[R-G] Re: [NYCAnti-War] Lerner's redbaiting campaign

[Barry and Caroline]

on 2/14/03 7:28 AM, Steve at baysidefriend at yahoo.com wrote:
>>>I completely disagree with Fred Feldman -- whom I normally agree with -- on
this one.  Lerner is on a red-baiting campaign which violates the principle
of non-exclusion.  It is not the four coaltions who are exclusionary, it is
Lerner and former leftists like Marc Cooper moving rapidly to the right in
the footsteps of Hitchens.  To demand that speakers not attack the
organizers of a demo is quite reasonable.  I don't remember any speaker at
the big anti-Vietnam-war demos attacking the NPAC for example, even though
the SWP was the organizational backbone of NPAC like WWP is of ANSWER.  In
fact, no speaker at any demonstration back then attacked and redbaited the
SWP although many disagreed with the SWP.  This is a question of building a
broad and inclusive antiwar movement that MUST include ANSWER.  No one
should be allowed to use the platform to attempt to divide the movement.
Lerner and the former leftists like Suzi Weisman and Marc Cooper should be
roundly denounced.

Barry Sheppard 
>> 
> Coalition are very fragile creatures.
> The existence of one now shows the depth of
> convictions among the leadership/membership of the
> various factions.
> It also points out coalition weakness, and the ease at
> which one can be disrupted.
> 
> I recall how easy it was to drive a wedge among the
> participants of an organization call the Student
> Mobilization Committee during the Vietnam war.
> 
> Unfortunetly the same vulnerabilities exist today.
> 
> Perhaps it is a matter of time before they are
> exploited. Perhaps we can use our brains to temper our
> emotions to be able to evaluate such an event for what
> it is when it occurs. Consider it a game, a real
> game..kind of our own reality TV...  " Can you spot
> the...."..and be able to resist an attempt to
> fractionalize, fictionalize, stupefy, mortify....
> 
> Steve Scher
> http://baysidefriend.us/
> 
> --- Don DeBar <b.corti at worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>> Hey, I'd like to speak, too. Am I entitled? If not,
>> how does Lerner differ
>> from me?
>> 
>> DDeBar
>> 87 Ferris Place
>> Ossining, NY 10562
>> 914 739-2700 days
>> 914 945-0815 eves
>> debar at bestweb.net
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Fred Feldman" <ffeldman at bellatlantic.net>
>> To: "marxmail" <marxism at lists.panix.com>; "107"
>> <107disc at yahoogroups.com>;
>> "620" <620peace at yahoogroups.com>; "antiwar network"
>> <nsan at lists.riseup.net>;
>> "nucnews" <NucNews at yahoogroups.com>; "rad"
>> <rad-green at lists.econ.utah.edu>;
>> "carole seligman" <caroseligman at aol.com>; "jeff
>> mackler"
>> <jmackler at locrian.com>; "walter lippmann"
>> <walterlx at earthlink.net>;
>> "nyantiwar" <NYCAnti-War at yahoogroups.com>;
>> <change-links at yahoogroups.com>;
>> <kominform2 at yahoogroups.com>; "nelson blackstock"
>> <nblackstock at earthlink.net>; "willa madden"
>> <WMADDEN at uabmc.edu>; "steffie
>> brooks" <steffienyc at aol.com>; "Gary Wilson"
>> <gary at wwpublish.com>; "barry and
>> caroline" <lundshep at attbi.com>
>> Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 2:58 AM
>> Subject: [NYCAnti-War] Lerner's redbaiting campaign
>> 
>> 
>>> Lou Paulsen, among others,  asks if I would vote
>> for Lerner to speak now
>>> that he has gone into the Wall Street Journal etc.
>> to denounce the antiwar
>>> movement.
>>> 
>>> No.  By such actions, Lerner has excluded himself.
>> The issue, as one
>>> concerning Lerner, has become one of his
>> resisiting his redbaiting and
>>> anti-semitism baiting of the antiwar movement.r
>>> 
>>> Did the four coalitions adopt this  standard and
>> reject Lerner as a
>> speaker
>>> because they foresaw he would turn against the
>> movement? I don't think so
>>> and I think it would have been a mistake to act on
>> this expectation.
>>> 
>>> I  continue to hold that the standard was
>> exclusionary and should not be
>>> applied in the future.
>>> 
>>> Today's red-baiting attack must be dealt with as
>> what it is.
>>> 
>>> But I also hope that being "white hot" with anger
>> at Lerner this time
>> around
>>> doesn't lead to similar mistakes next  time
>> around. The standard adopted
>> was
>>> politically exclusionary and Lerner's not being
>> invited ON THIS BASIS  was
>> a
>>> mistake, period.
>>> 
>>> If he goes on this kind of campaign against the
>> movement without any
>> serious
>>> attempt to resolve the matter within the movement,
>> it simply shows what
>> his
>>> former antiwar position was worth.
>>> 
>>> For me, this question never revolved around an
>> assessment of Lerner or
>>> whether he should speak.  The statements of the
>> four coalitions about the
>>> standard they had adopted, and applied in Lerner's
>> case,  seemed wrong and
>>> politically harmful  to me and that remains my
>> view.  My concern was that
>>> this standard -- which will only have harmful
>> consequences and didn't have
>>> any useful ones in this case -- could become
>> normal.   This should not
>>> happen.
>>> Fred Feldman
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> =====
> Steve Scher
> BaysideFriend at yahoo.com
> 718 279 0093
> http://www.baysidefriend.us