Re: [Marxism] Hey, Antiwar Movement!... MORE ON RETREAT OF MOVEMENT--SOCIALIST WORKER ARTICLE

["Linda Jansen" <jansen.l12@xxxxxxxxx>]

*Portion below; whole thing here:
http://www.socialistworker.org/2008-1/658/658_02_Movement.shtml<tr_1200596190439>
* <http://www.socialistworker.org/2008-1/658/658_02_Movement.shtml>

> UFPJ's failure to address the sentiment among activists for a mobilization
> on the fifth anniversary of the war created a vacuum that other forces,
> including the national antiwar group ANSWER and peace activist Cindy
> Sheehan, tried to fill.
>
> But their joint call for a March 15 demonstration in Washington, D.C., has
> collapsed for several interrelated reasons.
>
> One is that ANSWER's credibility as an antiwar force has been damaged by
> its sectarian behavior toward other forces in the movement--and more
> recently, its insistence in inflating the success of its recent
> mobilizations and the potential for future ones.
>
> In December, Sheehan made a proposal for unity among national antiwar
> groups. But without a grassroots base of support, her proposal amounted to a
> plea--which UFPJ, claiming to represent the majority of the movement, felt
> no pressure to honor.
>
> Sheehan and ANSWER's unity proposal was further hampered by their attempt
> to hitch the Washington protest to an Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW)
> initiative organized for March 13-16--the Winter Soldier Investigation
> (WSI), named after a dramatic event featuring antiwar vets during
> Vietnam--without discussing the matter with the IVAW.
>
> It was irresponsible for Sheehan and ANSWER to unilaterally announce an
> event in the middle of Winter Solider--supposedly in solidarity with
> it--without having an agreement with the IVAW.
>
> On the other hand, the IVAW is discouraging antiwar activists from making
> the Winter Soldier event a focus for wider organizing, apparently because
> some leaders of the group believe the IVAW will be better served if it
> maintains a distance from the larger antiwar movement.
>
> This makes little sense to the great bulk of antiwar activists who want to
> support the IVAW's efforts--and who thought they could do so by attending
> the Winter Soldier event and then participating in a demonstration at its
> conclusion.
>
> In the end, the IVAW's request that no actions be held in Washington
> during the weekend of their event was the final blow to the proposal from
> Sheehan and ANSWER. Winter Soldier will take place, but the IVAW isn't
> making provisions for large numbers of activists to attend. And there will
> be no national antiwar demonstration on the anniversary of the war.
>
> This outcome represents a missed opportunity--for the IVAW and the antiwar
> movement as a whole.
>
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