Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
> but that's serious stuff, and I don't think a lot of
> >lefties urging that have thought through just how profound and
> >difficult a struggle that will be.
>
> Well, most of us have, believe it or not. You might trust
> anti-imperialists, for a change.
>
Whenever I have indicated that I have thought about (it's silly to talk in terms of thinking it "through" as though it were a complex problem of integration that still had an answer in the back of the book) -- whenever I have so indicated, Doug has objected to my pessimism. Way back on the spoons list, when our relations were still quite friendly, he spoke of one such post of mine as reflecting my gloomy temperament. And of course attraction of Hardt & Negri is that by some sort of sleight-of-hand they both indicate the power of Empire and somehow suggest that it is going to go "poof" and disappear someday when the "multitude" find the magic word.
Part of the profundity and difficulty of the struggle is _precisely_ learning that American lives are no more precious than Afghanistan or Okinawan lives. And the recent passionate arguments in favor of the flag were in fact wishful thinking that somehow one could get there without offending anyone or causing real trouble. Just as Chuck0's silliness about not allowing the flag near him stemmed from a real despair of the working class and a deep awe of the cultural power of capitalism. Even touching one of its symbols contaminated one. The Flag means only one thing -- imperialism. But it really won't contaminate the march if a lot of people in it, not understanding this, bring it along.
Carrol