND REVOLUTION TODAY The excerpts from chapter 9 of Philosophy and Revolution
printed in the Archives column of the January-February issue were as powerful to
read today as when they were first written in 1973. Their power was not only in
seeing the reason of the Black revolt of the 1960s but in bringing out what it
meant that Martin Luther King made a strong connection to the anti-war movement.
Unfortunately, the anti-war movement now, just as then, is not
reciprocating. Activist-thinker, Detroit In this utterly retrogressive period, it is critical to
return to Raya Dunayevskaya's writing in Philosophy and Revolution against
picking up theory "en route." Now theory is not even "en
route." It is thrown out altogether. Dunayevskaya picked out the
self-activity of Black youth who initiated a new era of struggle for all. She
singled out the Black youth as the first to say "Hell no. We won't
go." Many in today's movements think they are the leaders, not Black youth.
They need to study the statement from a Black youth in Oakland who said,
"If you don't join Uncle Sam's army, you have to join the unemployed army
or end up in prison." Man's retrogression in thought doesn't only reflect
reality but creates it. Hospital worker, Oakland, Cal. |
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