How to build a powerful antiwar
movement
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Thousands of activists are giving thought to all questions
related to the development of a
more powerful antiwar movement. This
leaflet represents an effort to directly confront the
most serious questions related to the development of an antiwar movement
that can deliver powerful blows against US imperialism’s war
on Iraq. |
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● Organize ourselves!
Mass meetings and regular marches ● Politicize our movement and take
it to the masses!
Use mass democracy to fight ● Focus on our goal!
A world without bourgeois rule |
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US imperialism has run into trouble in its war on Iraq.
The war started well. The obedient
lapdogs in the mass media saturated the airwaves and newsprint with
hysteria about “weapons of mass destruction”.
The obedient poodles in the Democratic Party
rubber-stamped Bush’s war authorization and budget. The most advanced military technologies on
earth were used to obliterate the Iraqi army and accomplish the real goal of
the war: planting 14 permanent military bases in the heart of the oil-rich
Middle East.
But the Iraqi people have had other ideas.
After suffering enormously under US imperialist occupation (including
100,000 dead and the complete destruction of the city of Fallujah) they are
making clear their determination to kick out US imperialism and its hated
puppet government. The elections
scheduled for January 30 will change little because, more than anything else,
they are being used as a fig leaf to provide legitimacy to behind-the-scenes
control of Iraq by US imperialism. Now even
the imperialist strategists are looking into the face of defeat and scrambling
to avoid the humiliation of a Saigon-style evacuation of their dependents and
collaborators. The
antiwar movement in this country is playing a very important role: US imperialism
appears to be unlikely to win in Iraq without hundreds of thousands of
additional troops. These troops would
not be available without a draft.
And the reimposition of the draft would pour gasoline on the
smoldering antiwar movement and cause it to ignite. Hence the antiwar movement (even though it is
still relatively small and struggling for independence against the suffocating
embrace of the imperialist liberals in the Democratic Party) represents a
major obstacle in the war plans of Bush and the ruling bourgeoisie. How can we make the antiwar movement more powerful? Antiwar
activists today face a difficult situation.
Our movement suffers from many crises: ● a crisis of orientation Do we
place our hopes on saviors from within the establishment – or orient our
movement toward mobilizing the working class and masses for
struggle? ● a crisis of organization Who do we work with and what organizations are
worth the investment of our energy? If
the kind of organizations which we need do not exist – then how can we
create them? ● a crisis of theory What is
the goal of our movement? Should we try to return to the mythical
“democracy” that supposedly existed before the 9-11
terrorist attack? Or should our focus be
on eliminating the political and economic system of imperialism
that makes war inevitable? And if
our goal is the elimination of imperialism (and the system of bourgeois rule
from which it is inseparable) – then with what would we replace it? What is decisive? The
decisive issue for the development of the antiwar movement is the struggle of
the movement to (1) break free of the restrictions of bourgeois
political ideas and (2) mobilize the masses. On
one side of this struggle are the politics of mass democracy (ie: where
activists have an opportunity to discuss, debate and decide all the important
questions) and political transparency (ie: where all the important
political principles and disagreements in the movement are known to activists). On
the other side of this struggle -- is the Democratic Party -- an
imperialist party which specializes in sucking the life energy and militancy
out of the mass movements. The
Democratic Party does not like to see the antiwar movement turn in the
direction of mobilizing the masses.
The Democratic Party would prefer that we do something "safer"
-- something less powerful and less effective -- like becoming doorbell ringers
and election fodder for one of their "progressive" candidates. All of the existing political organizations on the left,
in the view of this writer, are deeply flawed. Some organizations allow saviors from within
the Democratic Party establishment to speak from their stage and promote one of the most blood-soaked lies of our
time -- the idea that the imperialist Democratic Party can be turned into a
vehicle for the antiwar movement. This
is the disease of reformism. Some
organizations attempt to isolate activists from one another (for example
NION recently banned me from their public meetings because I
posted comments on Indymedia criticizing their failure to adequately publicize the Jan
20 marches). This is the disease of
sectarianism. Most organizations on
the left suffer from both of these diseases. Lack
of space prevents further review of these topics here. I hope that activists who would like to pursue
this join me online in the Media Weapon community (see the “ad”
to the right) or follow the “What to do after J-20?” series posted on
Seattle Indymedia by Frank (a former comrade of mine). Frank has proposed marches on March 19 and
May 1 and the need to find a more mass democratic alternative to the
current scene. (See:
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2005/01/244089.shtml ) Ben
Seattle • Jan 15, 2005 •
http://struggle.net/Ben
Ben’s views do not necessarily
reflect the views of other supporters of the Media Weapon
community. |
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