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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:blue'>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><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:blue'>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 <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>looked</span></i> 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> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:blue'>if this were a
stage production of “<st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oklahoma</st1:place></st1:State>,”
i might take her point, but this is a <i><span style='font-style:italic'>political</span></i>
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 <i><span style='font-style:italic'>enough</span></i>
political debate; further, that this group isn’t really ready (politically,
organizationally or ideologically) to step up to the task of building a movement.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:blue'>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 <st1:place
w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>. 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 <i><span style='font-style:italic'>their</span></i>
coalition, diverting attention from other pressing tasks, diluting the event’s
political message…yada, yada, yada. sound familiar? <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>("tio") Ty</span></font><font
color=blue face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=2 color=blue face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:blue'>it ain't what we
don't know that hurts us...it's what we do know, that ain't so...</span></font></i></em><font
color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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