Date: Fri, 20 Feb 1998 01:49:35 +0100
Subject: M-G: Iraq -- Mother of all Mobilizations?!


I  wrote:
>>Just as an exercise in trying to imagine what real democracy might look
>>like, how should a thorough-going democratic discussion on the threatened
>>invasion of Iraq be organized in the States (or in all the countries of the
>>UN!) to satisfy serious democratic principles? I.e. where should it take
>>place, how long should it take, who should be involved and how, who should
>>organize and lead the discussions, with what briefing materials, etc? Are
>>teach-ins any good as a model?

and Yoshie commented with some bitterness:

>To my knowledge, most Americans don't (or can't) "discuss" anything; what
>they are taught to cherish is their God-given entitlement to "opinions"
>which are daily being manufactured everywhere but in their heads.
>
>So before something like "discussion" can take place, we must first destroy
>the semblance of normalcy within which "opinions" thrive like hothouse
>flowers.

However, if it's a question of lining up behind given sets of opinions,
then the Columbus experience shows Americans that there's more than one set
of opinions, and some will line up against the war. And this is a
democratic and popular issue, not in the least restricted to the labour
movement, the workers' movement in general or socialist organizations.

And with the clash of these sets of opinions, there will be confrontation.

This will take the form of

a) demonstrations, which will be reported, involving slogans against the
war and material explaining the slogans and the positions. Such chants as

	I-2-3-4,
	We don't want your racist war

will catch on very quickly and open up enormous opportunities to discuss
the Arab situation and Israel and racism in general in relation to
government and imperialist policies.

b) teach-ins etc, which will develop very rapidly a cadre of well-informed
individuals capable of leading teams of opinion builders at schools and
workplaces and in communities.

c) actions of various kinds, which will challenge legal constraints around
the question of the war and focus on the morality of jailing protesters
while blithely killing, maiming and starving civilians and in general
running an international operation whose main job is to prevent ordinary
people around the world from taking their own affairs into their own hands
and at one stroke ridding themselves of the Saddam Husseins and Talibans
and Mullahs of the semi-colonies and the imperialist machine of war and
lies being orchestrated from Washington.

d) hopefully, organization at various levels, as militants from different
currents make contact and work together on the big slogans of No War on
Iraq, Troops out of the Persian Gulf, etc, and discover they have more in
common on other questions than they realized before.

There are enough of us around with experience from the anti-Vietnam-War
mobilizations and subsequent campaigns to get this off to a running start.
People have also had time to think about the situation in Iraq and the
Middle East and America's role there after the Gulf War. There is no
surprise factor anaesthetizing popular response. Already we can see the
speed of mobilization in the past few days alone, especially in many places
in the US itself. And if the US gives the lead, anti-war movements will
spring up very fast in other countries, and act much more boldly.

Particularly encouraging is the understanding present in reports on
imperialist double standards in relation to Israel on the one hand and Iraq
and Palestine on the other. I find it hard to recall scenes of Israeli and
US flags being burnt by Palestinians being presented with such impartiality
and lack of condemnation by the media. Remember back in 1968 during the
Vietnam War there was huge violence against protesters at the Daley
convention in Chicago and there were killings at Kent State. In England
people were thrown into  jail for taking part in demonstrations like the
big Grosvenor Square demo at the US embassy. In Sweden people lost their
jobs for wearing NLF badges at work. Obviously the degree and extent of
imperialist war operations is not the same, but the question is why not?
And what's holding them back now from doing what they did then?

Of course, all this is too cleancut and abstract as I've written it here.
But all the factors are in place for a huge mobilization to get under way
that could catalyze an enormous amount of suppressed popular resentment and
anger at imperialist arrogance, oppression and brutality. I think the
comparison with the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 -- an
international cop marching zombie-like into a situation where it can't pull
back and yet it stands to lose much more than it could ever gain by a
short-term military victory -- gives a good idea of the desperate situation
of US imperialism (and therefore of world imperialism) today. If the chasm
between leaders and led was pretty big in 1992, it could become
unbridgeable now.

Cheers,

Hugh




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