Is Mitchel right about this? Did Steinem ever date Henry Kissenger? My BS meter is running!
Michael Pugliese
----- Original Message ----- From: Mitchel Cohen <mitchelcohen at MINDSPRING.COM> To: <SPSM-LIST at LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU> Sent: Friday, October 27, 2000 9:44 AM Subject: Rebutting Gloria Steinem
> Here is an interesting rebuttal to Gloria Steinem's blast at Nader, in
> support of Gore, by North Carolina Green Lisa Thurman.
>
> To add my own two cents: While Lisa writes that she is "a long time
admirer
> of Gloria Steinem" and "this is the first time I have ever disagreed with
> Gloria Steinem," those of us who have been around a while know that Gloria
> Steinem has been, from the start of her career, a hatchet-person for the
> Democratic Party leadership. Let us not forget that Steinem used to date
> Henry Kissinger, and that she was a conduit for CIA funds in the 1950s to
> student gatherings in Europe. The radical feminist group, Redstockings,
has
> systematically exposed phony-feminist Steinem's work on behalf of the US
> ruling class, and has challenged Steinem to debate its members on this and
> other issues -- a challenge Steinem has assiduously avoided.
>
> - Mitchel Cohen
> Brookyn Greens / Green Party of NY
>
>
> A Green Party member's rebuttal to Gloria Steinem's, "Top Ten Reasons
> Why I'm (Gloria) Not Voting For Nader"
>
> 10. Gloria: He's not running for president. He's running for federal
> matching funds for the Green Party!
>
> Lisa: Wrong, Nader is not even a Green Party member. He chose the
> Green Party because of it's values. He is seeking to create awareness
> and to help support the progressive green social movement.
>
> 9. Gloria: He was able to take all those perfect progressive positions
> of the past because he never had to build an electoral coalition, earn a
> majority vote, or otherwise submit to democracy.
>
> Lisa: Neither did you, and look what influence you had on society,
> Ms. Steinem
>
> 8. Gloria: By condemning Gore for ever having taken a different
> position - for example, for voting against access to legal abortion when
> he was Congressman from Tennessee - actually dissuades others from
> changing their minds and joining us.
>
> Lisa: So, are you saying that Gore waffles on the position of
> reproductive rights?
>
> 7. Gloria: Nader is rightly obsessed with economic and corporate
> control, yet he belittles the movements against a deeper form of control
> - control of reproduction, the most intimate parts of our lives. For
> example, he calls the women's movement and the gay and lesbian movements
> "gondal politics, " and ridicules the use of the word "patriarchy," as
> if it were somehow more less important than the World Trade
> Organization. As Congressman Barney Frank wrote Nader in an open letter,
> "your assertion that there are not important issue differences between
> Bush and Gore is either flat inaccurate or reflects your view that...
> the issues are not important... since you have generally ignored these
> issues in your career.
>
> Lisa: One of the Green Party's ten key values is feminism. Ralph
> Nader has been a powerful and influential spokesperson for the Green
> Party and the ten key values. And Gloria, what have you done for the
> environment?
>
> Mitchel: And another thing -- Gay activist leader Scott McLarty and
> many others have met with Nader on these issues and have convincingly
> rebutted the lies put forth by Barney Frank, the leadership of the
National
> Organization for Women, and other apologists for Gore. You can find some
of
> this at www.counterpunch.org.
>
> 6. Gloria: The issues of corporate control can only be addressed by
> voting for candidates who will pass campaign funding restrictions, and
> conducting grassroots boycotts and consumer campaigns against
> sweatshops? not by voting for one man who will never become President
>
> Lisa: The issues of corporate control can only be addressed by
> building local grassroots opposition to corporate control and to put
> people in office, at the local level, who demonstrate green social
> values. Nader is a powerful spokesperson for this grassroots movement.
>
> 7. Gloria: Toby Moffett, a longtime Nader Raider who also served in
> Congress, wrote that Nader's "Tweeledum and Tweedledee assertion that
> there is no important difference between the major presidential
> candidates would be laughable if it weren't so unsafe". We've been
> bamboozled by the media's practice of being evenhandedly negative. There
> is a far greater gulf between Bush and Gore than between Nixon and
> Kennedy and what they mean to history.
>
> Lisa: Nixon and Kennedy were both more progressive and socially
> liberal then either Bush or Gore
>
> Mitchel: Gloria WOULD cite Toby Moffett (hey, why not Henry Kissinger
> too, while yer at it, Gloria?). Moffett, a former Congressman, was a
> vice-president at Monsanto, and a leading advocate for the biotechnolgy /
> genetic engineering industry. Gore is the pre-eminent shill for genetic
> engineering. To rewrite Moffet's sordid history in this manner is typical
> Steinem hypocrisy.
