Good discussion. I would add one factor: the nature of the opposing parties. Anti-Vietnam War protesters (of which I was one) recognized that the Vietnamese were fighting a nationalist, anti-imperialist war. First against the French; then against us. They were the "good guys." Here, while I don't support this war, I suspect there are many on the left for whom it is not as clear that Iran is a "good guy" in the same way. If true, this would contribute to the difficulty of organizing.
Very clear about the problems to organizing, but no clue as to how to overcome them. The "No
Kings" nonsense will not mobilize workers. The focus needs to be on the war, not Trump, because there's no particular reason to believe we wouldn't be in the same place with Kamala Harris in the White House, given the obeisance of the Democratic Party to the same billionaire Zionists pulling Trump's strings. Non-partisan organizing needs to provide a concrete program and demands, unabashed criticism of all the political hacks willing to kill Iranians and Americans just because they are bloodthirsty, repudiation of our support for Israel (rather than the ideological buzzword "imperialism" which means nothing to most Americans, and wildly different things to some)
Its really amazing to see reference to the SDS for leadership, given its disastrous history. The prime mover in the Vietnam anti war movement was the massive American casualties, and the steadily growing cynicism of the working class youth who were drafted or volunteered, and whose direct experience put the lie to all the Washington propaganda.
Great analysis. Practically speaking, I think this is how labor unions can be powerful tools. They teach the skills of person-to-person organizing to bring in new people, as all the workers in a job site aren't going to necessarily have the same politics and perspective.
Given the power establishment has no desire to have anyone setting up any kind of anti-establishment movement, and given they own the media, how would you know whether there’s an anti-war movement or not?
There's no anti-war movement because you are not paying attention to what your local unions are doing. We passed this resolution last summer at our union's national convention.
I'm literally attending a "No Iran War" protest today. Believe me, The Resistance is ramping up the anti-war efforts.
Good discussion. I would add one factor: the nature of the opposing parties. Anti-Vietnam War protesters (of which I was one) recognized that the Vietnamese were fighting a nationalist, anti-imperialist war. First against the French; then against us. They were the "good guys." Here, while I don't support this war, I suspect there are many on the left for whom it is not as clear that Iran is a "good guy" in the same way. If true, this would contribute to the difficulty of organizing.
Very clear about the problems to organizing, but no clue as to how to overcome them. The "No
Kings" nonsense will not mobilize workers. The focus needs to be on the war, not Trump, because there's no particular reason to believe we wouldn't be in the same place with Kamala Harris in the White House, given the obeisance of the Democratic Party to the same billionaire Zionists pulling Trump's strings. Non-partisan organizing needs to provide a concrete program and demands, unabashed criticism of all the political hacks willing to kill Iranians and Americans just because they are bloodthirsty, repudiation of our support for Israel (rather than the ideological buzzword "imperialism" which means nothing to most Americans, and wildly different things to some)
Its really amazing to see reference to the SDS for leadership, given its disastrous history. The prime mover in the Vietnam anti war movement was the massive American casualties, and the steadily growing cynicism of the working class youth who were drafted or volunteered, and whose direct experience put the lie to all the Washington propaganda.
Great analysis. Practically speaking, I think this is how labor unions can be powerful tools. They teach the skills of person-to-person organizing to bring in new people, as all the workers in a job site aren't going to necessarily have the same politics and perspective.
Given the power establishment has no desire to have anyone setting up any kind of anti-establishment movement, and given they own the media, how would you know whether there’s an anti-war movement or not?
There's no anti-war movement because you are not paying attention to what your local unions are doing. We passed this resolution last summer at our union's national convention.
What's next is we need everyone to look at the newly passed demilitarization policy and have these conversations with our colleagues on how we can start implementing some of the proposals in our own work spaces. https://www.ueunion.org/ue-policy/for-peace-jobs-and-a-pro-worker-foreign-policy