-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Forwarded from Fred Feldman Date: Mon, 01 Apr 2002 09:20:33 -0500 To: marxism at lists.panix.com
Dear Louis, I am forwarding this to you because I think we have a mutual interest in the outcome of the April 20 antiwar protest. Of course, the facts may turn out to be different than I imagine them, but I believe that the decisive issue is political == not who did or didn't say what in some meeting.
The main issue, in my view, is simple: opponents of the war have a significant stake in a common demonstration in Washington -- as opposed to what will be falsely presented as "radical" and "moderate" counterdemonstrations -- despite the political differences that inevitably exist among us. This requires that special efforts be made to guarantee that the rally be organized on a genuinely nonexclusive basis.
I tried to submit this yesterday but forgot the proper way to make a nonmember submission. Sorry about that.
----- Original Message ----- From: Fred Feldman To: wrl at warresisters.org Sent: Sunday, March 31, 2002 6:35 PM Subject: For united rally on April 20
Dear fellow antiwar activists,
I have received an email from ANSWER, the organizers of the initially called April 27 action that wisely moved its date to April 20 under pressure from the widespread desire for a united antiwar acttion. A common rally after separate marches was subsequently agreed upon and reported into the April 20 coalition meeting that I attended in Manhattan March 25.
Now ANSWER asserts that the agreement has been repudiated by those who negotiate for the the April 20 coalition.
I have supported the April 20 march from the start despite misgivings about the way the issues are presented in the national leaflets. I saw April 20 as offering possibilities for a broader and more inclusive protest.
I was troubled by the fact that the leaflets, while they proclaimed "Stop the War," included no specific opposition to the bombing and occupation of Afghanistan, nor any specific statements of oppositiion to projected U.S. military action against Iraq.
A subsequent leaflet proclaimed "The War on Terrorism will Only Breed More Terrorism." I disagreed with this because I believe that the issue in the war on Afghanistan (and on Palestine today) is not "how to stop terrorism" but how to end the U.S. government's role as the main exploiter and oppressor of people around the world.
I have no idea in fact whether the current wars being waged by Washington will reduce terrorist actions, leaving Washington the unchallenged no. 1 terrorist. This is a tactical estimate I don't feel qualified to make.
I supported April 20 because I saw it as having the potential to involve broader forces on a non-exclusive basis, including some who may have supported the attack on Afghanistan in the wake of September 11 but opposed the war on terorism as its has (inevitably in my opinion) expanded to include broader imperialist objectives at home and abroad, including the restrictions on democratic rights such as the establishment of a U.S. concentration camp at the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba.
My judgment was that the April 27 protest, which put forward many slogans I fully agree with, was organized on a comparatively sectarian basis.
But sectarianism and exclusion are not only leftist, to put it mildly. The history of the protests against the Vietnam war showed that it is quite possible to be sectarian and exclusionary to those one regards as sectarian, extreme, or leftist, and such exclusion can be devastating in its consequences.
The fight does not end April 20 which, even if massive and successful beyond our wildest dreams, will not stop the "war against terrorism." How can antiwar activists stand up under the pressure that will be generated when the campaign against Iraq reaches full war momentum if we are frightened by the views of Workers World or the ANSWER coalition today?
We need to build the kind of movement for justice, and the peace that comes only with justice, that can stand up even under the kind of conflict and pressure that the masses of people, both Arab and Jewish, in Palestine today are facing. Because those pressures will come to bear here as well.
Regardless of your decision about the united rally, I will support April 20 and will participate in whatever marches or rallies take place. But if the national organizers opt for exclusion in any way, shape, or form, I will continue to fight on the basis I have stated here and urge others to do so as well.
I hope -- and I am actually optimistic -- that cooler heads will prevail and a united rally will take place. But I am convinced the the April 20 organizers have a decisive role to play in bringing about a successful traversing of this little bump in the road.
Fred Feldman