CCDS Mobilizer
ONLINE NEWSLETTER
Vol 1, No. 1
Winter 2010
New CCDS Leadership Takes Stock of the Crisis
and Gets Itself Organized
by Carl Davidson and Tina Shannon
Some 25 members of the newly elected leaders of the Committees of
Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism held their first National
Coordinating Committee meeting it New York City over the Dec. 4-6, 2009
weekend. Charged with following through on the tasks set for CCDS at its 6th
Convention in San Francisco, along with the nuts and bolts work of getting
itself organized, the meeting was successful and even inspiring at
times--although much work remains to be done.
We could feel the new spirit as the arriving NCCers filled the conference
room of the union hall where the meeting was held. It was clear that the
Convention had done a good job in selecting a new leadership, while keeping
the strengths of the NCCs that had gone before. We were clearly a leadership
more closely aligned with a diverse left and progressive movements. We were
Black, white and Latino, men and women, workers and professionals-all deeply
positioned and integrated in the major struggles and political coalitions of
the day. There was good representation from the South and the West Coast,
from the Midwest and Pennsylvania, and, naturally, from Boston and New York
City. Most critically, the average age was considerably younger than at
previous leadership meetings, although there is still much room for
improvement here as well.
One new feature of this meeting was the conference-call speaker phone in the
middle of the room. Two members from the West Coast who couldn't make the
trip were able to listen and speak on all matters over the weekend. This
will be upgraded in the future to allow video-phone participation as well.
In fact, we agreed to have the next NCC meeting in April entirely by
conference call, in order to save on transportation cost, as well as
experiment with new communications technology.
Our first task, after a round of introductions, was to take up a discussion
of the 'Democracy Charter,' drafted by Jack O'Dell and discussed in San
Francisco. Jack O'Dell is one of the most important yet unsung heroes of the
American left. In a 50-year career, he organized labor unions, wrote the
first anti-Vietnam War editorial in a black periodical, and played critical
roles in numerous civil rights campaigns. He held a leadership position in
Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC),
Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition and many other key positions. He was
savagely Red-baited in many of these posts by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. He was
able to speak with the NCC via speakerphone, and take part in the
discussion. He was introduced by our former co-chair, Mark Solomon, and Karl
Kramer from the Northern California region.
The Democracy Charter, modeled after the South African Freedom Charter and
other declarations, is both a mile marker and an organizing principle. In a
series of key sections, it summarizes what consistent democracy would look
like in every aspect of modern society. By bringing the many struggles
together under the banner of expanding democracy from a formal to a
substantive level, the Charter asserts a strategic concept and opens a way
to organize the greater unity that is needed to unite and empower a
progressive majority. As O'Dell stated, "The Charter proposal is designed to
acknowledge and enhance the effective work that is already being done in
many areas of Movement activity. When harnessed to the grassroots organizing
tradition, the Democracy Charter can bring new energy that is
transformational in its possibilities for social change in our nation."
Randy Shannon and Zack Robinson reported on how useful the Charter was at
the recent Southern regional meeting held in Raleigh, NC. "The most
important thing I learned," said Shannon, "was from Jack's emphasis on using
it to build coalitions, and how coalition-building serves to build wider
movements." The NCC approved an ongoing project reaching out to other left
and progressives groups and to work with an already existing ad hoc national organizing
committee for the Democracy Charter that includes Jack O'Dell, Jim Campbell,
Bill Fletcher, Mark Solomon, Karl Kramer and others. This is seen as a work
in progress and the suggestion is to organize small group discussions around
the Charter in local areas, building toward the June 2010 USSF in Detroit."The Charter is not just a wish list," said Robinson, "but the key to our strategy." Tina Shannon from Western PA concluded, "this is something I can easily take to my people back home get a good discussion going on wider
plans."The proposal envisions holding 500 meetings around the country. Plans are
underway for Spanish translation. In further discussion on Saturday a committee was set up within CCDS to facilitate this work but it was also noted that all committees should apply this to their work.
