Sunday Journal, DC May 16, 1999 Robert Naiman "On the Left" American Jews Call for Halt of NATO Bombing President Clinton has repeatedly tried to fend off criticism of NATO's war against Yugoslavia by comparing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to Adolf Hitler and comparing the Yugoslav Army's campaign against Albanian separatists in Kosovo to the Nazi extermination of six million Jews. In an appeal to the Green Party of Germany to oppose the war, more than 200 American Jews, including prominent scholars, writers, and civic leaders, rejected this comparison. The appeal, viewable at www.preamble.org/greensign.html, was signed by many prominent human rights activists, such as the famous linguist and author Noam Chomsky, historian Howard Zinn, and Saul Landau, who helped prepare legal cases against Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. The occasion was the Green Party conference on the war on May 13, where party activists critical of the war presented resolutions demanding an immediate halt to the NATO bombing. After a raucous debate, the party conference approved a resolution backed by the leadership which called for a suspension of airstrikes but will be interpreted as allowing the Green parliamentary deputies to continue supporting the German government policy of toeing the NATO line. In Germany even more than the United States, the memory of the Holocaust has been repeatedly invoked to justify the war, or at least to silence the opposition. The argument is a powerful one in Germany. We are often told we must understand the lessons of history to avoid repeating its mistakes. But the lessons of history are not given to us in a textbook, nor can we trust editorialists to tell us what they are. If the Devil can quote Scripture for his purpose, then virulent militarists and racists can invoke the Holocaust to justify bombing a defenseless civilian population. As one signer of the anti- war appeal sardonically remarked, "What better way to honor the victims of the Holocaust than to have the German Luftwaffe bomb Belgrade?" We have to figure out the lessons of history for ourselves. If we can't trust editorialists, we certainly can't rely on party allegiances to determine what we think. Many Congressional Democrats seem quite prepared to say any damn thing if the White House or the Democratic leadership tell them it's politically expedient to do so. They'll say that the Social Security system is in crisis, or that U.S. taxpayers should give more money to the IMF to help poor countries, or that NATO is bombing Yugoslavia out of humanitarian concern, despite the fact that all of these claims are absurd. Yet, people who should know better -- many of them far from the Beltway -- continue to act as if the position of President Clinton or the Democratic leadership should guide their political judgements. The hoary phrase "strange bedfellows" should be viewed in this light. Progressive critics of the Administration are accused of being "in bed with the Republicans" when they oppose allocating more tax dollars to the IMF, or the bombing of Yugoslav civilians. The accusation is absurd. A moral person determines their position first and then tries to figure out who their potential allies are, not the other way around. To determines one's stance based on the alleged authority of party leaders is to invite oneself to be led around by the nose. While much of the rank and file of the Democratic party slept, the Clinton Administration sabotaged the movement for universal health insurance, passed NAFTA, established the WTO, abolished federally guaranteed support for poor families, restricted civil liberties, increased the use of the death penalty, opened more public land to resource extraction, cut social spending, and expanded the IMF. Starving children in Indonesia can thank outgoing Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin for IMF austerity. Still, liberals rally their supporters by trumpeting that the "real threat" is the Republicans. Check the next fundraising appeal you get from a liberal organization. Note how they try to get your money by whipping up fear of the Republican right and the Christian Coalition. See if they mention how Clinton and the Democratic leadership support the same policies or worse. Of course, conservative Republicans advocate many awful policies, but these policies often would not be adopted if they were not supported by Democratic leaders. Maybe, after all the bombing, militarism and cutbacks supported by this Administration and their "liberal" allies, the rank and file will say, enough is enough. A little more rabble-rousing at the grassroots could go a long way. ------------------------------- Robert Naiman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Preamble Center 1737 21st NW Washington, DC 20009 phone: 202-265-3263 fax: 202-265-3647 http://www.preamble.org/ -------------------------------
