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Tom Wheeler wrote: > http://www.sfbg.com/37/08/cover_movement.html > Critical resistance > > A vast and diverse movement turns its energies to halting the Bush > administration's war plans - and to creating a vision of the future > in which the progressive left sets policy rather than reacts to it. > > By Camille T. Taiara > > ON THE EVENING of Oct. 26, after tens of thousands of protesters > converged on downtown San Francisco to tell the Bush administration, > in no uncertain terms, that they didn't support a war with Iraq, > overhead TV news camera shots revealed a march that stretched for > miles on end. On the ground it took hours for all of the > demonstrators to reach the final rallying point at Civic Center > Plaza. They just kept coming. > > Even by San Francisco standards, it was a massive protest. And the > folks there weren't just middle-class white liberals. They weren't > just the young, black-clad antiglobalization anarchists the media > love to scapegoat. In short, they weren't the usual crew of lefties > you see marching down our city streets every now and then protesting > the Gap's use of sweatshop labor or calling for the release of Mumia > Abu-Jamal. > > And while the march that day - along with concerted efforts in > Washington, D.C, and other cities - garnered the attention of the > world, it was neither the beginning nor the end of antiwar organizing > in the Bay Area. Activism has been taking place on every level - > including legislative and educational campaigns, the creation of > independent media, direct actions, and cultural work incorporating > art, music, and street theater. > > Plenty has gone on just in the past week or two: Tri-Valley > Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, California Peace > Action, and the Western States Legal Foundation held a rally at > Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on Veterans Day calling for > weapons inspections and disarmament here in the United States. One > week later activists locked themselves down at ChevronTexaco Corp.'s > Market Street headquarters and splashed the walkway with red paint to > symbolize blood spilled for oil. And on Nov. 20 students at campuses > throughout the nation are holding teach-ins and walk-outs, conducting > polls, and doing banner drops and guerrilla actions as part of the > National Day of Student Youth Resistance called for by Not in Our > Name. While these activities may not get the kind of press recent > large-scale demonstrations have received, they attest to a > groundswell of organizing that isn't about to disappear into the > woodwork anytime soon. > > The making of a movement > > Organizing against a war in Iraq has grown rapidly over the past few > months. But until masses of people flooded the streets of San > Francisco and Washington, D.C., on Oct. 26, hardly anybody - > including most activists - fully grasped what they had on their hands. > > "A lot of people came to a demonstration for the first time [that > day]," says Alicia Jrapko, a member of the local steering committee > of the International Act Now to Stop War and End Racism coalition. > Born out of the International Action Center shortly after the attacks > on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, ANSWER had called for the > Oct. 26 actions, which attracted between 42,000 (according to the San > Francisco Police Department) and 100,000 (according to march > organizers) participants in San Francisco and another 100,000 to > 200,000 in the nation's capital. Nineteen busloads of activists drove > up to San Francisco from Los Angeles, Jrapko says. Countless others > arrived from throughout the peninsula, northern California, the > Pacific Northwest, and as far away as Tucson, Ariz. > > "In San Diego," Jrapko says, "they ran out of buses [to rent]." > > ANSWER did extensive outreach to prepare for the marches, but Jrapko > says the movement took on a life of its own. "More and more people > began calling and attending our Tuesday meetings. People we'd never > seen before started dropping by our office," she says. > > The magnitude of popular dissent to the impending war - before the > United States has so much as begun its first (official) bombing > campaign - is exceptional. The country was five years into the > Vietnam War before such large numbers of protesters began to hit the > streets (see "Planning Ahead," page 20). Groups from the traditional > left have experienced exceptional growth. And new coalitions have > formed in direct response to the war on terror. Like ANSWER, Not in > Our Name has focused its efforts on mobilizing nationwide > demonstrations. In February, 40 community-based organizations from > across the nation formalized their relationship as Racial Justice > 911: People of Color Against the War, a collective effort to stop the > war abroad and at home. Among its local members are the National > Network of Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Women of Color Resource > Center, Third World Majority, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, > and many others. A more recent coalition, United for Peace, includes > labor unions, churches, and civil rights, women's, and youth groups. > > And the numbers continue to