I'm watched an anti-war rally in D.C. on CSPAN today. I'm just going to rant for a while 
. I'm just going to type what comes to mind, so don't expect this to flow smoothly or be supported by tons of evidence.
Ok....watching this thing was like listening to someone drag their finger nails across a chalkboard. The lies and hypocrisy of the speakers is a wonder to behold. The different political causes represented among the protesters varied from freeing Palestine to freeing Mumia. The chants and "phrases" are all too common and rehearsed. I remember hearing "one, two, three, four, we don't want your racist war" when I was back in Berkeley right after 9-11. Here we are again, the same phrase, but I don't see how this is about racism. The repetition of "solidarity", "unity", "worker's rights" and other phrases are all too common to a socialist worker's rally and are repeated hundreds of times throughout the rally by several speakers. Phrases like: "colonial occupation", "military machine", "corporate fatcats", "our rights are under assault" are thrown around like they're nothing.
Each speaker would get up and start by listing their left-wing credentials to rally their support among the crowd. One man started by listing all of the union rallies he's been in and his support of the free Mumia movement. The crowd started chanting "Free Mumia". Bush's recent move to stop union strikes, which were paralyzing a sector of our economy resulting in billions of dollars in losses every day was brought up by one speaker. The speaker then started chanting "Hands off the docks, stay out of Iraq". The crowd started chanting it too. Are those two things related? Is it strange that the whole crowd would start chanting "hands off the docks" when most of them surely don't understand the complexity of that situation?
One of the speakers said that he is afraid for the future of his children in this country. His little boy (who couldn't have been older than 9) stepped up and barely reached the podium. He stumbled on an obviously rehearsed speech and said that even a little boy like him knows that peace is better than war. The crowd cheered. He then held up a shirt with the phrase "no war for oil" printed on it to more cheers. Clearly this boy had the proper education and unbiased environment to make such a statement, right? Every speaker pointed out that the war distracted from the corporate scandals caused by Bush and the Republicans who are responsible for the ruined economy totalling ignoring the effects of 9-11, the dot BUST and the fact that companies like Enron made large contributions to nearly every left-wing congressman (Enron gave nearly 1/3 of its contributions to left-wingers).
The typical celebrities make their token speeches and the crowd was all too predictable. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Susan Sarandon, and Patti Smith were up there. Susan Sarandon, a common celebrity face at liberal rallies, says that she is tired of the rich and corporations misleading us. I guess her movies aren't produced by corporations, I guess she's not a millionaire. She cited George Tennet's recent report that we are under high of risk of a terrorist attack as proof that our war on terrorism has failed. Did George Bush tell us that the war would be over soon? Did he say that he would guarantee than within a year of 9-11 we'd be safe? I don't see where this is coming from.
One of the main speakers introduced Jesse Jackson like he was a superstar. The speaker shouted out his name and introduced him like a WWF wrestler is introduced. He was a leader among modern freedom fighters (a modern MLK) and the crowd roared. Ridiculous and sad.
The main rally organizers who would step in every so often would repeatedly say that there are "reports" of buses still coming in from all over the country. The the rally had swelled to well over 100,000, though there was no official count! They also passed around buckets for money to organize more rallies.
Every speaker said that he\she didn't want his\her children to die for oil. What are the chances that ultra-lefties would ever join the army? Are these weekend protestors really the type to sign up for the ROTC? I remember activists outside the ROTC center at my school with signs proclaiming the center as a terrorist camp.
One speaker got up who was a representative for Jews for Peace or something to that effect. He was a gay, unionist, progressive Jewish man against zionism. He openly stated that zionism is our enemy. The crowd cheered. He was against the vietnam war (a common credential among many older speakers and not surprising). The crowd cheered. Why was identifying all these associations necessary? Not sure.
A giddy black student from Brown university who was on CSPAN that day arguing against the war laughed that she was sitting across from "TWO RICH WHITE KIDS" who would never find themselves fighting a war. She giggled as she mocked the two rich white kids. The crowd cheered her on. Why was it important to mention that they're rich and white? I guess only the poor and non-white would naturally be against this war. Funny that all the white faces in the crowd cheered her on. Funny that she would never be fighting in a war either. Her laughter was annoying and she seemed very immate and clearly driven by the attention of thousands of cheering protestors.
