Don’t agree
I was appalled by Tim Wheeler’s opinion piece attacking the call for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq (“The dubious history of a slogan” PWW 5/26-6/1).
Yes, there are some people in the peace movement who chant “out now” as a mantra, disparaging anything less than that, but they are in a tiny minority.
Most people in the peace movement see no contraction between calling for “out now” while at the same time supporting measures that fall short of that (e.g. calls opposing an increase in troop levels). They see no contradiction because there is no contradiction.
Wheeler uses innuendo to suggest that the call for “out now” in today’s context is somehow sectarian or ultra-left, when in fact it is the demand of the overwhelming majority of the peace movement.
There is nothing “dubious” or “Trotskyist” about the call for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. In fact, the most recent convention of the Communist Party USA, hardly a group known for sectarianism, unanimously adopted the call for immediate and unconditional withdrawal from Iraq.
I think it is legitimate to polemicize against those who disparage anything less than “out now,” but I do not think it is legitimate to attack the call for immediate withdrawal.
Kevin Lindemann
Winfield IL
On Israel
No mention in your paper of the fact that Israel was facing complete destruction at the hands of a united Arab front, hence the Six Day War.
I love your paper and the left movement but it gets harder to deal with the anti-Semitism all the time. I can tell you that this gay man would much rather live in Israel than in an extremist Muslim country.
Terry Wells
Via e-mail
Rule of law
Oh yes, the rule of law is definitely here in America. The rule of law of the jackboot. The rule of law of the gun. The rule of law of the military. The rule of law of the private sector. The rule of law of the privatized, formerly public, sector. And the rule of law of racial and misogynic gender discrimination.
While the rule of law of democracy peeked out from behind the curtain backstage.
Oh yes — the rule of law is definitely here in America, with a vengeance!
Rex Weng
Ocala FL
Stop the hate
Most of us came to America to start new better life. I wonder why some people are spreading hate and lies here. I wonder why nobody checks what kind of message you may find in some ethnic Polish press. Hate and lies against Ukrainians, Russians, Jews and others. Maybe it’s time at last to expose what some people are doing here.
A. Nativk
Chicago IL
Who is plotting?
The radio announcer is telling me that the FBI just broke up a plot to blow up JFK airport.
The announcer described complex satellite maps indicating that the people were intelligent.
The announcer also said that the FBI had wiretapped them saying some pretty foolish things along the line of “The people love JFK, and blowing up anything named after him would devastate the country.”
This brings up the painful memory of the 1960s. One of my friends was a gentle guy by the name of Manny. There was another guy that I had heard about who had the name Robin. We were all upset about the Vietnam War and racism. Martin Luther King had been assassinated.
Robin would do crazy but harmless stunts, and Manny was attracted to him. He started a tiny organization called the “Crazies.” I later heard that the police broke up a plot to blow up the Statue of Liberty. Many people were arrested; lots of people were scared. I was able to piece together the story.
Robin said he wanted the Crazies to blow up the Statue of Liberty. Most people just left him alone. Manny tried to talk him out of it, but remained one of the four or five members of the Crazies.
Robin, of course, was a cop. When President Nixon wanted some publicity, Robin went public. My friend was arrested and sent to jail for a long time.
Of course, other than the cop, there never was anyone interested in blowing up the Statue of Liberty.
Jim Harris
Sacramento CA
Jim Harris is the founder of Progressive Secretary.
Kudos from MySpace
Re: “Labor, immigrant rights groups: No two-tier society” (Posted on PWW’s MySpace page).
You know what is appalling, comrades? Let’s say you are Mexican (or enter the country of your choice) and you are 6 years old, and your father decides to cross the border with you in his arms (or car). You as a 6-year-old can’t be blamed. Right?
But guess what? You are still going to be punished by the system, and hard, because no path exists for you to become “legal” (no, not even for those who were brought here by their parents as infants!)
So by the time you are an adult, you are going to face hell, because you are going to be 100 percent undocumented, which means no ID, no SS#, no driving, no bank account, persecuted by the government when trying to work, the list goes on. These children are true martyrs.
Victoria
Via MySpace
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