"We have elected the most progressive mainstream politician imaginable," declared William McNary, president of USAction/TrueMajority, at the opening plenary. McNary went on to describe Obama as our "quarterback"--and say that the movement's task is to "block" for him.
UPFJ is a bunch of closet cases. They are not anti-war. And they are not open. Nor are they above board. William McNary's bulls**t opinion doesn't matter to us and it shouldn't matter to you. Not just because McNary's a little punk who wishes he had football talent in his long ago youth, but because McNary isn't impartial and shouldn't be allowed to get up and play like he is. Little Willie McNary has long been in the tank for Barack who's helped him many times (including securing a job with the Illinois state legislature). Or, as Little Willie declared at Aging Socialite's Cat Litter Box last year ("Women's Voices, Women Vote," May 1, 2008):
And in this election, I am supporting Barack Obama, whom I've known and worked with for years. I am also an elected delegate to the Democratic Convention for Barack Obama.
In other words, Little Willie's commitment is to Barack, not to peace. Tell Them Barack's Punk Ass Boy Is Here. And Little Willie is far from alone.
At the convention, Antonia Juhasz disgraced herself -- it would not be the last time -- grabbing onto Little Willie's football metaphor (did she go long?) and declaring it was the peace movement's job to "block" for Barack. No, Congressional flunky, that is not our job. But you have demonstrated that any independence you briefly achieved in recent years is gone and you've returned to your lowly world of Democratic suck-up. Come Back To The Real World, Antonia, Antonia.
The peace movement is not a sport. It is not a game. It probably is easier to sell out the peace movement if you see it as such. If it's just a national pastime -- well, at some point, it's "passed" "time" and we can all move on because we were nothing but spectators, silly little fans, distracting ourselves from the realities of our own lives, escaping into bulls**t to pretend our lives had meaning, right?
Sitting on our asses in front of the tube and screaming for I-Need-Attention Benjamin and the beastly, pock-marked Tom Hayden? Hey, remember when that stripper accused Leslie Cagan of raping her in Denver? Or when Carl Davidson got pinched for dog fighting? How about when Stephen Zunes got all nasty and beat up the ref and threw crap at the stands? And weren't we all styling in our Nike Air Feffers?
Is that what the peace movement was?
No. And it's past time that those committed to the Democratic Party (or just Barack) over the peace movement were shouted down and told to sit their asses down. It's past time that those who think they can misdirect the peace movement were revealed as the frauds and fakes they are and encouraged to find other avenues to pursue.
Mainly it's past time the people's movement was put in the people's hands.
First step, showing up. The National Assembly to End the Wars, the ANSWER coalition, World Can't Wait and Iraq Veterans Against the War are showing up next month. IVAW explains:
As an organization of service men and women who have served in Iraq, Afghanistan, stateside, and around the world, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War have seen the impact that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have had on the people of these occupied countries and our fellow service members and veterans, as well as the cost of the wars at home and abroad. In recognition that our struggle to withdraw troops from Iraq and demand reparations for the Iraqi people is only part of the struggle to right the wrongs being committed in our name, Iraq Veterans Against the War has voted to adopt an official resolution calling for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and reparations for the Afghan people. (To read the full resolution, click here.)To that end, Iraq Veterans Against the War will be joining a national coalition which is being mobilized to march on the Pentagon, March 21st, to demand the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and further our mission and goals in solidarity with the national anti-war movement. This demonstration will be the first opportunity to show President Obama and the new administration that our struggle was not only against the Bush administration - and that we will not sit around and hope that troops are removed under his rule, but that we will demand they be removed immediately.
For more information on the March 21st March on the Pentagon, and additional events being organized in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Orlando, to include transportation, meetings, and how you can get involved, please visit: www.pentagonmarch.org or www.answercoalition.org.
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Also see Ron Jacobs' "It Ain't Over 'Til It’s Over: Protest the Occupations and Wars of Washington" (Dissident Voice).