Re: [MAPC-coord] First paragraph of CC mission / Logo

Re: [MAPC-coord] First paragraph of CC mission / Logo

born-digital

email

yes

no

2001-11-13

On Tue, 13 Nov 2001 07:28:23 -0600  "X" wrote:

> By using the phrase "sets the politics" we are telegraphing an
> identity to the community that is probably less than optimum for a
> broad based coalition.  This is kind of a late in the game
> suggestion, but I don't think we lose anything by discarding the
> somewhat lefty-cliched "sets the politics." 

this is an anti-war movement.  that's political.  i don't think anyone
would have a problem with the idea that a peace coalition would have
politics, and it's important to make it clear that the coalition as a
whole determines those politics, not the cc...

> I appreciate that it was the soicalist community that launched this
> coalition in the days following 9/11, but let's not lose sight yet
> of our desire for a broad appeal.

i have to respectfully disagree.  "politics" is not a word that's
reserved for the socialist community.  i fully appreciate and share
your stated desire to keep mapc accessible to the widest audience of
people opposed to the war.  for example, i don't think one of our
points of unity should read "smash u.s. imperialism".  however, the
idea that "politics" is somehow a dirty word that would turn people
off is almost insulting to the intellegence of the people coming
around this movement.  no one from the "socialist community" has lost
sight of a desire for broad appeal.  quite the contrary...

for someone who keeps raising objections about our choice of language
and not wanting to alienate people, your messages about the logo were
extremely alienating.  "septuagenarians" isn't a word in common use,
and the statement, "my best advice to the kids and the grown-ups who
want to hassle this is 'get a life'" is not exactly welcoming to
people who don't share your set of political beliefs.

first of all, refering to the members of the student/youth caucus as
"kids" is *EXACTLY* the kind of crap that turned them/us off from MAPC
in the first place.  yes, we're not over 40 yet, but that doesn't mean
we don't have intellengence, or that our concerns shouldn't be taken
seriously.  please show some respect for the people you're in
coalition with.  demands to "get a life" and "get with the program"
are ways to try to bully people into agreeing with you, not ways to
carry out a respectful discussion with someone you disagree with.

please be consistent with your attitudes towards alienting people and
maintaining broad appeal for MAPC (something we all agree with).  it
totally undercuts your position if you denounce the things you
disagree with ("international solidarity" and "sets the politics",
which are quite mild, in my opinion) as "lefty-cliched" and
"alienating", while you turn off wide layers of people with your own
statements.  for example, folks on the student/youth caucus list were
so insulted by your messages they requested that your address be
banned from posting to the list.  they are now doing damage control to
make sure people don't get the wrong idea about what mapc is about.
if you're only concerned about keeping the apolitical, over-50 crowd
around, and are willing to write off the entire student anti-war
movement, we've got a serious issue of strategy to discuss.

i hope we can all learn something from this episode, since we can't
afford to repeat these sorts of mistakes.  thanks for taking the time
to read this.


In solidarity,

X
International Socialist Organization    (www.socialistworker.org)
United Faculty and Academic Staff, AFT Local 223   (www.ufas.org)


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Tuesday, November 13, 2001 3:37 PM

Re: [MAPC-coord] First paragraph of CC mission / Logo