Below is a critique of an article about the anti-war movement written by an editor of Left Turn magazine by Josh Frank of counterpunch fame . You can read the original here: http://www.leftturn.org/?q=node/976.
Cranky sectarianism aside, the best part of it is Frank's call for a political coalition of "beer swilling rednecks from Little Rock" and "acid droppin’ hippies from Eugene" to get around the candidacy of Ron Paul. The fact the guy wants to abolish social security, workers comp, minimum wage etc., should be a secondary concern for the left. Frank is screaming at wimpy leftists and liberals for refusing to see the wisdom of such a strategy. Guess you can't get more angular than that.
>> Max,>> I take offense to some of your essay; mainly your inability to recognize> that the movement to end the is larger than the "left". Also, you paint> with a broad brush in your half-assed critique of CounterPunch, one that> is not referenced, let alone accurate.>> One cannot step back and analyze the failures of the antiwar movement> without looking at what happened in 2004 with Kerry’s campaign. In> essence, and I think Left Turn made a huge mistake on this issue (your> essay seems to be a call to move back in the right direction); the antiwar> movement backed a pro-war candidate. There was no pressure on Kerry to> alter his position on the war. No bird-dogging protests along the> campaign trail. No outrage over his> flip-flopping-let’s-send-more-troops-into-battle rhetoric. Silence during> election season amounts to little more than complicity in the lesser-evil> shit we neck deep in.>> Back to Dennis Kucinich, who failed us miserably four years ago by> abandoning his antiwar platform in favor of Kerry’s pro-war campaign.> There is little reason to believe he won’t do the same thing again this> year if Hillary’s the nominee. It was party politics before issues.> Kucinich wasn’t an activist but a pawn, and the antiwar movement, or at> least those who supported him, felt the damaging tremors for months after.>> I think your largest, and perhaps most telling mistake is your> unwillingness (inability?) to move beyond an appraisal of the usual> suspects of failing movements: UFPJ and the like. The antiwar sentiment in> this country is large, yet, as you correctly point out, there is no real> visible “moving” movement on the ground. In many ways this is the> so-called left’s fault, as they are not willing to actually reach out to> antiwar folks across the lines.>> Case in point being the most visible and enthusiastic antiwar candidate in> the country, which you completely ignore: Rep. Ron Paul. Whether we agree> or disagree with Paul’s privatize the world approach to every fucking> problem, we cannot ignore that his campaign is literally exploding due to> a broad coalition (some racist, most loony) of people who oppose the war> in Iraq. Paul, for whatever reason, has built a real campaign, one I hope> moves beyond the primaries and in to the general election, despite who it> may attract. The more antiwar voices we have the better we'll all be.>> Why can’t Left Turn embrace this new reality? As a movement that was> allegedly born out of the battle in Seattle, which was an unimaginable> coalition of interests (labor/environmental/protectionists), one would> think the Left Turn editorial staff would be at the forefront in calling> for such a coalition again today.> And this is where CounterPunch and Antiwar.com come in. Unlike the typical> left-leading newsletters (CounterPunch is not purely a left site, and> Antiwar.com is libertarian) these sites represent a true call for on the> ground collaboration of all who oppose this war, as well as the the ones> that seem certain to follow. Whether we are beer swilling rednecks from> Little Rock or acid droppin’ hippies from Eugene we need need to come> together. And working to keep the movement away from supporting a pro-war> candidate like Hillary Clinton in the general election is an important> endeavor. One I hope Left Turn won’t shy away from over the next 11> months.>> Cindy Sheehan’s campaign against Pelosi and CODEPINK's relentless attacks> on Hillary are examples of the work that needs to be supported. I’m> guessing there will be a similar independent campaign in the general> election as well. We need to monkeywrench this issue so that it cannot be> ignored by the media or the big party candidates. There is a lot of work,> some of which you mention, that must be done, sure. We cannot be locked in> the logic of old. I agree with you wholeheartedly on that. Vietnam was a> different era. So let’s move away from a purely left critique of the war> machine and embrace reality: The antiwar movement is larger than the left.> In fact, so much so that the left may be at the whim of a real grassroots> movement instead of at the forefront.>>> Best,> Joshua Frank>
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