|
CounterPunch
August
29, 2002
Progressive
Irrelevance?
by Anis Shivani
As long as progressives continue to grant the
basic premises of the "war on terrorism--that it is a "war"
and that we're fighting "terror" - it will wage a losing
struggle. If voices who question the basic reality of
events remain isolated--voices like those of the ousted Cynthia
McKinney--we are doomed to an era of complete silence. The dictators
in Washington are in a great hurry to do away with this country's
freedoms and numb us to a new American militarism. If progressives
treat them as political actors who will go along with the normal
rules of liberal contest, it'll continue to be blindsided by
the next shocks in the works.
After 9/11, many progressive commentators
agreed on the need for greater security at airports, more scrutiny
of who we let into the country, and greater checks on them once
they're in. Shouldn't the dysfunctional immigration department
be reformed? Should we really treat the eighty-year old Iowa
grandmother with as much suspicion as the young Middle-Eastern
male? Molly Ivins wrote on November 15, "When in doubt,
hold them--fine." There is a clear progression from the
elusive craving for security to rampant fear that can be preyed
upon to annihilate our freedom. Right after 9/11 was the time
to question--despite the fear of being labeled unpatriotic, of
being called heartless enough not to share in the grief of so
many--and openly dispute the official narrative, instead of settling
for less insidious forms of racism.
The Wall Street Journal reported
on August 8 that the Justice Department plans to detain more
American citizens as enemy combatants. That could be any of
"us." The recent annual meeting of the American Bar
Association was riveted on the trashing of the Constitution and
Bill of Rights. The lawyers were complaining, But they could
declare any of "us" an enemy combatant, and we'd have
no rights. They had seemed pacified when the government reassured
us that after all the military tribunals were for non-citizens
only. Once you get on the slippery slope of granting the basic
premise--that any person on American soil can be detained
without due process in the normal judicial system--then the sequence
is inevitable from suspected terrorists to illegal aliens to
dark-skinned citizens to all of "us."
Since the apocalyptic night of election
2000, when Bush sat huddled with his creepy mother and father,
and later told Gore that Bush's little brother Jeb had assured
him that the state of Florida was his, perhaps nothing has felt
as calamitous as Representative McKinney's engineered removal.
She had the audacity to question the reality of the enabling
event, Bush's foreknowledge of 9/11, and his friends' economic
gain from it. So they pumped in money from outside the state,
created a viable "Democratic" candidate, accused McKinney
of taking money from terrorists (if anyone receives money from
Arab-Americans, they're done!), and a popular five-time incumbent
from a black district is gone! How do you combat something like
that with the normal rules of politics? This is a new era, and
people are fooling themselves if they think that playing according
to their rules is going to get this gang out. If they have to,
they'll simply steal elections.
Progressives advocate that the war on
Iraq can still be stopped; our voices need only be heard. Corporate
fraud is bound to lead to a rewriting of the fundamental rules
of business. Robert Reich can lead a progressive campaign to
victory in Massachusetts, setting a model for the rest of the
country. Green Party opposition will keep that term-limit promise-breaker
Paul Wellstone honest. The truth is that once progressives vigorously
endorses a candidate--Villaraigosa in Los Angeles or Green in
New York - that might as well be the kiss of death! It's so
easy to split black and Jewish and Hispanic voters. Progressive
have not come up with a way to deal with this racial manipulation.
Ruy Teixeira and Joel Rogers assured us a couple of years ago
that the new progressivism was bound to win out--without taking
positions that offend anyone.
But what have progressives in congress
delivered? Paul Wellstone voted for the Patriot Act, along with
97 others. (Does anyone outside Minnesota remember what he looks
like? Of course, if he had been visible on the national scene
lately, that would mean he was surely a goner, like McKinney.)
Russ Feingold, the lone Senate holdout against the Patriot Act,
recommended confirmation of Ashcroft-Himmler because he wanted
to extend an "olive branch" to the president. Feingold
deferred to the tradition that cabinet members ought not to be
rejected on ideological grounds, arguing that "we should
not start now." He thought that the judiciary committee
could keep Ashcroft in check--not when you're dealing with this
gang.
