Re: Give me a "B"--give me a "U" --- give me an "L" ---give me a

Dear WSN and Alan
Does not Alan Spector's post suggest that Wallerstein was correct in his
prediction that France's decision - as well as Germany's - will make the
difference?  I would say yes and no.  Wallerstein was correct in one sense - it
does appear that the French and German intransigency in the face of US despotism
was adequate to trigger more state-level support from Russia and now from Japan
as well.  But not so correct in two senses, firstly in that the ultimate arbiter
in these matters is indeed the roving restless masses of the globe who are
turning everything upside down.  Let us not forget - and Alan Spector was
probably one of the first to post on WSN that more than 100,000 demonstrators
marched in Washington DC on 20th January to protest against the war on Iraq -
that the multiple and concerted energies of the multitudes are decisive. Second,
it is the multitudes in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan - and they are the subjects
and the objects at the same time - and their unruliness and resistance of
different varieties - to globalization and militarization as well as fascist and
terrorist state-directed violence -  sustained  by the experience of violations
of  all imaginable thresholds, that enables the forging of connections with
other multitudes.  I think it is important to stay connected with these
struggles and to express our solidarities with the unimaginable suffering
inflicted on people in Palestine. It is equally important to express solidarity
with the struggles of Iraqi people for a life other than the singular experience
of daily bombardments of that space that once was the seat of one of the most
ancient of all civilizations.

The multitudes make their history but always under given circumstances, no
doubt,  but they also in and through their actions produce the difference that
transforms the givenness of these circumstances.  There is going to be a huge
demonstration in NY - that even the NYT has estimated as numbering in the range
of 100,000!  Many special precautions by the mobile state apparatus are also
being taken.  None of that appears to deter the resolve of the multitudes to
reclaim the streets and to declare that at stake is the struggle for democracy.
Who makes decisions?  Who decides that a command economy ought to be in place?
What can transform a command economy - and it is indeed a command economy of a
special type in place in the US -  into a democratic space?  More and more,
thousands of demonstrative repetitions of the Washington kind, it is these
repetitions and their sustained character that can ensure a small chance of
gaining different summits.  Do we not need to remember that the price of
democracy is eternal vigilance, and that it is in this exercise of vigilance and
principled opposition to violence and plunder of the South, lies the capacity
for freedom in the North?  All the major theaters of war in and after the second
half of the 20th C. were waged in the South.  Large spaces there, especially in
Africa,  have been transformed into 'outcast regions' abandoned by capital and
taken over by warlords thanks to the bizarre business of buying and selling
means of violence .  It should not continue to be that way in the 21st century.
This is the realm of the possible that Wallerstein sees in the works of
Prigogine, and a special time when choices do matter and make all the
difference.  Hope to see you all in the streets!  Ganesh.

Alan Spector wrote:

> Let's see now, the conservative government in France, the Belgian
> government, the German government, the majority in Britain, the majority in
> Italy, the majority in Spain (despite their governments' support for a US
> war against Iraq), and of course the Russian government and no doubt the
> majority of Russian people. and now Japan..........so this is the "old
> Europe and friends" that doesn't account for much.....hardly any people in
> those countries........but at least Bush has the support of Bulgaria!!!!
> Let's hear it for the "New Europe!!"
>
> (P.S.--Nothing in the note should in the slightest be construed as support
> or enthusiasm on my part for any of those governments. Just a bit of
> information on good old "inter-imperialist rivalry" as Wally used to call
> it......)
>
> ==========================================================
> From Japan Times newspaper:
> http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20030211a1.htm
>
> 79% in Japan oppose U.S. offensive in Iraq: survey
>
> Nearly 79 percent of those who responded to a recent Kyodo News phone survey
> said they oppose a U.S.-led military attack on Iraq, the news agency said
> Monday.
> Some 78.7 percent of respondents to the weekend survey voiced opposition
> toward an attack, with just 15.5 percent expressing support.
> Some 48.5 percent of respondents said that the Japanese government should
> not support a military strike, an increase of 9.7 percentage points from a
> similar survey conducted in January.