[R-G] WW: Why the anti-war movement should support the Palestinian struggle

[cuito61 at onebox.com]

>you know, for all the blather about the supposedly evil 
and "Stalinist" nature
of WW, I can only write about how it looks from here. I live in Canada and see,
for the first time, the possibility that a principled anti-imperialist group--
that makes no apologies-- seems to be in a majorly influential place.

Thank goodness I say from here, being just another citizen of the world, tired
of watching American leftists let their own governments off the hook.
---

That's just the thing.  Just how "principled" are ANSWER's politics, anyway?  

I wholeheartedly agree with you and even with ANSWER that NO, peace protestors should NOT let the U.S. govt off the hook, I disagree with anti-war activists having to call themselves 'patriotic' every 5 minutes, and would argue that the U.S. is the leading murderous and terroristic state (http://www.linefeed.org/~cactus/pip.html);

that YES an anti-imperialist analysis is needed in light of this war of aggression, the overall design the U.S. has in mind for the Middle East, and the National Security Strategy, among other things; 

and YES the Palestinian struggle should be supported as part of anti-war activism because it is fundamentally a struggle against U.S.-funded foreign military occupation and unquestionably connected to the questions of power and hegemony in the Middle East, not to mention the possibility of ethnic cleansing while the world's attention is focused on the war in Iraq.

Having said this, frankly I find myself repulsed by a lot of ANSWER's politics and tactics.  It very difficult to work with or even respect a group who holds up North korea and China as examples of a society we should fight for, or who supported the soviet invasion of Hungary, etc.  Furthermore, everybody knows the parasitic, undemocratic nature of WWP/IAC/ANSWER and their penchant for taking credit for other people's hard work and actions, their highly authoritarian and insular structure, and their constant capitulation to the authorities and "protest pens."  I do not think that ANSWER presents a "principled" anti-imperialist stance at all.

I wish there was a radical, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, PRINCIPLED, AND anti-authoritarian national coalition against the war.  For now, people such as myself will continue to work with smaller local groups such as "No Blood for Oil" <www.nbfo.net>, and plug in to UFP <www.uniteforpeace.org>.  I'll still go to ANSWER's mass mobilizations and I can't knock the work they do on these, but I won't stand there listening to their speakers or carry their signs, nor will I be able to simply "ignore" some of the more repulsive features of their ideology and analysis.

-Marc