[pjnews] reflections the morning after
Nothing's officially final at the time I'm sending this out, but with a Bush win seeming certain, here are some thoughts... When in despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have always been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible. But in the end they always fall. -- Gandhi The arc or the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. ---Martin Luther King, Jr. - http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040920s=zinn The Optimism of Uncertainty by Howard Zinn In this awful world where the efforts of caring people often pale in comparison to what is done by those who have power, how do I manage to stay involved and seemingly happy? I am totally confident not that the world will get better, but that we should not give up the game before all the cards have been played. The metaphor is deliberate; life is a gamble. Not to play is to foreclose any chance of winning. To play, to act, is to create at least a possibility of changing the world. There is a tendency to think that what we see in the present moment will continue. We forget how often we have been astonished by the sudden crumbling of institutions, by extraordinary changes in people's thoughts, by unexpected eruptions of rebellion against tyrannies, by the quick collapse of systems of power that seemed invincible. What leaps out from the history of the past hundred years is its utter unpredictability. A revolution to overthrow the czar of Russia, in that most sluggish of semi-feudal empires, not only startled the most advanced imperial powers but took Lenin himself by surprise and sent him rushing by train to Petrograd. Who would have predicted the bizarre shifts of World War II--the Nazi-Soviet pact (those embarrassing photos of von Ribbentrop and Molotov shaking hands), and the German Army rolling through Russia, apparently invincible, causing colossal casualties, being turned back at the gates of Leningrad, on the western edge of Moscow, in the streets of Stalingrad, followed by the defeat of the German army, with Hitler huddled in his Berlin bunker, waiting to die? And then the postwar world, taking a shape no one could have drawn in advance: The Chinese Communist revolution, the tumultuous and violent Cultural Revolution, and then another turnabout, with post-Mao China renouncing its most fervently held ideas and institutions, making overtures to the West, cuddling up to capitalist enterprise, perplexing everyone. No one foresaw the disintegration of the old Western empires happening so quickly after the war, or the odd array of societies that would be created in the newly independent nations, from the benign village socialism of Nyerere's Tanzania to the madness of Idi Amin's adjacent Uganda. Spain became an astonishment. I recall a veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade telling me that he could not imagine Spanish Fascism being overthrown without another bloody war. But after Franco was gone, a parliamentary democracy came into being, open to Socialists, Communists, anarchists, everyone. The end of World War II left two superpowers with their respective spheres of influence and control, vying for military and political power. Yet they were unable to control events, even in those parts of the world considered to be their respective spheres of influence. The failure of the Soviet Union to have its way in Afghanistan, its decision to withdraw after almost a decade of ugly intervention, was the most striking evidence that even the possession of thermonuclear weapons does not guarantee domination over a determined population. The United States has faced the same reality. It waged a full-scale war in lndochina, conducting the most brutal bombardment of a tiny peninsula in world history, and yet was forced to withdraw. In the headlines every day we see other instances of the failure of the presumably powerful over the presumably powerless, as in Brazil, where a grassroots movement of workers and the poor elected a new president pledged to fight destructive corporate power. Looking at this catalogue of huge surprises, it's clear that the struggle for justice should never be abandoned because of the apparent overwhelming power of those who have the guns and the money and who seem invincible in their determination to hold on to it. That apparent power has, again and again, proved vulnerable to human qualities less measurable than bombs and dollars: moral fervor, determination, unity, organization, sacrifice, wit, ingenuity, courage, patience--whether by blacks in Alabama and South Africa, peasants in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Vietnam, or workers and intellectuals in Poland, Hungary and the Soviet Union itself. No cold calculation of the balance of power need deter people who are persuaded that their cause is just. I have tried hard to match my friends in their pessimism about the world (is it just my friends?), but I keep
[pjnews] On expatriation
see also: http://snipurl.com/adl9 Unhappy Democrats Need to Wait to Get Into Canada and pretty fascinating and kind of funny article- http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1103-29.htm Electing to Leave: A Readers Guide to Expatriating on November 3rd http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1103-28.htm Ten Reasons Not to Move to Canada by Sarah Anderson Ready to say screw this country and buy a one-way ticket north? Here are some reasons to stay in the belly of the beast. 1. The Rest of the World. After the February 2003 antiwar protests, the New York Times described the global peace movement as the world's second superpower. Their actions didn't prevent the war, but protestors in nine countries have succeeded in pressuring their governments to pull their troops from Iraq and/or withdraw from the so-called coalition of the willing. Antiwar Americans owe it to themajority of the people on this planet who agree with them to stay and do what they can to end the suffering in Iraq and prevent future pre-emptive wars. 2. People Power Can Trump Presidential Power. The strength of social movements can be more important than whoever is in the White House. Example: In 1970, President Nixon supported the Occupational Safety and Health Act, widely considered the most important pro-worker legislation of the last 50 years. It didn't happen because Nixon loved labor unions, but because union power was strong. Stay and help build the peace, economic justice, environmental and other social movements that can make change. 3. The great strides made in voter registration and youth mobilization must be built on rather than abandoned. 4. Like Nicaraguans in the 1980s, Iraqis Need U.S. Allies. After Ronald Reagan was re-elected in 1984, progressives resisted the urge to flee northwards and instead stayed to fight the U.S. governments secret war of arming the contras in Nicaragua and supporting human rights atrocities throughout Central America. Iraq is a different scenario, but we can still learn from the U.S.-Central America solidarity work that exposed illegal U.S. activities and their brutal consequences and ultimately prevailed by forcing a change in policy. 5. We Can't Let up on the Free Trade Front Activists have held the Bush administration at bay on some issues. On trade, opposition in the United States and in developing countries has largely blocked the Bush administrations corporate-driven trade agenda for four years. The President is expected to soon appoint a new top trade negotiator to break the impasse. Whoever he picks would love to see a progressive exodus to Canada. 