Todd Chretian--How Lesser Evilism Harms the Antiwar Movement

Tweet "The Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) and the leadership of the United for Peace and Justice antiwar coalition represent these ideas.

"One of the PDA's main activities this fall is Camp Democracy, a two-week-long event in Washington, D.C., which was billed as a protest of the war featuring prominent liberal Democrats. Yet while PDA politicians such as Reps. Lynne Woolsey, Dennis Kucinich and Barbara Lee can sound very antiwar sometimes, when push came to shove, all either voted for or abstained on the House resolution cheering on Israel's assault on Lebanon.

"Moreover, they agree with the more conservative Democrats that one of the big problems with the war in Iraq is that it is an "ineffective way" to fight the "war on terror." As Woolsey put it at Camp Democracy's opening day, the war in Iraq has made "the world a more dangerous place and increase[d] the terrorist threat... [It has] created more jihadists and inspire[d] more hatred of America among Muslim extremists..."

"Emphasizing the "terrorist threat" and "Muslim extremists" is not exactly a principled basis on which to organize an antiwar movement.

"This only goes to show how little difference there is between the so-called "progressive" wing of the Democratic Party and the corporate powerbrokers who run it.

"In 2004, Dennis Kucinich campaigned in the presidential primary for months denouncing John Kerry's support for the invasion of Iraq. Then, at the Democrats' convention, he disciplined his supporters to shut up and get in line behind John "I'll send more troops to Iraq" Kerry.

"The PDA politicians put their loyalty to the Democratic Party above the interests of the movement. They aren't part of the process of building an antiwar movement that puts ending the war as its primary goal, but are an obstacle to it.

"The longer it takes our movement to reject all versions of lesser evilism, the longer it will take to build a movement powerful enough to win peace and social justice.