[Marxism] Ruminations on the antiwar movement

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Today’s New York Times Magazine has an article titled “Can Lobbyists 
Stop the War?” that is focused on the efforts of an outfit called 
Americans Against Escalation in Iraq (A.A.E.I.) that was spawned by 
moveon.org. It is led by a 32 year old moveon.org veteran named Tom 
Matzzie, whose most recent strategy “stresses Democratic unity and 
driving a wedge between Republicans and President Bush.” Matzzie feels 
that this approach makes much more sense than demonstrating in the 
streets. The Times explains:

     The playbook for opposing a war has changed markedly since the 
street-protest ethos of the anti-Vietnam movement. Tie-dyed shirts and 
flowers have been replaced by oxfords and BlackBerries. Politicians are 
as likely to be lobbied politely as berated. And instead of a 
freewheeling circus managed from college campuses and coffee houses, the 
new antiwar movement is a multimillion-dollar operation run by 
media-savvy professionals.

Matzzie told the paper: “Last time [it] was done in the streets. People 
were concerned about civil society breaking down. You have to play in 
politics, which is something we do very explicitly.”

Matzzie is close to the Democratic Party leadership and meets with 
Pelosi and Reid about once a month. Last year when the Democrats caved 
in and gave Bush money to continue the war, Matzzie took the position 
that to do otherwise would be essentially “a vote for a war without 
end.” Obviously, Matzzie has loftier career goals in mind than lobbying 
politicians. This kind of double-speak would qualify him to be a press 
secretary for Hillary Clinton. Fellow liberals at the grass roots level 
were less than delighted with his position and was accused of “having 
been co-opted by the party leaders with whom he frequently rubs elbows.” 
Mattzie supposedly believes that “political and lifestyle radicalism was 
a gift to supporters of the Vietnam War that his allies will not give 
again.” Apparently he much prefers the life-style of a corporate 
lobbyist and has the girth to show for it.

full: 
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2007/09/09/ruminations-on-the-antiwar-movement/

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