Chuck0
Michael Pugliese wrote:
>
> 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