6. Barak Obama. His victory to become the only African-American in the U.S. Senate was one of the few bright spots of the election. An early opponent of the Iraq war, Obama trounced his primary and general election opponents, even in white rural districts, showing he could teach other progressives a few things about broadening their base. As David Moberg of In These Times puts it, Obama demonstrates how a progressive politician can redefine mainstream political symbols to expand support for liberal policies and politicians rather than engage in creeping capitulation to the right. 7. Say so long to the DLC. Barry Goldwater suffered a resounding defeat when he ran for president against Lyndon Johnson in 1964, but his campaign spawned a conservative movement that eventually gained control of the Republican Party and elected Ronald Reagan in 1980. Progressives should see the excitement surrounding Dean, Kucinich, Moseley Braun, and Sharpton during the primary season as the foundation for a similar takeover of the Democratic Party. 8. 2008. President Bush is entering his second term facing an escalating casualty rate in Iraq, a record trade deficit, a staggering budget deficit, sky-high oil prices, and a deeply divided nation. As the Republicans face likely failure, progressives need to start preparing for regime change in 2008 or sooner. Remember that Nixon was re-elected with a bigger margin than Bush, but faced impeachment within a year. 9. Americans are Not All Yahoos. Although I wouldn't attempt to convince a Frenchman of it right now, many surveys indicate that Americans are more internationalist than the election results suggest. In a September poll by the University of Maryland, majorities of Bush supporters expressed support for multilateral approaches to security, including the United States being part of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (68%), the International Criminal Court (75%), the treaty banning land mines (66%), and the Kyoto Treaty on climate change (54%). The problem is that most of these Bush supporters weren't aware that Bush opposed these positions. Stay and help turn progressive instincts into political power. 10. Winter. Average January temperature in Ottawa: 12.2°F. Sarah Anderson ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) is a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies.
[pjnews] Hanging in there / reasons for hope
from moveon.org: We'll admit to being heartbroken by the outcome of yesterday's election. It's a dark day. But this afternoon, we received this email: Subject: Running for Congress Eli, In light of what happened yesterday, my friend and I have decided to get personally involved. He wants to run for Congress in 2006, and I'm his campaign manager at this point. Do you know of a good information source for how we handle the legalities of forming a campaign, opening bank accounts, registering with the FEC, etc? Thanks, Chris We have suffered a defeat, but we are not defeated. And our heartache does not diminish our pride in what you've done. We're proud about Wisconsin, where MoveOn volunteers turned out over 27,000 voters and Kerry won by only 11,813 votes. And New Hampshire, a former Bush state where we turned out 9,820 of the people on our list and Kerry won by 9,171 votes. Other groups were working with us in both states, but it's clear volunteers were at least partly responsible for the margin of victory. We're proud about Ken Salazar, the newest Senator from Colorado, whose campaign was fueled by the donations of thousands of MoveOn members. We're proud that before he conceded this morning, John Kerry called to thank all of you for what we did to help his campaign. Most of all, we are so proud of all of you, the MoveOn members who worked so hard and gave so much to take back America. Yesterday, over 70,000 of us worked from before 5am Eastern to 8pm Pacific, getting voters to the polls. At 4:50am in Florida, we heard from our lead organizers that hundreds of precinct leaders had checked in and were on their way to the polls. In Columbus, with three hours to go, we sent out a final message saying It's not too late! Help volunteer. Within minutes, two dozen people came running up the stairs in the rain, wanting to know, What can we do? Put us to work! One volunteer whose car broke down ran home, grabbed her bike, and biked from house to house in the thunderstorm, knocking on doors and reminding people to vote. That you put so much into this effort makes the loss more painful in some ways. But the fact that so many of us were involved offers true hope for the future of democracy. In the campaign to defeat George Bush, you have proven that real Americans can have a voice in American politics. In the months and years to come, that revelation will change everything. [...] Today, we'll take a breath. Tomorrow, we'll keep moving toward the America we know is possible. - from truemajority.org: What a difference four years makes. For the first time in decades, the number of people voting went way up. The number of folks who actually got involved in the election went through the roof. But the change was far deeper than that. Big money was still monumental, but little money collected online from lots of people added up to big money. More important, the things that really mattered in the end were accomplished by an army of regular folks. Millions of doors were knocked on, and even more calls to new voters were made. Regular people who were never political activists held house parties to share their enthusiasm with friends. Quite simply, politics went from something we watched on TV to something we all did. --- http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=2626 Don't Mourn, Organize by United for Peace and Justice November 3rd, 2004 In the wake of Bushs election, time to regroup and take the long view: The bad news is obvious and awful, but the good news is that our movement continues to grow. Here at United for Peace and Justice we share with millions of people around the country and millions more around the world a sense of horror about what happened on election day. The largest grassroots electoral mobilization in memory was not strong enough to unseat George W. Bush. We are upset by the outcome, and disgusted that the politics of fear have been so fine-tuned by Karl Rove and company. We are outraged by the voter intimidation, vote suppression, and other tactics of disenfranchisement used before and on November 2. But we are not totally surprised by the outcome of this election. For more than 40 years the right wing has been planning, organizing, fund raising, and executing strategies for taking control of this country. With George W. Bush and the so-called war on terror, they have found the perfect instrument for consolidating their power. Weve known for a long time what we are up against. We worked with all our might to stop the U.S. from going to war against Iraq, but we could not prevent it, even with 10 million people taking to the streets simultaneously around the world on February 15, 2003. We have all been working hard to end that war and occupation and to bring the troops home, and even though the lies behind the war have been exposed, we have not yet succeeded. At the same time, every day we are inspired by the outpouring of energy and creativity
