Rage Against War Rally Feb. 19
I only found out about this a couple days ago and am unable to attend but as it could and should be a BIG DEAL - and only will be if people make it so - here's a heads up.
Rally info here:
Thoughts on how to build on/support this are most welcome.
Encouraging that a broad range (both in background and ideology) of speakers and groups are participating - some recognition that control of the country by a warmongering corporate Deep State is an existential threat and that if we can avert World War III we will have leisure to argue about pronouns, bathroom access, Medicare and such.
Some years back I posted links to this article:
America Has No Peace Movement – Blame the ‘White Supremacists’
which included the following:
SJWs have no comfort zone for dealing with anyone who does not fully buy into their blueprint for global rejuvenation. This means in turn that the antiwar movement, such as it is, is fragmented into a gaggle of groups with grievances that have little ability to establish cohesion with other organizations that might agree completely with their worldview. Folks like me, who are socially and politically conservative but antiwar, do not fit well with their priorities and would prefer to focus on the wars, but that option is not on offer without accepting a lot of sanctimonious garbage.
True enough, as far as it goes - although it seems anti-war conservatives may have their own issues here - see below re: the dis-invitation of Scott Ritter to speak at the rally.
Chris Hedges (despite being a bit pissy about the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers) and Jimmy Dore (who will be a rally speaker) address the importance of cooperation (and the dire consequences of failing to do so) here:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pLXCkBQ2TY]
and Redacted cover the rally here:
The Rage Against The War Machine Rally in D.C. could bring back the anti-war movement in America
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvAGQvg1KCs]
Ack! Now I see that I missed Linda Wood's posting of the link to the speech Scott Ritter was to have delivered at the D.C. rally! Don't know the details, but for some reason he was strongly encouraged to drop out after having been invited to speak. Anyhow - it's well worthwhile and available on his Substack
https://www.scottritterextra.com/p/the-best-speech-i-never-gave?utm_sour...
“Biden and his crime family may owe Zelensky, but America doesn’t owe him a damn thing.”
- Rep. Paul Gosar
Comments
The anti-war rally had better turn things around
...lickity split, or their won't be anything left in the US to turn around.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
The Rally and the coverage of Seymour Hersh are getting
the same type of treatment.
Absolutely no MSM coverage in the hopes it will have no impact.
Extended coverage of the Hersh stuff --
can be found in this diary.
And I guess we could have predicted that we would be where we are now in November and December of 2020, when Joe Biden was stacking his cabinet with warmongers.
"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati
I remnded some I met
that Biden was the one who basically wrote or at least was a major force behind the legislation that guaranteed the crash of 2008.
No one seemed to remember 2008.
Fate makes strange bedfellows, for sure.
I received an email about this Rally. I wish them the very best, too, even though I do not care for Libertarians. The RW alphabet agencies, FBI, CIA, etc. did a thorough job of dismantling the American Left. Tragic.
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Michael Tracey
made a fair point that the organizers made a mistake by inviting as a speaker someone like Scott Ritter who is not really antiwar but pro-Russia in the current SMO. And an even better point was when he called out the organizers for inviting the Biden accuser person from 3 yrs ago who has no other claim to fame other than her dubious accusations. Great way to build bridges with the establishment center-left.
You say
Michael Tracey made a fair point that the organizers
I think Marine corps Maj. Scott Ritter is strongly antiwar. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower was antiwar. Gen. Michael Flynn is antiwar. Some of the most credible and knowledgeable speakers against war are career military as well as veterans. But that doesn't mean they're pacifists. They clearly believe there are circumstances in which a country must use military force.
My understanding is that Ritter believes the current circumstances have led the Russian government to believe it is necessary to use force.
I'm a pacifist. I believe the Russian government should have fallen on their knees, handed over the keys to their country to John Bolton, and prayed for the people of the Donbass being slaughtered by the Azov battalion. But the Russian government are not pacifists.
I respect all the people who believe Putin should have done SOMETHING ELSE. I'm waiting for them to describe what they mean. But, for the life of me, I can't think what it could be.
It's really
just a comment on MT's more narrow point about the event organizers sending mixed signals about holding an "antiwar" rally and yet inviting one or two speakers who probably don't belong in that category as the term is broadly understood. Tracey said Ritter seemed to be almost -- almost -- cheerleading for the Russian side in the war. Someone more truly antiwar might be commenting more on ways to get the sides to sit down and negotiate, or would comment about equally on the atrocities of both sides. (note: this is my take of Tracey's observations from his listening to Ritter on Ukr far more than I have). As I recall his commentary, Tracey considers "antiwar" more in the Ghandi frame of No war is ever justified, or closer to pacifism.
Btw, I forgot to note that the organizers also invited Tulsi Gabbard to speak. Another example of someone not truly "antiwar" (though she's held some good positions about FP) as she's a veteran of the Iraq War, several tours there, and continues to serve the US war machine in a reserve capacity as some "public information" official.
