[Peace-discuss] ron paul on obama and the antiwar movement

[Stuart Levy]

On Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 11:29:56AM -0500, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> "And where is the anti-war *right*?  Busy protesting health care reform or 
> immigrant reform, taxes, or something, I suppose."
>
> No, it's taking a principled (as opposed to just pragmatic) stand against 
> US crimes in the Middle East.

Where is it standing when it takes that stand?

It'll be interesting to see how much anti-war expression is to be found
at the Midwest Liberty Fest next month.


> See, e.g., the website <antiwar.com>, the journals American Conservative 
> and Chronicles, and the recent book by Bill Kauffman, "Ain't My America: 
> The Long, Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism and Middle-American 
> Anti-Imperialism."
>
> --CGE
>
>
> Ricky Baldwin wrote:
>> And where is the anti-war *right*?  Busy protesting health care reform or 
>> immigrant reform, taxes, or something, I suppose.  We might also say the 
>> left, and millions of people of various stripes, are caught up in issues 
>> related to recession or depression, possibly losing their own jobs or 
>> homes, or with health care, etc.
>>  It's good that Paul is still speaking up against US wars, wherever they 
>> are and whoever is ordering them, despite his questionable politics in 
>> other areas.  And it is true that Obama's presidency took a big bite out 
>> of the anti-war movement.  It's not the only thing.  It also depends on 
>> how you measure opposition.
>>  As I've said before, the (recent) anti-war movement was probably at its 
>> biggest, measured by turnout, in the weeks before and immediately after 
>> the (most recent) invasion of Iraq.  That summer we lost most of our 
>> activists and they never came back.
>>  Much of that opposition was closely related to opposition to Bush 
>> himself, in a similar way that much of the current noise over Obama's 
>> various plans is closely related to a dislike of the man himself.  There 
>> was also a naive belief among many at the time that the invasion might not 
>> happen if we just protested enough.  Most were never in for the long haul.
>>  A second wave of resolutions passed by cities, churches, labor unions and 
>> other groups, and the referendum votes in various communities like ours 
>> rejecting the war all came after that.
>>  Public opinion since then has only tipped further against the war in 
>> Iraq, and now has tipped more against the war in Afghanistan.  And 
>> anti-war efforts continue and not only among the hardcore faithful few 
>> anti-war purists (as they themselves might have us believe), e.g. the 
>> AFL-CIO this past weekend passed resolutions calling (again) for 
>> withdrawal of all troops and contractors from Iraq.
>>  But there's quite a bit more going on, of course: this past March several 
>> cities around the country held protests against the continued occupation 
>> of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine; on May 1 of this year 25,000 unionized 
>> longshoremen executed a one-day work stoppage in protest of US wars in 
>> Iraq and Afghanistan; US Labor Against the War has been building ties with 
>> Iraqi unions, pointing out that US presence in Iraq is actually growing, 
>> organizing anti-war unionists; even the New York Times, a leading 
>> proponent of the "Obama Effect," is reporting on the "American anti-war 
>> movement" to gear up this fall; and communities here in Illinois - 
>> Evanston, Oak Park, CHAMPAIGN-URBANA - continue demonstrating against war, 
>> holding peace vigils, etc.
>>  In fact there are two here next Monday, I believe, Sept. 21: a daytime 
>> protest on the Quad at noon, and an evening vigil at the Alma Mater at 
>> 8pm. And of course we have our monthly protests and presence at other 
>> events.  I believe anti-war groups including AWARE sorely need new 
>> activities too focus on, rather than just telling each other how their 
>> movement is flopping, is being fooled or coopted, or is otherwise 
>> unworthy.  And my opinion is that it ought to be calculated to draw in new 
>> blood and expand into new venues, preferably focused on some specific goal 
>> - like the campaign we built around the referendum votes, for example, but 
>> something that hasn't already be done.
>>  My 2c.
>> Ricky
>> "Speak your mind even if your voice shakes." - Maggie Kuhn
>> --- On *Fri, 9/18/09, E. Wayne Johnson /<ewj at pigs.ag>/* wrote:
>>     From: E. Wayne Johnson <ewj at pigs.ag>
>>     Subject: [Peace-discuss] ron paul on obama and the antiwar movement
>>     To: "'Peace-discuss'" <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>,
>>     ronpaul-305 at meetup.com, ronpaul-1884 at meetup.com,
>>     republican-637 at meetup.com
>>     Date: Friday, September 18, 2009, 5:44 AM
>>     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYNvjFYTmMM
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