[Peace-discuss] Marsh letter

[C. G. Estabrook]

"Carl connected 'some' AWARE members to socialism/communism."  This 
nasty little bit of red-baiting shows that either Bob didn't read my 
letter or willfully misinterprets it.  Here it us; judge for yourself. 
--CGE

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A piece on the editorial page ("Listen up, Mark has a message for 
you...," 24 March) described the local group AWARE ("Anti-War 
Anti-Racism Effort") as "socialist" and "left-wing," with no indication 
of how those terms were understood.  How about a real discussion of 
them?  Here for openers is what some members of AWARE mean by them:

1. Anti-war.  War may sometimes be necessary (not all AWARE members are 
pacifists), but not this time: the Bush administration is guilty of what 
the German leaders were condemned for at Nuremberg -- launching an 
aggressive war.

2. Anti-racism.  Having no good excuse, the administration has sold the 
war on the basis that the Arab people and culture are particularly 
violent towards Americans -- and to fill its "volunteer" army,  it's 
relied on the fact that poor people in America are disproportionately 
non-white.

3. Left-wing.  Since the terms were given a political sense more than 
two hundred years ago, left and right have described a spectrum of 
political positions -- the further left, the more democratic, and the 
further right, the less.  (The Soviet Communists, being undemocratic, 
were *right-wing* Marxists.)

4. Socialist.  From the origins of the modern capitalist economy, in 
which what is produced and what jobs are available are determined by a 
small group of rich people making corporate investment decisions, 
socialism (not the same as Communism) has been the name for the 
common-sense alternative that such things should be decided democratically.

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Bob Illyes wrote:
> Have a look at the letter to the editor in the News-Gazette last
> night, in which Mr. Marsh responds to Carl's April 5th letter
> in which Carl connected "some" AWARE members to socialism/communism.
> As Carl knows, few members of AWARE are either socialist or
> communist, so I can't say why he chose to connect our name with
> such matters.
>