Thousands of people took to the streets of downtown Los Angeles to protest the U$A's war against Iraq. Organizers said 15,000 were there, while the police said 5,000. MIM and RAIL participated as well, passing out newspapers and fliers, and collecting signatures for our petitions against University of California investments in Israel and for Jose Maria Sison's freedom in the Netherlands.(1)
The rally featured many progressive people who oppose the war against Iraq for internationalist reasons. For example, some people had signs that read, "Stop U.S. Imperialism," or, "Hey George, what about these terrorists? CIA FBI INS LAPD Border Patrol". These are progressive anti-imperialist slogans, which make good connections for opposing the war against Iraq. Others in this category include the popular, "No Blood for Oil," which is especially good when it's clearly talking about Iraqi blood; not as good when the implication is, "I don't think we should shed Amerikan blood just to get more oil." This one is good for pointing out the hypocrisy of Amerikan intervention in Iraq: "Sanctions against Iraq are weapons of mass destruction."
MIM opposes the war against Iraq because, like all acts of aggression by the U.$. imperialists, it represents militarism, causing the deaths people in the oppressed nations of the world, and the suffering and exploitation of hundreds of millions around the world. U.$. imperialism is the main enemy of the oppressed people of the world, and its wars of aggression lead the way for all the rest of its crimes.
There were some people who opposed the war for less admirable reasons at the rally.
Some people are pure pacifists, opposing all war. Some of these people are important allies against imperialist militarism, even though revolutionaries disagree with them on important issues (e.g. the justness of armed struggle for liberation from imperialism). They had signs reading, "War is insane" and "War is dumb."
Some people are hell-bent on demonstrating their patriotic fervor even while they oppose this particular war. MIM doesn't hold any illusions that it's possible to be a patriotic Amerikan and oppose imperialism - without imperialism there is no Amerika, practically speaking. These people held U.$. flags, and had signs that said, "Peace is patriotic," and "Patriotic and Peaceful." This is similar to the message on signs provided by California Peace Action, which read: "Bush's Policies: Endangering America, Enraging the World." We are not trying to get Amerika to clean up its image in the world, but to overthrow Amerika and replace it with governance by the oppressed in their own interest.
Others in a similar vein want Amerika to support the United Nations instead of acting unilaterally. One of these held a sign that said, "Use the UN, not bombs." This begs the question: "Use the UN for what?" If the ends are the same--domination of the people and resources of the Middle East--but the means are the UN instead of bombs, we're not impressed.
Other people said they oppose the war for self-interested reasons, which range from fairly progressive to completely reactionary. The more progressive signs pointed out that "Iraq Never Closed My Health Clinic," referring to a major shortage of health clinics in the Los Angeles area. Still, even the poorest people in Los Angeles are not suffering like the poor people in Iraq, so this message calls out for some more internationalism.
But that's nothing compared to: "Saddam Hussein did not steal my 401k." This guy is just upset because some corporate bozo stole his stolen superprofits - the money he had in his retirement account. Amerikans who are complaining that imperialist militarism is a drag on their retirement accounts just don't understand that imperialism is the source of their retirement accounts, not to mention their salaries (and land!) in the first place. So these people are ignorant as well as reactionary.
Finally, there were progressive internationalist statements against the detention of immigrants, recently increased in Los Angeles, for Palestinian self-determination, for Chicano self-determination (from the National Chicano Moratorium Committee), for immigrant garment workers, and against the U.S. military presence in Korea: "U.S. Troops out of Korea"
MIM is very glad to see thousands of people in Los Angeles and around the country speaking out against the war. We are not purists who only want to see revolutionary anti-imperialists stand with us against Amerika. At the same time, we want to use the opportunity of many people rethinking their political views to argue for the most progressive revolutionary position possible, because that will ultimately be the most effective for stopping imperialist wars and ending the oppression they perpetuate.
It is the first duty of revolutionaries in the imperialist countries to attempt to undermine militarism against the people of the oppressed nations, and a broad movement including many types of activists is necessary to accomplish that.
Notes:
1. For more information on this campaign, see the Agitation web page, as well as MIM Notes 270 and 273.