Re: [Marxism] re: Supporting the resistance?

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Junaid wrote:
> The polls may show dissatisfaction with the war, but they also show most
> people accept the necessity of the occupation: most people simply don't
> care enough to do anything about it. Two or three Americans dying every
> one or two days isn't a mobilizing force, it seems.

Millions marched against war with Iraq before a single American had been
killed. If anything, opposition to the war is far greater now than it was
before the war was launched. Abu Ghraib, false claims about WMD,
Halliburton scandals, etc. have opened the eyes of ordinary people. What's
missing is an *effective* coalition. Not a single American soldier died in
Nicaragua or El Salvador, but there was a powerful movement nationwide that
demanded an end to US intervention. Our problem today is that the 2
national coalitions are inadequate to the task. The UFPJ is dominated by
groups and individuals who are fence-straddlers. ANSWER has better politics
but is incapable of achieving the kind of leadership that is necessary for
reasons that we have explored here in the past. Before we blame ordinary
Americans for not caring enough about the situation in Iraq, we have to
figure out a way of creating a nation-wide organization that can call for
mass actions that are geared to their consciousness. Then, and only then,
if they refuse to respond, we might decide that it might be necessary to
dissolve the people and elect another, as Brecht put it.

---
Louis Proyect
Marxism list: www.marxmail.org


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