Red, White, and Blah
This seems like an odd way to comemmorate the fourth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, but a very good way to pretend that there is a direct link between the attacks and the ongoing war in Iraq.
That's not to say that I'm tempted to take to the street for the other guys. I vehemently opposed the invasion of Iraq, and until Colin Powell went to the UN I thought that we might avoid the invasion. I'm still against Operation Iraqi Freedom, but pulling completely out of Iraq seems a bit...I don't know, irresponsible at this point.
My main reason for staying away from the events of the weekend of September 24 is because the whole shebang is being organized by International ANSWER, which is multitasking by taking on war and racism, including anti-immigrant and anti-labor policies in the US, the prohibition against the right of return for Palestinian refugees, the presence of military recruiters in schools, the presence of troops in the Philippines and in Puerto Rico, and, lastly, but not least, the threatening rhetoric against Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, and North Korea. All at once.
International ANSWER shoehorned all of these issues into the pre-invasion protests, to the point where protesters, myself included, had a hard time keeping up. People are quite capable of demonstrating for more than one cause at a time, but ten causes?? The protests organized by International ANSWER are well-meaning attempts to get people on the street, literally in the President's backyard. But the rhetoric melts into a mish-mash of shouting (even the quotable sound bites are few and far between, with the possible exception of Al Sharpton's 87 cents spiel).
I thought that the pre-invasion protests lost their focus, and I wonder if they would have made any difference had they been more coherent (I would say that Powell's speech at the UN had more of an effect than anything else). From my perspective, it made me feel a lot less certain about protesting the war. International ANSWER allowed many other topical concerns, worthy in their own right but for the most part unrelated, to piggyback onto the chief matter at hand, committing thousands of tons of men and materiel to unseating a regime that posed no direct threat to regular Americans.
So there you have it: two September events on the Mall with very different aims and political constituencies. Non-sequitirs will be in attendance at both, however.
That's not to say that I'm tempted to take to the street for the other guys. I vehemently opposed the invasion of Iraq, and until Colin Powell went to the UN I thought that we might avoid the invasion. I'm still against Operation Iraqi Freedom, but pulling completely out of Iraq seems a bit...I don't know, irresponsible at this point.
My main reason for staying away from the events of the weekend of September 24 is because the whole shebang is being organized by International ANSWER, which is multitasking by taking on war and racism, including anti-immigrant and anti-labor policies in the US, the prohibition against the right of return for Palestinian refugees, the presence of military recruiters in schools, the presence of troops in the Philippines and in Puerto Rico, and, lastly, but not least, the threatening rhetoric against Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, and North Korea. All at once.
International ANSWER shoehorned all of these issues into the pre-invasion protests, to the point where protesters, myself included, had a hard time keeping up. People are quite capable of demonstrating for more than one cause at a time, but ten causes?? The protests organized by International ANSWER are well-meaning attempts to get people on the street, literally in the President's backyard. But the rhetoric melts into a mish-mash of shouting (even the quotable sound bites are few and far between, with the possible exception of Al Sharpton's 87 cents spiel).
I thought that the pre-invasion protests lost their focus, and I wonder if they would have made any difference had they been more coherent (I would say that Powell's speech at the UN had more of an effect than anything else). From my perspective, it made me feel a lot less certain about protesting the war. International ANSWER allowed many other topical concerns, worthy in their own right but for the most part unrelated, to piggyback onto the chief matter at hand, committing thousands of tons of men and materiel to unseating a regime that posed no direct threat to regular Americans.
So there you have it: two September events on the Mall with very different aims and political constituencies. Non-sequitirs will be in attendance at both, however.
posted by Bloggalicious at 16:15
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