I'm glad Greg forwarded this - it is a long statement and I assume you've
read it or can find it in your files, so I've not copied it. It was also sent
to the DSA youth group and to Red Youth, so a cc goes there.
I know four of the signers. I am sorry to see the signer from Freedom Road,
Juliet Ucelli, because I've felt her to be responsible. Steve Bloom is not a
"leading member" of Solidarity, he is a member, he is very active, he works
on the Mumia case, but he is somewhat isolated within Solidarity and he is
such an ardent Trotskyist that if put down in the midst of events in the
early 1920's I think he could quote both Lenin and Trotsky by heart.
Merle Ratner is originally from the CP (I think) and is now in CCDS, though
she is NOT a leading member there, and failed to gain at large election to
their NC.
The letter is a race-baiting one, from a group in NYC which couldn't organize
its way out of a paper bag.
The original New York Coalition for Peace and Justice had an unhappy birth -
a third of the audience, some of color, some just attached to the more
militant groups - prevented the body from adopting a key point.
Stand Up New York didn't founder because Carmen Trotta and War Resisters
League organized a vigil on 9.10. It foundered because it never got its act
together. Carmen was weary of trying to get anything going and just went off
with a broad range (Jewish, Palestinian, Asian, African American, Hispanic,
relatives of those who had died on 9.11) and pulled together an extremely
successful vigil in Washington Square Park which drew thousands of people.
Among the many speakers was Martin Luther King III, as well as Palestinians
and Jews, etc. etc.
I wish this letter could be ignored, but it can't. It does (in my view) tell
us that these groups will insist on being "dealt in" or will charge whoever
moves without them as "racists". I think that is nonsense. I am sorry the
letter was sent. It will leave a bad taste in the air while doing nothing
helpful to encourage serious outreach to wide range of groups that must be
involved, not only in New York City but elsewhere in the world.
Coming just at this time, my sense is that the group that signed this is
taking aim at UFP. By being willing to attack War Resisters League, which is
probably one of the most radical of groups involved in UFP, I think they are
firing a shot across the bow, hoping white guilt will provide this group with
authority it would not othrerwise possess.
Solidarity,
David McReynolds
<< Subj: FYI: from the UfPJ list
Date: 2/22/03 10:03:17 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: gpason at sp-usa.org (Greg Pason)
Reply-to: spnatcomlist at topica.com
To: spnatcomlist at topica.com
I'm forwarding this from the UfPJ list. An important topic for
discussion (signed by two key folks from SOlidarity & Freedom Road).
Forwarded FYI since folks aren't on the UfPJ list.
Greg
Dear Sisters and Brothers in the anti-war movement,
Attached is an open letter raising issues of racism in the anti-war
movement. In it, we identify racist practices that have hindered our
ability
to work together and will continue to do so, unless movement organizers
take
aggressive steps to overcome these dynamics.
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"Without knowing that we knew nothing, we went on talking without listening to each other. Sometimes we flattered and praised each other, understanding that we would be flattered and praised in return. Other times we abused and shouted at each other, as if we were in a madhouse." -Tolstoy