A new anti-war coalition based at EndUSwars.org held its first rally on Saturday, Dec. 12 2009 outside the U.S. White House. by John Kusumi
(centrist)
Monday, December 14, 2009
It didn't receive enough attention, but this author leaned into it upon learning about the new coalition at www.EndUSwars.org. The coalition held its first rally outside the U.S. White House on Saturday, December 12, 2009.
The rally had music, a raft of speakers, and four former U.S. Presidential candidates: Kucinich, Gravel, McKinney, and Nader. These are the Green / progressive / anti-war left in touch with "Main Street" America. Apparently, they are too far left to suit the taste of U.S. network TV, which is pro-war, pro-genocide, and pro-corrupt status quo.
Network TV is "the corrupt, flacking for the corrupt," and indeed their only role in the face of authentic and genuine protest is to put out the fire, by starving such protest of its metaphorical oxygen -- the attention that would bring the concerns to wider audiences.
So, it should not surprise us that network TV yammered about Tiger Woods all weekend -- it was a convenient distraction and it filled up air time that might otherwise have gone to Kucinich, Gravel, McKinney, and Nader, who addressed the high stakes questions of war and peace, and the waste of blood, treasure, lives, and livelihoods.
It should be a national issue -- can we afford more war at a time when our economy is a crater?
But, the pro-war U.S. TV networks know how to sidestep serious issues, and what the public got instead is discussion of Tiger Woods, marital infidelity, and his sex life, endorsement deals, and PR strategy.
To be entertained with prurient titillation, go ahead and turn on CNN. To be informed, keep your mouse surfing at this web site.
In this article, I will simply insert pull quotes or highlights from the speeches of the ex-Presidential candidates. Then, I will insert the Cynthia McKinney speech. This will convey a sense of what was said, but of course it's not everything, and to see more speeches go and visit www.EndUSwars.org.
The following points seemed to be striking (emphasis added):
"These wars are corrupting the heart of our nation. They raise serious questions about the legitimacy of the two party system.... We have money for war, but not for jobs. Money for war, but not for health care. Money for war, but not for education. Money for war, but not for housing. Money for war, but not for peace. Billions for bailouts, bonuses, and bombs.... We are nation building in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, and some would have us nation build even in Iran. But we cannot nation build here at home! --Where bridges, water systems, sewer systems, and roads are falling apart! We must rally across America to set aright our nation's priorities."
--Dennis Kucinich
"Instead of investigating war criminals in the Bush administration, President Obama has chosen to become one. Our President is now complicit in torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against the peace."
--Cynthia McKinney
"It is not honorable to die in vain. And that's what we did. We died in vain in Vietnam. We've been dying in vain in Iraq. And we'll die in vain in Afghanistan. And we're going to die more people in vain at the hands of the leadership of Barack Obama. This is sad.... [Gravel led the crowd to chant] 'Hey, hey Obama say how many kids you killed today!'"
--Mike Gravel
"Now remember 1994, when a lot of Democrats and a lot of liberals stayed home. Gingrich toppled the Democrats in Congress and took control of Congress in January, 1995. That can happen again, if Obama continues his reckless path toward a criminal war of aggression that is undermining our national security, our national reputation, and destroying on both sides of the ocean -- millions of innocent people's lives, health, safety, and hopes for the future."
--Ralph Nader
And now for Cynthia McKinney's speech.
My fellow Americans,
Millions of us are drinking dirty and contaminated water. Four million of us will get foreclosure notices by the end of this year. 25 million of us are un- or under-employed. 47 million of us have no health insurance, and millions more are under-insured.
My aunt was killed by the health care system in this country. Not because she didn't have insurance; she did. What she didn't get was quality care. And amidst all the talk about health care, no one is talking about quality care.
My cousin, who is no more than 24 years old, is now $100,000 in debt because she wanted to get an undergraduate college education.
But the trials of my family are not our story alone. Millions of us are now in the same boat. And no matter how hard we wish for a better world and a kinder country, our policy makers are not delivering on our hopes and dreams. In fact, the dreams of our country stand deferred, and drowned in debt.
Sadly, in the face of growing income inequality, our President chose to transfer over $23 trillion of our hard earned money to the bankers and financial elite -- who didn't have to work hard at all for it -- just tank our economy.
So, huddled in fear, we pray together that the flu, a hurricane, the Great Depression, or the next terrorist attack doesn't hit us.
Now, given all these problems, what do our leaders do? Bomb, maim, and kill people on the other side of the planet, whose resources certain powerful people in this country want to steal, and whose territory occupies the land necessary for global conquest.
Now, instead of investigating war criminals in the Bush administration, President Obama has chosen to become one. Our President is now complicit in torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against the peace.
So, what are we to do? We will not give up, and we will not go away. We are not so demoralized that we can't see the truth. We know that lies are not true; ignorance is not strength; and war is not peace.
We see the power of the ballot in Latin America, where voters in unrigged elections are choosing freedom. Our freedom is under seige as much right here as it is in Haiti or Honduras. If U.S. politics was truly democratic, then we would not have war. That's why I support Senator Gravel's national initiative project. Who has $100 million of their own money to spend to get elected, like New York's mayor did?
