Peace Protests, Know Who You're Dealing With

[Buff]

From:

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http://www.authoritarianopportunistswhocozyuptogenocidald ictators-forpeace.org/

Please come to DC on Jan 18 to help stop Bush's unilateral war on Iraq
Every person counts --
make January 18 a massive gathering for peace

BUT FIRST learn a little about the group organizing the protest:

International A.N.S.W.E.R. is a post-9/11 creation of the International Action Center, one of many front groups for the Workers World Party. The Workers World Party:
» supported the Chinese government's 1989 Tienanmen Square massacre

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http://www.workers.org/ww/tienanmen.html

» supports the "socialist" North Korean dictatorship of Kim Jong Il

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http://www.workers.org/ww/2002/korea0425.php

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http://www.workers.org/ww/2002/korea0509.php

» and views Iraq's Saddam Hussein as a beacon of anti-imperialist resistance

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http://www.workers.org/ww/2001/iraq0125.html

» defends the genocidal Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic

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http://www.iacenter.org/yugo_milosdeligation.htm

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http://www.workers.org/ww/2002/larry0228.php

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http://www.workers.org/ww/2001/milosevic1108.php

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http://shadow.autono.net/sin001/clark.htm

For these reasons, as well as Workers World's poor track record of relations with other groups, some people refuse to attend A.N.S.W.E.R. events, including the January 18 anti-war protest.

On the pro side, A.N.S.W.E.R. has proven skill at organizing massive demonstrations. Most who attend the group's protests know nothing about their actual political leanings and merely wish to express their opposition to war in Iraq

And many people and groups who are repulsed by A.N.S.W.E.R.'s support for genocidal dictators choose to attend their anti-war protests anyway, because they feel it is so urgent to stop the Iraq war.

See, for example, Z Magazine's Q&A on the topic (A.N.S.W.E.R. is discussed in #8):

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http://www.zmag.org/content/showarti...15&ItemID=2527)

To help you make up your mind, we've assembled links to a range of writings on the topic - some more factual, some more polemical, from various points on the political spectrum:

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http://slash.autonomedia.org/article.pl?sid=01/12/03/1946241&mode=nocomment&

Lengthy, detailed expose of International Action Center's politics

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http://www.infoshop.org/texts/wwp.html

Anarchist critique of Workers World Party

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http://www.laweekly.com/ink/02/50/news-corn.php

David Corn critique of A.N.S.W.E.R.'s October 26 D.C. anti-war march

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http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2002/10/16/protest/

Salon reporter's critique of A.N.S.W.E.R. and other far-left anti-war groups

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http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2002-11/11dominick.cfm

A critical response to Corn and other A.N.S.W.E.R. detractors

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http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020513&s=featherstone

An example of A.N.S.W.E.R.'s relations with other groups

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http://www.journalofaestheticsandprotest.org/1/BenShepard/index.html

Why the A.N.S.W.E.R. style of political mobilization is inherently disempowering
brought to you by International A.O.W.C.U.T.G.D.F.P.