Town Hall Meeting

The DVD for the flim The Corporation is now available in the U.S. If you haven’t seen this movie, check it out. It was by far my favorite film of 2004. You can watch a preview here.

I attended one of the protests around the world today, this one in Los Angeles. I was hoping to see 1,000 people come out, on this rainy day. By the time the march through Hollywood started, there were about 10,000 people there. It was a beautiful event, everybody was on the same wavelength-no more war, stopping the ruling elite from killing for their profit, and there is no mistake about the connection of Iraq and Palestine. This protest is just another example that if this many people are willing to march in the rain, how many more are out there that want this vicious, illegal war to end? Of course, if you watch the chicken shit American media tonight, you won’t hear a peep about these protests. 100,000 people protested in London alone today. There were protests all over the world. The people want change, and are showing strong solidarity. The mainstream media is doing everything they can to muzzle us. I have not yet seen (I know, it won’t happen) news coverage from corporate media that actually interviews the protestors or shows footage of some of the speeches. Corporations are against us, but it is very encouraging to see the mass amount of support out there today.

Mark the second year of war on Iraq by demonstrating your opinion in solidarity with millions of others. There will be demonstrations everywhere. Find one in almost all 50 states here, or go to our “Get Involved/Demonstrations” page. Read this amazing speech, from the World Social Forum, about why showing our disgust with this war is so important.

The U.S. government sold us binary choices, and some people are starting to buy it. They told us “You are either with us, or against us.” Aren’t there other choices?

Kathy found this video defining what fascism is (about 2 minutes) and alluding to what the U.S. government has been doing that falls under the definition.

Stan Goff is a Special Forces veteran following in a long tradition of US soldiers who have seen the inside of US capitalism’s violence and rejected its moral and intellectual presuppositions through a comprehensive and active critique (see Smedley Butler for more on this tradition). Goff has produced several books (his latest focus on gender and misogyny in the US culture and the military will appear this year), many articles (read his vision of a new hegemony), and a new blog and focuses his activism on organizing for peace and radical politics within the US military. In his recent article on “Debating a Neocon” , this past master of combat arms exposes the sham of rightist ideology with a flick of the wrist and notes: “it is truly remarkable how easily KO’ed these neocons are once you step outside the tight little ring of the Republicrats. They’ve got maybe three combinations, and they are slow as a cow. Everything inside has been ritual combat, so they do very badly when someone actually intends to hit them.” HIT THIS RIGHTIST SCUM, HARD!!! Advising intelligent and vigorous resistance, “this burned-out commie vet” suggests that we “keep battering away because these people are weaker than they seem, even if they DO have state power. (I’m ready for my IRS audit, sir.) And quit accepting their premises, or you’ll never end up with anything except their conclusions.” Goff, who lived the frontlines of US imperialism, reminds us all that capitalism is inseparable from militarism and violence at the world scale, regardless of the nation-state.

Naomi Klein was interviewed by Alternet and she points out some important keys to our current struggles. For example, how Bush used identity branding (see her book No Logo, part of the TownHallMeeting library) to defeat Kerry, and that Kerry tried to imitate Bush’s style. Of course this failed, as it usually does. The only way to beat expert marketing, she contends, is to have an authentic candidate which exposes the opponent for what he is: artificial. She also points out that if Kerry would have at least brought up the torture, killing of civilians, among other things, that even in losing he would have made this world a better place. Instead, Bush and co. feel like they have a mandate. She also discusses the present and future of the anti-war movement.

As reported on Democracy Now!, the US has initiated covert miltary operations in Iran. Is this really a surprise? The captains of capitalism need more resources to turn into profit. It is a fundamental flaw of capitalism. Breaking even is not an option. I studied Economics and I believe that an open economy can work. But the people must be organized (typically as the government) to protect the public’s interest. We haven’t had that yet, and with the inauguration of Bush, we won’t have it for another 4 years. The government protects the captains of industry. Why else do our own police and homeland security agents stop peaceful protestors? So many reasons have been given for military intervention: civilizing the savages, anti-communism, democracy, 9/11. I really think its for one thing, adding profit. I know this is simplistic, but does it have to be complicated?