[Peace-discuss] Save books, because you can't save kids from Obama?

[C. G. Estabrook]

Stuart, and all--

I think the Obama administration has been so successful at mystifying the US public about its murderous policies - policies that are in fact opposed to the interests of the vast majority - that progressive-minded people, looking to do good, have been turned away from the greatest evils for which their government is responsible.  Nevertheless unable to deny that something is very wrong, they look around for good causes in which to invest their energy. A "displacement of affect" is the result - we wonder where all the emotion is coming from. 

We discussed at last Sunday's meeting the notion that people's rallying to the antiwar movement of 40 years ago depended on "issues that are seen as affecting them directly" - notably the draft - and I argued that that wasn't the case.  By 1969 (when I was eligible for the draft) about 70% of the public had come to regard that war as "fundamentally wrong and immoral," not "a mistake," largely as a result of the impact of student protest on general consciousness. And that mass opposition compelled the business community and then the government to stop the escalation of the war. (I admit the circumstances of the two wars were quite different - SW Asia is far more important to the American 1% than SE Asia was.)

Obama and his epigoni are perfectly aware of the history of that antiwar movement (more perhaps than those of us in the present-day movement are) - and, as The Audacity of Hope shows, determined that it not be repeated. He's good at it - and ruthless, as Snowden, Manning and Assange know, and as the dead children from Yemen to Pakistan show.

As you know, the largest antiwar demonstrations in human history took place ten years ago, after the invasion of Afghanistan and before the invasion of Iraq. It is the accomplishment of Obama and the Democrats, beginning in 2006, when the Democrats were given control of the Congress specifically to end the war (as they recognized), to have continued and widened the war while convincing Americans that they weren't. It's one of the biggest lies of contemporary history.

"Do not forget. This visitation / Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose." 

I once had the privilege of playing Hamlet's father (the ghost), whose lines those are, and it seems to me that they should be addressed to the contemporary antiwar movement. 

Regards, CGE

On Jul 10, 2013, at 4:34 PM, Stuart Levy <stuartnlevy at gmail.com> wrote:

> Carl, and all,
> 
> It's 'way easier for people to mobilize on issues that are seen as affecting them directly.   If more of us had relatives in AF, PK, IQ, Yemen, etc., then more anti-war events these days might fill rooms, too.   But to most people in the US, war and peace feel like pretty remote issues - and intractable ones.
> 
> Of course not everyone feels that way.   You may remember Aimee as the one who led a bunch of us in demonstrating against, and publicly questioning, a champion of the military-industrial complex whom the U of I recently invited to speak on the "public good" (!) - Norman Augustine, ex-head of Lockheed Martin.
> 
> If we want to see an anti-war movement that is as effective in organizing people as other local activists have been in organizing them over libraries, schools, and jails, then we have to find a way to make distant, ever-more-secret wars seem immediate and personal - and to make them seem other than inevitable.   (Remember the woman who, at a recent demonstration, commented that "no one goes to war because they *want* to.")
> 
> There's no need to disparage local democratic action because we haven't figured out how to do that.
> 
>    Stuart
> 
> On 7/10/13 10:17 AM, Rickman, Aimee N wrote:
>> Carl,
>> 
>> I am really troubled by this comment. Do you even know what is going on at the library?
>> 
>> Your insinuation that the concerns raised over the situation at the library somehow take energy away from organizing around more important issues is offensive and wrong. People organizing around the library are addressing issues of labor, of power, of transparency, of private control over public spaces, with folks from CU demanding public involvement in the stewarding of this local public institutions.
>> 
>> Is the library situation as worrisome as the US drone program? As the findings and treatment of Snoden, Manning, or Assange? As the dismantling of the voter right bill? As our continued involvement in the middle east? No. But it is not fair for you to pit this issue against the others and call one more worthy than the other. Those of us organizing around the library are not tunnel-visioned. We can (and do) give our attention to more than one issue at a time. Your comment suggests that the library is being challenged to the detriment of the betterment of other worthy causes. This is not the case. It is not a zero sum game. And it is for you to suggest that this is a displaced witch hunt trivializes what is going on at the library and demeans the powerful ripple effect that comes from movements such as this that encourage citizens to claim their rights and to realize (despite all they are told) that they can make a difference in how things go.
>> 
>> Beyond this, your comment is a very familiar cocky discrediting of an effort for not being the "real" or "right" one. Why, Carl? You must see that this is demeaning and offensive and just plain wrong.
>> 
>> Perhaps you want to learn more about what is going on at UFL? If so, here's a clearinghouse of information: http://reclaimingourlibrary.blogspot.com/
>> 
>> But I am guessing you are not interested in this. I admired you on News from Neptune, but have grown more than weary of your eternally pessimistic and judgmental armchair commentary on this list. I think you're more than content to be in this space whether the target of your critique is Obama or your activist neighbors.
>> 
>> It is unfortunate.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> **************Apologies for any random question marks my system has weirdly added to this email********************
>> 
>> 
>> ________________________________________
>> From: OccupyCU [occupycu-bounces at lists.chambana.net] on behalf of C. G. Estabrook [carl at newsfromneptune.com]
>> Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2013 9:11 AM
>> To: peace-discuss at anti-war.net
>> Cc: sftalk at yahoogroups.com; occupycu
>> Subject: [OccupyCU] Save books, because you can't save kids from Obama?
>> 
>> Quite remarkable outrage is being displayed by people of progressive disposition in Urbana over the discarding of books from the local library.
>> 
>> Given IT, such a decision is probably of as little importance as at any time since the invention of printing. But a friend plausibly suggests that the outrage is displaced affect, arising from our seeming inability or unwillingness to stop the all-but-ignored killing by our murderous government - or even to stop our chief magistrate (whom many library protestors voted for) from persecuting those who publish the truth - Snowden, Manning, Assange, et al.
>> 
>> We choke on a culling gnat and stomach a criminal camel.
>> 
>> http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2013-07-09/updated-urbana-library-seek-early-separation-director.html
>> 
>> --CGE
>> _______________________________________________