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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Posted on 01/19/2003 9:25:47 PM PST by Pokey78
The lady from Dubuque who rode 23 hours on a bus to get to the antiwar demonstration in Washington, D. C. Saturday may have been a little dazed by it all. She had come to protest the government's likely prosecution of a war in which her sons and those of her neighbors might be hurt or killed along with those of another people virtually unrepresented in Dubuque. But she was met by something else hardly native to Iowa.
In addition to the known speakers, Jesse Jackson, Sharpton, the actress Jessica Lange, Congressman Conyers, the speaker's stage was occupied for a large part of two hours by those with other agendas. One organizer brought greetings from Mumia Abu-Jamal, the black Philadelphian convicted of killing a white policeman in 1981, whose cause is celebrated throughout the leftist world and who supplies taped messages from his cell. An Imam somebody brought more greetings from Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, known in another day as H. Rap Brown, onetime head of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee now doing time for shooting a deputy sheriff in Georgia.
The Rev. Sharpton made note of the Martin Luther King anniversary, saying in addition to fighting for fair distribution of wealth, Dr. King wouldn't be "inside [the White House planning for war], he'd be on the outside saying, 'Give Peace a chance.'" Displayed prominently was a quotation from Dr. King from the late 1960s in which he said "the greatest purveyor of violence... is my government."
The attorney general from the Johnson era got the crowd going by calling for the impeachment of President Bush. Ramsey Clark recited the Constitution's causes for impeachment -- treason, bribery, and other high crimes and misdemeanors -- then ticking off questions about Bush's actions based on each, Clark asked, "Is that an impeachable offense?" To each, the crowd chorused, "yes!" Clark and other organizers said they are setting up a website to further the cause of Bush's impeachment.
The rally was organized by the outfit called the International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism). It came into being with lightning speed, three days after 9/11, to oppose whatever it might turn out that President Bush and the U. S. Government decided to do about the slaughter. Though it is obvious from the Woodward account, Bush At War, that Iraq wasn't even on the radar scope in those early days.
The visitor from Dubuque may have been disappointed to hear calls from the podium for the dissolution of the U.S. form of government. The heavy emphasis on the evils of the status quo and the need for radical change -- the elision of foreign policy and racial oppression. To assuage her disappointment, she needed only to spend $1.50 for the Sunday edition of the Washington Post.
Now, there was the antiwar protest she had expected to find. A scrubbed, anti-septic version characterized by the headline: "Thousands Oppose a Rush to War." The Washington Post lead was reminiscent of those old broadsides from Mao's press: "Tens of thousands ...making a thunderous presence in the bitter cold."
But where were the speeches? The words from the podium? From one end of the newspaper piece to the other there was but a single quote, that of Jesse Jackson saying, "The world is cold, but our hearts are warm." Fuzzy, non-confrontational. Not a mention of Mumia, not a scintilla of H. Rap Brown. Not even a hint that Ramsey Clark was in the country. Lots of anecdotals from visitors. "We want peace," said Mari Anderson of Titusville, Florida. The Post found Nancy Patton who rode a bus from Westland, Michigan, who allowed the war seems "more about oil than terrorism."
Others said suffering in the cold was nothing to "the suffering inflicted by U.S. policies in the world," reflecting the Dr. King sentiments from the podium. No one was asked for the article what he thought of the event, of the program, was it what was expected? In addition to the double byline at the top of the story, at the end of it there were six >I>Post reporters credited with contributing their talents in addition to the Associated Press. Was there a reason why the podium program went unreported?
Before the bus leaves for the return to Dubuque, time to search for the antiwar story in the Washington Final of the New York Times. There it is, inside, on page 12. And, yes, there is one speaker quoted. Actor Martin Sheen said in San Francisco, "If the people lead, the leaders will follow."
Confession: the lady from Dubuque is an invention, but she is representative of an America that exists. People with heartfelt opinions who are in disagreement with the policy that leads inevitably to war with Iraq but who have no desire to add their bodies to the numbers calling for freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal or for the destruction of the current form of American government. They resist having their honest sentiments subsumed by purveyors of other agendas. They want to change minds, not governments. And they wonder of events such as the antiwar demonstration of Saturday, January 18 -- "were it not for C-Span, how would we ever know?"
