ETS! encourages comments, feedback, tips, corrections, and info! Please keep them as concise as possible so we can print as many different voices as possible: ETS!, P.O. Box 85541, Seattle WA 98145, or e-mail editorial@eatthestate.org.

Let a Thousand Flags Burn

Geov Parrish's commentary on the recent vote on banning desecration of the American flag ("Me and Joey," ETS!, July 6) included an attack on Revolutionary Communist Party supporter Gregory "Joey" Johnson, and on the RCP. Joey's legal case, Texas v. Johnson, resulted in a Supreme Court decision in 1989 upholding the right of flag burning as political speech.

Instead of substantive discussion of the case, and why government leaders are trying to pass a Constitutional amendment criminalizing flag desecration, Parrish took the opportunity to paint Joey as a "zealot," out to "piss people off." Geov alleged Joey had one time "trashed" Geov's apartment. Apparently the point of the attacks is to say Joey and the RCP's viewpoints are unworthy of consideration.

Geov didn't explain why powerful forces in the government want to change the Constitution itself to outlaw flag desecration, and what it says about the times when the Senate fails by only a single vote to accomplish this. Geov said Republicans "pissed off" by flag desecration pushed the amendment to "pander to voters," diverting from the real issues, while Democrats searched for a spine. But 14 Democrats voted for the amendment. Hillary Clinton proposed flag desecration be made illegal by law, instead of Constitutional amendment! Are these the people we should rely on, or pressure, hoping they'll do the right thing?

In 2005 Joey Johnson commented, "The flag amendment is an attempt... to unite the nation behind a belligerent 'my country right or wrong' patriotism... Just how far is it from saying people can't criticize or express contempt for the symbol of the government, to saying people can't criticize the government at all?"

Geov's commentary didn't connect this amendment with Bush administration attempts to remake society in a fascist direction. Nor did it offer what can be done to stop this direction. Each day sees another obscenity. Detainee suicides, rapes and killings of Iraqi girls by US forces, the packing of the judiciary with religious fundamentalists, the criminalization of abortion. When The New York Times revealed the Bush administration surveilled bank transactions of thousands, Bush, Cheney, and on down went after them. Rush Limbaugh said the Times was "trying to help the jihadists." Columnist Frank Rich reported [that] a California radio talk show host called for Times editor Bill Keller to be sent to the gas chamber.

This prompted Times columnist Paul Krugman to write, "[T]he Bush administration and the movement it leads have been engaged in an authoritarian project, an effort to remove all the checks and balances that have heretofore constrained the executive branch.

"Much of this project involves the assertion of unprecedented executive authority--the right to imprison people indefinitely without charges (and torture them if the administration feels like it), the right to wiretap American citizens without court authorization, the right to declare, when signing laws passed by Congress, that the laws don't really mean what they say."

This is the context of the flag amendment.

It's part of creating an environment where anyone who speaks against the crimes this country is committing is turned into a criminal and a terrorist. Given this reality, can we afford personal attacks on those we may disagree with, but who should be on the same side? Who benefits from attacks on revolutionary Communists?

Debate and disagreement is one thing, name calling another. Instead, we must come together, speak out, and take risks to do things we've never done to stop this criminal regime. We are joining with many others for a powerful day [on] Oct. 5, called by World Can't Wait, "Drive out the Bush Regime," to help develop the resistance needed.

Geov's commentary told other tales of alleged interactions with RCP activists in Houston where he schooled "misinformed" communists about alleged crimes of Mao. Instead of facilely writing off socialism as a horror--a la George Bush and co.--we argue people must dig into this history with open eyes to learn what's true. (We urge people to read from the RCP's project, "Setting the Record Straight," online at revcom.us, to learn about the real history of socialism.)

Don't we need to examine things openly to learn the truth? Geov's approach to Communism doesn't come close to that. These are times of great danger but also real possibility. We should learn from each other, unite, and struggle together for a different world.

Thank you,

--Curtis Johnson, via e-mail