Several speakers blamed ALL 1.5 million Iraqi deaths since the
sanctions started on US policy. Here's the important part here. I heard NO MENTION OF SADDAM HUSSEIN from any of the speakers. No guilt was placed upon him. None of the Iraqi deaths were attributed to him. They didn't even mention that they were against the war despite his dictatorship. THey just claimed that the Iraqis just want peace and prosperity and we're the only ones holding them back. The consensus among the speakers was that we had no international support. There was no mention of Britain and Tony Blair.
Here's what I'm sick of (there's a lot more, but I'll keep it brief):
1. The variety of lies and generalizations that I've outlined above. Centrists, right-wingers and even democrats have argued against much of this stuff. The speakers at the rally didn't even pretend like counter-arguements exist. Saddam's responsible for some of this? No, that doesn't serve our purpose. The economy is failing for reasons beyond the control of the president? No, we're not going to acknowledge that economics is more complex than simple slogans. Corporate scandals due to just Bush and his "cronies"? No, let's not mention that nearly every left-wing congressmen has received large sums of money from corporations. Let's not mention that we really have no idea how many people are at the rally, that we're not sure how the rest of America really feels, and that positive results aren't necessarily due to the fact that we're sitting out here chanting and are more likely just fortuitous. War is never the answer? Let's forget about WWII, right? Also, veterans are not unanimously against the war because they know the horrors of war!
2. The umbrella nature of these rallies. They have to pander to dozens and dozens of different causes to achieve the numbers to get press attention. Each successive speakers spoke about much more than just Iraq, though this was a free Iraq rally. They recounted dozens of shameful events in the history of our country to remind everyone how horrible our government is. They talked about the successes of previous free Palestine rallies which many of these protestors apparently attended. Random speakers would get up and say that they opposed invading Iraq and then spent 5-10 minutes on the removal of US troops from Viques, Korea, Grenada, etc. If you want to make it seem that these people have showed up to tell Bush that they opposed the war, THEN THE FOCUS OF THE SPEAKERS SHOULD BE ON THE WAR! The speakers should not talk about Palestine, Mumia, etc etc etc.
Here's a listing of some of the groups who presented their causes here:
Bayan-USA
Free Palestine Alliance
IFCO / Pastors for Peace
International Action Center
Kensington Welfare Rights Union
Korea Truth Commission
Mexico Solidarity Network
Middle East Children's Alliance
Muslim Student Association of the U.S. and Canada
Nicaragua Network
Partnership for Civil Justice - Legal Defense and Education Fund
This is a small list of the many causes presented at the rally. Clearly these don't all relate to Iraq.
3. HYPOCRISY! Sarandon attacking the rich and corporations! Jackson talking about workers losing jobs when he doesn't have one! Everyone attacking corporations but wearing every recognizable corporate symbol you can think of.
4. Historical revisionism really smacks you in the face. We apparently started the Korean war to oppress all the Korean people. We are the "occupiers" of Korea, Panama and Grenada. Every military action in another country is colonialism. Blah blah blah.
5. The mischaracterization of rich whites and esp. rich, white conservatives as ignorant oppressors who are blind to the poverty and oppression of the rest of the world.
6. The constant use of phrases like: diversity, love, peace, brothers, sisters, unity, etc to brainwash the crowd. Of course love and peace sound better than war. Of course diversity is good. Does it really address the arguement for the war? Do you really think that the hawks hate minorities, unity, peace, etc? Is it really important to remind everyone every 2 minutes that all of our "international brothers" are watching us standing in solidarity and diversity? That thousands of people are traveling to join them and most working Americans are with them? Do the protestors really need that sort of constant assurance to protest a cause?
What I saw on TV was nothing new to me from being at Berkeley. It's the same faces, same phrases, probably many of the same banners, and the same causes. Just another rally and another day. I see this as no better than the propaganda used to create xenophobia. The constant repetition of slogans, the assurance that they know the "real" truth, the constant compliments from the speakers commenting on how beautiful their faces were and how wonderful it is that they're there. Calling someone a "freedom fighter" and making a comparison to MLK and Che Guevara are surely gratifying to young rebels and old vietnam war protestors. Personally, I think many of them lack the background in business, economics, science and history to really make a good judgement on the variety of political causes they all seem to support. Most people can devote years to just understanding the complexities of Israel vs. Palestine and come out a moderate not really supporting either side. What are the chances that the protestors at these rallies have considered all the political issues presented at the rally well enough to make an accurate assessment of each situation? Pretty slim in my opinion. Especially considering the fact that all of their conclusions are one-sided.
