As one who opposed UFPJ's alliance with A.N.S.W.E.R. I am omly disappointed that the internal UFPJ discussion on this matter never concluded with any disclosure of the steering committee as to why the decision to ally was made.
Statements of princople are one thing ( i.e; "whereas X,Y, and Z conditions are known to exist we therefore intend to take A,B, and C, actions...") but where was the official response to A.N.S.W.E.R.'s coercion campaign in which they pushed petitions urging people to pressure UFPJ and which implied that UFPJ lacked conviction and tended toward disunification?
Where is the condemnation for A.N.S.W.E.R.'s abhorrent mis-representation of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement conference which they first ried to control and then denied and instead held their own conference in New Jersey after the PSM steering committee voted to move it to Ohio? What about the fictitious "Free Palestine Alliance" which features prominently in A.N.S.W.E.R.'s line-up of pedantic and screatchy "steering committee" orators but appears almost no where else?
And why do we accept this de facto censorship which seeks to classify all who would criticize A.N.S.W.E.R. as "red-baiters".
I think the very low turn-out at the Oct. 25 rally may reflect the general dissatisfaction people have with A.N.S.W.E.R.. We had a local street corner protest in Columbus, Ohio today which drew 43 people ( not bad under the circumstances!) and a number of the folks I spoke with there refered to the D.C. event as "the A.N.S.W.E.R. rally" and cited A.N.S.W.E.R. as one of their reasons for staying home.
One of the problems is A.N.S.W.E.R.'s demagoguic speaking style which most of their spokespeople seem to emulate on stage. A lot of people find it abrasive and irritating. One speaker in D.C. today used the phrase; "...sick and tired of being sick and tired". I thought perhaps part of the problem is that we may be sick and tired of being told that we are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
UFPJ was simply held hostage by the tyrany of initiative - A.N.S.W.E.R.'s initiative in having pulled the permits as well as in initiating the usual dirty pool tactics their parent organization has been known for.
Evan Davis
Fred Feldman wrote:
>Probably banking on the likelihood of a modest but (especially under
>the present conditions) highly significant turnout for the October 25
>marches, a new campaign is underway to split the antiwar movement and
>use redbaiting to break up the progress made toward forging a real
>action coalition.
>
>
--- End forwarded message ---