[PEN-L:33067] Re: ANSWER, NION, United for Peace, & Win Without War

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

At 4:38 PM -0800 12/12/02, Ian Murray wrote:
>  > I just don't see the sort of categories on which Sam Smith insists:
> >  "an ideological left centered in New York City," "The intellectual
> >  left, in its academic variety at least," "The institutional left,
> >  much of it headquartered in Washington," "what might be called
> >  iconographic left, which uses the power of images, sounds and words,"
> >  and "The really important left -- the idiomatic, colloquial left of
> >  people who never read the Nation, let alone have a column in it."
> >  There are social and political divisions among those who are opposed
> >  to the war on Iraq, but, IMHO, important divisions don't fall into
>  > the categories that Smith created.
> ========================
>
> Well, who gets to define/create what counts as the important divisions?

Divisions based on racial and income stratifications are readily
observable, in patterns of residence, socializing, and political
organizing.  While leftists aren't segregationists like Lott and
Thurmond, left-wing political organizers, much less "peace and
justice bureaucrats," seldom live in the midst of the group who are
more opposed to war and destruction of civil rights and liberties
than other groups are: low-income blacks.  We have yet to see black
leaders who can mobilize blacks ready to be mobilized.  White and
other leaders are most likely unable to lead low-income blacks.

At 4:38 PM -0800 12/12/02, Ian Murray wrote:
>  > >Now if I could fit those answers into 5 paragraph
> email...................:-)
>  > Then, you can discuss it in a series of postings.
>  > Yoshie
> ===========================
>
> Or I could write a book about it or set up a website handling the issues
> at hand or I could simply encourage you to think through all the common
> sense approaches of organizing 101 that work and don't work.  Some of
> the organizers of the WTO left some tips at:
>
> http://depts.washington.edu/wtohist/
>
> Feel free to separate the self-promotions from tactics/strategy stuff.

The questions that I asked are specific ones not answered by the
website to which you referred me.  To repeat:

For that (= the breakdown of the distinction between rank-and-file
activists and "peace and justice bureaucrats") to happen, resources
-- money, skills, name recognition, access to facilities, contact
info about liberal and left-wing intellectuals and celebrities,
contact info about anti-war organizers and activists nationwide, etc.
-- have to be equally possessed by all the (as of now) local
organizers, rather than centralized by the national organizers like
those who manage ANSWER, NION, United for Peace, and Win Without War.
In other words, all of the local coalitions and their main organizers
will have to have what ANSWER, NION, United for Peace, and Win
Without War have.  Is that possible?  Is it desirable if it is
possible?  How do you propose to accomplish it?  (Three different
questions here).
--
Yoshie

* Calendar of Events in Columbus:
<http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>
* Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html>
* Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/>
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>