Maxine Waters did have her police brutality
forum in Inglewood on August 19--but she hasn't been too visible
for the past year. Is it any wonder that Jesse Jackson, Jr.
seems to be in seclusion, probably petrified by the right-wing
wrath that fell on his father? On Hardball recently,
Dennis Kucinich, Studs Terkel's dream president, fell all over
himself to pacify former drug czar Barry McCafferey. What's
wrong with saying that you're "anti-war," especially
if you're someone who's lately built your reputation on promoting
a Department of Peace?
So who do we look to for outspokenness?
That great upholder of constitutional freedoms, Bob Barr, of
course--except that now he's gone too. He tried to stand up
against scrapping Posse Comitatus, against the national ID card.
So did Dick Armey, that other great defender of liberty. Retiring
Armey has protested the national ID card and TIPS, and the war
against Iraq in terms that no Democratic leader has matched.
Senator Biden wants only a piece of the action, to feel that
he has been "consulted" when the decision comes down.
The left is in tatters. Christopher
Hitchens picked a fight with Chomsky and others who he felt "rationalized"
terror and were soft on "Islamic fascism." Denouncing
the "fascist sympathies of the soft left" Hitchens
wrote that "at least the missiles launched by Clinton were
not full of passengers." He bought into the administration's
ridiculous rationale that there is inherent rage against Western
freedoms: "What they [Islamic fascists] abominate about
'the west' . . .is . . .its emancipated women, its scientific
inquiry, its separation of religion from the state." Hitchens
forgot about the real fascists at home. He grants the basic
presuppositions of the war on terrorism. How are cause and effect,
"us" and "them," to be separated when we
created, to a large extent, political Islam because we didn't
like Arab nationalism or Arab socialism or even Arab liberalism?
Richard Falk wrote after 9/11 that "The
war in Afghanistan against apocalyptic terrorism qualifies .
. .as the first truly just war since World War II." As
late as December 24, Falk was writing the following naïve
words: "The Bush presidency has . . .recognized the challenge
with clarity and mobilized society for a necessary and prolonged
struggle.
It . . .defined the mission in relation to terrorism rather than
Islam and it made a serious effort to reassure the Muslim minority
in America that their rights would be protected." Does
he still feel that way, now that we are on perpetual war footing
to remake the world? A caller recently asked Ralph Nader on
C-Span if he thought that 9/11 would have happened had Gore been
president. Acting astounded, Nader wondered if the caller was
implying that Bush had anything to do with 9/11.
The left is massively intimidated; it
cowers under the grief trap, not wanting to be outdone in shedding
tears. Once progressives accept that we need to do something
in response to "terror" (even if only proportional
and justifiable), the game is effectively over. To say that
9/11 was the greatest spectacle ever put on would be offensive
to the choir, used to hearing soothing multicultural clichés
and the constant drumbeat of hope--a progressive reordering of
priorities is just around the corner.
So while down in Crawford Bush and company
plot a dual October surprise--war on Iraq and terror at home--it's
best to concentrate on the rising liberal stars in congressional
races (even though all of that can change in an instance, under
the new postmodern rules of engagement--a point that the prairie
populist left seems unable to comprehend) or the passage of reforms
to fight corporate fraud.
The left doesn't understand that the
terms of the debate have changed. You don't contest Hitler with
genteel argument, grounded in the hope that things will turn
around soon enough if liberal politics is given enough of a chance
to play out. They'll do whatever it takes to defraud a McKinney
out of existence. And that's the fate awaiting all critics,
because progressives helped make it unacceptable to question
that there is a "war" on "terror."
For some on the left to say that this
is about oil is too easy; ditto for pointing out the Carlyle
connection. This is about something far darker in the American
soul. That is why this assault against humanity is so catching,
has such potency with the flag-wavers. Until prgressives comes
to terms with this dark force, it'll have little effect on American
sensibility.
