Rage Against the War Marchine: February 19th, Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.
Rage Against the War Marchine: February 19th, Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.
Unite or Continue to be Conquered
[Image: New York City, Feb 15th 2003, Antiwar Rally against the insanity of Gulf War 2.]
Published 2023-02-18
Update 2023-02-20: Added a source (Scott Horton Show).
Update 2023-02-27: Added videos of the speeches by Dennis Kucinich and Max Blumenthal.
Anti-War
A coalition of social movements lead in this case by the Libertarian Institute and the People's Party have organized a rally at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday 19th February, 2023. The list of demands, including things like Free Assange, are added to the core topic of End the Bloody Wars (an old term). Their term, the rally's title, is Rage Against the War Machine.
Dumb-fuck Controversy
The rally obviously needs speakers, good speakers, who can raise a mood and unite an audience. Some speakers of prominence, good speakers, have withdrawn from speaking but will be there. Why? Because of various stupid objections on other positions held by some of the participants.
Firstly, a word of obvious advice: If you're running an anti-war rally, junk all the other stuff. One issue. One presence. One voice. One objective.
Secondly, screw all of these petty issue spoilers. "I can't speak because I support anti-war but people are gonna put photos on social media of me in close proximity to some other person with whom I disagree on issue X." Get a life.
Accept the fact that the organizers f'ed up. Ignore it. Turn up for what matters. Stop feeding the blood soaked weapons manufacturers (to quote Pope Francis) and killing people. There is no "equation". Its bloody obvious. So, bloody obvious that the message is at the core of every major religion and non-religious moral fabric.
You think that Assange is a rapist? You think that group X don't provide enough support to non-heterosexual groups? Get a life. This is about life and death, war and peace. This issue overrides all the rest. Its written in the Nuremberg Trials for fuck’s sake: War is the supreme crime for it contains within it all of the rest (murder, imprisonment, rape, civilian casualties, orphans, destruction of culture, destitution, and on and on).
Wake the fuck up.
Promotion
Alternative news coverage of the event has been taken up by various outlets. Consortium News have done an excellent job. Articles by Chris Hedges (republished from ScheerPost), Diana Johnstone and a not-to-be-delivered speech by Scott Ritter have raised the flag of solidarity. Ron Paul is with them.
Jimmy Dore and the Grayzone have teamed up to elevate the event in video format, castigating those who consider protest a social rather than political activity.
An Old Soothsayer
I wished to declare that there is an "older" political activist, a man of principle with decades of learned experience who could speak words of wisdom to those happily being divided by extraneous issues. However, he is of Diana Johnstone's generation, both of whom are younger than the font of reflection, Noam Chomsky.
This man earned his political stripes in the 1960's. I've been wanting to write about him since I began this newsletter. Oh, what he could say on disunity and failure, succumbing to the oldest tactic, divide and rule.
While he was a consumer advocate, and still is, this is to miss the forest for the trees. Foremost, he is an advocate of civics. He believes in the principles that the USA stood for, rather than the reality of what the nation has done and become. He believes. He yearns for the citizenry to recapture their house, the Congress, and displace the partisan, special interest groups, the Military Complex, Banking and Big X (Pharma, Oil, …). Along side him have been other principled advocates for what the USA could be. The late Mike Gravel held in his heart and on his sleeve similar principles.
This old advocate does not sit in an ivory tower reading dusty, scholarly works. He has been at, lead, and organized protests. Over the last decade or so, his focus has been on imparting the wisdom he has learned, published in concise, readable books.
He may have been a "consumer advocate". He became more. Chris Hedges was his speech writer. He ran for president.
While he, like Gravel, would highlight the centrality of the people's chamber, his lasting message would be cross-party organizing. The USA has so many issues upon which all of its political parties can agree. The nation is divided by the choice of the political parties and the segmentation of its media. He recently launched a new media organization to focus on connecting people with their representatives and speaking “across the aisle”.
In then end, its about focusing on issues, one at a time, gaining broad cross-party support and achieving them. Anti-war is one. National healthcare insurance is another. Pick what you want. Choose carefully. Unity is the key. Focus effort. Coordinate. Act. Achieve.
He is an American Hero.
His name is Ralph Nader.
Long may his advice echo.
Sources
Building a Left-Right Coalition Against War, Chris Hedges, Consortium News, 2023-02-14
Demonstrate Together, Diana Johnstone, Consortium News, 2023-02-14
Join Me This Sunday in DC to Stop Our Coming War with Russia, Ron Paul, Libertarian Institute, 2023-02-14
The Best Speech I Never Gave, Scott Ritter, Consortium News, 2023-02-14
Enough Is Enough: My Speech for the Rage Against the War Machine Rally, William J. Astore, Antiwar (republished from Bracing Views), 2023-02-17
Why You Should Come to the Antiwar Rally in DC This Sunday, Scott Horton interviews Max Blumenthal, Scott Horton Show, 2023-02-16
Download episode
Upcoming DC antiwar rally unites political factions, Max Blumenthal interviews Jimmy Dore, The Grayzone, 2023-02-13
Some speeches from the Protest:
Former Rep Dennis Kucinich (D) speech at "Rage Against the War Machine" rally, Dennis Kucinich speaks at the rally, News2Share, 2023-02-19
Max Blumenthal at Rage Against the War Machine, Max Blumenthal speaks at the rally, The Grayzone, 2023-02-21
Culture
Sorry, team. This is a repeat, and I love it.
First Aid Kit - Universal Soldier (Buffy-Sainte Marie), First Aid Kit, uploaded 2009-07-15
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