RE: [Marxism] Antiwar demonstration in Washington

["Eli Stephens" <elishastephens@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

David McDonald wrote: "I will match activist credentials with you any day of
the week, and I agree wholeheartedly with Louis P's political points about
ANSWER/TONC."

I don't know whose posts you've been reading, I don't think they were mine.
If Louis P had made POLITICAL criticisms of ANSWER/TONC, let's say for
example if he disagreed with their insistence on including the Palestinian
struggle, that would be one thing. If I had disagreed with any political
criticisms he was making, my response would have been rather different or
totally lacking; he is certainly entitled to such differences.

I was responding to his petty ORGANIZATIONAL criticisms of Saturday's rally.
And I wasn't trying to match activist credentials with you, or Louis, or
anyone; my credentials as a minor foot soldier pale in comparison to many of
those who put their lives into organizing these rallies. But when Louis
criticizes a rally for not having enough volunteers, but hasn't bothered to
volunteeer himself, and then from on high ridicules this criticism because
he "was too busy watching old Fred Astaire movies," that's a different story
entirely.

And it's rather curious that you try to reinforce your own more serious
(more serious than Louis') criticism of ANSWER by claiming that "The demos
were small," since even the mainstream corporate media has used the
adjective "huge" to describe them. The demonstation in London was actually
the only one which has been described as smaller than expected, and that's
one which ANSWER had nothing to do with. Every other demonstration was
significantly BIGGER than anyone was expecting and, in an absolute sense,
"big" period.

Incidentally, I'm no fan of UfPJ, but the claim that they had "imposed their
Democratic Party politics on the movement's big events," presumably meaning
this demonstration, is rather curious. If you have the SLIGHTEST evidence
from Saturday's program of that, I'd like to know what it is, because I sure
didn't see it listening to any of the speeches I heard. They are, of course,
responsible for Monday's "lobbying day," but I would hardly describe that as
one of the "movement's big events."

Eli Stephens
 Left I on the News
 http://lefti.blogspot.com



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