Sunday, December 19, 2004

Rebuilding an Antiwar Movement for 2005

By Jordy Cummings

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Posted 12/19 | Add a Comment

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  1. Thoughtful article. It was a smack hit to the antiwar movement’s head being dismissed as a “focus group” and otherwise disparaged or ignored by the monopoly media.

    This is a minor quibble, but I submit it is best to avoid the “we” term, or at least to place it in quotation marks.

    True, “we” shouldn’t “subsume our goals to either electoral or ultra-radical theories,” but progressives should still try to garner whatever support possible through the prevailing system that exists.

    How do you know that Jackson and Moore are “sincere, but naive liberals”? Sincerity suggests insight to the inner character of a person. I agree much with your stated need for solidarity, but why then do you take a shot at “the mostly White anarcho-syndicalists and anti-globo activits [sic]”? This hardly seems conducive to solidarizing.

    With all due respect, while useful as a display of solidarity, “weekendly” marches are likeliest to be ignored by the monopoly media. Even recently in Canada the protestors were marginalized by the state broadcaster, the CBC. The largest demonstration in Maritime history had the local paper demonizing the propeace demonstrators (http://www.shunpiking.com/ol0203/MC-Chroni-KP.htm). It seems that the antiwar movement might best focus its efforts elsewhere. Building a people’s media is a worthy effort and websites like PA are great to this end. This might awaken a mass consciousness to the evil being perpetrated. i submit that as long as ignorance rules, effective action will be difficult to muster.

    Another occupation that needs to be kept “front and center” is the centuries-old occupation of Turtle Island.

    Protest, is a form of expression. Being against censorship in any form, I don’t see how progressives have the right to tell anyone how to express their dissent.

    Yes, the war must be stopped. This is immediate but future wars must also be prevented. I submit that progressives should prioritize working toward a, if possible, peaceful revolution. Although we might disagree on tactics, “we” should solidarize toward this objective as well as other progressive objectives.

    Posted by kim from  on  12/19  at  11:24 AM

  2. I meant weekendly marches - such as in 71 - in Washington D.C., on the capital, etc..  And I thought that some may be offended by characterization of caucasian anti-globos....but its true.  This is improving with groups like OCAP though

    I use the “we” as in the general “we,” I agree with you on its use otherwise.  I think “we” is very broad when used to oppose war from a standpoint of morality - going beyond our unique ideological concerns, so to speak.

    Posted by j cummings from Canada  on  12/19  at  01:55 PM

  3. I think the war in Iraq is a currently existing problem, and to think that we are only going to end it “after the revolution” (which I will support foursquare, obviously) should look at the American movements, that even in Vietnamese textbooks will tell you, significantly helped end the war by draining public resolve and placing more expense on the elite. 

    I am not arguing against the obvious need for revolution, yet I am arguing as fervently against subsuming antiwar sentiment to future revolution as I am against subsuming antiwar sentiment to the Democratic party.  Perhaps I’m wrong, but I think that this needs to be the central focus - in the USA at least.

    Further, call me a vanguardist but I think its entirely appropriate for me to make suggestions as to what types of expression will win the broadest support, not what types of expression will, to be frank, express a petit-bourgeois sense of shock value and focus the important attention away from the overall goal.

    I think that ending the Iraq war is important enough that a message has to be co-ordinated, just as if a message should be co-ordinated in a strike, etc.

    Posted by j cummings from Canada  on  12/19  at  10:17 PM
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