>Marta, let me ask you and others a question. If Pat
>Buchannon, and his associates, organized a
>demonstration against the war, would you go? And even
>if you did go, wouldn't you at least hesitate because
>of his politics?
Are they organizing a demo? Maybe some would go because they felt more comfortable with its rhetoric. Maybe there are lots of Rightwingers who oppose the war, but don't feel like they can participate because it's the "Left's show".
Let me ask you an equally hypothetical question: would you go to demonstrate against the war if the WWP were the only effective game in town?
>Somehow, people like you get hypnotised by the word
>"LEFT". Since the WWP associates itself with the
>LEFT, it's ok to go to any demo they organize, but it might
>not be ok to go to a Buchannon demonstration because
>he is on the "RIGHT".
"People like you . . ."? Do "people like you" get equally hypnotized by the word, "WWP"?
>I, and some others, are not entranced by the word
>"LEFT". The WWP supports dictators and sytems that
>are every bit as oppressive as what Buchannon
>supports. The fact that they call themselves
>LEFTISTS, and employ the usual leftist rhetoric about
>being for the working class, anti-war and for the
>"people" is meaningless in light of the regimes they
>support.
Yes, yes they do support those oppressive dictators and systems from what I've heard on the list (and I believe those who say that). But they also don't support the war, and they introduced at least some people who'd never done something like this before to the idea of getting active. Hopefully, in the days to come, those newcomers will hear from others about the WWP and won't come to just ANY event the WWP organizes. Or are they "those people" too? "Sheeple" is the word, no?
>You ask where are the other demonstrations. When you
>study complex systems, you discover that it is not
>always the best that wins out, but who/what starts out
>first. My theory is that after 9/11 the globalization
>movement was perplexed by the new situation and had
>some difficulty in mobilizing because of their
>understandable confusion vis a' vis the situation. The void was filled by
>the WWP. They weren't
>perplexed...they just saw the same black and white
>world that they always see. America bad/Other good. And so, they seized
>the momentum.
Ok, fine theory. But what I see at the end is that same sort of binary thinking that you characterize the WWP as having (apparently with some justification): WWP bad/(insert most favoured Left group here) good. You mean you can't sup with the Devil just this once, in the hopes of something better?
In a later post, Thomas adds:
>My point was, of course, that it does not matter that
>you call yourself Left or Right, if you support
>oppression, totalitarianism, etc: a rose is a rose is
>a rose. Or in the case of Workers World Party, a turd
>is a turd is a turd.
Binary (and I think essentialist) thinking again. Does that mean, since you didn't show up at the rally, you're in favour of dropping bombs? Or that, if you had shown up, the essence of oppression and totalinarianism would have clung to your clothes? Hogwash!
Nathan said:
>I've joined the mass group blog No War Blog . . . .
>I am actually intensely uncomfortable with this right-left kind of
> >alliance on war or trade . . . .
Ok, it's good that you're uncomfortable; means you'll be looking carefully at what the others are saying and critiquing them appropriately. But you joined in, with a group of "Right-Wingers", to oppose the war. Good job.
>So a question to the antiwar movement. With millions dying of AIDS when
>cheap drugs and minimal investment in a medical infrastructure could >save
>many of them, why can't we get 100,000 people to rally on their >behalf?
>Why are rallies so easy to mobilize for "no war" but not >for "yes to
>saving life"?
Ah-ah-AH, Nathan. That's a bit of a cheap shot, isn't it? Thrusting the onus for this sort of explanation onto the shoulders of . . . who? The WWP?
Todd
_________________________________________________________________ Choose an Internet access plan right for you -- try MSN! http://resourcecenter.msn.com/access/plans/default.asp