[Peace-discuss] First Black President Defeats U.S. Antiwar Movement

[C. G. Estabrook]

This seems to me, I'm sorry to say, most eminent sense.  Maybe we should use 
this piece as a flyer for May 2, given that the last two flyers have been 
devoted explicitly to Afghanistan.

We could list at the end how to fight this trend locally -- upcoming events and 
contact information for AWARE and other groups, websites, etc.   --CGE


Randall Cotton wrote:
> This caught my eye, as Glen Ford's commentaries often do, mainly because I
> generally agree with him 100%, as in this case.
> 
> First Black President Defeats U.S. Antiwar Movement
> A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
> 
> "Obama pretends he wants peace, and anti-war members of Congress pretend
> to believe him."
> 
> In the streets, on the campuses and on Capitol Hill, the anti-war movement
> is no longer moving anywhere. It has been crippled by the Obama Effect,
> the deep and wide delusion that imperialism with a Black face is somehow -
> something else. When a movement disbands itself without coming even close
> to achieving its objective, that is a defeat. We can now definitively
> state that, for the time being, the U.S. anti-war movement has been
> defeated - not by Republicans, but by Barack Obama's Democratic Party.
> 
> A recent article in The Hill, a newspaper that covers Congress, relates a
> meeting among staffers for Out of Iraq caucus leaders Barbara Lee, Maxine
> Waters and Lynn Woolsey. They were supposed to come up with a response to
> President Obama's announcement that he would immediately send 4,000
> additional troops to Afghanistan, with lots more to come. Obama is
> determined to leave at least 50,000 troops in Iraq for an open-ended
> period of time under the guise of "training" the Iraqis, and is rapidly
> merging Afghanistan and Pakistan into one theater of war, called Af-Pak.
> Clearly, the Obama administration is expanding its war in Af-Pak, and has
> no intention of ending the U.S. military presence in Iraq - ever. The
> staffers for the Out of Iraq caucus leaders spent two hours trying to come
> up with a position. They failed.
> 
> For all intents and purposes, the Out of Iraq caucus has ceased to
> function. Black Congresswomen Barbara Lee and Maxine Waters have at times
> shown great courage in the face of stupendous odds. But they will not
> confront Barack Obama, even when he expands the arenas of war, claims that
> combat soldiers are merely trainers and advisers, and pushes through a war
> budget that is bigger than any of George Bush's war budgets. Obama
> pretends he wants peace, and anti-war members of Congress pretend to
> believe him.
> 
> "The anti-war movement has hit rock-bottom because of its failure to
> challenge this particular president."
> 
> Another Capitol Hill publication, the Congressional Quarterly, recently
> ran an article on the low demonstration turn-out and money woes of the
> anti-war movement. A March 21st rally at the Pentagon drew pitiful numbers
> of demonstrators, only 3,000 according to police. Organizers claim they
> can't raise money these days, and have been forced to cut staff. A
> spokesperson for ANSWER, the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism Coalition,
> said the peace movement is seeing the impact of the "promises the Obama
> campaign made." Outgoing United for Peace and Justice leader Leslie Cagan
> says her money people aren't giving because "It's enough for many of them
> that Obama has a plan to end the war and that things are moving in the
> right direction."
> 
> But Obama has no plans or intention to end his wars except on imperialism'
> s own terms - which means never-ending war, just like under Bush - a basic
> truth that United for Peace and Justice refuses to recognize or admit.
> ANSWER organizers also fail to confront the Obama White House head-on. The
> Congressional Quarterly article concludes that the anti-war movement is
> suffering from the results of "its own successes." That's absolute
> nonsense. The anti-war movement has hit rock-bottom because of its failure
> to challenge this particular president, an imperialist with charm, a
> warmonger with a winning smile. Obama has whipped them, but good. And they
> will stay whipped, until they stand up like men, like women, like leaders.
> 
> www.blackagendareport.com
> 
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