peace & justice festival part 2

Over 100,000 people came to Washington DC this past Saturday to attend a protest against the Iraq war. Imagine their surprise when there wasn’t one. In its place was a demonstration about worker’s rights and global warming and racism and Palestinian rights and hanging chads and Halliburton and New Orleans and every now and then a brief something about a war, possibly Arab in nature.

Much of this can be traced back to the organizers, one of which was, ANSWER, “Act Now to Stop War and End Racism,” which sounds like they came up with a cool-sounding acronym first and only then found some causes that fit it. How about, “Respecting Aboriginal Natives and Diabetics Organized for Medicine,” or “RANDOM.”

The key to understanding ANSWER is in its origins, the Workers World Party. Now, I’m going to start using the word “socialist” here. I preface these remarks because too often people throw around the word as a kind of reflexive epithet for anyone or anything that is remotely liberal. Ted Kennedy pretty much can’t open his mouth, even if only to toss back a vodka and tonic, without being called a socialist.

But it’s okay to label these people socialists because it’s on their banners. And no, it’s not some graffiti perpetrated by members of the Young Republicans. They put it there themselves.

The socialist movement is typically populated by young men who think that if they wear a Che Guevara T-Shirt it might get them in bed with that cute liberal arts chick they met in the student union while waiting for White Stripes tickets, you know, the one with 42 different black tops in her closet. Fewer in number are the bitter old guys with gray hair and pony tails who still hold a serious grudge against Mikhail Gorbachev.

In addition to ANSWER and the Workers World Party (and many others), was the “Party for Socialism and Liberation” which had tables full of glossy magazines for purchase. Presumably they had to put up money to have these made in the hopes that they could then sell them to willing buyers in arms-length transactions so as to recoup their original investment with perhaps a little extra left over that could then be reinvested in additional inventory or fixed assets so as to further their venture. If only there were an economic system of some kind based on this basic principle of property rights and invested capital. But I digress.

I grabbed a free pamphlet which seemed more in the spirit of the day. I was curious to see what new approaches to socialism the movement had come up with having learned from the setbacks of the last couple of decades. “We fight for socialism, a system where the wealth of society belongs to those who produce it – the working class – and is used in a planned and sustainable way for the benefit of all.” Like Joe Paterno going up the middle, these people never learn. I mean, if you’re going to try to sell leisure suits, at least update the colors and fabrics a bit and ditch the burnt orange in crushed velvet (not that I ever owned such a thing, mine was more of a tasteful tangerine). The pamphlet goes on to blame capitalism for such things as “lesbian/gay/bi/trans oppression” as evidenced by North Korea’s thriving transgender community.

The socialist movement’s long-term goals are as ambitious as its short-term goals are modest. I was handed a flyer from an organization called “The World Can’t Wait” the goal of which is to “drive Bush himself from office.” To further this cause, they are organizing a day of protest called “Resist or Die! No School Nov 2.” In other words they are planning on having students across the country demonstrate their deeply held commitment to “repudiating” the Bush administration by skipping class. Presumably it won’t end there. We look forward to “Pick up a Stranger and have Sex with them Day” and “Do as Many Jägermeister Shots as you Can Day” because it is only through profound personal sacrifice that we can we truly “send a message.”

Aside from the socialists, the other theme running strongly throughout the day was, how can I put this? Let’s just say that if you were looking for some good gefilte fish this probably wasn’t the place for you. The speakers seemed incapable of saying “America out of Iraq” without adding “Israel out of Palestine” like it was a nervous tick. The anti-Israeli sentiment was striking because, you know, hating Jews is so old school. But then, if you want to bring back socialism I suppose it kind of fits. Anyone up for a polio epidemic? Just for old times?

The chants left something to be desired as well. “The people, united, will never be defeated.” Okay, this doesn’t even rhyme. It turns out the Spanish version from an old socialist-themed Chilean song does ("El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!")  but, come on, put a little more work into this than running a chant through some free online language translator. (Although based on my own experience it could have been worse, “Thai peppers, were cited, the recipe derided.”)

The coverage the event received in the Washington Post was interesting in the way that things that are completely wrong are interesting. I’m sure the reporters sold their editor on the idea of covering an antiwar protest. If it turns out to be something else do their expense reports get denied? (Have you seen the price of Evian lately?) That’s the only explanation for statements that described the demonstration as being, “focused on a succinct theme: ‘End the War in Iraq and Bring the Troops Home Now.’" I don’t know, maybe between the neck brace and the ear infection, the author missed a lot.

The Post also reported that, “The masses on the street served up a broad cross section of the United States by age, geography, religion and ethnic group.” That’s true, but only if by “United States” you mean, “Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce Meeting.” I found the crowd to be lily white. And so did the Post had they taken the time to glance at their own photos published in Sunday’s paper. You can find a face or two that isn’t white but it’s reminiscent of the old “Finding Waldo” series.

Was the crowd disenchanted with the bait and switch? In the few hours I spent there I noticed a notable lack of enthusiasm for the speakers. This makes sense to me. On the Metro ride in, the conversations I overheard included a Viet Nam vet and a mother whose son was being sent to Iraq the next month. Somehow, the subject of a socialist revolution or Israeli occupation never came up. I’m sure if I had stayed on past the Federal Triangle stop it would have  for sure…

J.