Next the meeting turned into an educational for the NCC itself, something we
hope to continue regularly. The focus was on political economy, especially
financialization, the crisis and the role of finance capital. Randy Shannon
opened it up with a presentation of a Marxist approach to the crisis, and
for over an hour, nearly everyone spoke at one point or another. Mildred
Williamson from Chicago reminded us not to downplay the social economy and
service sectors: "These are going to be hard hit, and people are going to be
more and more politicized." Carl Davidson concluded on the note that
"there's no one crash course that's going to get us all up to speed on this.
Instead, look at it as life-long learning, and just keep plugging away at
it."
Political Reports
The discussion on political economy tuned naturally into the next agenda items--a report on the economic crisis by Carl Bloice and a report on the state of national politics by Carl Davidson. For this part of the agenda, local CCDS members and friends were encouraged to attend, and about a dozen did so. Bloice's report on the economy stressed the severity of ongoing and deepening unemployment. The jobs crisis was especially harsh in Black, Latino and other minority communities. "Young people in the Bay Area," he said, "have launched a number of innovative struggles for Green Jobs and other forms of public employment programs." He also presented and explained the new five-point jobs program recently launched by the AFL-CIO, NAACP, and other mass organizations: "These are the hopeful signs in an otherwise dismal picture."The NCC followed Bloice's report with an in-depth discussion on unemployment and how to deal with it. Randy Shannon put the question on the table as to how the spending for new job growth was to be paid for, that we had to combine job creation programs with direct taxes on speculative capital. Others stressed the immediate need to get behind proposals now in Congress supported by the trade unions and civil rights organizations while still others urged that immediate demands be combined with structural reforms for worker--ownership of factories. "People are disillusioned a lot with government," added Tina Shannon. "We also need projects that involve people directly, like the new worker-owned firms in Cleveland." In the end, a two page document combining all of these was agreed to, and will be released after some final editing.
Carl Davidson's political report stressed the importance of having a 'big picture' view of all trends on the political battlefields, both among the ruling elites and at the base-and the balance of forces among them. At the top, he focused on the neoKeynsians, the neoliberals and rightwing populism. The Obama administration was a combination of neoKeynesians and reform-minded neoliberals tied to finance capital. In the GOP were the unreconstructed neoliberals, other conservatives and rightwing populism. The left progressives had a foothold in the Congressional Progressive Caucus, while the socialist left was quite small and not in Congress, save for Bernie Sanders.
Davidson's main point was that finance capital was asserting itself across the board, gutting and transforming all decent and progressive proposals for dealing with the crisis. They were the predominant force in Congress, and any future positive changes were going to require fierce struggle and mobilization. A great danger to the progressive majority's earlier gains was the escalation of the Afghan war, which, as it continued, would destroy the Obama presidency and anything decent it had in mind. "We have a tough battle shaping up in the 2010 elections," he concluded. "We have to defeat Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats where we can, and elect progressive Democrats where we can. Even elect a few Greens in local areas where it makes sense. Most of all, we need to strengthen independent progressive organizations in our base communities, no matter whether our candidates win or lose."
"It's a ticklish moment," said Carl Bloice. "We certainly have to criticize Obama and oppose backward policies. But we have to defeat the cynicism arising among many activists at the same time." The ensuing discussion on electoral politics mainly brought out two points. One was the importance of working in coalition with close allies in the trade unions and the minority communities. The other was the 'inside-outside' tactics, especially allying electoral efforts and organization with broader social movements.
