[Marxism] UFPJ: Join Obama House Parties to Build the Peace Movement!

[Sukla Sen <suklasenp@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is pretty sensible. In fact, much more than that.
Even if we grant Obama all the benefits of doubt -
there are good reasons for doing that - while the
President is no doubt a very crucial element in the
"system", the office of the President does not operate
in a vacuum. You also have the Congress, the
judiciary, the Pentagon, the vast official machinery
and the likes and also the powerful media.

Under such circumstances, mass mobilisation - both as
a part of (continuing) Obama campaign for Change and
Hope and also on completely independent, though not
necessarily explicitly adversarial, footings - is a
must.
In case, Obama is genuinely committed to his promises,
it would help him immensely. And this help he'd direly
need.
In case, he is prevaricating because of pusillanimity,
it'd pressurise him to get back to the "right" path.
If he is just a pragamatist, and a con-man, even then
the effect would be broadly the same.
And of course if he is a con-man planted by the
capitalists - in a diabolic manner and through an
elaborate and mysterious underhand operation - to
torpedo the prospects of progressive movements in the
US, he'd get exposed while his support base would
hopefully have a chance to consolidate around the
platform of Change and Hope.

Sukla

Michael Friedman wrote:

The following is being circulated by NYC United for
Peace and Justice to
encourage intervention by anti-war activists in
activities being organized
by Obama supporters around the country (these house
parties also came up
at the universal health care meeting last Sunday, here
in NYC). Unless we
are too purist to contaminate ourselves by contact
with -- gasp! --
democrats, this is exactly how, where and when we
should approach those
activated by the Obama candidacy. Moreover, -- I
believe I'm with Mark,
Joaquin and Fred on this one -- the best approach at
these meetings would
NOT be to attack Obama, but to keep our eyes on the
prize(s). Persuasive
arguments about exactly what is needed in terms of the
wars, in terms of
the economic crisis, immigration, police violence,
etc. Sure, if the
question of Obama's appointments comes up, deal with
them, but they
haven't impacted on these issues, yet, and it's really
important to deal
in concretes. Also, Obama's like the bible. He's made
ambiguous and
contradictory statements. We should use these to
promote organization. In
time, people will disabuse themselves of their
illusions that this
bourgeois government will meet their needs, but we
need to carefully judge
our ideological responses according to the moment, to
the state of the
movement, to the issues at hand and to the sui generis
nature of having an
African American in office (i.e., not like Nader).
Cynthia McKinney is an
exceptional example of this art of politics.

Snipped



      


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