> I don't like Medea and I'm pretty pissed off at her buddies at Global
> Exchange who singlehandedly sabotaged our protests, but her reaction is
> entirely appropriate. The best place for an American flag is either in
> the trash or in the barbecue. Patriotism is all about "we're better
> than you guys." Why do you think that sporting events have turned into
> patriotic jizz fests?
This is self-defeating. I too have little use for flags of any kind, but flag-burning rhetoric is, on simple strategic grounds, highly counterproductive at the present moment. I agree with Cockburn, that the left should reclaim the flag, for it is the only way to show average Americans that there are other ways to "love" your country -- defending the Bill of Rights, for instance, as well as highlighting the fallacy of Bush's "war on terrorism." Ceding this ground to the right and the neocons is just stupid and leads to further marginalization.
> Raimondo is full of shit like the other right-wingers. If Americans
> think that we are collaborating with terrorists, then they can go to
> fucking hell. Raimondo is arguing that we pander our protest to the most
> racist and jingoistic elements in American society, when it would be far
> smarter for the Left to continue raising the questions that is has been
> doing so well since 9/11.
Well, I don't agree with everything Raimondo says, to be sure, but I think he rasies some valid points here. And I don't believe that he's "arguing that we pander our protest to the most racist and jingoistic elements in American society" -- I think he's talking about average people who really have no idea why we are in this mess. Besides, the most racist elements of US society seem to have favored what happened on 9/11 (someone posted WAR's obscene statement a couple weeks back). Why talk to them?
> This is a quagmire for the Afghanis who are dying each day from the
> American bombing. Only a pinhead like Raimondo would measure a
> "quagmire" by how many American lives are lost.
Like it or not, we need to speak to American fears of further terrorism if we are to stop the terror now being unleashed on Afghanistan, and might be unleashed on Iraq. Just saying, "Fuck you, America! Afghans are dying so who cares what you think!" will do nothing but drive people into the arms of those who claim to protect them by flattening villages overseas.
DP