Yoshie wrote: > > I've seen folks here and elsewhere contemptuously dismiss an > independent electoral challenge to the Democratic Party from the left > (Nader/Camejo and Greens who support them), an attempt to make voices > for peace heard inside the Democratic Party (Kucinich and those who > supported him), and now even protests (militant or theatrical) in the > streets. > > I've yet hear them present what they believe to be worth doing, let > alone see them actually doing it. ------------------ That's not entirely fair comment. My impression is that most of the criticisms on the list of the Nader/Camejo ticket haven't been "contemptuous" -- certainly not any more so than some of the opposing comments directed at them -- but, in any event, we can agree that this kind of tone from both quarters isn't constructive. I think the great majority of contributors to left-wing lists also support strikes and demonstrations, and many participate in them as the opportunity presents itself, although the general level of activity is almost certainly less than your own.
This may reflect a sense, which I share, that there has to be evidence of mass sentiment for strikes and demonstrations, and this sentiment almost always surfaces in response to objective threats -- to economic security, in the form of a sharp deterioration in living and working conditions, or from fear of war and other threats to physical security. Unless and until such conditions are present, attempts to conjure up street protests through tireless propaganda by radical intellectuals often only appear frenetic and incomprehensible to those they're aimed at. I'm referring here not only to other progressive intellectuals, but also and perhaps especially to skilled workers, who have a good grasp of their own circumstances and how to deal with them, despite the patronizing way they are often dismissed as having "false consciousness". In other words, where mass concern is evident, as it was, for example, in last year's leadup to the war in Iraq, people will turn out to demonstrate. But to imagine you can create strikes, demonstrations, and other forms of mass activity in the streets through the sheer power of ideas, where the conditions for those ideas to take root are largely absent, strikes me as -- well, idealism. I suspect most other people feel this way also, even if they haven't articulated it that way to themselves. I can't speak for others, but I've indicated previously that I think the most meaningful mass political activity which is currently taking place in the US is among rank-and-file Democrats and others you (contemptuously?) refer to as "ABB'ers". The current election has the character of a referendum on US economic and foreign policy, which distinguishes it from the usual run-of-the-mill electoral entertainment in liberal democracies, and the unusual intensity of feeling between the Democratic and Republican ranks, and within the left, testifies to the importance attached to it. You may not accept this, but I would welcome it if anti-Bush hostility were expressed in a mass movement towards the more progressive Nader/Camejo ticket. But the objective conditions clearly don't exist for that, and your efforts to build support for such a movement through tireless propaganda do, alas, appear mostly frenetic and incomprehensible -- and antagonistic -- to the overwhelming majority of well-intentioned intellectuals and workers who have consciously determined that a repudiation of the economic and foreign policies of their government requires throwing out the Bush administration. I don't think you'll ever persuade them that goal can be realized by voting Green as opposed to Democratic. As Tariq Ali has noted, a Bush defeat will be interpreted as a repudiation of current US policies by the rest of the world, which is why we outside the States are also watching the election so closely. Finally, I don't think participation in this process is in contradiction to organizing parallel antiwar actions among antiwar Democrats and ABB'ers, as you suggest. It would, in fact, complement such efforts. On the other hand, your preoccupation with the Greens' electoral fortunes goes in the other direction. It is in contradiction to building bridges to, and mobilizing, this massive constituency for more radical action. I hope, respectfully, this helps answer your question about what some of think is worth doing, and not doing. Marv Gandall
