Re: Alex Cockburn vs. Michael Moore

[Nathan Newman <newman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 12 Nov 1997, William S. Lear wrote:

> If Moore actually said this:
>
>     while GM employees were being laid off by the thousands,
>     'the left' was in Nicaragua supporting the Sandinistas,
>     or in Philly protesting the death penalty.
>
> then, I don't blame Cockburn for being upset.  This goes far beyond a
> critique of style.  While workers in Detroit were being downsized,
> Nicaraguans were being, quite literally, slaughtered by the
> contras.

But the question is does spending your main energies protesting the
Contras help the Nicaraguan people more than concentrating on the needs of
Detroit workers who are needed as an integral part of any decent,
progressive foreign policy?  "Reagan Democrats" were very likely the
margin of death in a number of third world countries and neglecting strong
inclusive mobilization of our own working class is a rotten approach to
defending the working class of other countries.

I would hazard a bet (and I could be wrong, but I don't think so) that
Congresspeople with 100% COPE labor rating are probably more consistently
good on international issues, pro-environment and pro-choice issues than
the other way around.  There are exceptions, especially dating from the
anti-Communist years of the AFL-CIO, but overall when working class issues
are a key part of the progressive agenda, other progressive issues usually
are strengthened.

--Nathan Newman