By rejecting as "conspiracy theory"
revelations about government foreknowledge and complicity in
order to preserve its rationalist credentials, the left has granted
credibility to the enabling device. That's a losing move. The
way to understand Bush's presidency is to look at him as a forceful
dictator bent on doing as much harm as quickly as possible, not
as a bumbling right-wing fool who chanced on the presidency due
to mishaps in Florida. But the left has not yet accepted this
basic truth; and so its advocacies and prescriptions are flawed.
Would it be beyond Bush - during an emergency, of course--to
end Social Security and Medicare as we know it? The stock market
is not always going to be down. This idea is not going away,
but the left is lulled into thinking that Bush can never risk
it with the people. He will. The left thinks of Bush as an
idiot. He is, but only in the sense of not being intellectual.
He is the smartest fascist to come down the pike in a long while,
and has completely outwitted the opposition. At every step in
this evolving dictatorship, the left has been one step behind;
so who is slower witted? The groups who let Hitler take power
thought they could control him; one after the other Hitler proved
them all wrong.
This is what the left has to ask: Will
the ordinary political process get rid of Bush, can it slow down
his assault? If the answer is yes, see exhibit A: Cynthia McKinney.
If no, then what is the alternative strategy? If normal anti-war
activism, such as what was seen during Vietnam, doesn't work
as a practicable analog, then what is the way to go? Do you
challenge a fascist dictator with rallies and demonstrations
(that is, if people are not afraid of being put in jail)? Will
the left continue to underestimate Bush's shrewdness? It wasn't
just the accident of hanging chads and butterfly ballots that
let the Bush brothers manipulate the result in their favor.
The left doesn't want to throw the legitimacy of the political
process into question, and so it treads softly. The mostly identity-politics
driven left, with its few cautious moves toward including suburban
progressives in an economic strategy that doesn't alienate anyone,
is at a loss to deal with the fascist upsurge. Do you contest
fascism with mild, middle-of-the-road alternatives? For too
long the left has encouraged the culture of fear to promote its
social agenda. Now this vocabulary is easily being appropriated
by the fascists.
If the left radically questioned the
official presumptions, it would have to embark on a path of thinking
that it has not really considered. Its diagnosis of the problem
would shift. It would have to ask this uncomfortable question
(not exactly conducive to letting one continue being a pundit
on Fox or MSNBC): What is the role of the liberal opposition
during a fascist dictatorship?
What's all the caution going to get us? If only there had been
more voices like McKinney's right from the beginning, it wouldn't
have been so easy to paint her as a fringe lunatic. Are today's
progressives much different than the mass media which crowed
after the stolen election that "the system works" because
there were no tanks in the streets?
Anis Shivani studied economics at Harvard, and is the
author of two novels, The Age of Critics and Memoirs of a Terrorist.
He welcomes comments at: Anis_Shivani_ab92@post.harvard.edu
Today's Features
Chris Floyd
The Secret
Sharers:
The CIA and the Murder of Frank Olson
New Print
Edition of CounterPunch Available Exclusively
to Subscribers:
- War Talk As White Noise:
Anything to Get Harken and Halliburton
Out of the Headlines;
- First Hilliard, Then
McKinney: Jewish
Groups Target Blacks Brave Enough to Talk About Justice in the
Middle East; Intimidation
is the Name of the Game; Smearing
"Insane" McKinney As Muslims' Pawn;
- The Missing Terrorist?
Calling Scotland
Yard: "Where's Atif?"
- They Never Booed Dylan!:
Tape Transcript Shows
Famed Newport Folkfest Dissing of Electric Dylan Not True. The Catcalls were for Peter
Yarrow!
- New Shame from the Liffey
Shrike
Remember, the CounterPunch website is
supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe
Now! Or Call Toll Free 1-800-840-3683
home / subscribe
/ about us
/ books
/ archives
/ search
/ links
/
|
August 29,
2002
Chris Floyd
The Secret
Sharers:
The CIA and the Murder of Frank Olson
August 28,
2002
William Ring
War on Iraq:
The Brightest Scenario
August 27,
2002
Sam Bahour
The Violence
of Curfew
Wenonah Hauter
From Johannesburg:
Pacts with the Devil: Public-Private Partnerships and the Global
Environment
Jerre Skog
Wanted:
"Our Kind of Guy"
in Iraq!
