From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
Charles Brown wrote:
>It is not so much hard thinking as facing a truth that hurts: Uncle
>Sam is a thug. Most people don't want to face that truth.
Yes Uncle Sam is a thug. You know that, I know that, most everybody here knows that.
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CB: How about first if we on the left get clear and united around this. I don't see how you would say that the U.S. action in Afghanistan is just , if we know the U.S. is thug.
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Most of the U.S. population doesn't, and would regard *you* as a thug if you said that.
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CB: But are *you* avoiding saying it because they might call you a thug ?
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The U.S. working class is solidly behind Bush's war. If you're a Marxist, and I assume you still are, what do you do about that?
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CB: Wasn't the working class solidly behind the Viet Nam war at first ? Korean war ? Aren't Marxist supposed to give a lead to the working class, rather than tail it , raise consciousness ? Communists are to be concerned for the interests of the class as a class and a whole.
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Do you take the Third Worldist line that the U.S. working class is hopelessly corrupted by imperialism, and therefore is the enemy and not the instrument of potential revolution? That's one point of view, and it has the nice benefit of exempting its holder from any form of political advocacy or action at home, since the real struggles are conveniently located thousands of miles away. If you don't believe that, what do you do and say to the 95% of your neighbors who support the war and don't think of Uncle Sam as a thug?
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CB: I'm not sure that 95% of the people in Detroit support the war. On the talk radio show I listen to, and discussions, a lot of people know that the U.S. is not trustworthy. On the talk show or to a hearing Conyers held I say things like, I said to you in this post: what goes around comes around; the U.S. can't go around the world bombing people without expecting eventually to be hit back. The attack on Sept. 11 was in retaliation for the U.S. bombing Iraq and supporting Israel. Attacking Afghan will increase, not decrease the chances of future attacks on Americans. If you want to prevent future Sept. 11's , oppose the war. What would Martin Luther King do ? This situation gives a unique opportunity to unite pragmatism and idealism.
You can also throw in something is fishy. Why is Bush's father doing business with bin Laden's family ? Why did Reagan call bin Laden and his colleagues freedom fighters and build them into a terrorist army ?