Discussion about Gore versus Nader seems framed in conventional electoral terms but as I pointed out in my report on the NYC rally for Nader, he and his supporters seem genuinely interested in building a movement. The other night I got a call from an old friend who worked on Sisters City project for Nicaragua in the 1980s. He is throwing a house party for Nader tomorrow night and had called me to staff a table on the Upper West Side on Sunday. If I hadn't been out of town, I would have done so. What's of particular interest is that this individual has been involved with the Upper West Side Reform Democratic Club for the past 20 years. Something is going on. The other thing worth noting is how the battle over Pacifica appears to be focused intensely on the Amy Goodman "Democracy Now" show which is obviously a pro-Nader forum. Leftwing forces in the trade union movement are rallying around her defense and a general defense of the traditional progressive values of the network right now. Organizing meetings are being held at Local 1707 in NYC and Charles Kernighan of the National Labor Committee (anti-sweatshop) gave the most impassioned speech at the Pacifica rally in NYC last week. Class lines are sharpening in the USA and the Nader campaign, with all its foibles, is reflecting this. Furthermore, in a departure from past practice, Nader has spoken out on the Mideast. While obviously his position is not as sharply posed as Noam Chomsky's, for instance, it is a sign that the Nader campaign is moving off the square defined by people like Todd Gitlin and Richard Rorty who believe that the left should focus narrowly on bread and butter issues so as to avoid the "mistakes" of the Vietnam antiwar movement. Louis Proyect Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org