The political report continued Saturday morning with a discussion of building the progressive majority. This started with a presentation by Leslie Cagan, also a former CCDS co-chair.Leslie Cagan, This was an important discussion in the context of a broader discussion of building the progressive majority. Her topic was on everyone's mind--the current crisis in United for Peace and Justice and what we could do about it. Cagan explained that the funding of the organization had collapsed for a number of reasons, ranging from an attitude among some for 'giving Obama a chance' to the sheer weight of the economic crisis taking center stage, and pushing everything else to second or third place. This was not only a UFPJ problem, but one hurting peace organizations across the board. "Whatever the exact reason,"she said, 'it's clear we can't sustain a level of organization that we had before.' The choices seemed to be limited to closing it up entirely, or keeping UFPJ going as a volunteer-staffed network and information center, until conditions changed or something new developed. “What we can do now is unclear, but ...we need to keep pressure on Congress, support Barbara Lee’s bill, keep pressure on the Obama administration and keep doing what we are doing in base building”
In the discussion, many of us more closely involved with UFPJ stated that it's latest political orientation, which was to find ways to link the peace movement with the economic struggles, was not the problem. Nor was there any hesitation on UFPJ's part to oppose Obama on Afghanistan and Iraq. "It's just a lot of hard work," said Carl Davidson. "We have to rebuild the antiwar groups from the bottom up, with a new orientation to allies. It's not a matter on having better slogans and hoping unions will flock to us. Just the reverse. We have to link with them. Why wasn't there an antiwar contingent in the mass rally the unions called in Chicago against the banks? There's a key problem."
Renee Carter , co-chair from Virginia, continued the discussion of building the progressive majority. Carter offered up a broad overview of the progressive majority, with charts displaying its various components-the trade unions, the health care campaigns, movements based in communities of color, women's movements and the grassroots groupings that helped to elected Obama. "Working with all these forces in coalitions is critical for us," she explained, "and the Democracy Charter can play a very important role in bring them together."
Pat Fry , co-chair from New York, spoke on CCDS and the left. Her report was an outline of CCDS's components and its position in the left. She explained how the new energy coming off the San Francisco convention had helped to reinvigorate and expand various committees and chapters. "We have a new group coming together in Atlanta, new members across the South from our regional meetings there, new people from the West Coast joining our labor committee, and a new youth outreach committee getting off the ground." At the same time, we had to be realistic about our capabilities and serious about solving our problems. Most of our nearly 700 active members were well-situated in mass movements, but we were still quite small when measured against the scope and urgency of our tasks. We also had to pay a good deal of attention to finances and raising money. "As for left unity, we made a start with our panel at the convention, which included DSA, CPUSA, FRSO and Solidarity. But we need to follow up on this if we want it to go further."
Harry Targ led off the next session. It focused on the jobs issue, and continued the discussion from the previous day. He presented two proposed statements from the CCDS Labor Committee: a Jobs Crisis and What to Do About It" statement and a draft of a longer paper put together by Carl Davidson: "For a Green New Deal Industrial Policy" The first was a revision of the CCDS Jobs Agenda document written in 2008 and available on the CCDS web page. It was suggested for use as a front and back flyer for mass events, and a few relevant amendments were made about funding jobs programs through a financial transactions tax on finance capital, and including support for those never able to get jobs. The longer piece is to be rewritten and turned into a pamphlet for literature tables and study circles, and was referred for further discussion back to the Labor Committee.
Committee Reports:
The Peace and Solidarity Committee report was given by Duncan McFarland. A motion was unanimously adopted to support Gaza Freedom March in Egypt on December 31, 2009 and expressed strong support and gratitude for 2 members Ira Grupper and Natalie Williams who will represent CCDS on the trip. United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) as a part of a volunteer network that will help UFPJ coordinate information and resources. Specifically, CCDS will engage in a strategic planning discussion with UFPJ regarding the movement's actions in addressing issues emanating from the economic crisis. CCDS should also determine how it will give active support to the UFPJ. This will also involve rebuilding UFPJ on a local and national level with an emphasis on social justice issues.. CCDS should in addition solicit local support to assist UFPJ with its rebuilding effort.The Labor Committee report was given by Ira Grupper. Much of the work of the labor committee , Ira pointed out has been around the jobs proposal discussed earlier as well as follow up from the convention. Mildred Williamson asked the labor committee to follow-up on the youth discussions about worker centers that began at the 2009 CCDS Convention. Randy Shannon suggested that the labor committee and all other CCDS committees get involved in membership recruitment.
