Contact Information, Etc. Re: Corn transcript

Liza Featherstone lfeather32 at erols.com
Wed Nov 20 10:34:00 PST 2002


All true. There is a reluctance to ask questions on all sides. Sometimes ANSWER's critics take smug purist comfort in having "nicer" politics: sure our demo only has 50 people but at least we're not icky Milosevic supporters -- that attitude, too, evades needed questions (i.e. what is ANSWER doing that works) and doesn't really get us anywhere.


> From: Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1 at osu.edu>
> Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 05:23:39 -0500
> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> Subject: Contact Information, Etc. Re: Corn transcript
>
> At 8:21 PM -0500 11/19/02, Liza Featherstone wrote:
>> But casting all critics as "red-baiters," is a really twisted
>> externalization mechanism on the part of these parties and sympathizers who
>> share their totalitarian mentality (I know I'm going to get nailed for that
>> last phrase, but the impulse to silence criticism IS totalitarian): there's
>> nothing about ourselves we need to examine, we're victims, let's demonize
>> and/or try to intimidate the critics. You would think at some point they
>> would say, hey, it's not just the tepid David Corns of the world, we're also
>> getting a lot of criticism from people who genuinely share our hatred of
>> capitalism. But their organizations are not structured to encourage that
>> kind of thinking.
>
> I dare say, however, that there is lack of self-examination among
> most critics of WW/IAC/ANSWER, not just Corns and Coopers, but also
> those who "genuinely share our hatred of capitalism." For instance,
> it is "they" and "their organizations," rather than "we" and "our
> organizations," that you are criticizing above, no? If we are really
> interested in overtaking and surpassing the mobilization capacity of
> WW/IAC/ANSWER, though, the question to be asked concerns not what
> "they" lack but _what "we" lack but "they" possess_:
>
> (1) Contact information about committed anti-imperialist organizers
> in possession of useful phone trees/mailing lists who are scattered
> nationwide, who don't necessarily belong to "our organizations," but
> who are nonetheless ready to work their assess off getting buses and
> caravans of activists to major demonstrations that "our
> organizations" call, putting down their own money, rather than us
> paying them.
>
> (2) Skills to collect further contact information of more organizers
> and activists at each new demonstration.
>
> (3) Capacity to plan ahead, so as to be able to announce the next
> action at each demonstration.
> --
> Yoshie
>
> * Calendar of Events in Columbus:
> <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>
> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html>
> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/>
> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>



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