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WHO RULES: THE ISRAEL LOBBY
OR UNCLE SAM?
The answer
at last! Uri Avnery, former Knesset member, assesses the Lobby's
power. "If the Israeli government wanted a law tomorrow
annulling the 10 Commandments, 95 U.S. Senators (at least) would
sign the bill forthwith." But, yes, in the end the dog wags
the tail.Fifty
years ago Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" blew the cobwebs
out of millions of young minds and drove a stake through the
heart of Eisenhower's America. Lenni Brenner remembers Ginsberg
in the East Village.Dr Mengele died in exile, in disguise. Dr Ishii
died rich and recognized, in his own Tokyo home. Christopher
Reed on Japanese WW2 medical tortures and how the U.S. covered
them up.CounterPunch
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Now!
April 29, New York City. The sun was
shining. It was cool but not cold. You might say it was a picture
perfect day for a demonstration. We were at Broadway and 22nd
Street.
The plan was to proceed down
Broadway to Foley Square in lower Manhattan for a "peace
and justice festival." All the usual suspects were there:
some with costumes, some with signs, some with musical instruments,
some with video cameras, and a few with "stop bitchin' and
start the revolution" T-shirts. For over an hour we waited
in place.
Then slowly, peacefully, between
metal police barricades we began to make our way downtown. When
we reached Houston Street in Greenwich Village an officer with
red cheeks, white hair, a policeman's paunch, a bullhorn and
a New York accent instructed us to stop so he could let traffic
pass through our line. We did as he instructed.
"Thank you folks for your
cooperation," he bellowed moments later. "Hope you
are enjoying the beautiful weather. Isn't it a great day to
be out in the sun?"
Was this man ridiculing us?
Was he showing off for his fellow officers? Had we become a
joke? No matter. People applauded his good natured aplomb.
Meanwhile in Iraq United States soldiers were breaking into
houses and shooting innocent Iraqi civilians.
Soon we reached Foley Square.
There you could buy buttons, bumper stickers and t-shirts or
sign petitions at information booths that progressive organizations
had set up. There, too, you could listen to the raging Grannies
sing. Meanwhile, in Guantanamo another prisoner was being tortured.
And so it went. And so it
goes.
We are law abiding citizens
in an outlaw nation. For three years now we have taken to the
streets to protest the war and the occupation. Yet our protests
have become steadily smaller, less focused, more anemic and ineffectual.
Hence, one could not be faulted for wondering whether they are
organized by the Bush administration to allow us to blow off
steam.
We came, we marched, we went
home. The next day a story in the New York Times reported we
had "waved signs, slapped drums or simply enjoyed the pleasant
weather." The story appeared on page 35.
Yes, we had become a joke.
We had done nothing to prevent
business as usual. We hadn't blocked traffic, or taken over
universities, or prevented army recruiters from visiting high
schools. Our march, therefore, was a parody of a protest. It
was nothing like the demonstrations that took place during the
war in Vietnam. But then the organizers of anti-war demonstrations
had two advantage we don't have now: body bags and charismatic
leadership.
Of course, in this war we have
body bags too. But apparently not in sufficient numbers to make
people stand up and pay attention. In Vietnam nearly 50,000
U.S. soldiers were killed in action. So far in Iraq there have
been about 2,400. Most citizens, therefore, do not have the
visceral understanding of the cost of the war in Iraq that comes
through the loss of a loved one. Hence, it is that much more
important for us to help them understand the war's other costs.
We need to realize, in other words, that while many may not
be motivated to man the barricades out of concern for the lives
of others be they Iraqi or American, most will take to the streets
to end the war if they realize it is one of the reasons they
can't get health insurance.
Charismatic leadership is another
advantage organizers against the war in Vietnam had which organizers
against the war in Iraq don't have. During the Vietnam era,
for example, George McGovern, Eugene McCarthy, Robert Kennedy,
and J. William Fulbright were among numerous Democrats who, following
the lead of Martin Luther King and other prominent individuals,
took up the anti-war mantle. Today there is not a single member
of either major party or a single prominent individual that can
be singled out as a leader of the anti-war movement. Furthermore,
in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh led an anti-colonialist movement which
attempted to unify his country under a socialist government.
Hence, many progressives in the United States saw his cause
as just and supported his struggle against the attempt to prevent
him from achieving his goals. Unfortunately, however, there
is no comparable leader in Iraq today who can help generate enthusiasm
for the anti-war effort.
Nevertheless, present day activists
against the war in Iraq have two advantages that the organizers
against the war in Vietnam did not have. First, as an illustration
of just how undemocratic our foreign policy is they can point
to the fact that though 70% of the people are opposed to the
war or "occupation" few members of Congress vote against
the appropriations that keep it going. Second, in an effort
to debunk the myth that our government has an enviable record
of promoting democracy they can point to its involvement in the
1973 overthrow of the democratically elected government in Chile
along with its previous involvement in the overthrow of democratically
elected leaders in Guatemala and Iran and its long history of
support for repressive dictatorships around the world.
In summary, as anti-war activists
most of us are aware that the Bush administration is killing
and torturing innocent civilians, undermining democracy and violating
the law at home and abroad, and harming everyone of us in a myriad
of ways in the process. Our job, therefore, is to force it to
change course. We cannot do that by organizing additional peaceful
marches. Hence, we need to rethink our strategy. We need, in
other words, to up the ante. Our enemies are in Washington,
D.C. not Baghdad. It is time to bring the war home.
Paul Cantor is a professor of economics who lives
in Norwalk, CT.
Now
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Against Israel
By Michael Neumann
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