swell, as senior citizens, high school and > university students, a range of religious denominations, blue-collar > workers, veterans, progressive businesses, and women's, minority, and > special-issue activist groups put their weight behind the cause. > Several constituencies have become engaged to a degree rarely seen > before - Arabs, South Asians, and progressive Jews, working with > groups such as the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, South > Asians Taking Action, and Jews for Peace, have been organizing > against the backlash at home and the Bush administration's policies > in the Middle East. > > Obviously, Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft's attempts to > cripple dissent in the United States have backfired. > > Activism in flux > > While the surge in activism is truly inspiring, the past year has > been rough on the left. The passage of the USA PATRIOT Act cleared > the path for a fortified government crackdown on activists. > Progressive intellectuals have found themselves targeted by Sen. > Joseph Lieberman and Lynne Cheney, as well as by Campus Watch (a > project of the Middle East Forum inspired by Lieberman and Cheney's > report), which kept dossiers on "unpatriotic" academics who > criticized Israel's role in the occupied territories and U.S. foreign > policy. Activists continue to receive hate calls and death threats. > People characterized as the "enemy" - that is, Arabs, Muslims, South > Asians, and anybody else who looks the part - have become victims of > hate crimes; some have lost their lives. Thousands of Arab men have > been rounded up and detained indefinitely without charges. > > As a result, the racial justice and anti-corporate globalization > movements, which had been growing in maturity and gaining ground > since the mid '90s, found themselves on the defensive. Years worth of > efforts to gain amnesty for undocumented Mexicans were completely > subverted by renewed anti-immigrant sentiment. And as public focus > was redirected to the "war on terrorism," activists calling attention > to issues that affect people of color, including high amounts of > industrial toxins in poor neighborhoods and the burgeoning prison > industry, lost the limelight - and with it, some of their momentum. > > But a remarkable thing happened: rather than allowing themselves to be > driven underground, activists have been spurred to rethink their > tactics and work together. > "After Sept. 11 our work took many steps back," says Raquel Laviņa, > program director at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, an > organization dedicated to fighting police brutality and advocating > for alternatives to incarceration. Laviņa is also a member of Racial > Justice 911's interim steering committee. "The political environment > changed. Funding changed." > > Groups working individually in communities of color, she continues, > were left with two options: "Either hunker down and hope to survive > ... or come together, look at how we've been impacted, and figure out > what to do." > > Activists like Laviņa recognized that, in the United States, > low-income people of color are likely to bear the brunt of a war - as > more resources are redirected toward military campaigns and social > services diminish, and as disproportionate numbers of African > Americans and Latinos are sent to the front lines as foot soldiers. > > Yet these new conditions also created new possibilities for action. > The immigrant rights and criminal justice movements, for example, had > for the most part functioned separately. Now those issues have become > so intertwined that the people involved must, of necessity, pool > their efforts. > > "Those in the social justice movement must learn to deal with the war > in order to advance their ongoing agendas," War Times editor Bob Wing > says. "Those who, prior to Sept. 11, already incorporated a global > analysis into their activism, like environmentalists and immigrant > rights advocates, [are better prepared to make that transition]." > > Keepin' it real > > As traditional activists recoup and adapt to the shifting political > terrain, one central question looms: How do you build a broad-based, > inclusive antiwar movement without losing critical focus on the root > causes of militarism and war? Without a deeper analysis of how > corporate interest drives our domestic and foreign policy, leaving > poverty and environmental destruction in its wake - and of the risks > inherent in a single superpower unilaterally imposing its will on the > rest of the world - new crises are bound to arise. And the left won't > be prepared to avert them. > > There's a tremendous amount at stake. "If the U.S. goes to war, it'll > speed up U.S. aggression around the world and against its own > people," Wing says. "If we stop the war, the Bush administration will > lose some momentum." > > Large numbers of people marching in the streets is crucial to this > task. But as more and more join up, the peace movement becomes more > mainstream. Wing and other activists argue that, in the long term, > the movement must find ways to illuminate the broader political > connections. > > Antiglobalization organizers are well positioned to help make use of > widespread discontent with Bush's war drive