On the other question raised in connection with the exchange among Doug, Cockburn, et. al. concerning militias, populism, etc. let me say a few words from experience. My youngest brother is what some might call a raving lunatic: sees conspiracies everywhere, lives in the woods, owns guns, thinks Y2K may lead to chaos in the streets, etc. But he is most definitely not a racist or an anti-semite (two of our nieces are black, for which fact his own health and life have been threatened more than once). He is well-read though not too systematic in his thinking. He was once unemployed for several years and had to get by with odd jobs. He was fired for refusing to take a lie detector test, and this whole awful affair hurt his confidence and self-esteem a lot. My parents helped out a lot, but this did not do much for his ego either. He feels a lot of rage and directs this as best he can against the powers that be: hatred of local police, diatribes against Clinton, etc. I am sure there are tens of thousands of persons just like him. Are they unorganizable? white trash? future militia bombers? future religious zealots? Maybe. But then maybe if we had a decent left movement, inclusive and democratic, maybe not. I do know that I'd trust my brother to hide me if the Nazis came to town. And I'd be glad he had a gun and knew how to use it.
Michael Yates
Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> Mark Rickling wrote:
>
> >From: Katha Pollitt <kpollitt at thenation.com>
> > > I think it's
> > > really hard to look at what's actually happening with organized labor
> > > and find much that is inspiring.
> >
> >You need to look harder.
>
> Uh, could you expand on this? I'm groping for reasons to be
> optimistic, and any assistance would be welcome.
>
> Doug