IS THIS THE FACE OF THE LIBERAL LEFT?
. I'm just going to type what comes to mind, so don't expect this to flow smoothly or be supported by tons of evidence. Ok....watching this thing was like listening to someone drag their finger nails across a chalkboard. The lies and hypocrisy of the speakers is a wonder to behold. The different political causes represented among the protesters varied from freeing Palestine to freeing Mumia. The chants and "phrases" are all too common and rehearsed. I remember hearing "one, two, three, four, we don't want your racist war" when I was back in Berkeley right after 9-11. Here we are again, the same phrase, but I don't see how this is about racism. The repetition of "solidarity", "unity", "worker's rights" and other phrases are all too common to a socialist worker's rally and are repeated hundreds of times throughout the rally by several speakers. Phrases like: "colonial occupation", "military machine", "corporate fatcats", "our rights are under assault" are thrown around like they're nothing.
Each speaker would get up and start by listing their left-wing credentials to rally their support among the crowd. One man started by listing all of the union rallies he's been in and his support of the free Mumia movement. The crowd started chanting "Free Mumia". Bush's recent move to stop union strikes, which were paralyzing a sector of our economy resulting in billions of dollars in losses every day was brought up by one speaker. The speaker then started chanting "Hands off the docks, stay out of Iraq". The crowd started chanting it too. Are those two things related? Is it strange that the whole crowd would start chanting "hands off the docks" when most of them surely don't understand the complexity of that situation?
One of the speakers said that he is afraid for the future of his children in this country. His little boy (who couldn't have been older than 9) stepped up and barely reached the podium. He stumbled on an obviously rehearsed speech and said that even a little boy like him knows that peace is better than war. The crowd cheered. He then held up a shirt with the phrase "no war for oil" printed on it to more cheers. Clearly this boy had the proper education and unbiased environment to make such a statement, right? Every speaker pointed out that the war distracted from the corporate scandals caused by Bush and the Republicans who are responsible for the ruined economy totalling ignoring the effects of 9-11, the dot BUST and the fact that companies like Enron made large contributions to nearly every left-wing congressman (Enron gave nearly 1/3 of its contributions to left-wingers).
The typical celebrities make their token speeches and the crowd was all too predictable. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Susan Sarandon, and Patti Smith were up there. Susan Sarandon, a common celebrity face at liberal rallies, says that she is tired of the rich and corporations misleading us. I guess her movies aren't produced by corporations, I guess she's not a millionaire. She cited George Tennet's recent report that we are under high of risk of a terrorist attack as proof that our war on terrorism has failed. Did George Bush tell us that the war would be over soon? Did he say that he would guarantee than within a year of 9-11 we'd be safe? I don't see where this is coming from.
One of the main speakers introduced Jesse Jackson like he was a superstar. The speaker shouted out his name and introduced him like a WWF wrestler is introduced. He was a leader among modern freedom fighters (a modern MLK) and the crowd roared. Ridiculous and sad.
The main rally organizers who would step in every so often would repeatedly say that there are "reports" of buses still coming in from all over the country. The the rally had swelled to well over 100,000, though there was no official count! They also passed around buckets for money to organize more rallies.
Every speaker said that he\she didn't want his\her children to die for oil. What are the chances that ultra-lefties would ever join the army? Are these weekend protestors really the type to sign up for the ROTC? I remember activists outside the ROTC center at my school with signs proclaiming the center as a terrorist camp.
One speaker got up who was a representative for Jews for Peace or something to that effect. He was a gay, unionist, progressive Jewish man against zionism. He openly stated that zionism is our enemy. The crowd cheered. He was against the vietnam war (a common credential among many older speakers and not surprising). The crowd cheered. Why was identifying all these associations necessary? Not sure.
A giddy black student from Brown university who was on CSPAN that day arguing against the war laughed that she was sitting across from "TWO RICH WHITE KIDS" who would never find themselves fighting a war. She giggled as she mocked the two rich white kids. The crowd cheered her on. Why was it important to mention that they're rich and white? I guess only the poor and non-white would naturally be against this war. Funny that all the white faces in the crowd cheered her on. Funny that she would never be fighting in a war either. Her laughter was annoying and she seemed very immate and clearly driven by the attention of thousands of cheering protestors.