We are ready to act on our dreams. To create the kind of change that graduates students from college -- free of charge. That treats medical ailments -- free of charge. That reflects our interests, not the special interests. That elects peace candidates to Congress and that elects a peace President too.
While our fellow Americans are afraid to get sick, struggle to keep a job, educate their children, stave off foreclosure, and make ends meet, we will not rest. As long as bombs drop, and civilians die, we will not rest. While the oligarchs and the war machine get our money, we will not rest.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lamented that both political parties failed to take a stand for what was right. He said that our scientific power has outstripped our spiritual power. --That we possessed guided missiles, and misguided men.
Well, President Obama, don't be misguided. Stop shielding war criminals from justice in our courts. Stop supporting the PATRIOT Act and spying against us environmentalists and peace activists. Stop granting power to the Federal Reserve. Close Guantanamo. Stop torture and renditions, secret prisons, and building military bases all over the planet.
President Obama, stop the saber rattling at Iran. Stop the drones and depleted uranium. Stop bombing Somalia. Stop using war as an energy policy. And finally, stop bankrupting our nation.
We will not stop, we will not rest, and our peace candidates will win.
Did you like this article? If you did, Thumb It! 5
thumbs so far
The views expressed
in this article are those of John Kusumi only and
do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
John Kusumi is solely responsible for the contents
of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated
with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
Hi Walt, it's not my speech -- it's Cynthia McKinney's. I'll leave it for her to express her understanding of Latin American elections, but I don't think she meant *all* Latin American elections. My post was sort of a test because McKinney used the "war criminal" argument against Obama, basically the same reasoning that caused an earlier article rejection between us.
As she says above, "Now, instead of investigating war criminals in the Bush administration, President Obama has chosen to become one. Our President is now complicit in torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against the peace."
In my case, the condemnation came in the headline, and in her case, she slipped it into the middle of her speech. That's about the only difference, save for the source. So at Nolan Chart, I guess we'll keep "war criminal" out of the headline, but it's okay in the body text. (--?)
On the one hand, you'd be right - that came out sounding funny. But, libertarians could express that Ron Paul is in touch with Main Street America -- to the same effect of sounding funny.
Whether we speak of the Ron Paul crowd or the anti-war left crowd, both may be minorities. But, do you suggest that Main Street is pro-war? I think that sociopathic U.S. leaders are, themselves, a minority, far outnumbered by either the Ron Paul crowd or the anti-war left.
So I didn't mean to make a left / right point, I was making the point that normal ordinary Americans on Main Street, if they must choose (A) or (B):
(A) [ ] war (B) [ ] no war
I still think that Main Street Americans are smart enough to choose (B). In fact by polling, they already are choosing (B). Normal Americans are now against the Afghanistan war, and that means that the anti-war sentiment -- no matter whether from Ralph Nader or Ron Paul -- is in fact *mainstream*.
And we should stop the misnomer of the "mainstream" media. It is in fact the pro-war media.
Posted By: Ross Williams
Date: 2009-12-28 13:22:06
John: At least a portion of your self-delusion is that you are thinking in absolutist terms. Across at least two dimensions.
time
point of view.
People are fickle; always have been, always will be. What they want -- need -- now, they want nothing to do with next week. Tickle-Me Elmo is the same as war. Toy companies make insane profits by pandering to fickle desires of their target audience; politicians make foreign policy hay ditto.
Your false dichotomy is missing at least a few options which prevent it from being useful to any purpose but propogandizing to a false dichotomy; indeed, very few people would ever be constrained to an absolutist position regarding their breakfast cereals that you suppose them to be upon foreign policy.
A much more realistic set of responses to your question is:
sure, why not; I don't like them [fill in the blank]s anyway
what's in it for us?
what's in it for ME?
only if there's no draft
only if there IS a draft
you scared me in your speech, so YES
you childishly tried to scare me in your speeh, so NO
etc
yadda
blah blah
War is necessarily cruel. You don't fight wars trying to be nice -- not if you want to be effective. You fight wars because someone else crossed us. You fight, cruelly, put an end to those who crossed us and then -- if you deside to be nice -- allow the survivors to come out of their room and join the grown ups in the family room, but only if they behave.
When you fight wars by attempting to pander to the weak-willed and uber-polite, then you get ... A'stan, and [effectively] Iraq. Long, protracted, boring wars which do little besides break things and kill relatively few people.
Yes, relatively few. Don't compound your naivete with panty-wetting hissy fits and claim that we are ever so brutal because a few thousand people [boo hoo hoo] died.
Nothing is being settled. And when nothing gets settled, the hoi polloi get bored and restless, and -- dig it -- they change their minds. There is very little "anti-war" sentiment, and certainly not a majority. There is instead a bored-of-war, what's-for-dinner, hand-me-the-remote sentiment.
If you're going to have a war, then have it. If you're going to have an A'stan, then don't bother.
Want to comment on
this article? Leave your comment
here. Your email address is required to track your
comment. However, we will neither publish your email
address nor distribute it to other organizations or
persons. The only reason we might use it would be if
we needed to contact you regarding your comment. All
comments are subject to our
terms of use policy.
