Rabbi Michael Lerner has posted the transcript of a phone conference
between major leaders of the mainstream peace movement (himself, Leslie
Cagan, Medea Benjamin, et al) and Democratic Congressional “doves” Lynn
Woolsey and Jim Moran on his website.
Politic.com explains Lerner’s decision:
"A well-known anti-war leader has gone public with the transcript of a
private conference call that shows peace activists are exasperated with
the Democratic congressional leadership and at a loss for a long-term
strategy."
The fact that a UFPJ leader would be in on this phone call is further
proof that this coalition is hopelessly wedded to influencing the
Democratic Party. In some ways, the war continues because there is not a
sufficiently powerful political force inside the US that is seen as a
genuine threat by the ruling class parties. No matter how many temper
tantrums that Code Pink throws, there will always be the obvious
impression that they are trying to influence mommy and daddy. In the
1960s and 70s, the antiwar movement had no interest in cajoling
Democratic Party “doves”. It saw its job as raising hell in the streets
to the point where both parties would succumb to the pressure. Of
course, the antiwar movement of the 1960s tended to be much bigger and
more militant because of the military draft. Young people like me saw
protesting the war as an act of survival in some ways.
To extend the analogy with trying to get mommy and daddy’s attention, I
always felt that becoming radicalized for me was a little bit like
discovering that your parents were sexually abusing one of your
siblings. Once you make this discovery, you will never see them in the
same way. Some children might call the cops; others might take a gun and
shoot the offending parent. But you would never sit on their lap again.
That’s how I felt about the Democrats after 1967.
full:
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2007/09/11/eavesdropping-on-a-phone-conference/
