forwarded by Michael Hoover > =8AFrom: "Mitchel Cohen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Bernie Sanders' Sellout at Town Meeting in VT > Date: Wed, 05 May 1999 01:05:17 PDT > =8A > I received this "insiders" report from Will Miller, professor at University > of Vermont. Bernie Sanders, self-avowed socialist, is also taken to task in > the current NY Press by Alexander Cockburn. Please note in his report > --just making sure you get that far -- the ongoing despicable role of Prof. > Bogdan Denitch, the co-chair of Democratic Socialists of America. > > - Mitchel > > =46rom: Will Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 00:20:13 -0400 > > Will reports: > > Apparently, Bernie Sanders has forgotten what a Town Meeting is. > Perhaps he lived in Burlington (too "big" for town meetings) and Washington > (scared to death of town meetings) for so many years he cannot recall how a > democratic town meeting actually works. > > No one is allowed to appoint themselves the moderator for the town meeting. > Persons who are partisans on the issues before the town are excluded from > the moderator's election in favor of persons who can moderate fairly and > evenhandedly. > > Sanders, as the self-appointed moderator/boss, opened the evening > with naked self-justification. "It is a very complex situation..." > followed by the ritual of demonization of Milosevic--a technique he has > perfected over the last eight years on Saddam Hussein of Iraq. Then he > presented the false dilemma that the only alternative to bombing is doing > nothing. > > Sanders said his situation was the same as that of Joschka > =46ischer's of the Green Party, Germany's Foreign Minister, who has outraged > his Green Party membership by supporting the bombing his coalition > government is carrying out as part of NATO. The assembled citizenry moaned > audibly. > > He continued by subjecting the packed room of over 200 people to > more than an hour of a panel presentation by people of his own choosing; > even then, only one panelist overtly supported his position--Bogdan Denich, > a professor from New York City and leader of the pro-imperialist wing of > the Democratic Socialists of America. > Another panelist, Shirely Gedeon, a UVM Economist whose speciality is the > Balkans, undercut Sander's historical analysis and a third, Roddy Cleary, a > feminist and religious activist, challenged he support of the bombing > directly. > > Apparently, with all the college and universities in Vermont, > Bernie had to travel far into flatlander territory to find an academic > willing to support his "bomb now, talk later" position. In fact, Denich > went beyond Bernie's present position and called for sending in ground > troops, immediately. > > After allotting the panelists and himself 12 minutes each and now > more than an hour and a half into the meeting, the people finally had a > chance to speak. But only for 2 minutes each, dictated the self-appointed > moderator Bernie! And this after having lectured us on how complex the > issue of the US/NATO War on Yugoslavia really is. > > When he was challenged by a few members of the meeting about his > undemocratic restriction of peoples' speech, he said anyone who didn't like > it could leave. It seems when Sanders was in college in Chicago, he learned > more from Mayor Richard J. Daley than from his academic studies. > > The overwhelming majority of the people present were against Sander's > support for the bombing. Even with all his attempts to control > the meeting, the people had at him for more than an hour and a half. He > was denounced for his selling out to the Empire and it's war machine and > for his support for the 9 year old war against Iraq and his active support > for every US intervention since he has been in Congress--Iraq, Somalia, > Haiti, Bosnia, Liberia, Zaire (Congo), Albania, Sudan, Afghanistan and > Yugoslavia. He was further criticized for his refusal to ban or even object > to the use of depleted uranium with it's long term toxicity in both Iraq > and Yugoslavia. > > Sanders even tried to escape responsibility for arresting 15 of his > constituents in his office one week ago for the crime of wanting to talk to > him without an appointment by blaming those arrested for their arrest, as > if they went out and brought the police in to arrest > themselves. > > Sanders was repeatedly unresponsive to questions put to him. His > evasiveness and arrogance did not serve him well. In the end, only a few > people defended him. Whatever else Sanders gets for his joining the other > side in the global struggle for social justice--he has lost the left and > the peace movement here is Vermont. Maybe in the next election he will > finally have to run officially as the Democrat he has been for the last 9 > years! And then the people of Vermont will be free to build the > anti-capitalist political movement and party that Sanders has worked so > hard to block for more than a decade. > > People left the meeting resolving to escalate the antiwar movement > before the US escalates the war with an invasion of ground troops. The > latest leaks out of NATO sources in Europe suggest that the current plan is > to invade with troops by the end of May. Remember Vietnam! Never again! > > All Power to the People! > > Will Miller > > ******************************************************************* > Will Miller Phones: (802) 656-3137 (office) > Philosophy Department before 9:00 PM (802) 879-0288 (home) > University of Vermont (UVM) Philosophy Dept. FAX (802) 656-3133 > 70 South Williams Street, Room 107 E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Burlington, VT 05401-3404 Web page: http://www.uvm.edu/~wmiller > > ******************************************************************* > Manifest Destiny 1998: > "If we have to use force, it is because we are America! We are the > indispensable nation. We stand tall. We see further into the future." > Madeleine Albright, U.S. Secretary of State, February 19, 1998 > ******************************************************************* > > > _______________________________________________________________ > Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. 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