Several speakers blamed ALL 1.5 million Iraqi deaths since the
sanctions started on US policy. Here's the important part here. I heard NO MENTION OF SADDAM HUSSEIN from any of the speakers. No guilt was placed upon him. None of the Iraqi deaths were attributed to him. They didn't even mention that they were against the war despite his dictatorship. THey just claimed that the Iraqis just want peace and prosperity and we're the only ones holding them back. The consensus among the speakers was that we had no international support. There was no mention of Britain and Tony Blair.
Here's what I'm sick of (there's a lot more, but I'll keep it brief):
1. The variety of lies and generalizations that I've outlined above. Centrists, right-wingers and even democrats have argued against much of this stuff. The speakers at the rally didn't even pretend like counter-arguements exist. Saddam's responsible for some of this? No, that doesn't serve our purpose. The economy is failing for reasons beyond the control of the president? No, we're not going to acknowledge that economics is more complex than simple slogans. Corporate scandals due to just Bush and his "cronies"? No, let's not mention that nearly every left-wing congressmen has received large sums of money from corporations. Let's not mention that we really have no idea how many people are at the rally, that we're not sure how the rest of America really feels, and that positive results aren't necessarily due to the fact that we're sitting out here chanting and are more likely just fortuitous. War is never the answer? Let's forget about WWII, right? Also, veterans are not unanimously against the war because they know the horrors of war!
2. The umbrella nature of these rallies. They have to pander to dozens and dozens of different causes to achieve the numbers to get press attention. Each successive speakers spoke about much more than just Iraq, though this was a free Iraq rally. They recounted dozens of shameful events in the history of our country to remind everyone how horrible our government is. They talked about the successes of previous free Palestine rallies which many of these protestors apparently attended. Random speakers would get up and say that they opposed invading Iraq and then spent 5-10 minutes on the removal of US troops from Viques, Korea, Grenada, etc. If you want to make it seem that these people have showed up to tell Bush that they opposed the war, THEN THE FOCUS OF THE SPEAKERS SHOULD BE ON THE WAR! The speakers should not talk about Palestine, Mumia, etc etc etc.
Here's a listing of some of the groups who presented their causes here:
Bayan-USA
Free Palestine Alliance
IFCO / Pastors for Peace
International Action Center
Kensington Welfare Rights Union
Korea Truth Commission
Mexico Solidarity Network
Middle East Children's Alliance
Muslim Student Association of the U.S. and Canada
Nicaragua Network
Partnership for Civil Justice - Legal Defense and Education Fund
This is a small list of the many causes presented at the rally. Clearly these don't all relate to Iraq.
3. HYPOCRISY! Sarandon attacking the rich and corporations! Jackson talking about workers losing jobs when he doesn't have one! Everyone attacking corporations but wearing every recognizable corporate symbol you can think of.
4. Historical revisionism really smacks you in the face. We apparently started the Korean war to oppress all the Korean people. We are the "occupiers" of Korea, Panama and Grenada. Every military action in another country is colonialism. Blah blah blah.
5. The mischaracterization of rich whites and esp. rich, white conservatives as ignorant oppressors who are blind to the poverty and oppression of the rest of the world.
6. The constant use of phrases like: diversity, love, peace, brothers, sisters, unity, etc to brainwash the crowd. Of course love and peace sound better than war. Of course diversity is good. Does it really address the arguement for the war? Do you really think that the hawks hate minorities, unity, peace, etc? Is it really important to remind everyone every 2 minutes that all of our "international brothers" are watching us standing in solidarity and diversity? That thousands of people are traveling to join them and most working Americans are with them? Do the protestors really need that sort of constant assurance to protest a cause?
What I saw on TV was nothing new to me from being at Berkeley. It's the same faces, same phrases, probably many of the same banners, and the same causes. Just another rally and another day. I see this as no better than the propaganda used to create xenophobia. The constant repetition of slogans, the assurance that they know the "real" truth, the constant compliments from the speakers commenting on how beautiful their faces were and how wonderful it is that they're there. Calling someone a "freedom fighter" and making a comparison to MLK and Che Guevara are surely gratifying to young rebels and old vietnam war protestors. Personally, I think many of them lack the background in business, economics, science and history to really make a good judgement on the variety of political causes they all seem to support. Most people can devote years to just understanding the complexities of Israel vs. Palestine and come out a moderate not really supporting either side. What are the chances that the protestors at these rallies have considered all the political issues presented at the rally well enough to make an accurate assessment of each situation? Pretty slim in my opinion. Especially considering the fact that all of their conclusions are one-sided.
IS THIS THE FACE OF THE LIBERAL LEFT?
