-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2000 9:50 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [CrashList] Nader Rally in San Antonio
Tony:
Although you are raising valid criticisms here, I think you are being
somewhat unfair and one-sided (undialectical) about the Green party and Green
movement.
What you fail to recognize is that, although Ralph Nader may indeed have
limitations in his populist presentation, many in the Green Party recognize
these limitations and in fact have an anti-capitalist world view of their own
and are bringing this world view to the thousands of young people that the
Nader campaign has introduced to independent political action.
The principle aspect of the Nader campaign, in my view, is that it targets
the system of monopoly capitalism; for instance, when Nader talks about the
political system being dominated "by one corporate party with two heads,
sometimes wearing different makeup." Or when he takes on "corporate welfare"
or denounces the "plutocracy." He may be somewhat limited in his solutions
but this is meant to be more than just an educational campaign, such as those
being run by Workers World, the Socialists or the SWP, which have been
running educational campaigns for decades to no appreciable avail. In
contrast, the Nader campaign is a serious effort to establish an
anti-corporate progressive third party on the American scene. It is an
attempt to unite the many to defeat the few, as a famous Chinese philosopher
once put it. It is a historic effort and the Left should not miss the boat,
or the opportunity to choose the course, by standing on the sidelines.
Certainly there are limitations but they are not as bad as you make them out
to be. Sure, some in the Greens uphold the Vincente Fox election in Mexico as
an advance but this is not the only view held in the Green movement. And he
is not a Green, as your posting seems to imply, although I am given to
understand that their are Greens in his new government. As far as being
"Social Democrats without the Labor movement," many Greens recognize the
central role of labor in building this movement. Many mainstream Greens talk
of a "Blue-Green alliance" and some talk of a Green Labor Caucus. BTW, the UE
has endorsed Nader, as has the California Nurses Association and many in the
rank-and-file.
Many have struggled with Nader to speak out more forcefully against racism
and on social justice issues and he has responded to the pressure. Check out
the platform. It has positions for effective and independent civilian review
of police brutality complaints and against the criminalization of our youth
and against the privatization of the prison system; it calls for reparations
for descendants of the African-American slaves and calls for outlawing the
flying of the Confederate battle flag over state buildings.
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