From: "cwright" <cwright-AT-21stcentury.net>
Subject: Re: AUT: Perplexed, all variations
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 00:28:24 -0600


Hey Nate,

> What I mean to say is, how do we respond to struggles?

Exactly!

> So that while I agree with you about unions, I think it was better to
support
> the workers trying unionize the V+V plant here in Chicago, while expecting
> that their contract probably wouldn't be all that great and the union
> wouldn't solve a lot of problems (which  is what happened).

Indeed, I supported the V&V workers, welcomed their coming to a DAN meeting
and wished i had the means to develop a real relationship with them.
However, I was not in that position.  Had I been, I simply would have
promoted the idea that they absolutely could not afford to let the union run
the organizing or negotiating, but that they should have their own worker
controlled and elected committee for the effort.  This would most likely
have meant a fight with the union too (someone I know in the middle of an
organizing campaign in New York is doing exacltly that and has had to fight
off the SEIU 1099 from sabotaging their unionization drive.  I'll forward
you the e-mails if you'd like.  The organizer is also not pro-union as such,
but she has been stuck with a union organizing drive as the means the
workers are using.  At the same time, they have been completely independent
of the union and have simply had to recognize that legal contracts involved
belonging to a recognized union.  Of course, that also points to
limitations, but that is another discussion.)

> Similarly, I think it's better to support the people struggling for an
independent
> Palestine than to not, for parallel reasons.

I support the struggle against Israeli oppression.  For me, this means a
struggle against capital is a frontline priority, but also that an
independent Palestine could be a real gain.  But what does that mean and
under what conditions?  An independent Palestine is not my goal, but might
be one step along the way, one which I would support.  I'm not nitpicking,
but trying to be precise.

> Another parallel might be attempts to establish rape crisis center or
women's centers. These
> institutions have analogous problems, but I think are still worthwhile and
> are worth supporting.

I am working with a couple of people to try and start some kind of community
space that could act as a commons, like the Flor y Canto center in East L.A.
(www.florycanto.org, highly recommended,, very cool.)  Supporting struggles
is not the same as supporting NGOs and unions.  Of course, some people may
create something that looks like something an NGO would do, but the fact
that they did it and control it makes a huge difference.  For unions, see my
earlier post.

> In each of the above instances all will not be right if those campaigns
are
> won, but I would hope some small things will be better. I don't really see
> an alternative that I'm comfortable with to supporting these struggles.
The
> most common other position I've seen expressed here is usually one of
> disdain "bah, unions" "bah, national liberation" which doesn't strike me
as
> a particularly useful political insight. Scott said it fairly succinctly
in
> one of his emails-
>
> "Those who identify as anti-anti-imperialists and oppose a secular
Palestine
> in place of Israel and the Territories have had months to come up with a
> single concrete demand for the Palestinian situation and have not offered
> anything except for world revolution!, which inevitably means wait for
> revolution."
>
>
> I think this applies to a lot of other examples outside of Palestine as
> well, and not only questions of national liberation, and of course
> everything you said about Palestine still stands.
>
> Which reminds me, I like what you had to say about national liberation
> struggles, that a struggle starting around national liberation may grow
into
> something larger. couldn't this apply to other examples as well, like
trade
> unions etc? And yes of course, there are lots of other struggle worth
> supporting and starting, and some are better than others (and some we
> shouldn't support at all, like some racist and anti-immigrant policies
> backed by unions) but what I'm trying to get at is what a consistent
> response should be to the above mentioned limited types of struggles like
> Palestine etc.

I hope what I said in other places covers what you say above.  I'll get the
CD out to you this week after my unemployment check comes in.

Cheers,
Chris



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