and place it in a more > critical context. Since well before Sept. 11, many have been taking a > hard look in the mirror and asking how they can make themselves more > relevant to people who don't already share their views. > > "We've been grappling with questions like, How do we build coalitions > and alliances? How do we break out of single-issue work? How do we > use our resources and strengths to support and build the capacity of > communities that are the most impacted - communities that don't often > have their voices heard in these struggles? How does corporate greed > manifest itself on this planet?" says John Sellers of Ruckus Society. > One of the core groups of the anti-corporate globalization movement > in the United States, Ruckus specializes in training activists on > strategy and the tools of nonviolent direct action. "It just takes > tweaking the perspective a little.... Once you start connecting the > dots, it ain't rocket science." > > So groups like Ruckus have begun lending their efforts to local > struggles - in immigrant and labor communities, for example - and > infusing them with a global-justice perspective. And they've begun > tailoring their messages to address mainstream Americans' concerns. > If people at the center of the political spectrum are worried about > their safety, the activists talk about education and health care at > home - parts of our social infrastructure placed at risk by making > the drive to war our spending priority. They talk about creating > safety for Americans abroad through a just foreign policy and relying > on international law as an alternative to guns and bombs. > > The 'commies' > > The alternative media have focused significant attention on the fact > that some of the key organizations driving the peace movement are > rooted in hard-line left groups not known for their coalition > building. It's a debate sparked by criticisms rallied against the two > main organizers of the recent large-scale, nationwide protests, > ANSWER and Not in Our Name. > > But Communists and Socialists have played important roles in a lot of > mass movements in the United States for nearly a century - including > those to stop the war in Vietnam and in support of farmworkers and > political prisoners. In many cases, the movements just grew beyond > them. > > "I find the level of spotlight on those groups highly objectionable > and a form of [red-baiting]," Wing says. "I don't understand why, if > they do something sectarian, it gets so much more attention than if > another sector of the left does." > > "Besides," Steve Mikulan argues in a Nov. 1 L.A. Weekly article, "who > else has - or would - mobilize a peace movement? The Democratic > Leadership Council? Christopher Hitchens?" > > Still, some critics charge that the WWP and the RCP have hijacked > broad-based movements in the past and, in doing so, robbed them of > their vitality. Others worry about those groups' reluctance to > incorporate other voices at their rallies. "If we get people from > middle- and working-class neighborhoods to come out to a > demonstration for the first time, we need to really inspire them, > Sellers says. > > After all, he says, "There's nothing more radical than ordinary > people doing radical stuff." > > The challenge ahead > > Most people we talked to agree, however, that the activism happening > today has the potential to bring about real social change, regardless > of whether or not it actually succeeds in stopping Gulf War II - as > long as organizers play their cards right. > > "It's tough being in reactionary mode all the time," Global Exchange > founding director Medea Benjamin says. "It forces us [to follow] the > president's agenda.... We've been constantly distracted, since Sept. > 11, from core economic issues. We need to get back to the fundamental > issues." > > The left also must learn to become relevant to people and must offer a > viable alternative to the way things work now. > > "We need to articulate a proactive program," says Van Jones, executive > director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. "In some ways the > antiwar movement is a movement of opposition. We have fanatics trying > to impose religious domination on the world. We have fanatics trying > to impose corporate domination on the world. And us, what do we > propose?... Nobody should take the left seriously if we can't make > one neighborhood that works." > > ******************************* > Alternative Press Review - www.altpr.org > Your Guide Beyond the Mainstream > PO Box 4710 - Arlington, VA 22204 > > Infoshop.org - www.infoshop.org > News Kiosk - www.infoshop.org/inews > > ==^^=============================================================== > This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: > http://igc.topica.com/u/?aVxifP.a400od.aXJhZGVk Or send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! > http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register > ==^^=============================================================== ______________________________________________________________________ Per te Blu American Express č gratis! http://it.yahoo.com/mail_it/foot/?http://www.americanexpress.it/land_yahoo ___________________________________________ Rekombinant http://www.rekombinant.org
