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The Triumph of Anti-War Democrats
by Tom Hayden August 9, 2006
With Ned Lamont's victory, rank-and-file movements have pulled down the pillar of the Democratic Party which has supported the Iraq war machine.
Any war needs these "pillars" of support: public opinion, bipartisan support, funding, an ample pool of soldiers, and international allies. Without the pillars, there is no power to support the policies, except the sort of raw power which causes further alienation.
Now the only pillars of the occupation are the White House and contractors like Halliburton, CACI, Titan, Blackhawk, etc. In their desperate isolation, White House strategists will strike back by re-framing the war as integral to the fight against terror. That strategy didn't work in Connecticut, even with the Lebanon War raging, but it may be ramped up before November.
Before the Lamont upset, Democratic Party leaders had already made a strategic decision to fight the November election on a platform of beginning the withdrawal of American troops by January 1, 2007. This decision was a direct result of anti-war pressure on the party's leadership, with more than 80 percent of Democratic voters favoring a timeline for withdrawal.
The Lamont campaign had a great candidate with funding and organizational competence, but its heart was a movement committed to reaching voters, making phone calls, knocking on doors, and standing up in their communities against the taunts of the "realists." Anti-war coalitions like United for Peace and Justice threw themselves into the campaign. MoveOn mobilized its members with great effect. Bloggers incited an anti-Lieberman climate.
As September approaches, the broad anti-war movement will have to draw conclusions from the Lamont campaign. In particular, the groups who claim that electoral politics means "selling out to the Democratic Party" may have to recalculate the aspirations of the rank-and-file for a winning strategy that combines protest with effective political action. These questions typically arise when a movement advances from the fringes of society to the mainstream.
Truthdig.com
May 2, 2006 |
Tom Hayden is national co-director of No More Sweatshops!, a coalition of labor, clergy, community and campus advocates of "sweat-free" guidelines on public procurement and enforceable labor standards for corporate behavior.
