{"id":129,"date":"2005-11-15T12:00:04","date_gmt":"2005-11-15T18:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/?p=129"},"modified":"2005-11-14T17:09:19","modified_gmt":"2005-11-14T23:09:19","slug":"something-happening-here-los-angeles-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/uncategorized\/something-happening-here-los-angeles-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Old Radicals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Something happening here … – Los Angeles Times<\/a> By Mark Rudd<\/p>\n

Given that President Bush is now talking <\/p>\n

about Iraq as only one skirmish in an unlimited<\/strong> struggle against a global Islamic enemy, a struggle comparable to <\/p>\n

the titanic, 40-year Cold War against communism<\/em>, shouldn’t a massive critique of the global war on terrorism already be underway?<\/p>\n

Yet the [anti-war] movement has remained small and politically isolated since the original outpouring of opposition in the spring <\/p>\n

of 2003, during the run-up to the war. In part, it was the victim of its own early success<\/em>, the spontaneous demonstrations <\/p>\n

involving millions of people in the streets here and around the world trying to stop the war before it began. When this initial outburst <\/p>\n

failed, many became demoralized and hopeless<\/strong>. …<\/p>\n

Let us remember that here, in our own <\/p>\n

town, our fellow citizens gathered to protest the rush to war and were gassed and shot at. Bernalillo County Sherrif Darren White — <\/p>\n

Bush’s local campaign manager — said, in effect, let me at them, I’ll show them justice, when he felt APD had been too lenient. Not to <\/p>\n

mention the exhortations to (shut up and) “support the troops” and the slander of unpatriotism. The Radical Right did just what they <\/p>\n

wanted: they shut us down harshly and quickly. Now Bush smears for not standing up to his strong-arm tactics, for going along at the <\/p>\n

time. Like a bully who smacks you in the face with your own hand.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But building a movement can be done. To increase <\/p>\n

our ranks, we’ll need to break through the too-common belief that change is impossible.<\/p>\n

We’ll also need to take on the larger <\/p>\n

war. As the next battle heats up, perhaps against Iran or Syria, the movement will have to ask the American people to look honestly at <\/p>\n

who we are in the world. The antiwar movement will have to engage in the most difficult dialogue of our lives with our neighbors. …<\/p>\n

[In the case of Vietnam,] we helped stop a war of aggression by our own country. This was American democracy at its best. I lived <\/p>\n

through it, I saw it with my own eyes.<\/p>\n

If all of us “gray-hairs” were to tell our stories, we might be able to make a <\/p>\n

contribution. At least we could help people find hope in this dark time.<\/p>\n

From “never trust anyone over <\/p>\n

30” to ‘let the gray-hairs speak’ in just 40 years. That’s progress.<\/p>\n

As for “American democracy at its best,” well, I saw it, <\/p>\n

too. It seemed horribly inefficient and chaotic and unclear. I hope it wasn’t our best, though I do celebrate people demanding the <\/p>\n

government follow us now and then.<\/p>\n

I don’t begrudge Rudd the wisdom of his years, and I appreciate him speaking out and <\/p>\n

encouraging others to do the same. Bush AND al Qaeda need to learn what Rudd knows: even when violence seems to get you what you want, <\/p>\n

it’s never worth the price. mjh<\/span><\/p>\n

PS: isn’t it interesting that the old radicals are middle class <\/p>\n

grandparents preaching restraint while the new radicals are the evangelical Christians versus extreme Islamists.<\/p>\n

Aside: we <\/p>\n

graybeards<\/em> do have our stories to tell. Years ago, I got a call from Columbia University. The caller asked if I would like to <\/p>\n

participate in an oral history of radicals from the Sixties. “Sure,” I said, “I’d be honored.” I don’t know how long we went on before <\/p>\n

we realized the miscommunication. They wanted a different Sixties radical. I get that a lot, as the husband of Merri Rudd (who jokes she <\/p>\n

is Mark Rudd’s little sister). As if the wife of a Sixties radical would take his name.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Something happening here … – Los Angeles Times By Mark Rudd Given that President Bush is now talking about Iraq as only one skirmish in an unlimited struggle against a global Islamic enemy, a struggle comparable to the titanic, 40-year Cold War against communism, shouldn’t a massive critique of the global war on terrorism already … Continue reading Old Radicals<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}