What kind of 'anti-war movement'?

[Michael Pugliese]

Chicago Contradictions
http://www.newsandletters.org/redesign/Issues/2001/Oct/anti-war_10-01.htm
Chicago-The effort to oppose Bush's drive to war seemed to get off to a good
start in Chicago on Sept. 18, when 400 attended a meeting at the University
of Illinois. The event was called by the Direct Action Network. The small
group formats and report-backs allowed for a lot of discussion. The general
sense was that people didn't want a typical anti-war coalition but a
"movement for human dignity" that opposed Bush's drive for war, the Sept. 11
bombings, and all efforts to take us backward on racism, sexism, and civil
rights.

However, at the end of the meeting-after half had already left-a member of
the International Socialist Organization proposed that the group constitute
itself as an "anti-war coalition" and meet the next Saturday to make plans
for a city-wide action.

The meeting the next Saturday, attended by 200 and dominated by members of
vanguardist leftist groups, had a very different tenor than the Sept. 19
event. DAN proposed an agenda starting with a discussion of "principles of
unity." Before there could be any discussion of this, however, many insisted
that the group first set a date for a demonstration.

When the meeting finally got around to discussing "principles of unity," it
settled on three slogans: oppose Bush's drive to war; oppose racist attacks;
and oppose attacks on civil liberties.

A member of News and Letters Committees then took the floor to say that
there is one "principle" we must include or else whatever we do will come to
naught: namely we have to "unequivocally condemn the Sept. 11 attacks." This
was voted down-on the grounds that such a statement would "dilute" the
group's anti-imperialist message!

Even more incredibly, another motion saying "we mourn the victims of the
Sept. 11 disaster" was also voted down, though at least a third there voted
for it (the majority of the youth, independent women, students, and people
of color voted for both motions).

Many of the younger anti-globalization activists did not take the floor,
even though the vanguardists were hijacking their efforts right before their
eyes. In the end, an "anti-war" coalition was created that couldn't even
bring itself to condemn the bombings or even extend sympathy to the dead!

The demonstration held the next Monday, Sept. 24, was hardly inspiring. Only
250 were there, and virtually no passers-by joined the demonstration.

The limitations of this effort to narrow the opposition to Bush's drive to
war to a handful of slogans against U.S. imperialism was not lost on the
Tribune and Sun Times, which ran articles trying to ridicule the
demonstration for not mentioning the need to solidarize with the victims of
the Sept. 11 disaster.

Despite this unfortunate turn of events, many activists and thinkers in the
Chicago area are now discussing taking actions to ensure that opposition to
Bush's drive to war will not be separated from a movement for human dignity.

-Anti-war activist