Finally, my pov on Ukraine is actually closer to Mearsheimer's and Ritter's as I understand it. But the point of the post was about the organizers and their mixed signals.
Russia thought it had already achieved that
It’s why when Minsk 1 failed they returned and got Minsk 2 passed. But then they were told that both agreements were only signed to give NATO more time to arm Ukraine. Now they are saying that America and NATO are untrustworthy in any agreement they make. Plus the fact that we have withdrawn from every agreement we have made with Russia.
As for Ritter being pro Russian..hogwash. He accepts that Putin has done everything in his power to get America to back off with its plans to get rid of him and destroy Russia so that they can steal all its resources. It’s why Russia told Biden to make sure that Ukraine doesn’t join NATO and to stop adding countries to NATO and threatening them. Russia could not retreat any farther than from the threat of NATO. America would have never allowed Russia to get every country in Americas backyard to become a Russian puppet and put their nuclear weapons in their countries. We’ve been doing it since 1991.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
It appears as if someone has not bothered to view any of
Ritter's recent videos.
He clearly points out his allegiances and his thoughts on the neocon leadership calling the shots.
As an aside:
Code Pink's decision in not to participate in the rally was due to outside influence from of their financial backers because of a few of the speakers opinions.
The title
of the organizers' event is RAGE AGAINST THE WAR MACHINE. I don't think that's a mixed signal. I hear you about Tulsi. And I hope the organizers honestly do honor people like Ghandi and Martin Luther King. But I am dismayed by the words of people I have known for decades as peace activists now saying we should send more weapons to Ukraine. It's just madness.
I am a pacifist. I believe war is an abomination before God. I believe war is the problem, not the solution. And I agree with Chris Hedges' statement that war is the greatest evil. Of the many strong statements I've heard Scott Ritter make against our war machine, the strongest was that it's a cancer, relentlessly attacking efforts to stop it or to find diplomatic solutions. I understand Russia's president Putin to have worked the hardest of all national leaders for a peaceful solution, a ceasefire and negotiated settlement, to end the wars in Ukraine and Syria, both of which were started and relentlessly pursued by our war machine. It's my understanding that both the Minsk and Astana agreements were brought together by the Russian government and totally smashed by my government.
I also think our biological weapons labs in Ukraine were a crucial factor in the Russian decision to invade Ukraine. All of this is to say that even career military personnel can see our political leadership as batshit crazy, and that's why I find common cause with military people in this crisis.
For the most part I too am a pacifist. That said I am also
a realist.
Russia for its part has been put in a position of self defence due to ever increasing pressure applied by NATO (US pulling the puppet's strings) in order to maintain The New World Order.
Yes,
I agree completely.
That said.
I see the possibility of resurrection the use of the guillotine for certain leaders even though I am against the death penalty in principle.
I've been conscious
of how much the word Nuremberg is used in discussions groups online about this crisis, both from left and right-leaning commenters. It's hard not to think in those terms when your leadership talks about destroying life on earth.
Sadly the Nuremberg trials were only a charade.
Of course some individuals were found guilty as they should have been.
But!
Others were spared any consequences due to their knowledge. EG: Wernher von Braun who was celebrated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun
I have no idea
who Michael Tracy is, where he made his criticisms and who
you refer to is.
Would you mind clarifying/providing some links?
"I used to say, 'Somebody should do something about that.' Then I realized I am somebody."
- Lily Tomlin
M Tracey, indy
left blogger, podcaster and influencer for the past 5 yrs or so on Twitter. Familiar to most who read other indy-left bloggers like Max Blumenthal, G Greenwald, Aaron Maté, Caitlin Johnstone.
Back in 2020, he wrote a long debunking piece on Tara Reade for the Spectator. It's just stupid to include her in a list of speakers at this event. She and speaker Jackson Hinkle, the "MAGA Communist", will provide fodder for the MSM to discredit the rally, if any should deign to cover it.
Oh, him.
Thanks for clarifying.
Final comment on the upcoming rally.
It is an exercise in futility!
It is in the process of a publicity blackout by the MSM and their MIC advertisers.
Aside from a few of us like minded individuals sound can not be heard in a vacuum. Those participants and supporters will go down in history as those who supported Bernie in his first campaign. TPTB will not allow it to happen!
The real reasons for disinviting Scott Ritter
had nothing to do with his position vis-a-vis the war in Ukraine and everything to do with his public (metaphorical) tarring and feathering as a "sex offender". (Once the tar and feathers have been applied, it doesn't matter whether the accusations have any validity...unless you are a valuable tool of the Owners, e.g. Joe Biden.)
Almost all other criminal activities have a statute of limitations - but not sex offenses. Those are forever.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.