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"Don't
follow leaders. June 1st, 2001 By Joseph Gerson |
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I want to encourage people who will be traveling to Washington, D.C. for the June 10-12 demonstration and lobby days to take two questions with you: one for legislators and official "policy makers", and the other for ourselves. (Of course, these are not the only two questions we should be asking!)
Today's New York Times reports that Senator Carl Levin, who will soon be heading the Senate Armed Service Committee, wants to prevent early deployment of "missile defenses" in part because he doesn't want to ignite a second Cold War with the Russians and Chinese. BUT, he is clear in supporting "robust" funding of research & development for "missile defenses." And, while there is clarity about his opposition to "National" missile defenses, the report is silent about his approach to "Theater" missile defenses. I'm not rushing to judgment on this. We simply need to know. Then we come to the more
fundamental question: how do we defeat, stop, end, continued
"missile defense"/Star Wars research and development?.
Remember, more than Republicans are to blame for getting us to this very
dangerous point. A "Democratic" Administration and Congresses
funded We need to begin thinking, strategically and among ourselves, about how we can transform the discourse, de-legitimate "missile defense" Research and Development as well as deployment, and lead this or future Congresses or Administrations, to relegate the "missile defense"/star wars program to the dust bin of a nightmarish history. If we don't begin seriously asking this question of ourselves and "movement" leaders, we'll never get there. Three final notes: In addition to firmly believing that we won't be able to reduce, let along end, "missile defense"/star wars funding unless we build an educated and committed grassroots movement, I also believe that such a movement must be linked to people's felt needs - what we/they feel in our guts. In this regard Bush may have tactically, though not materially, helped us with his $1.35 trillion tax refund coup. As Republican strategist Grover Norquist has said, the tax cut ties the hands of the Democratic Senate and of future U.S. governments many years to come. "Nothing", he said, "that Daschle wants or Ted Kennedy wants is for free...We're going to spend the next two years talking about how the Democrats...want to spend your money." With a smaller government pie for guns and butter, star wars or housing, "missile defenses" or health care (or the environment, or...) the choices become more immediate, stark, compelling, and individually "felt.". Arm the heavens, seas and continents or care for the people. As we did in the 1980s, we're going to have to confront "the deadly connection" between U.S. nuclear warfighting policy and U.S. foreign military intervention, if we are to drive a legislative stake through the Star Wars Vampire's heart. The military's strongest rationale for TMD deployments is to protect our forward deployed troops and bases from enemy missiles, for example U.S. troops in Okinawa. (Remember that TMD technology apparently works far better than NMD technology, and - as the Chinese know - TMD are much closer to being credibly deployed) In addition to serving as a shield to reinforce U.S. nuclear swords, "missile defenses" are also designed to facilitate "conventional" U.S. foreign military interventions, and to reduce U.S. military death tolls in the midst of U.S. military aggressions. We do well to remember, as the Okinawans, so many others, and our own Declaration of Independence tell us, that these forward deployments are intolerable neo-colonial "abuses and usurpations" that must be ended. We don't need "missile defenses" to "save our soldiers." Bring them home. Finally, the "rogue" state rationales we can handle, but we should also prepare ourselves for arguments that TMD are necessary for Israel's security. The answer to which is: "End the occupation." With friendship and
humility, |