-----Original Message----- From: Stephen E Philion <philion at hawaii.edu>
>Hi Lou,
>I was referring to a later piece that McReynolds wrote that was on LBO
>earlier in the week or late last week. I've misplaced mine...
>
OK, I found it. It was posted by Doug on October 9 with the subject "Fwd: Is there a Nonviolent Response to September 11?"
> The answer which I believe has political merit - which is more than
>simply a witness against endless terror, whether by our State or the
>individuals involved in the terrorist networks - is to call for the arrest
of
>whoever is responsible and their trial by international legal authorities.
Yes, well, it's a bottom-rung position. I will say this though for McReynolds: he recognizes that it's a bottom-rung position. That is, he points out that it is true that the UN is flawed and controlled by the US and yes, the UN imposed the sanctions on Iraq, and yes it's true that the US never gets tried by the UN and so on. But, in his view:
>For all the flaws of police and courts,
>it is better to call in the police than to resort to organizing a lynch
mob.
>And that - a lynch mob - is what Bush is offering us, and the world at this
>moment.
Actually this is a lesser-evil position on McReynolds' part, which, from my point of view, is more praiseworthy than if he took the position that going through the UN were just this wonderful idea for dealing with an international problem. Even when I disagree with McReynolds, I always have the feeling that he's really trying to make a rigorous pacifism work. In this case I have the impression that he's not comfortable with being on the bottom rung, and is on the verge of jumping off, but there are a couple things that stop him. One is this assessment of al-Qaeda:
>And they hate not just the Pentagon or the Corporate Elite -
>they hate you, they hate me, their cause is that of a reactionary, deeply
>religious, nearly fascist hatred of all things Western.
This of course is the Standard Media Line, which really dehumanizes al-Qaeda and turns it into an implacable and utterly alien force, which cannot be reasoned with, like a race of movie monsters. Then there is the search for a "role":
> We cannot dodge this issue of working toward some system of international
>law and justice and still hope to have any political role in this
situation.
This gives you a hint as to what McReynolds is really up to here. Actually, it's an attempt to out-maneuver the U.S. ruling class. The big problem, as Dave knows, is the lawless U.S. ruling class. Well, Dave wants to put a leash on it. How? By strengthening this idea of a 'system of international law and justice.' How to get there? Well, first we demand that Osama be tried by a UN court, and this will create a precedent and give 'us' a role in creating a system that would encompass the US as well. You have to be clever to come up with an idea like this, but I think it has like zero chance of working the way he would like.
Lou Paulsen