>
> 4. Gloria: Nader asked Winona LaDuke, an important Native American
> leader, to support and run with him, despite his possible contribution
> to the victory of George W. Bush, a man who has stated that "State law
> is supreme when it comes to Indians" -- a breathtaking dangerous position
> that ignores hundreds of treaties with tribal governments, long standing
> federal policy and federal law affirming tribal sovereignty.
>
> Lisa: Perhaps an excellent debate would feature Gloria Steinem and
> Winona La Duke discussing fear of George Bush versus building a
> progressive green social movement.
>
> Mitchel: Well, Gloria, didn't hear YOU out there advocating to include
> Winona in the Vice Presidential debates, at letting her speak for herself!
> Typical racist disempowerment, while pretending to be "concerned."
>
> 3. Gloria: If I were to run for President in the same symbolic way, I
> hope my friends and colleagues would have the good sense to vote against
> me, too, saving me from waking up to discover that I helped send George
> W. Bush to the most powerful position in the world.
>
> Lisa: Blame it all on the evil Nader who has a whopping 5% of the
> national vote. How close to blaming the victim/under dog can you get.
> That's like blaming a young girl for being raped because she wore a mini
> skirt. Wow, if Ralph just wouldn't wear that mini skirt, then the whole
> world would be a safer place.
>
> 2. Gloria: There are one, two, three, even four lifetime Supreme Court
> Justices who are likely to be appointed by the next President. Bush has
> made clear by his record as governor and appeals to the ultra-rightwing
> that his appointments would overturn Roe v. Wade and reproductive
> freedom, dismantle remedies for racial discrimination, oppose equal
> rights for gay and lesbians, oppose mandatory gun registration, oppose
> federal protections of endangered species, public lands, and water - and
> much more. Gore is opposite on every one of these issues. Gore has made
> clear that his appointments would uphold our hard won progress in those
> areas.
>
> Lisa: Nader is NOT Gore's problem. Gore is Gore's problem.
>
> Mitchel: Gore voted FOR Anthony Scalia. Democrats voted overwhelmingly
> for Rehnquist as Supreme Court Chief Justice. And many Democrats voted for
> Clarence Thomas as well.
>
> 1. Gloria: The art of behaving ethically is behaving as if everything we
> do matters. If we want Gore and not Bush in the White House, we have to
> vote for Gore and not Bush - out of respect for the vote and
> self-respect. I'm not telling you how to vote by sharing these reasons.
> The essence of feminism is the power to decide for ourselves.
>
> Lisa: You just told us how to vote.
>
> Mitchel: We DON'T want Gore and not Bush in the White House. We want
> the Greens to begin creating a real alternative.
>
> Gloria: It's also taking responsibility for our actions. Let's face
> it, Bush in the White House would have far more impact on the poor and
> vulnerable in this country, and on the subjects of our foreign policy
> and aid programs in other countries. Just as Clinton saved women's lives
> by rescinding the Mexico City policy by executive order as his first act
> as President - thus ending the ban against even discussing abortion if
> one received U.S. aid - the next President will have enormous power
> over the lives of millions abroad who can not vote plus millions too
> disillusioned to vote here.
>
> Lisa: It's interesting that you should bring up Clinton's examples
> of dedication to women and the poor. Clinton supported NAFTA which
> helps eight year old Mexican girls leave their home communities to work
> as slaves in foreign owned sweatshops. Clinton also provided us with a
> good case study of sexual harrassments on the job. And, wasn't it Clinton
> that signed that Welfare Reform bill that sent thousands of children out
> into the streets and into homeless shelters?
>
> Gloria: Perhaps there's a reason why Nader's rallies seemed so
> white, middles class, and disproportionately male; in short, so
> supported by those who would be hurt if Bush were in the White House.
>
> Lisa: Gloria, your rallies weren't white and middle class? What
> Nader rallies have you been to? There are lots of women at the social
> green rallies I've been to. Perhaps more women. Our local Green Party
> steering committee consists of five women and four men.
>
> Gloria: Think self-respect. Think about the impact of our vote on the
> weakest among us. Then we can't go wrong.
>
> Lisa: Yes, vote Nader and LaDuke!
>
> Submitted by:
> Lisa Thurman, organizer
> Green Party of Western North Carolina
>
> with a few additional comments by Mitchel Cohen, Brooklyn Greens, Green
> Party of NY