The Health Care Committee report was given by Reneé Carter. The CCDS talking points have been revised in light of the national health reform debate. The committee recommends that CCDS take a stand to support a single-payer system, but not oppose those in support of the public option. No action was taken by the body. Sandy Eaton suggested that work on the talking points continue. He also suggested that the committee work on a comprehensive educational brochure that includes CCDS health care reform discussions. Tina Shannon volunteered to help with the comprehensive brochure that will also include arguments from the position paper.
The Climate Change Committee report was given by Steve Willett. A written report was submitted by Walter Teague. Steve asked for more volunteers to serve on the committee.
The Socialist Education Project committee report was given by Carl Bloice. He reported on the following: The U.S. Social Forum will be in Detroit, MI, June 2010. Carl Davidson is working with the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network to co-sponsor at least two socialist education workshops. If CCDS decides to partner with other left organizations participating in the event, CCDS will have the opportunity to co-sponsor a socialist education track at the event with many workshops. Duncan reported that a 2nd Vietnam Tour is being planned for 2011.
The Youth Advisory Committee report was given by Nestor Castillo. Nestor referred to the youth resolution that was passed at the 2009 CCDS Convention. He reported that he will organize a meeting of the participants in the youth workshop at the convention following the NCC meeting.
At this point the NCC took a well-deserved break for the evening, and were directed to an excellent Schezwan Chinese restaurant in the Bowery area by Ted Reich and other New York comrades.
On Sunday morning, the NCC dealt with organizing and financial reports.
The Membership Report came from Steve Willett. He reported that while some new people have joined and other members have left by simply not paying up their dues. Thus membership remains about the same and the organization is not yet growing. One key problem: only about 50% of members have indicated an email address, and many of these are old.
Fundraising report. The committee is seeking financial institutions for automatic bank and credit card drafts for dues and sustainers. It's also working on a program for members and friends to make contributions through deferred giving, bequests, estate planning, and annuities. This is a promising project that will require sound preparation, planning and arguments that CCDS is an important and vital political project that should be supported. The project will be called "Your Legacy - Our Future." A pamphlet is being drafted and professionals are being consulted. Members throughout CCDS should think of people who might be asked to give through this program.
As for the National Office and Staffing, Carl Davidson had been contracted by the interim leadership group as National Field Organizer. He has traveled to different meetings and cities to present a public face for CCDS and help organize new chapters such as the one in Atlanta. He is planning to visit Boston in January and will attend the Left Forum in NYC in the Spring. Carl asked NCC members for suggestions on organizing opportunities. It was moved, seconded and unanimously agreed to continue Davidson in this paid position.
Janet Tucker had been contracted by interim leadership group as National Coordinator. Janet coordinates all the various committees of the organization, drafts NEC agendas, and communicates with members nationally. Her work will included coordination of areas of work and work with national office in New York City so the national coordinator and national office are in synch. It was moved, seconded and agreed unanimously to continue Tucker as national coordinator.
As for the National Executive Committee – a new NEC was selected consisting of the four co-chairs (Renee Carter, Carl Bloice, Carl Davidson, Pat Fry), the national coordinator (Janet Tucker). It was proposed that Steve Willett be named treasurer and also serve on the NEC. Also proposed were Duncan McFarland, Karl Kramer, Harry Targ, Anne Mitchell, Mildred Williamson and youth members Camille Williamson and Brandon Wallace. Ted Reich as NYC part time staff should be added as a nonvoting member. In discussion it was noted that the functioning of the NEC needs to be improved with more regular and timely communication with the NCC, including NEC minutes to the NCC. The proposal was moved, seconded and agreed unanimously. As for the National Administrative Committee - It was proposed that an administrative committee be constituted as the national co-chairs, the National Coordinator and Treasurer. The Administrative committee should prepare NEC agendas between and insure that the NEC meetings are well organized and productive with mainly deliberative issues, not administrative. A motion to constitute an Administrative Committee as proposed was made, seconded and unanimously adopted.
