[Marxism] More on UFPJ & ANSWER

["Pieinsky" <pieinsky@xxxxxxx>]

I don't know who this guy is.  I pass it along FYI.  Doesn't this dispute
have its roots in the CPUSA (or its remnants like the C of C) being
prominent in the leadership of the UFPJ and the longstanding habit of such
people of supporting the Dems as the lesser of two evils or believing that
somehow a "left" fraction of the Democratic Party could come under their
influence?

jay
www.neravt.com/left/

*********

UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE HAS BECOME PART OF THE
PROBLEM;   OPPRTUNIST, FAVORS DEMOCRATS WHILE
REJECTING ANTI-IMPERIALISM


December 14, 2005                                    Dave Silver

Even prior to the March 20, 2003 invasion of Iraq, United for Peace and
Justice (UFPJ) was telling us that connecting any other
issues, and in particular the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, would "dilute
the anti-war message" of stopping the war and ending the Occupation.
I witnessed this political position as a former member of Vets for Peace,
that also encouraged and urged us to vote for Kerry.
         On Dec. 12, 2005 Leslie Cagan, speaking for the UFPJ Steering
Committee posted to the website that they will "not coordinate work
with ANSWER again on a national level."  However when she says that
UFPJ wants to send a "focused message" on the Iraq war, she now
states that the war is indeed part of empire building and may be related
to such issues as the "occupation of Palestinian land, racism, repression
and injustice at home."  So now UFPJ embraces the politics that
ANSWER had from the very beginning.     Cagan argues that while
these issues are "articulated in creative and accessible ways," ANSWER does
not.  They use "labels" such as racism that "mischaracterizes"the
views of others.  Proof?   She offers none.
The Steering Committee also tells us they now want to build a
durable  peace and justice movement that connects "domestic and
international issues."  However at the UFPJ National Assembly in February
2005 in St. Louis, I submitted just such a Proposal in behalf of the member
group I represent (The Coalition to Free the Angola3) to use its outreach to
help build an independent political movement which
was rejected outright and not even discussed.  Instead I got a phone reply
from Judy LeBlanc telling me that UFPJ "doesn't engage in
electoral activities," as though the Proposal was asking to form a new
Party and endorse candidates.  No.  The response of UFPJ was prompted by the
words "independent politics" which wouldn't sit well with the politics of
trailing after Any Body But a Republican and support a Democrat in a liberal
disguise like for instance a Working
Families Party.

         How else can an effective Resistance be forged without having
An anti-corporate consciousness of the common enemy of Transnationals,
Banks, the IMF and WTO?   Aren't they the ruling class that alone unites all
of the issues of justice and peace of oppression and exploitation.   Any
movement is as effective as the consciousness that informs it.   The UFPJ's
opportunism and its opposition to an
anti-imperialist politics becomes very evident for instance when it rejected
recent statements as well as proposals for action of the groups The World
Can't Wait and the Mobilization for Global Justice.  (MGJ)   Too militant.
When Historians Against the War posted a totally false and rather vicious
attack on MGJ saying they favored halting opposition to the war in Iraq and
wanted to focus on late capitalist society, UFPJ was silent. The Ultra-Left
label was the code word used to demonize the anti-imperialist militants that
gave us Seattle and Genoa.
         UFPJ's support earlier this year of the Iraq Federation of Trade
Unions and its mentor the so called Iraq Communist Party went beyond
opportunism.  Both groups support the invasion, support the occupation
Support the puppet government in Baghdad and want U.S. troops to remain
there indefinitely.  UFPJ's theory and practice, especially in the
past year has become an obstacle to forging an effective anti-war and anti-
imperialist people's movement.  It has become part of the problem.
           One Humanity, One Struggle.





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