[O29] Monday meeting, open to public, one protest/one flyer
R Miller
millerz at mindspring.com
Mon Oct 10 09:15:08 PDT 2005
I was following you up until you started adding Palestine, South
America, African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and US military
bases at home. And I notice you left out WOMEN...oh, WELL, no big
surprise there.
Why don't you start your own Ideal World march and rally? Be sure to
include women, don't forget! Until then, let's FOCUS on the matter AT
HAND. The Iraq War. That is PLENTY to take on in one flyer and one
rally.
On Oct 10, 2005, at 11:02 AM, David Rolde wrote:
> This isn't about Keith. This is about a proposed coalition demand
> against racism. The US war on Iraq is being justified with racist
> rhetoric about being part of a larger "war on terror". Arabs and
> Muslims are being demonized as "terrorists". Last week Bush said that
> if the US war in Iraq fails that the terrorists will go on to set up a
> "radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia". This
> kind of rhetoric is terrorism on Bush's part, an attempt by Bush to
> use racism (against Arabs and Muslims) to terrorize the American
> people into supporting US imperialist wars. Countering this rhetoric
> should be a central project of the anti-war movement. The war is not
> about protecting Americans from "terrorists". The war is about control
> of oil, about maintaining an advantage for the US economy and currency
> over other capitalist blocks, about maintaining US military hegemony,
> and about maintaining Zionist apartheid in Palestine.
>
> Unfortunately many people in the anti-war movement
> counter-productively support the demonization of Arabs and Muslims
> instead of opposing this racism. I see some of the socialist
> newspapers constantly attacking the Iraqi and Palestinian resistance
> movements instead of supporting these people who are bravely
> struggling against imperialism. I see people accusing Sunnis in Iraq
> of killing Shi'ites instead of recognizing the truth that the Iraqi
> Resistance is against the Americans and that the attacks on Shi'ites
> that we see on the imperialist-controlled news are CIA psy-ops
> operations. I see some socialist groups having a racist attitude that
> because people in Iraq come from a Muslim culture they can't really
> form progressive movments. I don't see anyone saying that Christians
> in Central and South America can't from real progressive movements.
> It's just sheer American racism against Arabs and Muslims that needs
> to be addressed even within the anti-war movement.
>
> There are also attacks on Arabs and Muslims in the US and around the
> world, a racist witchhunt against "terrorists". Arabs and Muslims are
> being arrested, tortured, imprisoned for life.
>
> While racism against people of African decent and against Latin at s
> isn't a central feature of the US war in Iraq and against "terror" at
> the moment, these racisms could become central, and Africans and
> Latin at s certainly are under US attack both here in the USA and in
> Latin America, Africa and Haiti. So I support adding opposition to
> racism against Blacks and Latin at s to the demand. I would add support
> for Native Americans as well.
>
> Lastly on another subject (but of course all topics are
> inter-related), I've heard that we are going to hear criticism of the
> anti-war movement from District 7 tonight. I propose that in addition
> to the anti-racist demand that we add another demand: "End all
> military spending. Close all the bases."
>
> - David Rolde
>
>
> At 2:15 PM -0400 10/8/05, John Harris wrote:
>> Hi Keith,You have raised some concerns about democracy here that
>> should be addressed.In particular you would like to see more
>> "discussion concerning the politicalshape of the protest and
>> movement". In June when ideas were being debatedabout the political
>> shape of the movement when the Committee for a Fall Actionhad a
>> discussion of the Fall Boston action you spoke volumes and no one cut
>> you"political shape of the protest and movement" and you expressed
>> your views likeshould not be allowed to trump this. You will again
>> have the opportunity to debate "politicalshape" in the form of a
>> proposal for a demand. And the Coalition has the democratic right
>> totake Action on whatever is decided. It is unfortunate that we get
>> booted out of our meetingplace at 8:00 sharp. But that is the
>> arrangement we democratically decided to make. TheCoalition decided
>> in July to encourage organizations to put out postings and fliers.
>> This hasbeen done. You could have made a proposal to the contrary.