A discussion on publications was next in line. On the CCDS Mobilizer, we will produce an on-line edition that will be converted into a down loadable copy that can be printed for distribution. Janet Tucker work on the on-line publication and Ted Pearson will be the editor of the print version.
Next was Dialogue & Initiative -- Harry Targ presented the report. He said we need to do a better job of involving the entire editorial committee. In discussion is was suggested that the D&I committee may wish to write a proposal on behalf of the CoC Ed Fund for a grant to redesign the D&I to make more attractive and readable. It was also suggested that an efficient distribution in local areas be undertaken and solicit feedback from local areas on how bundles are used. Suggested were made to make the issue small in both print and electronic versions both.
Next, there was extensive discussion of CCDS moving partly into the world of web organizing with numerous ideas. Virtual Office: Carl Davidson has set it up and it is now up to NCC members to use it. Also, CCDS business cards can be ordered inexpensively at vistaprint.com. Would be good to have standard format. All NCC members should have a CCDS business card. There was some discussion on the list serve. Some people have been driven away by the content, and there have been racist comments made on it. Some alternatives were proposed, but were referred to the NEC. Finally, it was agreed to constitute a CCDS web and technology committee.
The next meeting of the NCC April 10 and 11th. It will be held by teleconference and online via webinar . It was suggested that the meeting will be held in 3 hour blocks.
If We Had A Bell: The Democracy Charter
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In his NCC presentation, O’Dell pointed out that these times of multiple crises are pregnant with hopes as well as fears. He characterized the 2008 elections as a “moment of promise,” and said that the strategic goal of the Democracy Charter is “to enable the coalition that achieved that moment to become a movement… to transform the electoral victory into a movement of direct action inseparable from electoral activity.”
Segmentation developed in the progressive movement under conditions when focused, issue-based activity yielded tangible results. In today’s conditions, however, a segmented structure can reduce the effectiveness of movement campaigns. For example, facing expansion of the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan, the peace movement would seem naturally allied with organizations seeking better funding for public schools. Yet fears that their constituency might not understand the classic guns-vs-butter problem can make leaders in the education movement shy of taking an anti-war stance. And some in the peace movement may not be sufficiently aware of how lack of real educational opportunity creates people who can be treated as cannon fodder by the military.
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The various activities of the progressive movement have always had something in common: the democratic aspirations of diverse constituencies. Yet it requires special conditions for that general commonality to take on an organized character greater than the temporary alliances of numerous electoral campaigns over the last few decades. In his historic speech at the 1963 march on Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of “the fierce urgency of now.” That is the urgency of today. Deep economic and environmental crises reach all aspects of human society and by so doing, provide the material connections and the psychological basis for organizing a realignment. The Democracy Charter is a touchstone.
By bringing the many struggles together under the banner of expanding democracy from a formal to a substantive level, the strategic concept of the Democracy Charter opens a way to organize the greater unity that is needed. O’Dell writes, “The Charter proposal is designed to acknowledge and enhance the effective work that is already being done in many areas of Movement activity. When harnessed to the grassroots organizing tradition, the Democracy Charter can bring new energy that is transformational in its possibilities for social change in our nation.”
President Roosevelt’s 1944 “Second Bill of Rights” is a key point of historical reference for O'Dell, as it is for Michael Moore in his documentary film “Capitalism: A Love Story.” O'Dell related Moore’s answer to the reporter who asked, in light of his blistering critique of capitalism, what it was that he wanted: a higher form of democracy.
At the end of World War II, labor unions led a massive mobilization in favor of Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights. But after his death, that promise was buried by the Cold War’s nuclear-armed military alliances and McCarthyist pressure toward political conformity. The Cold War stifled the hope for progress that was embodied in the diplomatic alliances and popular movements that brought victory against fascism in the 1940s.