Reid Collins is a former CBS and CNN news correspondent.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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That's too easy...
By clicking on Free Republic, of course!
Whooa! That's not true. It was on the scope (and pinging hard) for Rummy in the first hours.
It appears there's hope.
THE MYSTERIOUS RAMSEY CLARK: STALINIST DUPE OR RULING-CLASS SPOOK?
In August 1990, two months after his return from the LaRouche conference in Copenhagen, with US troops mobilizing to Saudi Arabia, Clark accepted an invitation to lead the National Coalition to Stop US Intervention in the Middle East. This invitation had been extended by members of an orthodox Stalinist sect, the Workers World Party (WWP). Clark had finally found a new home. The Clark-WWP alliance has lasted to this day.A brief look at the doctrinaire sect's history: WWP is the brainchild of Sam Marcy, intellectual guru at the party's helm until his death in 1998. In 1956, Marcy led the faction in the Socialist Workers Party that supported the Soviet invasion of Hungary, attacking the popular uprising and general strike there as "counter-revolutionary." In 1959, the Marcy clique broke from the Trotskyist SWP to found the more Stalinist WWP. The new group wasted little time in cheering on the brutal Chinese repression of the indigenous culture in Tibet that year (which sent the Dalai Lama and 80,000 refugees fleeing into exile).
Vying with SWP and other parties for top dog position on the radical left, WWP always maintained a front group to suck in neophytes. During the Vietnam era this was Youth Against War & Fascism (YAWF). In the Reagan-Bush era it was People's Anti-War Mobilization (PAM)--which would be the operative group in the National Coalition in 1990.
With glasnost, WWP supported the Kremlin hard-liners who resisted Gorbachev's reforms and disarmament moves. Insisting that China remained a "workers state," WWP supported Deng Xiaoping in the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, again attacking the protesting students and workers as "counter-revolutionaries." In 1991, WWP supported the KGB coup against Gorbachev.
Sample is halfway through the article, and a good dozen paragraphs follow. Don't miss the observation about the "red-brown alliance" (commies hugging neo-nazis).
I don't do this when Hillary is speaking, though, that gives me nightmares!
D$*&it! I thought, or maybe only hoped, that the WWP might have hit a media tripwire with Clark's impeachment call. But in my heart I think I knew this is what would happen. The whitewash, however, is no less incredible and galling for its familiarity.
In any case this is a good, strongly written op ed on Compost coverage of the ANSWER rally. The hook is a peacenik from flyover country, naively expecting the thug lovers running the appeasment movement to match their portrayal in the media.
Any of you know if someone has a ping list for D.C. Freepers?
Yeah, a buncha freakish pro-Saddam America-haters, up close and fragrant.
This is an interesting question though. I never, ever, ever, ever thought I would say this, but I wonder what Richard Gere does think, and if he even knows about the real nature of ANSWER, and if so has he said anything about it?
IOW, is the media censoring leftwing as well as rightwing criticisms and exposures of the stalinists trying, and largely suceeding, to run the "peace" movement the way Tony S runs New Jersey?
Any of you know if someone has a ping list for D.C. Freepers?Here are a FEW of the DC Chapter regulars...
I'd surely leave folks off, but I'm sure Angelwood or Sauropod have the complete list...MUD
That's the key. C-SPAN is just the conduit. Events such as the one on Saturday are what they do best - - by just letting the cameras roll. I know C-SPAN gets a lot of criticism around here, especially for their telephone line arrangement on the Washington Journal, but I believe Brian Lamb does his best. C-SPAN has changed the way people see the workings of politics and Washington.
Blaming C-SPAN for what we see is like blaming a football stadium for the outcome of a football game.
Well put, my FRiend...the Networks, though...ABCCBSNBCCNNN deserve all the conDAMNation we can rustle up, IMHO!!
FReegards...MUD
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