Wednesday, October 02, 2002

Anti-War Democrats Way Ahead of Their Leaders The New York Times reported today on the fragmented and disorganized state of opposition to the war.  The story said "Democratic lawmakers report that letters and telephone calls from constituents are running heavily against an invasion. Washington Democrat Sen. Patty Murray's office reported receiving over 5,000 letters and telephone calls last week on Iraq of which about 100 supported an attack." So it appears that Gore stepped into a safe and well-prepared vacuum last week when he first criticized Bush on the war. Also there is word that Robert Byrd is considering a filibuster in the Senate against a War resolution.  The disarray among national democrats has also been reflected in the disarray of activists as well.  In Boston, there are two demonstrations against the war this Friday while Bush is here.  One while he is speaking, and one in the evening.  There is a demonstration in New York on Saturday.  There is a demonstration at Harvard on Monday, Oct 7th.  There is a demonstration in Boston again on Oct. 20th, and a national march on Washington on October 26th (Saturday).  Info on all these can be found here. There are literally hundreds of left interest groups, who often act with little awareness or relationship to each other.  For this Friday, two different groups called anti-war demonstrations to confront Bush on the same day.  One of the prerequisites of a powerful anti-war movement is a coalescing of all these groups and individuals around the idea that opposing war in Iraq is the central question of our time.  So far, it feels more like a fad, or like watching a disaster slowly unfold from a distance.  The war in Iraq by itself is not the issue that will ultimately unite the left.  It is more likely to be a leader who articulates a clear vision of the interdependence of environmentalism, anti-imperialism, and economic justice. We are not against the American imperial role in the world because it is unilateral and dangerous for others. We are against it because war for empire jeopardizes all we hold dear at home.  It jeopardizes our democracy, trashes our environment, impoverishes our future--all to support a corrupt power structure drunk on oil.  But when any democrat articulates this vision, he or she is quickly marginalized or ignored.  I am not disappointed at the poor state of our organization and leadership. I just hope we can create the conditions under which better leadership can emerge.  The real difference between the right and the left is that the left ultimately trusts the American people to make decisions in their own self-interest, while the right, contemptuous of ordinary people’s intelligence, instead trusts their ability to manipulate Americans to support their corporate masters.  Abe Lincoln’s aphorism rings true: You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool ALL of the people ALL of the time." 10:42:05 PM   comment []

© Copyright 2002 Toby Sackton. Last update: 12/26/2002; 9:30:21 PM.