How Best to Mount a 2008 Election Political Challenge to the Pro-War Parties
From: solidartattack@verizon.net
Date: 2007/05/03 Thu AM 09:20:03 CDT
First, we have to assess the difficulty and plan to avoid the pitfalls of the past. In my opinion, another Ralph Nader campaign is to no one's advantage, and neither is the creation of another tiny splinter group led by an ideologically pure elite cadre. To have genuine relevance in the 2008 election, a new party or candidates running on an anti-war platform would have to attract a much broader swath of people than typically participate in non-mainstream political action. From the beginning our call would need to be a call to political activism, not just a call to vote in November or donate money. To do this, we can't rely on old leaders (ourselves included) and we can't set anything up in the initial stages in a rigid fashion. The process has to be broad and democratic and exploratory, letting excitement build before any kind of national or regional event.
Second, we'd have to create a logo and a package of materials that would mark us as a seriously different alternative. We need a working group to begin this process, one that possesses a breadth of experience and talent, fired up by passion and energy. We also need an initial action plan, which would focus on web site creation and on identifying opportunities for attracting new people and meeting people face to face. The web site would be the joint effort of this group, which would then expand itself into committees, as new people enter into the planning and the execution.
Third, we need to use the internet creatively.The internet site should be a resource center (news updates and analyses, recommended readings with reviews, speakers bureau) and a platform through which people share their experiences and their dreams. In addition to on-line contacts, the web site should be tapped as way of quickly creating and communicating public live events.
Fourth, as a kind of bottom line, there eventually has to emerge a group of viable candidates with the kinds of credentials that make them estimable competitors. The goal of all of our organizing, I believe, should be to create the opportunity for an exciting nominating convention (or series of regional nominating conventions), to be held no earlier than September 2008, where delegates will debate over platform issues and vote for presidential and vice-presidential
candidates.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
The Proposal: Anti-War Electoral Challenge for 2008
This text also appears at the front page of http://EndOccIraq.org which will be the base website for this initiative. This blog will provide opportunity for discussion around the proposal and the shaping of action:
We are revamping this site to dedicate it to promoting an anti-war choice in 2008. This anti-war choice needs to also be leftist, anti-racist and anti-imperialist in nature and independent of the pro-war Democratic Party. We are looking for links and articles and opinions around this question to link to here. This idea is not to strategically back independent candidates in states where the major parties are strong or weak (so-called Safe States strategy of 2004 Green Party) but to run unabashedly all out in all states. We are promoting the idea of a coalition of candidates that meet this criteria and recommend that all anti-war proponents genuinely use their vote against the war, not by supporting pro-war posers like Clinton or Obama, but by voting for president candidates who are in opposition to the war and the trappings of the pro-war Democratic Party.
For too long, the agenda of the anti-war movement has been controlled by operatives of the Democratic Party. The knee jerk "anti-war" response right now is to protest Bush's veto and thus support the $120 billion for continued war funding. This action by groups such as UfPJ, Move On!, the Peace Action offices and others all around the country demonstrates the epitome of the bankrupt policies of the "anti-war" movement backing the pro-war policies of the now Democratic Party controlled congress. We are chasing our tails and going nowhere.
The only real political power that we possess is our vote. We can march a thousand miles against the war and absolutely negate that action by using our vote and throwing it behind the pro-war and imperialist Democratic Party.
Call to Convention . . .
We need to coalesce and seek to place anti-war candidates on the ballot in every state. We need to mobilize to support those candidates and fight politically the retrograde tendency of "anti-war" groups to promote the pro-war agenda of the Democratic Party and to lend that pro-war institution political support of any kind at election time or any time.
The time for anti-war proponents is long past to break with the Democratic Party and to never look back.
If you know of organizations, parties, individuals, websites, etc., willing to work to make this a reality, write to us at ceoi@endocciraq.org . We will try to maintain this website and see where this goes.
If you are interested in this effort, join our list serve and contact us. Also, please keep us in the loop of your plans along the lines being suggested here. This is not a new idea, just a rededication of this website to politically oppose the war and occupation.For now, take a look at these links / sites:Veto Protest is Phony Anti-War Action
COMMITTEE TO END THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ (CEO-I)PO Box 1214, Belle Mead, NJ 08502 * 908-881-5275 ceoi@endocciraq.org
List serve: ceo-i@yahoogroups.com
We are revamping this site to dedicate it to promoting an anti-war choice in 2008. This anti-war choice needs to also be leftist, anti-racist and anti-imperialist in nature and independent of the pro-war Democratic Party. We are looking for links and articles and opinions around this question to link to here. This idea is not to strategically back independent candidates in states where the major parties are strong or weak (so-called Safe States strategy of 2004 Green Party) but to run unabashedly all out in all states. We are promoting the idea of a coalition of candidates that meet this criteria and recommend that all anti-war proponents genuinely use their vote against the war, not by supporting pro-war posers like Clinton or Obama, but by voting for president candidates who are in opposition to the war and the trappings of the pro-war Democratic Party.
For too long, the agenda of the anti-war movement has been controlled by operatives of the Democratic Party. The knee jerk "anti-war" response right now is to protest Bush's veto and thus support the $120 billion for continued war funding. This action by groups such as UfPJ, Move On!, the Peace Action offices and others all around the country demonstrates the epitome of the bankrupt policies of the "anti-war" movement backing the pro-war policies of the now Democratic Party controlled congress. We are chasing our tails and going nowhere.
The only real political power that we possess is our vote. We can march a thousand miles against the war and absolutely negate that action by using our vote and throwing it behind the pro-war and imperialist Democratic Party.
Call to Convention . . .
We need to coalesce and seek to place anti-war candidates on the ballot in every state. We need to mobilize to support those candidates and fight politically the retrograde tendency of "anti-war" groups to promote the pro-war agenda of the Democratic Party and to lend that pro-war institution political support of any kind at election time or any time.
The time for anti-war proponents is long past to break with the Democratic Party and to never look back.
If you know of organizations, parties, individuals, websites, etc., willing to work to make this a reality, write to us at ceoi@endocciraq.org . We will try to maintain this website and see where this goes.
If you are interested in this effort, join our list serve and contact us. Also, please keep us in the loop of your plans along the lines being suggested here. This is not a new idea, just a rededication of this website to politically oppose the war and occupation.For now, take a look at these links / sites:Veto Protest is Phony Anti-War Action
Contact us at: Committee to End the Occupation of Iraq, PO Box 1214, Belle Mead, NJ 08502 * 908-881-5275 * ceoi@endocciraq.org
List serve: ceo-i@yahoogroups.com
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