PART
II -- THE REAL STATE OF THE UNION
10 Good Things About a Bad Year
-- by Medea Benjamin
No two ways about it, 2003 was a demoralizing year for those of us working
for peace and justice. With George Bush in the White House, Arnold Schwarzenegger
in the California State House, and Paul Bremer ruling Iraq, it was a chore
just to get out of bed each morning. But get out of bed we did, and we spent
our days educating, strategizing, organizing and mobilizing. As we greet
the new year, let's remember and celebrate some of our hard-fought victories
in a time of adversity.
1. We organized the most massive, global protests against war the world has
ever seen. On February 15 alone, over 12 million people came out on the streets
in over 700 cities in 60 countries and on every continent. So impressive
was this outpouring of anti-war sentiment that the New York Times, not known
for hyperbole, claimed there were now two superpowers: the US and global
public opinion.
2. Over the last few months, mainstream Americans have been buying progressive
books by the millions. Authors such as Michael Moore, Al Franken, Molly Ivins,
Paul Krugman and David Corn have seen their books soar to the New York Times
bestsellers list. With humor and biting exposes of the Bush administration,
these authors helped our movement gain legions of new converts. No more preaching
to the choir this year!
3. When the World Trade Organization met in Cancun in September to promote
global rules that give even greater power to transnational corporations,
they were met by well coordinated opposition from countries in the global
south, hundreds of non-governmental organizations and thousands of activists.
When our movement's sophisticated inside-outside strategy forced the talks
to collapse, there was "gloom in the suites and dancing in the streets."
And as a counter to these corporate-dominated global institutions, the fair
trade movement had a stellar year.
4. The poorest country in South America, Bolivia, proved that people power
is alive and well. Sparked by the Bolivian president's plan to privatize
and export the nation's natural gas, an astounding grassroots movement of
peasants, miners, workers, and indigenous people poured into the streets
to demand his resignation. After five weeks of intense protests and a government
crackdown that left 70 dead, Sanchez de Lozada was forced to resign. Now
that's regime change!
5. The silver lining in the budget crisis affecting the states throughout
this nation is that from Louisiana to Texas to Michigan -- and even in Arnold
Schwarzenegger's California -- state governments are cutting prison budgets
by releasing non-violent drug offenders. The year has been marked by a steady
move toward treatment instead of incarceration and a greater understanding
that drug abuse should be handled in the doctors' office, not the prison
cell.
6. For so long, celebrities have put their careers above their beliefs. This
year witnessed a "coming out" of all types of celebrities on all manner of
progressive issues. Jay-Z and Mariah Carey railed
against the racist Rockefeller drug laws, Bono and Beyonce Knowles called
for the world to fight AIDS, and a host of celebs such as Sean Penn, Susan
Saradon and Laurence Fishbourne courageously took a stand against the invasion
of Iraq.
7. Progressives now have a powerful new tool for organizing: the Internet.
E-activism through venues such as MoveOn, Working Assets and Meetup.com have
allowed ordinary people to challenge big money and powerful institutions.
We raised millions of dollars to run ads, we've confronted corporate-dominated
institutions like the Federal Communications Commission, and e-activism has
allowed an anti-war candidate, Howard Dean, to become a frontrunner in the
2004 elections.
8. In an unprecedented outpouring of local opposition to the assault on our
civil liberties, over 200 cities, towns, counties and states across the country
have passed resolutions against the Patriot
Act. In fact, the outcry has been so profound that plans for a successor
act, dubbed Patriot Act II, that would further broaden federal investigatory
powers, have been scuttled.
9. While eclipsed by the war in Iraq, the corporate scandals that topped
the headlines in 2002 continued in 2003, with indefatigable New York State
Attorney-General Eliot Spitzer exposing the trading abuses in the mutual
funds industry. The Enron, WorldCom and accounting scandals
produced some positive legislation against corporate crime and forced institutional
investors like pension funds to become more active. And anti-corporate crusaders
joined with peace activists to expose the obscene war profiteering of Halliburton
and Bechtel, with more exposes to come in 2004!
10. Despite the conservative takeover of the courts, this year produced several
landmark rulings we can be proud of. The Supreme Court upheld affirmative
action, giving a sweeping victory to the University of Michigan and colleges
all over the country. It struck down sodomy laws criminalizing gay sex, affirming
the constitutional right to privacy. The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled
that gays should be able to marry. The Appeals Court ruled that the US military
could not detain
American citizen Jose Padilla as an "enemy combatant", and in an even more
significant decision, found that all 600 detainees at Guantanamo Bay should
be granted access to lawyers.
There are many more -- the immigrants' freedom march that crisscrossed the
nation to counter the anti-immigrant backlash, the amazing youth movement
that is bringing new culture and vibrancy to
organizing, the renewed women's activism through groups like Code Pink, the
awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to an Iranian woman, Shirin Ebadi. And
each one of us could add to the list.
So while we lament the present state of the world and the present occupant
in the White House, just remember that even in the gloomiest days of 2003,
we kept slugging away-and sometimes even winning. Now let's move on to score
the big victory in 2004 by sending George Bush back to Crawford.
(c) Copyright 2003 by TruthOut.org http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17471
ACTIONS
1. Consider organizing/participating in an anti-war/occupation event on March
20, 2004, the first anniversary of the recent unprovoked, illegal attack
against Iraq. On that date, such protests will be held all over the US, if
not the world. For more info, visit United for Peace and Justice http://www.unitedforpeace.org/
2. Share this Bulletin with friends, family, coworkers and your faith community.