Infighting splits US war protesters

[T_i_B]

Source: The Observer

The American peace movement has been plunged into disarray after failing to persuade the new-look Congress to stop the war, amid mounting warnings of a summer bloodbath in Iraq.

When its most high-profile controversial figurehead - bereaved mother Cindy Sheehan - quit the anti-war campaign and the Democratic party in disgust last week, her resignation statement revealed the deep divisions. Now opponents of President Bush are warning that the anti-war movement and the Democrats have little time to salvage their credibility if they want to end the war - and take the credit for it.

But while some believe that Sheehan may return to the peace movement after a spell out of the limelight, she seems unlikely to kiss and make up with the Democrats - or one of their most famous support groups, MoveOn.org - which has become the other high-profile face of the US anti-war movement. She called MoveOn's reputation as a big player in the anti-war left 'hilarious', accusing it of being so tied in to the Democrats and their electoral cause that they clammed up when the party failed to protest about the war.

Military Families Speak Out admitted that the anti-war movement was 'fragmenting' - a view endorsed by the Crawford Peace House, a campaign based near Bush's ranch, which is calling for the anti-war movement to 'regroup'. 'The peace movement is in disarray. It's run by the Democrats and they are scrambling to try to show that they are anti-war, but no one is fooled any more, and Cindy Sheehan just added an exclamation mark to that,' said John Walsh, a commentator for the leftwing online newsletter Counterpunch



Read more: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2094144,00.html

[PuraVidaDreamin]

1. Ain't that the truth!

[dave_p]

2. Split? Bullshit!

Everyone knows Congresscritters have their agenda. The antiwar movement has its agenda. The poor Observer seems a little adrift in this strange new world: US politics must seem ever so complicated to the poor dears, especially when it involves a grassroots dimension that a decade of Blair all but killed off in England (not that it had much going for it in the first place apart from the mighty antiwar movement that the paper seems to have forgotten about). Hey, Roger, worry about things back home: they're a hell of a lot worse - at least Americans get to debate a national foreign policy!

[T_i_B]

4. Oh the grassroots anti-war movement over here is still about.

It's joined at the hip with George Galloway's RESPECT party though, and they hardly ever get elected.

[dave_p]

6. Absolutely - hence the "apart from"

Antiwar folks know where they stand. Only the media seems confused.

[MH1]

3. All this confusion of terms: "anti-war movement" vs. "peace movement."

Hmmm.

Do people really not see the difference?

But it's not the difference implied here: "The peace movement is in disarray. It's run by the Democrats and they are scrambling to try to show that they are anti-war"

Wha...??? The Democrats are running the peace movement? It would surely be nice if Democrats in general ("The Democrats") were so committed to peace. But most peace organizations I've been acquainted with tend to be run by people who identify more with some other culture, for example Quakers.

The peace movement is by definition anti-war. An anti-war movement is not necessarily a peace movement.

But then, that line was written by someone from Counterpunch, so I wouldn't expect it to make sense.

[EST]

7. The problem, in my opinion, is that so many so-called reporters

have zero understanding of people and no ability to see "in depth" the issues facing all of us. THey can't go beyond mere surface analysis, witness the statement about Cindy's "quitting in disgust."

Sure she was disgusted, but she also, by her own admission, saw the limits of her effectiveness and chose to re-orient her fight-ala Al Gore-toward a bigger stage.
I think she recognizes that to go further than she already has requires fundamental changes on that larger stage, beyond her attempt to get * to acknowledge his mistakes and chart a new course, to a re-direction of the attitudes of the entire country and the world.

Most reporters are little more than manure-footed hicks with a tiny, limited world view and an inability to refocus and expand beyond their own limited horizons.

[rodeodance]

5. heck, the people ARE the movement and we all need to keep pressure on the Dem Congress!!

[Demeter]

8. The Peace and Anti-War in Iraq People Aren't Going Anywhere

We're here, we're staying, just bending over to pick up some bigger rocks, is all.

[madrchsod]

9. blah,blah,blah

she was one person out of millions.

[demnan]

10. I think this article misses a point

Moveon.org was started as an email list of people who opposed Clinton's impeachment procedings. Based on its history, it can't be a big vehicle for a pro-impeachment anti-war movement against Bush and Cheney. But they have all these email addresses. They were the first left wing group to use the internet to energize activists and I appaud them for that. But its foundation was against impeachment, not for it, and it was formed before the advent of the Iraq war. It doesn't go to prove that everyone on its email list agrees with the present anti-war or pro-impeachment movement.

ANSWER Coalition, the real big player and the only one to get out massive numbers of people to protest the war, has never been a vehicle for the Democrats. It has been a vehicle for so many different groups, Communists, Socialists, unions, Muslim activist groups, Greens, Democrats, Iraq Veterans against the War, etc. that this was its strength, also the reason for the length of so many speeches which about froze us all on March 17 at the North Pentagon parking lot. I think ANSWER has to lead the way in this movement. They recently sent out a letter asking members to provide direction for the future of the movement. ANSWER by its definition though, is going to include speakers and organizations that many people are uncomfortable with. They also lack flexibility, like in the January D.C. Demonstration where they did not announce the forming of the word IMPEACH! on the mall on the other side of the protest, and we missed a great opportunity to advance that cause.

Personally I think we need more activity on the local level our our community groups. Where are the churches in all this? Why aren't the neighborhood soccer moms out there in the streets against this war? This is who we need to connect with. And we better do it soon, or we'll lose all credibility