[O29] Arabs and Muslims, "Middle America, " and building our movement

[Huibin Amelia Chew]

I'd just like to say that Roberts rules of order are dumb and promote
misunderstanding.  Perhaps even divide and conquer, when their
black/white double-option votes are taken prematurely.

At the meeting I tried to put forward another "motion" that did not
wipe the demand about anti-Arab racism off the table, but instead
brought the idea of expanding demands back to the drawing board, in
order to include this demand with a neat package of several other
issue areas that have been neglected.  (*erhm*)

This is why I voted "no" on procedural grounds.  But then after the
vote, once discussion ensued, it turned out several people (including
those confusingly abstaining from the vote), were also in favor of
adding the anti-racist demand if expanded in more inclusive terms, and
perhaps paired with other missing demands.

peace,
-Amee

On 10/5/05, Ty dePass <maceito at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> gente – Chrystie joins the conversation to insist that no one voted against
> 'Stop the racist scapegoating of Arabs and Muslims' as a march demand; on
> the contrary, <snip>"The vote was on whether or not we were going back and
> re-examining our list of demands."<snip> for her, the issue is more about
> process than politics: <snip> "Clearly, with three weeks to go, we need to
> move on." <snip>
>
>
>
> i hadn't planned to get into this exchange at all, but i couldn't let this
> rather facile rejoinder slide by w/o a comment—i've been there before. but
> what surprises me most about this entire exchange is why it took so long for
> anyone to notice that this demand was so conspicuously absent from the
> original list. as Keith, and others have noted, since 9/11 anyone who even
> looked like they might be an Arab—or know an Arab—has been subject to
> arrest, detention, deportation, and vilification by the Bushwhackers and
> their corporate media shills. Chrystie says <snip> "We should all be
> focusing on making this rally happen rather then [sic] all of this
> in-fighting and drawn out political discussions. <snip>
>
>
>
> if this were a stage production of "Oklahoma," i might take her point, but
> this is a political mobilization, a step on the way toward what we all hope
> will become a mass ant-war movement. to be voting down a demand of such
> obvious relevance/significance to this effort because of logistical concerns
> suggests that there hasn't been enough political debate; further, that this
> group isn't really ready (politically, organizationally or ideologically) to
> step up to the task of building a movement.
>
>
>
> like i said, i've been there before many times. in '82, the Sane/Freeze
> folks called for a massive nat'l demo in NYC to oppose deployment of Trident
> missiles in Europe. on the run up to the march, activists engaged in
> anti-racist and internat'l solidarity work argued for the inclusion of
> demands linking the defense spending to racially-orchestrated social service
> cuts, the "poverty draft," low-intensity warfare against revolutionary
> governments in Nicaragua and Angola, and US support for Israel and apartheid
> So. Africa. reasonable, we thought: after all wasn't Reagan's war against
> the "Evil Empire" unfolding on multiple fronts? and didn't we all share a
> responsibility for building a united front against war and racism at home
> and abroad—the kind of militant, multiracial mass movement Dr. King had
> envisioned? the Sane/Freeze folks disagreed—vehemently: we were introducing
> divisiveness into their coalition, diverting attention from other pressing
> tasks, diluting the event's political message…yada, yada, yada. sound
> familiar?
>
>
>
> ("tio") Ty
>
>
>
> it ain't what we don't know that hurts us...it's what we do know, that ain't
> so...
>
>
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>


--
"There are plenty of women in Fallujah who have testified they were
raped by American soldiers... They are nearby the secondary school for
girls inside Fallujah. When people came back to Fallujah the first
time they found so many girls who were totally naked and they had been
killed."

  -- Mohammed Abdulla, executive director of the Study Center for
Human Rights and Democracy in Fallujah, quoted in
http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news/archives/newscommentary/000251.php