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

[E. Wayne Johnson]

On 9/18/2009 11:45 AM, Stuart Levy wrote:
> 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.
>    

YEP!
>
>    
>> 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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