Re: [Marxism] Jonathan Schell on the DP's prowar stance
Moveon began in protest of the Clinton impeachment. It began as a letter that took a life of its own. Michael, I'd like to know more about this. I've been asked to perform at a benefit for MoveOn and need to decide. (I don't want to help fund a Kerry front.) Dan Scanlan
Re: [Marxism] Jonathan Schell on the DP's prowar stance
A Berkeley couple just sent out an email during the impeachment, appealing for politics to moveon to more important stuff. The letter took on a life of its own eventually began an to become an organization. Soros gave them some money. On Sun, Aug 08, 2004 at 11:32:37AM -0700, Dan Scanlan wrote: Moveon began in protest of the Clinton impeachment. It began as a letter that took a life of its own. Michael, I'd like to know more about this. I've been asked to perform at a benefit for MoveOn and need to decide. (I don't want to help fund a Kerry front.) Dan Scanlan -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Re: [Marxism] Jonathan Schell on the DP's prowar stance
On Sun, 8 Aug 2004, Dan Scanlan wrote: Moveon began in protest of the Clinton impeachment. It began as a letter that took a life of its own. I'd like to know more about this. I've been asked to perform at a benefit for MoveOn and need to decide. There's an extensive profile of the MoveOn and their history in the current LA Weekly: http://www.laweekly.com/ink/04/37/features-bernhard.php Michael
Re: [Marxism] Jonathan Schell on the DP's prowar stance
On Sun, 8 Aug 2004, Dan Scanlan wrote: Moveon began in protest of the Clinton impeachment. It began as a letter that took a life of its own. I'd like to know more about this. I've been asked to perform at a benefit for MoveOn and need to decide. There's an extensive profile of the MoveOn and their history in the current LA Weekly: http://www.laweekly.com/ink/04/37/features-bernhard.php Michael Thanks, this is a helluva story. I only wish MoveOn wasn't giving Kerry such an undeserved pass. What they are trying to do Nader has been doing for the past 40 years. They're in front of the wrong parade. Dan
Re: [Marxism] Jonathan Schell on the DP's prowar stance
An invitation to any public forum is important. I have had an opportunity to speak in Churches before . . . Detroit and Montgomery Alabama and did work with the old Theology in the Americas Movement . . . as well as public speaking and giving written reports to trade union members on a weekly and monthly basis. Ever public forum is important and generally in my presentations I stick to the issue. If the issue is war and peace . . . I stick to the issue as a bread and butter issue as well as the general inhumanity of human towards men and women. I interject class . . . not as an ideological question but similar to Michael Moore's 9/11 . . . when be approaches the issue from the standpoint of the poor and those on the bottom of the ladder. Lots of people do not have medical care or access to good schooling and many more do not believe schooling can help them. Most of us are abolitionists on the side of the poor and those on the bottom of the totem pole. It is not that we cannot afford national health care. Rather . . . we can nolonger afford not to have it because it employs doctors and a profession and strengthens the health care system as employment and meeting human needs. Yes, . . . we need to employ more dentist because the people have bad teeth and one way or another the money always end up back into the coffers of government. Crest tooth paste is no substitute for the dentist. For me . . . Kerry would not be the cardinal issue . . . but rather taking a message of inspiration to those deeply interested in the plight of the lowest section of society we call the proletariat. Who ever the most power and arrogant rulers in society come for today . . . is an indication they will come for ustomorrow and the people will understand that. Class inequality in America is not a fat theory or this "big head thing" for intellectuals ... like us to broad about . . . or coattail chat for those of us who can thread water and stay in front of the economic curve. Bush has made it clear that class inequality is about the elite and their bourgeois prejudices and attitude that says if I cannot have things my way . . . I will drive the country into war and poverty for millions. You already know what to say and the protection of the 50 million on the bottom protects everyone above them. We are all on a ladder in society and when the bottom rung is broken the next level becomes bottom. Peace. Melvin P.
