Occasionally, I hear complaints on this list that this or that left-wing political party ended up dominating this or that coalition or conference or whatnot. The latest comes in a report on the CSAW (California Schools Against War) conference in Berkeley, which the reporter alleges was "hijacked" by the ISO (see the post titled "Why did ISO hijack Berkley CA Schools Conference?"). On one hand, I take this sort of report from fans of consensus decision-making with a giant grain of salt; since most left-wing outfits I know, including the ISO and the WW, are rather small, how can going by the majority vote, as opposed to consensus decision-making, be possibly in their interest? On the other hand, though, there may be a grain of truth in this type of report, in that those who complain of being outvoted & outmaneuvered by members of such outfits as the ISO, the WW, the RCP, etc. may be really too individualist to get together & organize a united front or "counter-block" against them. The recent LBO-talk exchange between Chuck0 and Dennis P. is a good example. Evidently, the two don't want to work together as comrades, despite both being in favor of the anarchist tradition & having other common grounds. The GP-US members' responses to the GPUSA's press release on Nancy Oden are another example of the absence of camaraderie. -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Anti-War Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Anti-War Organizing in Columbus Covered by the Media: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/media.html>