>> But I think it is a little late now.Were we being undemocratic?In an
>> earlier post you raised something very closely related to what you
>> are raising below:"if anything, we should be seeking to get new
>> people involved and coming back to theplanning meetings to help us
>> build for the protest. that means that in addition to doingoutreach,
>> our meetings have to be open, inviting, accessible, and exude a
>> desire to takethe time to draw new people into the discussion, hear
>> out their ideas and concerns, andtake the time to give them full
>> discussion, not trample all over them and indefinitely tabletheir
>> proposals because "the big chiefs have to get to work." in my
>> experience, it is quitepossible (and necessary) to combine the utmost
>> in discussion and democracy with theutmost in organizing. otherwise,
>> at the end of the day, there is nobody but the "big chiefs"left
>> standing alone in the room."In my view, I see you reinventing
>> yourself as a newcomer and bursting on to the scene tochallenge the
>> "big chiefs". The task of geting "new people involved and coming back
>> to theplanning meetings to help us build for the protest" is what
>> many of us are doing right now.The October 29th Coalition never
>> bothered to elect a coordinator ("big chief"). Thank heavenChris is
>> coordinating Outreach and Karen was coordinating Permits and Jason
>> iscoordinating Media and Nick is coordinating the Web Site and maybe
>> Brian on finances.I am not sure who is coordinating our other
>> activities. To some the "big chief" line ofargumentation in this
>> context may seem offensive and could put Machiavelli to shame.But for
>> me it has provided some comic relief which I have enjoyed. In
>> Solidarity,John
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: O29-bounces at massglobalaction.org
>>> [mailto:O29-bounces at massglobalaction.org]On Behalf Of Keith
>>> Rosenthal
>>> Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2005 11:37 AM
>>> To: o29 at massglobalaction.org
>>> Subject: [O29] Monday meeting, open to public, one protest/one flyer
>>> Anyway, it would be healthy for our coalition to hear out in full
>>> the different political ideas people have about the protest, and not
>>> just talk about the various specific and mundane (though not
>>> unimportant) details. I've personally been frustrated with the
>>> extent to which our meetings have been marked by the quick cutting
>>> off of discussion concerning the political shape of the protest and
>>> movement, in order to "get things done." To me this is
>>> undemocratic, because then the political shaping of the protest,
>>> which is the most important part, ends up happening in individual
>>> discussions and conversations elsewhere. I have heard it said
>>> that this is done in order to keep the coalition "unified," but I
>>> actually think it only keeps us divided from hearing out each
>>> others' ideas.
>>>
>>> DAVID KEIL <dmkeil at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> This is to pass on ideas I've heard about procedure Monday (6pm,
>>>> MGA).
>>>> Some reports we need to hear and discuss are: program; permits and
>>>> logistics; outreach (including leafleting, endorsements, and
>>>> regional
>>>> outreach); and finances. We usually start with minutes from the
>>>> previous meeting, choice of note taker for current meeting, and
>>>> choice
>>>> of facilitator for next meeting, plus intros. I've heard that some
>>>> committees need to meet, so if people agree, then between 7:00 and
>>>> 7:30 we could break the general meeting up into committees.
>>>>
>>>> The last item on the general agenda would be demands, to discuss
>>>> and
>>>> vote on the following:
>>>> - Keith's motion (10/7) to add "Stop the Racist Attacks on the
>>>> Black,
>>>> Latin@, Arab & Muslim Communities" to the list of central demands
>>>> or
>>>> slogans;
>>>> - A possible motion by Amee (10/8) to add "Militarism reinforces
>>>> racism, sexism, & homophobia" to the central slogans;
>>>> - Possible other slogans, such as "Stop the Racist Rhetoric" (R.
>>>> Miller 10/8) or ones based on Gustavo's post (10/8).
>>>>
>>>> It seems that most activists want most of the general meeting to be
>>>> about important details of preparing the action, but there seems
>>>> to be
>>>> a consensus also to hear proposals on demands. Everyone wants an
>>>> atmosphere of respect, collaboration, and friendship, even if we
>>>> cast
>>>> divided votes and sometimes feel angry with each other. One way
>>>> suggested to ensure this atmosphere in the demands discussion is to
>>>> hear very briefly how everyone feels; then after a brief silence,
>>>> to
>>>> take motions, take brief discussion, and vote.
>>>>
>>>> Informal discussion tonight at Assembling Peace in JP, and
>>>> discussions
>>>> Sunday and Monday, will be an important way to prepare for the
>>>> too-short formal discussion Monday night.
>>>>
>>>> David
>>>>
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