[Peace-discuss] Don't Mourn, Organize!

[Ricky Baldwin]

A friend sent me this under the title "Don't Mourn,
Organize!" (paraphrasing IWW Joe Hill's famous words
upon his execution) written by someone calling him or
herself Meteor Blades.  Any one of us might have put
it slightly differently, but I was sure glad to see it
and I thought others might be, too.

See you tonight (CPRB) or Saturday (P4P) or both!
Ricky

OK. I read thousands of comments and dozens of diaries
last night and this morning. And you know something?
I’m going to forget I read most of them.  Just erase
them from memory along with the names of  those who
posted them. Chalk them up to adrenaline crashes, too
much rage and reefer and booze.  Because what I found
in my reading was a plethora of  bashing Christians,
bashing Kerry, bashing gays, bashing Edwards, bashing
Kos, bashing America and bashing each other. As well
as a lot of people saying they’re abandoning the
Democrats, abandoning politics, abandoning the
country. This descent into despair and irrationality
and surrender puts icing on the Republican victory
cake. 

Why were we in this fight in the first place?  Because
terrible leaders are doing terrible things to our
country and calling this wonderful.  Because radical
reactionaries are trying to impose their imperialist
schemes on whoever they wish and calling this just.
Because amoral oligarchs are determined to enhance
their slice of the economic pie and calling this the
natural order. Because flag-wrapped ideologues want to
chop up civil liberties and call this security.
Because myopians are in charge of America’s future. 
We lost on 11/2. Came in second place in a crucial
battle whose damage may still be felt decades from
now. 

The despicable record of our foes makes our defeat
good reason for disappointment and fear. Even without
a mandate over the past four years, they have behaved
ruthlessly at home and abroad, failing to listen to
objections even from members of their own party. With
the mandate of a 3.6-million vote margin, one can only
imagine how far their arrogance will take them in
their efforts to dismantle 70 years of social
legislation and 50+ years of diplomacy.  

Still, Tuesday was only one round in the struggle. 
It’s only the end if we let it be. I am not speaking
solely of challenging the votes in Ohio or elsewhere ­
indeed, I think even successful challenges are
unlikely to change the ultimate outcome, which is not
to say I don’t think the Democrats should make the
attempt. And I’m not just talking about evaluating in
depth what went wrong, then building on what was
started in the Dean campaign to reinvigorate the
grassroots of the Democratic Party, although I also
think we must do that. I’m talking about the broader
political realm, the realm outside of electoral
politics that has always pushed America to live up to
its best ideals and overcome its most grotesque
contradictions.  

Not a few people have spoken in the past few hours
about an Americanist authoritarianism emerging out of
the country’s current leadership. I think that’s not
far-fetched. Fighting this requires that we stick
together, not bashing each other, not fleeing or
hiding or yielding to the temptation of behaving as if
 “what’s the use?”

It’s tough on the psyche to be beaten. Throughout our
country’s history, abolitionists, suffragists, union
organizers, anti-racists, antiwarriors, civil
libertarians, feminists and gay rights activists have
challenged the majority of Americans to take off their
blinders. Each succeeded one way or another, but not
overnight, and certainly not without serious setbacks.


After a decent interval of licking our wounds and
pondering what might have been and where we went
wrong, we need to spit out our despair and return ­ 
united - to battling those who have for the moment
outmaneuvered us. Otherwise, we might just as well lie
down in the street and let them flatten us with their
schemes. 




		
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