[Peace-discuss] Guest commentary

[C. G. Estabrook]

I don't recall your name's being mentioned in the piece, Al.

I'm willing to defend the position that the argument is
patronizing or hypocritical, if not racist.  --CGE


---- Original message ----
>Date: Sun, 4 Sep 2005 12:24:43 -0500
>From: Al Kagan <akagan at uiuc.edu>  
>Subject: [Peace-discuss] Guest commentary  
>To: Peace-Discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>
>I want to respond to Carl Estabrook’s guest commentary on
page  B-3 of 
>today’s News-Gazette. While I agree with much of the
commentary, I 
>think the ending is a gratuitous attack on me, AWARE and the
anti-war 
>movement.
>
>Let me say upfront, that I have never been interested in
personalizing 
>our discussions of strategy and tactics. Intertwining the
issues with 
>personal attacks is a recipe for failure.  We must be able to 
>critically evaluate our activities, and those who see and
respond to 
>criticism as personal attacks should re-evaluate the effects
of their 
>actions.
>
>One must ask why a discussion about our strategy and tactics
must be 
>aired in public in the local newspaper?  Let me repeat a
little of my 
>original thoughts here. We have an African-American Senator
who is very 
>popular in the black community. If we want to do local
anti-racist 
>work, we can’t afford to alienate many in this community with a 
>sledgehammer approach.  We ought to try to engage this
politician and 
>appeal to his own self-interest.  We should argue that
according to the 
>polls, his constituents and especially the black community
are ahead of 
>him and want an end to this war.
>
>It was very clear at the AWARE meeting that nobody wants to give 
>Senator Obama a pass on his war position.  Coming to the
personal 
>level, the great majority of those who know me even a little
would 
>laugh at the author’s assertion, “Liberals who fail to say so
[Obama 
>“has blood on his hands”] because of the senator’s race find
themselves 
>supporting the war.”   My opposition to the war and US
imperialism is 
>not in question, and I don’t consider myself a “liberal.”
>
>Finally, to call the above argument, “…patronizing or
hypocritical, if 
>not racist” is beyond the bounds of principled debate.
>
>It seems to me that we have a set up for another shouting
match at 
>today’s meeting, therefore I will not be there.  AWARE needs
to work 
>through it’s internal process for having principled
discussions.  When 
>our norms and guidelines are ignored, we must be able to
confront the 
>situation and put it right.  If we can’t do this, we will not
be able 
>to advance our work.
>
>
>
>Al Kagan
>Africana Unit, Room 328
>University of Illinois Library
>1408 W. Gregory Drive
>Urbana, IL 61820
>USA
>
>tel. 217-333-6519
>fax 217-333-2214
>akagan at uiuc.edu
>________________