Re: [Marxism] Jonathan Schell on the DP's prowar stance
Marvin Gandall wrote: (Jonathan Schell, in the forthcoming issue of The Nation, argues that the Democratic party has locked itself into continuing the war in Iraq, even though its base is in denial and is hoping Kerry's pledge to do so is just rhetoric designed to win the election. In fact, the outcome of the US occupation, has little to do with what the Democrats or Republicans do or do not say, or what their intentions are. As in Vietnam and any occupation, it will be decided by the level and durability of Iraqi resistance. What Schell leaves out is the organized antiwar movement. One of the main goals of the Democratic Party over the past year or so, besides ousting Bush so as to provide sinecures in Washington for their own loyalists, has been to disarm the antiwar movement. By creating fake antiwar outfits like Moveon.org, by unleashing hate campaigns against ANWER in the pages of Democratic Party outlets like the Nation, Salon and LA Weekly, by launching an Orwellian hate Nader campaign, it has forced politics to the center. If you want to oppose the war in Iraq, it is necessary to support a pro-war candidate. WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH . Jonathan Schell: What of the antiwar sentiment that is still in truth at the heart of most Democrats' anger? It has been displaced downward and outward, into the outlying precincts of American politics. The political class as a whole has proved incapable of taking responsibility for the future of the nation, and the education of the American public has been left to those without hope of office. Like a balloon that squeezed at the top expands at the base, opposition to the war increases the farther you get from John Kerry. Carter and Gore can express a little more of it. Howard Dean, who infused the party with its now-muffled antiwar passion, can express more still. Representative Kucinich, a full-throated peace candidate, has endorsed Kerry and has kind words to say about him but holds fast to his antiwar position. On the Internet, Tomdispatch.com, AlterNet.org, commondreams.org, antiwar.com, MoveOn.org and many others are buzzing and bubbling with honest and inspired reporting and commentary. Michael Moore is packing audiences into 2,000 theaters to see Fahrenheit 9/11. Except for antiwar.com, every one of these outlets has been beating the drums for Kerry. I feel like Winston Smyth. commented, may take the country over Niagara Falls. Then Kerry may wish that he and his admirers at this year's convention had thought to place a higher value on his service to his country when he opposed the Vietnam War. Today's John Kerry has about as much connection with that John Kerry as Christopher Hitchens or David Horowitz have with their 1973 personae. -- Marxism list: www.marxmail.org
Re: [Marxism] Jonathan Schell on the DP's prowar stance
Louis P. writes: One of the main goals of the Democratic Party over the past year or so, besides ousting Bush so as to provide sinecures in Washington for their own loyalists, has been to disarm the antiwar movement. By creating fake antiwar outfits like Moveon.org, ... it has forced politics to the center. did the DP create Moveon.org? my impression is that its leaders created it and then moved into the DP orbit on their own. Also, it should be stressed that winner-take-all elections with a two-party system create a structural bias that forces all participants to the center. It's not just the cynical manipulation by the DP politburo. jim devine
Re: [Marxism] Jonathan Schell on the DP's prowar stance
Devine, James wrote: did the DP create Moveon.org? my impression is that its leaders created it and then moved into the DP orbit on their own. I wasn't clear enough. Moveon.org was created by people who wanted a respectable alternative to the antiwar movement. It then morphed into Howard Dean's collection agency and is now nothing but an arm of the Democratic Party. -- Marxism list: www.marxmail.org
Re: [Marxism] Jonathan Schell on the DP's prowar stance
Moveon began in protest of the Clinton impeachment. It began as a letter that took a life of its own. On Sat, Jul 31, 2004 at 12:29:41PM -0400, Louis Proyect wrote: Devine, James wrote: did the DP create Moveon.org? my impression is that its leaders created it and then moved into the DP orbit on their own. I wasn't clear enough. Moveon.org was created by people who wanted a respectable alternative to the antiwar movement. It then morphed into Howard Dean's collection agency and is now nothing but an arm of the Democratic Party. -- Marxism list: www.marxmail.org -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
