Focusing on the war

The September 24th protests against the Iraq war are coming up and the confluence of events suggest that they could be very important.

Stan Goff highlights this, and also puts in a word of caution to those who might wish to corral the Cindy Sheehan "movement" (for lack of a better term) into the waiting coffers of the Democratic Party:

The most important task over the next month – at least from where I am standing – is to use the momentum created by the Cindy Sheehan breakthrough at Crawford to ramp up the largest possible demonstration against the war for September 24th in Washington DC. Psuedo-leftist “exit strategies,” blaming Republicans for the war (instead of the entire dominant class), or trying to turn this into a recruiting opportunity for small leftist sects, are obstacles to this process. Turning this war into a political liability will do more for every form of resistance to imperialism in every location around the world, as well as the internal colonies of the US, than all the policy fights or all of the pristinely perfect left-maximalist programs in the world.

Persuasion doesn’t bring down the beast. Bleeding does. The US withdrawal from Iraq will be one of the biggest victories for genuine people’s movements, here and abroad, since the US was forced out of Vietnam.

Keep your eye on the ball, in other words.

Goff walks through a number of hot button issues, so his whole post is worth reading.