Support for U.S. war on Iraq seems to wane despite backing of Congress, Democratic Party

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have been struck by the fact that patriotic fervor among working people,
youth, and others in the United States is tending to decline rather than
rise as the Bush administration obtains the go-ahead from Congress for war,
and makes headway in the United Nations.  This is in contrast to what I
observed during the runup to the Gulf War in 1990-91, even though there was
significant prewar opposition then also and the rulers never succeeded in
creating full-scale war hysteria.  Importantly, this time many thousands of
people, especially young people but much more broadly as well, seem to be
seeing through the demonization of Saddam, and recognizing the fact that the
US rulers are the criminals and Iraq is the victim in this situation, which
the demonization is intended to cover up.  This takes a significant amount
of political insight since Saddam, unlike for example Fidel Castro or the
Vietnamese liberation fighters, really is a vicious dictator and reactionary
political figure.  Interesting times -- to borrow a phrase from the old
Chinese curse --  lie ahead.
The  folowiing item was sent to me on the National Student Antiwar Network
listserve

Village Voice
October 15, 2002

Students Protest Senator Clinton's Decision to Back Bush's War Plans

by Sarah Ferguson

About 75 anti-war protesters, angered by Hillary Rodham Clinton's decision
to back President Bush's war plans in Iraq, picketed an address given by the
senator at the New School on Monday night.

Three New School students were ejected at around 6:30 p.m. when they snuck
into the back of the auditorium where Clinton was speaking and began yelling
protest slogans.

When a reporter tried to enter the event, she was informed that no press
would be allowed, "at the invitee's request."

The sold-out event was hosted by New School prez and former Nebraska senator
Bob Kerrey. A spokesperson for the New School said that while media are
generally allowed to report on public addresses by elected officials, "the
request came from Clinton's office" for press not be admitted. "Sometimes
events are open to the press, sometimes they're not," Clinton's press
secretary said on Tuesday.

Last night's ad hoc protest, which was announced on activist listservs and
on the Web site Protest.net, drew mostly New York University and New School
students, but also other concerned adults. "I think it was a cowardly thing
to do," said Ellen Davidson, associate director of publications for the New
School, commenting on Clinton's decision to go along with the war. "I think
she was looking out more for her career than for what her constituents
wanted and were saying to her," added Davidson, who was passing out homemade
masks of Clinton with the word "Spineless" printed over her face.

"Usually the New School is happy to get as much press as they can get,"
Davidson noted. "But I think they knew this was going to be controversial,
and they didn't want Hillary to be embarrassed."

Clinton has been dogged by protesters for the past week. On October 7, 14
members of the War Resisters League were arrested for leafleting outside
Clinton's offices at 780 Third Avenue in Manhattan. And last Thursday, the
day the Senate voted to authorize military action, a group of NYU students
staged an eight-hour sit-in at Clinton's offices to demand that she vote no
on the resolution.

Prior to the vote, both Clinton and fellow senator Chuck Schumer were
flooded with calls from New Yorkers, most urging them to oppose war.

"The letters to the editor have been running three to one against the war,
and Hillary somehow thinks a vote for the war is representing her
constituents?" asked Sarah Grey, a 21-year-old graduate student at the New
School. "There's no accountability."

One large banner proclaimed Clinton had fallen into the trap of a "vast
right-wing conspiracy," while another compared her to Lady Macbeth.

As the crowd on West 12th Street chanted, "Money for schools, not for war!"
an elderly man peered out at the protest from behind his hedge. "I'm
disgusted," he sniffed, but not at the demonstrators. "I e-mailed Clinton a
week ago to ask her position [on the war], and the response I got was that
she was thinking about it. I think she's a weasel," he said, before
disappearing back into his brownstone.


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