October 15 Antiwar Rally In Portland---Steps Forward And Sideways

I attended the Portland antiwar rally yesterday with another member of Willamette Reds. I greatly appreciated the energy of the crowd, the march on the banks and the march to the Occupy Portland site in solidarity with the growing community there. I also was happy to see an SEIU sign calling for the occupation of Xerox--SEIU Local 49 has quite a struggle there--since this is a movement which needs to move into the workplaces in order to realize its own potential and be successful. It was great to see Brad Avakian's supporters there. The veteran who spoke and told us to welcome soldiers home but not congratulate them for doing Uncle Sam's bidding made a strong point and got a well-deserved reception from the crowd.

Today's headlines are full of news about similar, and much larger, events across the US, across Canada, in Europe and in Hong Kong. There is also news that a solidarity demonstration with Occupy Wall Street was held in China by communists there. The New York Times highlighted the fact that most demonstrations were peaceful while The Statesman Journal portrayed the protests as violent. The march on Times Square in New York apparently exceeded all expectations. It seems as if we are quickly coming to a point where masses of people are either in the streets or are supporting people who are.

In the past we have seen massive police repression used against such movements at critical points. Today's movements have forestalled such repression only by mobilizing public support and opinion quickly and by taking the authorities by surprise. New York City police apparently attempted to violently intervene in yesterday's demonstrations and there have been echoes of this in Boston, Atlanta and, yes, Portland and Salem.

Perhaps a few words need to be said about the contradictions we see around us as the movements grow.

The presence of Ron Paul supporters and people whose agenda is to dump the Fed in the occupation movement is, or will be, problematic. Paul is anti-union and anti-worker, racist and libertarian. This libertarianism apparently resounds with people who seem to get their wacko theories on the Fed and "big capitalism" from the John Birch Society and conspiracy theories. If they are given a platform in the antiwar and occupation movements they will use it to build a base for a far-right advance in the 2012 elections. Despite its rhetoric then, there are very real political questions before the occupation and antiwar movements.

I have appreciated the antiwar work of the Portland International Socialist Organization (ISO) for some time, and I realize that ISO fills a gap which should be filled by a socialist organization more deeply rooted in the labor and people's movements, but the ISO went over the top yesterday in having two speakers on the rally platform and warning the crowd against the Democrats. This works very much against building a united front of all progressive forces, rebuilding the antiwar movement and building solidarity with the occupation movements. It shows a real weakness and a poverty of philosophy and understanding on the left: the problem is not "the Democrats" but the lack of unity among progressive forces behind a commonly shared fight-the-right program. The Working Families Party erred by not being present at the rally and putting forward an alternative agenda.

The Socialist Equality Party was present with a leaflet telling us all how to move forward and taking credit for "spearheading the fight for the independent industrial and political mobilization of the working class in a struggle against the two-party capitalist system." Shades of the 1970s when the organized left nearly perished under the weight of factionalism! We have said that struggle and resistance resolves all contradictions, but apparently this only holds true for people actually willing to listen and learn from the workers and the people. Enough said.

A leaflet from Workers Action gave commonsense demands that should be taken up: good jobs now, no cuts to social services, save social security and Medicare, healthcare for all, save public education, end the wars and pay for these policies by taxing the rich. Missing from the leaflet was any mention of equal rights for all or the special oppression of women, gays and national minorities or an invitation to take concrete action.

The Freedom Socialists also issued a leaflet. To their credit, much of this leaflet was about supporting the militant longshore workers in Longview, Washington. The problem with the leaflet--and this is a problem shared across the left--is that it is self-serving and substitutionist. Would it not have been better to have a leader of that struggle speak in her/his own words at the rally?

The Student Loan Justice Portland group did exactly the right thing by putting out a short leaflet on a key issue and inviting others to their October 17 rally at noon outside the Bankruptcy Court (1001 SW 5th Avenue at SW Salmon St.). The leaflet asks people to call Senators Merkley and Wyden and Representatives Blumenauer and Schrader to demand full discharge of all student loans in bankruptcy court. This is a winnable struggle and goes to heart of so many people's lives.

Portland Jobs With Justice also did the right thing by inviting the crowd to participate in the upcoming march from Portland to Vancouver for jobs. This focus is exactly what is needed now.