Pictures From Noon MoveOn Demo in SF Against Bush's Iraq War Escalation

Did the President Declare "Secret War" Against Syria and Iran?

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/01/11/18345849.php


-- and why were patriot missiles for "allies" mentioned in the speach last night? iraqi insurgents don't have missiles

Provocation to justify an air war against iran?

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/01/11/18345730.php

Bush did just appoint admiral to supposedly head up ground war in Iraq. Why? Because attacking Iran is next.

Here is a section in the speech Bush gave yesterday:

"Succeeding in Iraq also requires defending its territorial integrity and stabilizing the region in the face of extremist challenge. This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.

We are also taking other steps to bolster the security of Iraq and protect American interests in the Middle East. I recently ordered the deployment of an additional carrier strike group to the region. We will expand intelligence sharing and deploy Patriot air defense systems to reassure our friends and allies. We will work with the governments of Turkey and Iraq to help them resolve problems along their border. And we will work with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating the region."

You can see me on the pic. I'm the young guy with short hair. I showed up wearing a shirt with the image of a maimed Iraqi, a large canvas sign saying 'Our Taxes Kill' 'No War No Nukes' and a stencil drawing of a bomb falling with the words 'your name here'
First the MoveOn bosses complained that my message may not "coincide with the message of MoveOn.org"--thankfully, a few people there rushed to defend me. Afterwards MoveOn liberals chanted something like "Escalation hurts the nation". I followed by chanting things like "Escalation hurts the Iraqi nation" or "the Iraqi Nation rejects escalation"

My voice is pretty loud, and everytime I started chanting, there'd be a few seconds of awkward silence, as if I was saying something outlandish. They'd refuse to chant along-- it was pretty obvious that this was not at all about the Iraqis.
Noticing that, I tried next to chant the more 'neutral' "Both of our nations reject escalation!" which got a few people chanting along only to be intentionaly drowned by a large majority, who seemed to loath any mention of Iraqis-- preferring to emphasize OUR suffering and the evils of a few bad apples in the system.
Liberal groups like MoveOn are against the war on grounds that "our poor soldiers are dying" and "it costs too much". They blame everything on GWB, as if imperialism wasn't inherent in our system and we weren't all cogs in the killing machine.

Well, it's true that the "MoveOn Liberals" might be a little safe and myopic. And, it's true that Answer and Code Pink have also grown stale, predictable, whiney - mostly irrelevant. But, they do seem to be all that we have right now. Oh yes, and there's also United for Peace and Justice. They are still "organizing" events and getting some play. I'm not sure what ever happened to the front group that called themselves "not in our name." ... They seemed to have withered into the sidelines of tired, political cliches as well.

But, what to do? ... complaining about the front groups and the liberals is also sounding trite.

So, you do have some options: ... 1.) organize your own events and actions and try to attract people that think more like you. ... 2.) go to the events they organize and form a "radical block" (also a stale tactic ... but, what the hell) ... 3.) try coalition building around a truly progressive agenda item that is pro-active and not reactionary ... (say like making the elected reps devote more budget to healthcare and education and cutting revenue for defense ... or, focussing on all the no-bid contracts that are going to the friends of Bush and co and then, demanding that any money spent on private contractors goes to locals in places like Iraq and/or New Orleans ... or, 4.) starting a big push to shut down Guantanamo and ending U.S.-sponsored torture ... 5.) Try to escape all of this in haze of designer drugs and meaningless sex ... 6.) Get all spiritual and buddhist on us and go to retreats to India or to workshops in Palo Alto on finding meanding within ... 7.) Get a grant to go and make a documentary about trust-fund brats doing really "powerful" organizing and giving workshops on straw-bale housing to other rich kids who have moved out to cool, semi-rural locations ... 8.) (my favorite fantasy) move to Switzterland where they spend like nothing on defense and instead just launder everyone's crooked money ... yeah ... but, unfortunately, they aren't so open to immigration from yanks so this may be difficult unless you are like a really in-demand engineer or something ... and finally, how about the option that is actually still open to lots of working class americans - 7.) Embrace fundamentalist christianity and forget your working class woes in an orgy of gay-bashing, abortion-fighting, mega-church going doomsday religiosity. Yeah, brethren ... that ol' time religion ... it's a lot like the stale peace-chanters trying to appeal to a jaded america that doesn't give a crap about them by being nice and safe ... So, they clean up their signs, focus their message and cutsify their "protests" to the point where it's all kind of meaningless. Oh well, sorry to be so existential ... but, at this point, it really looks like Satre and Eclesiastes are more appropriate than say Ramsey Clark, Bob Avakian or Ali Star. OK, peace