Uri Avnery
Letter
to a Pilot
August 26,
2002
Sami Al-Arian
Fighting
for the Right of
Dissent and Due Process
Ruebner /
Turaani
What
is Israel Hiding?
Norman Madarasz
Brazil
and the IMF:
Democracy and Emerging Market Liberalism
Robert Fisk
War Crimes:
Reporters Aren't Prosecutors
Douglas Valentine
Phoenix,
CIA and Maj. Gen. Bruce Lawlor: From Vietnam
to Homeland Security
August 24
/ 25, 2002
Susan Davis
Proverbial
Wisdom:
Of Clogs and Enron
Falk / Krieger
No War
Against Iraq
Ceylon Mooney
Fasting
for Iraq
Jonathon
Wright
Police
Brutality in Atlanta
Ralph Nader
Congress's
Pay Raise Scam
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Chainsaw
George
Alexander
Cockburn
Alterman
Cheapens Holocaust
August 23,
2002
Dave Marsh
Selling
Out?
Anthony Gancarski
Super-Duper:
Oil, al-Qaeda and a West African Adventure
William Hughes
Lieberman's
Conflict
of Interest?
Kurt Nimmo
The Lapdog
Conversion of CNN:
They Didn't Want to "Criticize" a Popular War
Sean Donahue
Hardline
in Colombia
August 22,
2002
Sean Donahue
Hardline
in Colombia
Wayne Madsen
Crushing
Congressional Dissent: The Fall of Hilliard, Barr and McKinney
Gilad Atzmon
The Zionist
Lobby and
American Foreign Policy
Robert Johnson
Right
Wing Doves?
Alexander
Cockburn
Taking
Down McKinney
August 21,
2002
Gary Leupp
The Return
of Mani
Romi Mahajan
Bhopal
on $40 a Day
Jerre Skog
Bush and
Europe:
Fun, Profit & Betrayal
Tom Crumpacker
The
Politics of the Cuba Embargo
August 20,
2002
Kathleen
Christison
Israeli
Tilt: the NYT
and Palestine
August 14
/ 19, 2002
Susan Davis
Played
Out: a Journey to Central City, Colorado
CounterPunch
Staff
Our Favorite
Films
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Usonian
Utopia's:
Frank Lloyd Wright, Working Class Housing and the FBI
Gilad Atzmon
Sharon and the Iron Wall
Uri Avnery
A Phone
Call from Hell
Wendy Brinker
Racism
is Alive and Well in the South Carolina Death House
Hamit Dardagan
The
Unbearable Lightness of Bombing
Ahmad Faruqui
The Legacy
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Philip Farruggio
Leading
by Example
Anthony Gancarski
Union
Jackass: Richard Perle's UK Charm Offensive
Jeff Halper
Fortress
Israel: the Message of the Bulldozer
Robert Jensen
Our Failures
are Borne by the Palestinians
Gary Leupp
An Open
Letter to Bruce Springsteen about Bush's War on Terrorism
Dave Marsh
Sing a
Simple Song
Rashmi Mayur
To Johannesburg
in Search of Hope
Steve Perry
Another Fine Mess:
Martha Stewart and Paul Wellstone
Anis Shivani
What's
Next...Concentration Camps?
Edward Said
Punishment
by Detail
Jeff Taylor
Paul Wellstone's
Legacy
August 10/11,
2002
Walt Brasch
The Bush
2 Legacy...So Far
August 9,
2002
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Corporate
Crime:
More Shareholder Power
Not the Solution
Ansar Ahmed
The Waning
of the
Pax Americana
Alexander
Cockburn
War,
the Military and the Hunt for the "Violence Gene"
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By
Alexander Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
(Click Here to Order from CounterPunch
Online at 20% Off Amazon.com's price!)
Read
Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
|