Kerry faces battle for antiwar bloc’s vote

The antiwar movement that has lent Kerry and his party
this energy and this backbone faces a dilemma, too. On
the one hand, it needs Kerry to win, even though he
refuses to repent his vote to authorize the war. On the
other hand, neither the movement nor Kerry can afford
to let the antiwar energies that were and remain a
principal source of their hopes and his die down. The
movement must persist, independent of Kerry and keeping
him or making him honest, yet not opposing him. If
truth must be an exile from the mainstream of politics,
let it thrive on the margins.

In some ways I feel it is a bit cheeky to talk about
the politics of another country that I have only
visited once for a brief period and that over 20 years
ago But US politics is a matter of life and death for
all of us and so that gives the outsider a right to
comment.

Schell’s article is very well written and it is also
shrewd but once again it falls into the trap set for
those who want to live in the world of real politik.

I have pasted the part from his article which I feel is
totally wrong and also totally dangerous.

The absolute truth as I see it is that it is by no
means clear at all that the peace movement needs Kerry
to win. Far from it. I am convinced Lou is correct here
– Kerry could be the greater evil. That is not ultra-
leftism but rather a recognition of the structural role
the Democrats play in American politics. They are not a
labor party which can be torn by tensions between its
base and its need to please the ruling class. The
Democrats are of the ruling class.

If American politics is to progress, and American
comrades will please forgive me for prognosticating, it
will need to be based among other things on a total
rupture from any notion that the Democrats are the
lesser evil.

regards

Gary

Dr Gary MacLennan Lecturer Film & Television Discipline
Creative Industries Faculty Gardens Point Campus QUT
Brisbane 4001