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Left Behind

Maria,

I can only speak for myself, but here's my "Top Four" reasons I politely stayed away from last week's Anti-War festivities at Westlake Park:

1) From historical materialism to historical amnesia

Leftists have this erroneous idea that the Vietnam war (and later the Persian Gulf War) ended simply because everybody got out in the street, huffed and puffed, and shot their mouths off at indifferent bureaucrats in massive demonstrations.

No, it ended when the general public were presented with the choice of more dead sons (and daughters) or peace with the Viet Cong; against a backdrop of (often violent) domestic conflicts around similar issues of authoritarian practices by the powerful aimed at the human rights of the powerless.

The U.S. government was presented with the choice of continuing an increasingly unpopular war and encouraging revolution at home (due to the increasing body count coming out of Vietnam ... and out of the ghettos), or ending the war, jailing (and killing) the revolutionaries, giving liberal and negro "leaders" jobs, and bribing the poor with affirmative action.

The message is clear, folks: when you leave the criminal leadership and supporters of a racist, brutal regime in tact, they always make a swift comeback. And they come back with newly acquired defenses to the ideas and actions that were used against them before. Learn from the past, or be doomed to repeat it!

2. Depressing, Dated, Dogmatic Tactics

If we are to be out in the street, in the pouring rain, over an issue that we don't have a lot of control over (yet), then this activity needs to be productive; beyond saying "hello" and exchanging contact info with the usual comrades (which is good), or hustling new people by manipulating their curiosity with loud or lofty rhetoric in order to make a paper sale.

Every army in the world marches to someplace to do something ... except the "army" of the local Left! We march to a place that is symbolic only to us (like the Federal Building) and holler and scream until we're hoarse and sweaty. And then what? We go home, drink coffee, pat ourselves on the back (for what?), go to Kinko's to make more flyers, and then prepare to do it all again at a later date; but this can only happen after receiving orders from our humorless, dogmatic, wanna-be Christ-like [mis]leadership. Learn from the past, or be doomed to repeat it!

3. No clear understanding of power = No clear direction

A demonstration is supposed to do just that; it is supposed to demonstrate the power of the people! And based upon that power, advance the particular issue and the overall struggle in a real, visible, and tangible way.

Power consists of four elements: knowledge, wealth, defensive ability, and unity. Power is not real power if any one of the four elements is weaker than the rest. The thought and the actions that sprout from that thought are not truly powerful unless each of the four elements of power are equally balanced. Any activity I get into has to build power for me as an individual and for the group simultaneously, or it is simply not worthy of my limited time and limited resources.

I grew up in the same house with an adult role model who was a veteran (Korea and Vietnam). For his services to America, he came home with a purple heart, a plastic shoulder blade (due to a bayonet wound), and post-traumatic stress disorder. Thus, experience has taught me to oppose all wars carried out by the United States and its allies, from the war in Kosovo to the war on drugs, no matter what the stated reason.

4.) The Lamb Cannot Lay Down with the Lion ... nor the Hyena!

In addition, I find it ironic, and problematic, that the local Left would invite Reverend Robert Jeffreys to speak at an anti-war march when an organization he leads, the Black Dollar Days Task Force, is a documented active "partner" with the Seattle Police Department/FBI's Weed and Seed Program. The Weed and Seed Program is a continuation of the war on Black America in the form of a new type of COINTELPRO (Counter-Intelligence Program).

Based upon who and what they ally themselves with, is the thinly-veiled message from the local Left "freedom for white Kosovars ... and continued domestic neocolonialism for Black people in the CD"?! Inquiring minds want to know! But that's another discussion in itself.

Clearly, the "movement" needs to get up off of all fours and learn to walk before it can run. I will say that I have seen real improvements in the short time I've been "in the game" out here, but more must be done.

Learn from the past, or be doomed to repeat it! 100% weak and wicked politics = 100% weak and wicked results!

Kaidi Allah (s/n Greg Jackson), Seattle, WA

Littleton Postscript

Dear Maria--Geov, too,

Keep writing, Maria. While I don't always agree with you it always warms my heart to read the published writings of a strong and politically involved woman. Keep on.

The Littleton, CO, coverage has been good in ETS!, but I have two things I'd like to add. The first is probably the most important to me as a parent. While the media has devoted endless time and paper to the horrors of Littleton, CO, and they and their pundits have blamed everyone from the federal government to the kids' parents, very few have offered any actual insight into the "why" of what happened. I can't explain it all either and I do subscribe to the effect of the examples set by our federal government in all-too-many areas, the refusal of society to accept those who are "different," and the ease with which we accept the cruelty that is so often showered on those who are "different" or--even worse in high school for those who remember it--those who aren't "In" (and we all always knew who was and wasn't "In").

My second comment is that in the midst of all this horror being carried so religiously by the media, two really wonderful things happened in Seattle. The Garfield High School Jazz Band was one of about 20 high school jazz bands in the nation invited to perform at Lincoln Center in NY as part of the Duke Ellington celebrations. The Garfield band came in 4th.

At about the same time, the Franklin High School Varsity Mock Trial Team won the State championship. The Jr. Varsity team came in 5th in the state, despite the fact that they were competing primarily against varsity teams. This week the Franklin team is in St. Louis competing in the National Mock Trial Competition.

Neither of these events was apparently worth wasting much time or paper on. Franklin had a small eight-line blurb buried in the bowels of the P-I. Garfield got an article in the Times, but only after the event.

This makes our priorities very clear. If you want attention, you have to be violent or no one notices.

My other whine is how few media even mentioned the fact that, despite the carnage at Littleton and other schools during the last several years, school is still statistically the safest place for children in this country. It is head and shoulders safer than being at home, where a sickeningly huge percentage of our children are violently abused on a regular basis.

Thalia Syracopoulos, Seattle, WA

No Comment

Dear ETS!,

I am a student in search of the meaning of life. I was wondering if you had the answer? If you don't, could you point me to resources that might provide me with the answer? Do you know anybody who knows the answer? You guys have all the answers to all of life's problems!

Rick Giombetti, editor/publisher Fort Fungus Times, a satirical newspaper in Fort Collins, Colorado

Metal Napalm

ETS!,

Talking about weapons of mass destruction? So you think land mines are bad because they kill and maim indiscriminately? Wait till we see the MultiLaunch Rocket Systems deployed in support of those Apache Gunships that keep crashing during training flights in Albania. This system delivers cluster bombs that basically shred everything above ground over a large area, sort of like a heavy metal version of napalm. Gosh, if NATO uses this weapon, wouldn't it undermine their claim of moral superiority?

Moss Stone, via e-mail