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The NCC resolution cites views of several panelists at the July, 2009 symposium “Building the Progressive Majority” in San Francisco. Bill Fletcher, co-founder of the Center for Labor Renewal and the Black Radical Congress, characterized the Democracy Charter as a polemic against post-modernism, the notion that there is no over-arching way of linking struggles. He urged us to integrate the Democracy Charter into discussions with our constituencies, and to develop working people’s assemblies and working people’s agendas. Steve Williams, executive co-director of People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER), said that the Democracy Charter can build a core of people active in working class communities, in communities of color, and gay and lesbian communities who will build a progressive majority. Jackie Cabasso, executive director of the nuclear disarmament group Western States Legal Foundation, noted that the Democracy Charter contributes to a causal analysis of the levers of social change, and to a comprehensive vision that allows people to see the interconnectedness of issues in a way that undermines neo-liberalism, individualism and privatization.
The NCC resolution projects a role for the CCDS in launching the Democracy Charter into a national conversation in such a way that it can be owned and acted upon by a much broader array of social forces, building connections among the progressive majority. The resolution outlines a plan of work on two tracks. One track is based on winning endorsement by noted figures. The other, primary track is based on a step-by-step organizing process of outreach to local activists in labor, the human rights movements, peace and multi-issue formations. The grassroots organizing proceeds from developing a cadre of activists who can promote work around the Democracy Charter, offering the Democracy Charter to their local organizations for study. The goal is to organize across the country 500 educational meetings of 5 people each. Building on this framework, regional conferences can be held with the Democracy Charter as a central organizing document. This work would culminate in national meetings. For example, the Democracy Charter can be brought to the People's Assemblies being organized in preparation for the meeting of the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit, and then to the Detroit national meeting in June, 2010.
We have a bell to ring all over this land!
*A letter from the National Executive Committee of the Committees of Correspondence for
Democracy and Socialism, to UFPJ.
"Changing circumstances have greatly affected the national peace and justice movement: severe recession; advent of the Obama administration, selling of the Afghanistan/Pakistan escalation as the "good war." CCDS is a member of the large national coalition United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) which has experienced a major loss in funding. Some on the UFPJ national steering committee feel it is time for the organization to dissolve; CCDS supports those who want to continue." The following letter from CCDS to UFPJ calls for reorganizing UFPJ and rebuilding the peace movement.
Dear UFPJ National Steering Committee
Jan. 11, 2010
At its recent national coordinating committee meeting, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism passed a resolution supporting the continuation of UFPJ as a mostly volunteer organization relying on the member groups. The resolution also called for rebuilding the peace movement on the local and national levels emphasizing a stronger connection between the peace message and economic and social justice issues. We are especially concerned to see the peace movement organize antiwar contingents within the many mass rallies and demonstrations taking place around the economic crisis. As a UFPJ member group, CCDS has participated in most of the UFPJ program activities and we recently we made a donation to help retire the debt.
CCDS has a high regard for the work of UFPJ; the coalition's broad political approach has enabled it to attract a huge number of member groups ranging from mainstream progressive organizations to left and socialist groups. Successful work has ranged from large mass mobilizations to effective Congressional lobbying. All this has occurred on both a local and national level. UFPJ has also realized the need to focus on peace issues but at the same time connecting with other issues and constituencies. The UFPJ national steering committee has always had good diversity in its makeup.
At its fourth national assembly in Dec. 2008, UFPJ set out a course during the present period of major recession in the economy: reemphasize the importance of working with working class and people of color organizations. UFPJ cited Dr. Martin Luther King's famous speech making the connection of the "three evils" -- war, poverty and racism. While implementing this strategy may be difficult, there is no other national peace coalition in a position to make progress on this task, nor any other comparable emerging coalition to take up the work. UFPJ's dissolution would be a significant blow to building a left/center multi-issue peace movement on a national level and leave a big vacuum which others with narrower perspectives may seek to fill.
