Why labor got it right about the war

It was five years ago this month that South Central Federation of Labor delegates first voted against the war in Iraq. By the time the war started in March, 2003, dozens of state federations, locals, internationals and councils across the country had done the same.

But, while labor was voting against the war, Congress was voting for it: first to give George Bush a blank check to invade Iraq and then voting to continue funding.

This raises a very important question: Why did labor get it right while Congress got it so wrong?

The Democrats’ official alibi is that they were lied to by the President and the media failed to do a critical job in reporting the truth.

But, of course, the President and the corporate-owned media lied to us too, so it brings us back to the question: Why did we get it right while they got it wrong?

If you think back to that time just before the U.S. attacked Iraq, you’ll recall getting a dozen emails a week from anti-war sources, with articles from print and electronic media, explaining the great folly of going to war.

We knew what German intelligence was saying about “Curveball.” We knew the truth about the aluminum tubes and the mobile biological weapons labs. Somebody sent around the phony Nigerian documents, with the forgeries circled and explained. We knew that Saddam and Al-Qaeda were blood enemies. And, week after week, we listened to the weapons inspectors on Amy Goodman’s program tell us there were no WMDs to be found.

Sure, we also listened to Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield and Powell lie through their teeth. But we knew the difference between their lies and the truth. So, again, why did we figure it out but Congress didn’t?

You don’t have to be too cynical to realize that they did know all along. That the truth was out there for all to see, but that Congress chose to act on the lie instead. Because the lie allowed them an opportunity to grab Iraq’s vast nationalized oil reserves.

And only now—after it is apparent that the oil grab didn’t work, that the war is lost, that continued occupation of Iraq is ruining the U.S. military and economy and that voters are sour on the project—many in Congress want to distance themselves from their earlier decisions.

But, to do that they have to claim that they were duped, victims of a great lie and a lax media.

History shows that Congress and the Democrats, no less than the President and the Republicans, are willing to wield military might in order to secure resources and markets in the interest of U.S. imperialism. And, history shows that they are more than willing to act on obvious lies to go to war.

The difference between them and us comes down to class. The working class has no material interest in stealing resources from other countries or in securing foreign markets. We’re not going to share in the corporate profits. And, since it is our “blood and treasure” that they’re talking about spending on the war, we have a strong interest in avoiding imperialist adventures.

Congressional action on the Iraq war is another example of why the capitalist class and their representatives are unfit to govern…as if yet another example was necessary.

PS, to read a prophetic article about the coming war from the December 2002 Union Labor News, click here.

Those Busts on La Hacienda Picket Line

By now everybody knows that two picketers were busted at La Hacienda restaurant on September 15. It’s worth talking about what happened and what it means for building a more militant labor movement here in Madison.

Here’s what went down. We had been picketing all day. The boycott was working. Very few people went in the restaurant and we got a lot of support from passers-by. The armed private security guard hassled us some, but there were no incidents.

Then Patrick arrived about 2 p.m., from leafletting at another site. The rent-a-cop immediately got on the phone and soon the parking lot was full of Madison city police cars. The city cops gathered around as the private cop pointed and gestured toward the picket line. Two city cops broke from the huddle and came toward us.

“You, come here!” the tall one yelled, pointing at Patrick. Patrick walked up to the edge of the parking lot and told the cops that he was told he’d be arrested if he set foot across the line.

At that point the tall one went berserk. “Shut up and get your ass over here!” he shouted. He lunged and grabbed Patrick and two city cops shoved him over the nearest police car and handcuffed his hands behind his back. While getting roughed up, Patrick dropped his water bottle. The tall cop angrily kicked it across the parking lot.

The picketers were shocked but composed. We began chanting “Shame, shame” and “Madison is watching.” Those with cameras started taking pictures.

A few minutes later the cops grabbed another man who had been leafletting the back entrance. Both were cited for blocking sidewalks and released.

Now, you can learn what to expect from the police during a labor dispute from reading Fredrick Engels or, if you’re not the bookish type, by walking a few picket lines.

The rent-a-cop was obviously waiting for Patrick, who is perceived as the leader and instigator of the boycott. When Patrick arrived he called the city cops and told them who to arrest. The city cops had just arrived, so they hadn’t seen anything first hand. They just followed the hired cop’s instructions.

We here in everybody’s-liberal-and-middleclass Madison get lulled into thinking our cops are different from those vicious, club-wielding thugs we see in news clips from other cities or Third World countries. Our cops are polite. They hand out sports cards to the kids.

But, ask anyone who’s spent much time on a picket line in Madison and they’ll report the true nature of Madison’s Finest. At bottom, they’re like cops everywhere. They’re just doing their job. It just so happens that their job is to defend the interests of the employing class.

The chain of command is usually more obscured than it was in that parking lot at La Hacienda, where the employer hires a private cop, who tells the city cops what to do to the picketers. But we should have no illusions about how it works. And, if we intend to do any effective picketing, we should proceed accordingly.

One final note: Both men took their arrests with dignity, and the people on the picket line responded with courage and resolve. I’d walk a picket line with any of them.