[O29] LIST SERV POLICY

[John Harris]

Dear Friends,
As many are aware, there have been a lot of requests to be dropped
from the list serv. Many of those who have forwarded their Email
address to the October 29th Coalition do not want to participate
in debates over policy and be deluged with Email. Announcements of
activities that are not being organized by the Coalition are also
being posted. I for one don't mind reading ALL of the debates and
ALL of the announcements. However, there is a growing feeling among
activists and others that this can't continue.

I feel that a rapid change in policy is needed and hopefully could be
decided at the meeting on Monday. I would like to PROPOSE for our
consideration under the Outreach point on the agenda in the meeting
tomorrow that all comments and debates about policy be carried
out among a separate subgroup as part of the list serv. That the list
serv be used to make announcements of our activities and for new members
to make inquiries about how they can get involved. I would also like to
propose that Jason take on the assignment of being our list serv monitor.
I have full confidence in his ability to take on this task. A proposal
along these lines was made earlier and the Coalition took a wait and see
attitude. We have all "seen".

Lets please try to discuss or debate this issue out over the list serv
until our meeting tomorrow. Then hopefully we don't have to tie up a lot of
our time there discussing this before we make a decision. There are other
points under Outreach that are very important as well.

In Solidarity,
John



-----Original Message-----
From: O29-bounces at massglobalaction.org
[mailto:O29-bounces at massglobalaction.org]On Behalf Of gustavo
Sent: Sunday, October 09, 2005 9:01 AM
To: o29 at massglobalaction.org
Subject: [O29] party pooper politics


Hey Reem,

Unfortunately people sometimes lapse into the kind of rhetoric that
prompted your response.  The writer made a comment about "democrats"
without distinguishing between the current, corrupt democratic party
leadership (and frankly, the leadership of any party is almost always
corrupt), and the "rank-and-file"  that is the voters who identify with
the party and support them in elections.  Most of those people would be
surprised to learn just how corrupt and ineffective the Democratic Party
has been.  To lump them in as "enemies" with the pro-war Clintons,
Kerrys, Liebermans, etc. is just silly.  So our problem is how to grow
viable alternative political vehicles not just for those democratic
voters but also for the people who simply do not participate in our
electoral politics.  Some people think the best way to do this is to
rightly point out how bad the Democratic Party has been at representing
the people over the powerful, which in theory has been its role in
American politics for a good long while now.  Indeed, seeing how the
party leadership is in the hands right now of pro-war corporate
shillers, there isn't much good to be said of the party right now.  But
do we try to smash it like some would suggest, or do we try to move it
back to the left, and with it its huge block of loyal voters?  That's a
huge debate, as you know.  I think a combination of pressure on the
party by reaching oout to its base with our alternative messages is
important, but so is weaning them off the idea of traditional
partisanship and get them interested in more democratic and
participatory forms of politics, encouraging them to inform themselves
and vote with their own ideals and not those of an organized power
bloc.  A lot of people on the left represent alternative power blocs
that seek to convert people to their point of view or program, so people
with anarchic tendencies tend to be wary of these "cadres" as well.  I
recognize that sometimes you have to fight fire with fire, especially
given the mortal lock that the Dem-Reps have on our electoral system
(they've conspired with big media and big business and gerrymandered
their way to a deadlocked, barely contested political field), and while
I think a lot of these groups are well-intentioned, many of them
unfortunately share a few of the shortcomings of the established
political machines, and that is reason enough to cultivate a healthy
independent skepticism as an individual interested in contributing
thoughtfully to solving the world's problems--seems like you're well on
your way!!

Solidarity

gus

reem abou-samra wrote:

> Personally for me, i can't even vote yet since im under 18 still, but
> what's so wrong about being a democrat? that's like saying you hate or
> aren't proud for being an American because one man committed
> manslaughter who was an American as well. I'm Sunni Muslim, although i
> don't agree with the killings in Iraq on the Shiite people committed
> by sunni muslims, doesn't make me any less proud that i'm Muslim. Some
> guy came up to me yesterday and ask me if i was a shiite or a sunni
> muslim, and i told him sunni, and he was like so you're the peaceful
> ones or the violent one? and i was like well technically according to
> Iraq i'd be catergorized into the violent group, but am i violent and
> do i agree to their actions no. but am i any less Muslim again no.
> So being a democrat, doesn't necessarily mean you're proud of negative
> things the democratic people have done. i was at the september 24th
> rally, and so many people were proud to be democratic americans but
> they wanted to cause change to how the democrats in the US are running
> things.
> im sorry if i've spoken in ignorance since i'm not yet a voter and
> don't really know too well how things go.
>
>
> --
> "All great spirits often encounter violent opposition from mediocre
> minds" -Albert Einstein
>
> -reem abou-samra
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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>

--
"Se eu dou comida aos pobres, eles me chamam de santo. Se eu pergunto porque
os pobres não têm comida, eles me chamam de comunista."

"If I give food to the poor they call me a saint.  If I ask why the poor
have no food they call me a communist."

-Dom Hélder Câmara


"I wouldn't call it fascism exactly, but a political system nominally
controlled by an irresponsible, dumbed down electorate who are manipulated
by dishonest, cynical, controlled mass media that dispense the propaganda of
a corrupt political establishment can hardly be described as democracy
either."

-Edward Zehr

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