For these reasons, CCDS feels that every effort should be made to continue UFPJ on a more modest level. Needed in 2010 are national consultations, perhaps culminating at the US social forum in Detroit, to strategize about the future of the peace movement. CCDS would like to participate in this dialogue and support the reorganizing of UFPJ.
best regards,
National Executive Committee Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism
Following is an article written by CCDS member Ira Grupper who participated in the Gaza Freedom March that took place at the end of December and beginning of the new year. CCDS member Natalie Williams participated as well. CCDS endorsed the march.
The Gaza Freedom March
By Ira Grupper
Gaza is a that tiny slice of land sandwiched between Israel and Egypt. Its population of 1,500,000 Palestinians, perhaps the densest compacting of humans on earth, is in a very slow death spiral: Israel will not allow food convoys in. Nor can Palestinian women with pregnancy complications easily, if at all, get to hospitals outside Gaza. Some women have literally died near the border checkpoints because Israel would not let them through.
This is collective punishment, a crime against humanity, a crime recognized by the civilized world as barbaric, retributive.
And now Egypt, ruled by Hosni Mubarak’s iron hand all these years, and with that same hand stretched out for U.S. aid, is bowing to Israeli pressure, and maybe U.S. pressure, and walling in the Palestinians.
Hence, the Gaza Freedom March. One thousand four hundred people, hailing from forty three nations around the world, massed in late December in Cairo, Egypt. We attempted to enter Gaza, to march in solidarity with our walled-in Palestinian sisters and brothers.
How splendid were these internationalists, with so many different languages, different freedom songs. The Italians were singing the anti-fascist song of the 1930’s, Avanti Popolo, the Americans with songs from the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. The South Africans, from their labor federation COSATU, came with a plan of action for Gaza based on their experience fighting apartheid in their homeland, now a free country.
We were young. We were old. We included Muslims, Christians, Jews, freethinkers. Our skins were light; our skins were dark. We embraced 85 year old Hedy Epstein, a Jewish survivor of Adolph Hitler’s Holocaust, where her family perished, saying to Israel: “not in my name.”
We spoke with a Scottish brogue, a French lilt, a Norwegian pitch. We were multi-national, international.
Our goal was to enter Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians would be waiting to march with us in a unified call for justice from all over the world: let my people live. Simultaneously, peace forces within Israel, Palestinian and Jewish, would march to the Israeli border with Gaza (Erez checkpoint), demanding freedom for the Palestinians in Gaza.
And there were the Egyptian national security police, with hard hats and hard-plastic visors, with large shields, with guns, with truncheons. And with a phalanx of plainclothes guardians of the law.
The Egyptian officials, it seemed, wanted no international incidents, no mass beatings, jailings, or worse. Still, there were a few beatings, a number of peaceful protesters roughed-up by the police.
The main leadership of our gathering, the U.S. peace group Code Pink, met with the United Nations representatives, but they were unable to influence the Egyptian government, it seemed. Meetings with officials at the U.S. embassy went nowhere. Ironically, the French government, hardly known for its progressivism nowadays, supported the French Gaza Freedom Marchers, or so it seemed.
President Mubarak’s wife was different from her husband. She negotiated a compromise, where one hundred , from among our world assembly of 1,400, would be allowed to travel to Gaza. There was mixed reaction to this proposal—it was finally rejected by many leaders in Gaza: all or nothing. Sixty of our number, including many Gazans who had not been home in years, did manage to get into Gaza.
Your columnist participated in the U.N. demonstration. Also, at a massive protest in the street, near the Egyptian Museum, with its world-renowned mummy collection. We blocked a main thoroughfare, and traffic was snarled. The Egyptian national security police pushed us back, and we were surrounded by them on three sides, and a wall behind us.
We learned that the morning television talk shows in Cairo, much like their U.S. counterparts—with mostly ads for shampoo, happy talk, inconsequential banter and fluff—discussed the Gaza Freedom March in depth. Coverage was good from many parts of the world. The U.S. press seemed less receptive.
The truth about Gaza, actually, has been known to the world for a long time.