[Peace-discuss] Too Late and Too Little

Wed Oct 17 23:57:04 CDT 2007

http://counterpunch.org/sharon10172007.html

October       17, 2007        Democrats: AWOL       When It Mattered        Too       Late, Too Little        By SHARON SMITH
        In their first eleven months as a congressional       majority, the Democrats show no progress toward fulfilling the       campaign promises that won them votes from the antiwar majority       last November. If anything, they have accomplished less than       nothing, since their rubber-stamping of Bush's troops surge last       January raised the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to more than       160,000 for the foreseeable future. 
        Not surprisingly, a Washington       Post-ABC News poll released on October 2nd showed just 29       percent of respondents approve of the job Congress is doing-a       14-point drop since the Democrats took control last January (and       even lower than Bush's paltry 33 percent approval rating). The       same poll showed seven in 10 respondents want Iraq war funding       decreased, "with 46 percent wanting it cut sharply or entirely."
        Yet the party's presidential       front-runners seem strangely unconcerned about alienating antiwar       voters through their own waffling and inaction. Senators Hillary       Clinton and Barack Obama did not even bother to show up to vote       against war funding on September 27th and October 1st, which       handed Bush $150 billion more for U.S. wars on Iraq and Afghanistan.       
        In addition, some congressional       party leaders have become openly hostile to antiwar activists.       House Speaker Nancy Pelosi bitterly complained to the Washington       Post on October 10th about antiwar protesters camped outside       her home,  "If they were poor and they were sleeping on       my sidewalk, they would be arrested for loitering, but because       they have 'Impeach Bush' across their chest, it's the First Amendment."
        But United for Peace and Justice       (UFPJ), the nation's largest antiwar coalition, remains undeterred       from maintaining its amicable relationship with Democrats, however       miserably that strategy failed in 2004 when pro-war neoliberal       candidate John Kerry was the party's anointed candidate. UFPJ's       third national assembly, held in Chicago on June 22nd-24th,       declared as a priority "engaging in the 2008 electoral season       to project a peace and justice agenda." 
        No decision was made on how       to proceed in the strong likelihood that no major candidate offers       a peace and justice agenda. Given that most states have joined       in the rush for early primaries, the Democrats' corporate-backed       nominee should be in place by the fifth anniversary of the U.S.       invasion of Iraq in March 2008. If past practice is any indication,       UFPJ can be expected to go into hibernation to weather the contradictions       of the coming election, as it did in 2004, to the detriment of       the antiwar movement. But those contradictions are already in       full display.
        UFPJ has called for regional       antiwar mobilizations on October 27-an anticlimactic date, since       it follows Congress' recent debate (and approval) of war       funding. Yet UFPJ promises the protests will show the "breadth       and depth of antiwar sentiment" across the U.S.
        But organizers for the Midwest       regional protest, to be held in Chicago, boast on their website       that invited guest speakers include Obama, Senator Richard Durbin       and Mayor Richard Daley. This list of elected officials came       as a surprise to many local antiwar activists and endorsers who       were not privy to the information before it was posted publicly.       CodePINK's Chicago coordinator asked pointedly, "The stated       rationale for inviting Senator Obama to speak is that he is our       Senator. We're mobilizing the Midwest, right? Is Ohio in the       Midwest? Representative Kucinich is not listed as a potential       speaker despite his stellar anti-war position. Presidential politics       here?"
        Some organizations (including       the 8th Day Center for Justice, the International Solidarity       Movement and the International Socialist Organization) revoked       their endorsements, while Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)       has called for an [anti-]imperialist feeder march. All cited       the same misgivings:
        Senator Richard Durbin has       consistently voted for Iraq war funding, including an additional       $150 billion dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on       October 1. Along with Clinton, Durbin also voted for the Bush       administration's September 26th resolution designating Iran's       Revolutionary Guard as "an international terrorist organization,"       which paves the way for a U.S. military attack on Iran. Barack       Obama, while currently touting his 2002 antiwar credentials,       has consistently voted to fund the Iraq war (the one exception       occurred this past spring, when passage was already assured)       and, like rivals Clinton and John Edwards, he has refused to       pledge that U.S. troops would leave Iraq by the end of his first       term in 2013. Obama did not show up to vote on the Iran resolution       on September 26th.
        Mayor Richard Daley opposed       the Chicago City Council's passage of a September 2005 resolution       calling for a rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. In addition,       Daley approved of police arrests of over 800 Chicago antiwar       protesters on the night the U.S. invaded Iraq in March 2003.       Under Daley, Chicago schools have become the most militarized       in the nation-the only city to use public school facilities to       host army, navy, air force and marine academies. 
        October 27's Chicago organizer       Carl Davidson has refused to cave in to this growing dissension       among antiwar activists alarmed at the direction of the coming       demonstration. Davidson replied to his critics on Chicago Indymedia,       "I've repeated, time and again, that we are building a left-center       coalition around 'out now' and related slogans, and if you are       in agreement with that basic orientation, welcome aboard."       
        "Out now" is an appropriate       slogan for an antiwar protest, but this message can easily become       diluted in the context of today's do-nothing "antiwar"       Democrats. A "left-center coalition" might or might       not work for the next Democratic Party nominee (Gore and Kerry,       using "triangulation" politics, both failed to motivate       voters desiring a genuine departure from the political status       quo). But it certainly spells disaster for the antiwar movement,       which is dangerously close to rendering itself irrelevant. As       the Iraq occupation approaches its fifth anniversary, the politicians       responsible from both major political parties must be held accountable.       Otherwise, the next stop is 2013-and beyond-and more Iraqis and       U.S. troops will pay the price.
        Sharon Smith is the author of Women       and Socialism and Subterranean       Fire: a History of Working-Class Radicalism in the United States.       She can be reached at: sharon at internationalsocialist.org
 

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