Chuck Grimes wrote:
>Seattle put the entire US political establishment on notice that there
>was a significant political block of US public who understood
>completely that `US global economic development' was nothing more than
>a new imperialism to rip off and extort foreign labor, enrich the
>already filthy rich capitalist pig assholes at home, and continue to
>partition this country into a two class society---haves (everything),
>have nots (nothing).
>
[...]
>It's afternoon again in America...
>
>
i've been a participant in a number of anti-war rallies. yesterday's dc demo was the first where i saw average folks expressing clear insights into the economic & structural links between war policy and domestic neglect. there was, to me, a noticeable qualitative change in attitudes from "war is wrong" moral indignation to "why are pissing away money to kill poor iraqi people when we should be taking care of the homeless in mississippi and louisiana" outrage. the talk in the streets was a lot more than simplistic demonizing of "sociopaths" like bush or rumsfeld to more subtle but still angry criticisms of institutional targets and corporations. there were many expressions of the kind "crude" thinking that brecht so admired in comments like, "what kind of shit is this where halliburton gets money no-questions-asked to 'rebuild' iraq AND new orleans." in this sense dc yesterday was a lot like what Chuck describes as having happened in seattle.
you don't hear the phrase "class consciousness" much anymore, but that's what i'd say was emerging in dc yesterday.