> I think the idea that it's dangerous to have an internal debate on the left because the right might pick up on it is thoroughly ridiculous. I'm glad there are people out there like Chuck0 keeping me informed of front organizations, entryism, co-opting, and so forth. This is not a police state, so what's there to hide?
Thank you. It's not that hard for people to dig up political stuff about the WWP, after all, they publish their opinions in their newspaper. I've been a pain in the neck about this stuff precisely because there is this attitude on the Left that we can't discuss these things publicly. If critics like myself aren't being accused of red-baiting, we are told that we threaten "unity" during these "times of crisis." If the movement can discuss controversial issues like sexism, racism, ableism, and class in the movement, why can't we talk about issues of authoritarianism, vanguardism, and petty opportunism?
I don't even care that much about the WWP's politics. My issue with them has to do with my practical experiences with them as activists. They are liars and are deceptive about their tactics and agenda.
> I think it has less to do with what information is out there than how it is put out there. It's like naming names in front of HUAC - it's well-known the FBI already knew everything that would be told, but it was felt the ritual of humiliation and betrayal was important to play out. Which is the same case as here - the information is already known by the other side, the difference is in presentation, in an internally-geared manner like Chuck0, or in a quite lame way by Corn, Hitchens and company (although Corn has not sunk to the depth of Hitchens yet).
I have no interest in helping the right wing, but I'm going to point out that if the peace movement had had this discussion about ANSWER a year ago, we wouldn't be in the bind where a self-appointed leader of the peace movement could easily be used to tarnish the great mass of peace activists who don't share the WWP's politics.
Corn, Gitlin, and Cooper don't speak for me, in fact, I think that Cooper and Gitlin suck. Their shallow articles about ANSWER have done great harm to those of us activists who are trying to change things in the peace and anti-war movements.
Chuck0
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"The state can't give you free speech, and the state can't take it away. You're born with it, like your eyes, like your ears. Freedom is something you assume, then you wait for someone to try to take it away. The degree to which you resist is the degree to which you are free..." ---Utah Phillips