>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Yoshie Furuhashi" <furuhashi.1 at osu.edu>
>>
>>Nothing I read on the WTO protests gave me any feel whatsoever of what
>>was going on in the communities that the protesters came from -- and
>>without that feel I didn't really auite beieve in the big
>>demonstrations. But it was already becoming clear by early this week
>>that there was immense local activity going on.
>
>-Yes, certainly so in Columbus, OH. However, it has also become clear
>-(if it was not clear to everyone from the get-go), through a wave of
>-cancellations, which orgs & individuals are still committed to
>-American nationalism, unwilling to disrupt the appearance of
>-"national unity."
>
>Ah yes, how much the hardline Left mirrors Bush in excommunicating anyone
>who dissents from the party line.
The distinction between the "hardline" Left and "softline" (?????) Left doesn't make sense to me. Besides, there appears to be the third way between an anti-war march on Washington & other street actions; and cancelling everything & laying low. E.g., "The Mobilization for Global Justice has decided to cancel its call for street actions in September in Washington DC but is moving forward with other events on the 27th through 30th..." (at <http://www.globalizethis.org/s30/>).
That said, check out the activities in the streets of D.C., 9/29-30:
Anti-Capitalist Convergence: <http://www.abolishthebank.org/en/new_call.html>. International Action Center: <http://www.iacenter.org/>. Washington Peace Center: <http://www.washingtonpeacecenter.org/>.
>Its is organization by subtraction that
>takes it as a sign of purity, rather than of misguided strategy, when
>members leave email lists and organizations cancel participation in rallies.
Excuse me -- the AFL-CIO, etc. _subtracted themselves_. They are very, very, welcome to reverse their decisions or at least organize local actions against war & racism.
>There is a vast number of Americans who do not support indiscriminate
>bombing and war, but do demand justice for the victims of mass murder. But
>that vast numbers find unaccepable the present formation of the "peace
>movement", which omits even mention of the demand for justice from almost
>all principles of unity - true with both the Sept 29 DC mobilization and the
>major mass coalition in NYC.
>
>A failure to promote a positive program to get justice for the victims of
>Sept 11 as an alternative to war and violence is a fundamental moral and
>strategic failure of the Left. They are making war more likely by the day.
I suppose that if those currently in retreat get back into action, they'd likely come out proposing intricate "positive programs" of all sorts, often contradictory to one another & internally incoherent as well, but right now it appears they want to stay home. I very much recommend that they get with their respective programs, whatever they are. :-> First of all, let people know that you & your program exist.
Yoshie
P.S. On another list, a highly educated person posted the following:
At 12:24 AM +0000 9/22/01, [name withheld] wrote:
>Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2001 00:24:18 -0000
>Reply-To: professors_for_peace at yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [P_F_P] Specific proposals
<snip>
>Now we need to turn to what pressure we bring on the Taliban to
>resolve this matter peacefully. The Taliban has superciliously
>ignored pressure about Osama bin Laden and his organization for
>years -- as the United Nations has since at least 1998 been pressing
>for bin Laden's extradition to stand trial for various mass
>slaughters -- but clearly a renewed effort is in order.
>
>What is this group doing to put pressure on the Taliban to turn over
>bin Laden for trial and to encourage the Taliban to close down the
>terrorist havens inside of Afghanistan? I'm sure most of us want to
>be working on this, as the Taliban right now holds the key to
>protecting the innocents it purports to rule.
To me, the post is really funny, though or rather because the poster proposed the above in all seriousness.
If any of you here wants to work with the person on trying to "put pressure on the Taliban to turn over bin Laden for trial and to encourage the Taliban to close down the terrorist havens inside of Afghanistan," I'll be happy to get you in touch with the person. :->
Yoshie