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Open Letter to Anti-War Left: Ron Paul Deserves Our Attention
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Counterpunch - Dec 12, 2007
http://www.counterpunch.org/frank12122007.html
An Open Letter to the Antiwar Left
Ron Paul's Campaign Deserves Our Attention
By JOSHUA FRANK
The left wing of the antiwar movement has some very serious problems,
mainly our inability to recognize that the antiwar sentiment in the
United States is resonating far beyond the confines of the so-called
"left."
We cannot step back and effectively analyze the failures of the antiwar
movement without peering under the hood of John Kerry's campaign in
2004. In essence, I think the majority of the left made a huge mistake
on this issue by not opposing the Democrats; the movement sup****ted a
pro-war position by not opposing Sen. Kerry, who promised to continue
the occupation of Iraq. There was no pressure on Kerry to alter his
position on the war. No bird-dogging protests along the campaign trail.
No outrage over his flip-flopping-let's-send-more-troops-into-battle
rhetoric. Silence during election season is complicity. So let's be
loud.
Despite his good intentions, Dennis Kucinich also failed us four years
ago as well by abandoning his antiwar platform in favor of Kerry's
pro-war candidacy. There is little reason to believe ol' Dennis won't
do the same thing again this year if Hillary is the nominee. It was
party politics before issues. Kucinich, unfortunately, wasn't an
activist but a pawn in the Democrat's game. And the antiwar movement,
or at least those who sup****ted his bid, felt the damaging tremors for
months afterward. Kucinich has been running in Iowa for almost nine
years and is barely pulling in 1% of the vote. So what's the point?
The backlash to the Iraq war in this country is much larger than
Kucinich's fan club, yet there is no real visible "moving" movement on
the ground to end it. In many ways this is our fault as we are not
willing to reach out to antiwar folks across the lines. A movement will
never move forward with archaic sectarian factions or unyielding
adherence to entrenched political philosophies. We must overcome our
unwillingness to collaborate and collectively organize.
Case in point being the most visible and enthusiastic antiwar candidate
in the country, which we consistently ignore: Rep. Ron Paul. Whether we
agree or disagree with Paul's libertarian solution to every problem, we
cannot disregard that his campaign is exploding owing to a broad
coalition of people who oppose the war on terror. Paul has built a
viable campaign, one that must move beyond the Republican primaries and
into the general election. We can't let Paul become Kucinich of '04.
The more independent antiwar voices we have running against the war
machine the better we'll all be. And Paul has millions in his coffers
to push an antiwar agenda.
This is not about Rep. Paul as an individual per se, but about his
grassroots following. He's exciting many newcomers to the movement and
that must be welcomed. We certainly don't share the same views with all
who have latched on to his campaign, but on the issue of the Iraq war
we are in total agreement. One doesn't not have to be a member of the
left to oppose empire.
As a movement that allegedly grew out of WTO protests in Seattle, which
was an unimaginable coalition of interests (labor, environmental,
protectionist), one would think the left would be at the forefront in
calling for such an alliance again today.
Whether we're beer-drinking rednecks from Tennessee or pot smokin'
hippies from Oregon, we need to come together. And working to keep the
movement away from sup****ting a pro-war candidate like Hillary Clinton
is an im****tant endeavor. One we shouldn't shy away from over the
course of the next 11 months.
Rep. Paul's call to end the war needs to be sup****ted. We need to
monkeywrench the war issue so the media and the big party candidates
cannot ignore it. There is a lot of work that must be done and we
cannot be locked in the logic of old if we are to succeed.
Ending the war in Iraq will take substantial pressure from all sides of
the political spectrum. From conservative veterans to radical
peaceniks. Let's embrace this new reality. The antiwar movement is
larger than the left, in fact so much so that we may be at the whim of
a real grassroots resistance instead of at its forefront. And if that
means bringing this ugly war to a screeching halt, I'm all for it.
[Joshua Frank is co-editor of DissidentVoice.org and author of Left Out!
How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush (Common Courage Press,
2005), and along with Jeffrey St. Clair, the editor of the forthcoming
Red State Rebels, to be published by AK Press in March 2008. ]
*
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