Lerner (presumably) speaks out

loupaulsen at attbi.com loupaulsen at attbi.com
Mon Feb 17 08:22:33 PST 2003


Nathan Newman
> So if the WWP has waged a campaign against someone participating in antiwar
> movements, their speakers can be barred?

Wait a minute. So far as I know, UFPJ never said that TIKKUN couldn't have a speaker. They said that they wouldn't nominate LERNER as a speaker. Tikkun could have suggested a different representative, as I read it.

In any case, I don't recall WWP ever waging a campaign against someone participating in antiwar movements, other than, like, Nazis. Your examples aren't anything like that. You certainly are going to have a hard time finding an example of us doing anything like that -in the thick of a particular struggle-.


> "George Soros's Human Rights Watch upholds Jefferson's legacy of deceit,
> murder and plunder for the ruling class of the 21st century." Workers World
> (August 2001)

Where does that say that they shouldn't participate in an anti-war movement? That was a year and a half ago in a quite different context. Furthermore, this would only be applicable if Human Rights Watch were one of the main organizers of the hypothetical rally!


> "the Democratic leaders' main motivation was to serve the interests of the
> capitalist ruling class." Workers World (Aug. 2000)
>
> The whole "no one can condemn rally organizers" means that anytime a major
> Democratic Party Congressman or local club gets involved in a protest, any
> group that has condemned the Dems would be barred under such rules.

Oh, BOSH. Please don't make us out to be the Spartacist League. Don't you think we can tell the difference between Cynthia McKinney and Richard Gebhardt? Of course the Democratic Party is an imperialist party, nationally. That doesn't mean that we think every Democratic candidate or alderman or voter is an imperialist. And where does that say we don't want Democratic officeholders to support the antiwar movement? Furthermore (as above) this would only apply if the Democratic Congressional Representative etc. were a main organizer of the rally! How often does THAT happen? But let me tell you something else: when and if it does happen that a Democratic Representative organizes an anti-war event, and if he or she doesn't allow us to speak, do you think we would raise hell all over the country sending out e- mails about it and getting up a petition about being "banned", like sectarian idiots? Hell, you probably DO think we would do that. We wouldn't, and we haven't.

LP



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