> There is zero truth to it-- just the fact that so many progressive groups
> are still willing to sign up with ANSWER on endorsements, despite public
> knowledge it is run by the WWP, shows how much bullshit the "redbaiting"
> card is all about. People hate particular sectarian groups because they
> think they fuck up meetings, screw up coalitions, are physically violent, or
> just bore everyone to death.
>
> After the last month of internal withhunts within the Guild against me,
> culminating in almost an hour last night at the local NYC Guild chapter
> discussing the inappropriateness of my views on my weblog, personal email on
> this list, and assorted other ideological failings due to my criticism of
> the WWP, my tolerance for even a smidgen of defense for this
> "anti-redbaiting" crap is pretty much at an end.
>
> I've never experienced this kind of ideological inquisition in any liberal
> group I've been a member of, despite places where I was known to have more
> leftwing "commie" views. My experience in life is of far more ideological
> intolerance from the "leftwing" sectarians than from regular progressive
> folks.
Wow! The street cred of the NLG keeps plummeting in my opinion, but I have some hope that saner voices within that org will speak up.
I'm getting tired of being one of the more vocal critics of ANSWER, but I'm wondering what we can do collectively to speak up about ANSWER. Would it be useful to come up with a statement about ANSWER that is activist-focused, but doesn't tar all communists and socialists and anarchists with the same brush that Corn, Cooper, Gitlin and others of their ilk are using? How about something that criticizes ANSWER and affirms the necessity for many movements against the war and for peace, all of which are democratic, open and transparent.
One of my anarchist buddies in NYC has suggested that I find a lawyer and press the NLG to clarify their position on my background as an activist. I really don't want to pursue that, but I'd prefer that people come up with a collective statement that would make ANSWER accountable and call for a multiplicity of resistance movements.
Chuck0
------------------------------------------------------------ Personal homepage -> http://chuck.mahost.org/ Infoshop.org -> http://www.infoshop.org/ MutualAid.org -> http://www.mutualaid.org/ Alternative Press Review -> http://www.altpr.org/ Practical Anarchy Online -> http://www.practicalanarchy.org/ Anarchy: AJODA -> http://www.anarchymag.org/
"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