It's Good News From America
Hussein Al-Alak *, The London Progressive Journal
Whilst watching the coverage of the US elections, it has
been a breath of fresh air for many Iraqis, to receive the news that in America,
there will now be an alternative to the Democrat vs Republican race to the White
House and it’s an alternative which many Iraqis will be able to support on the
grounds of political agreement.
The breath of fresh air comes in the form of a newly-formed movement called the
Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), which is standing a slate of
candidates in the upcoming American elections, who are going to be campaigning
on a programme of radical issues which puts them in direct opposition to the
belligerent policies of George W Bush.
The socialist candidate running for President is a woman called Gloria La Riva,
who in her time as an activist has been involved with organising the US trade
union movement, took a leading role in the US campaign to free Nelson Mandela
during the 1980s and has also been heavily involved in anti-racism campaigns.
In the 1990-91 Gulf War, Gloria was also leading the anti-war movement against
the first US bombardment, which introduced the Sanctions regime, and her
activities helped secure the 200,000-strong presence on the San Francisco
anti-war march on January 19th 1991.
In response to the genocide which followed the first Gulf War, which saw an
estimated 1.5 million children under the age of five die in the silent Holocaust
of Sanctions, Gloria La Riva campaigned against the blockade and her film
"Genocide by Sanctions", went on to win her second prize for documentaries in
the 1998 San Luis Obispo Film Festival. La Riva is also a voluntary organizer
for the anti-war coalition ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and a
coordinator for the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five.
Having both travelled and written extensively on the Cuban revolution, Gloria La
Riva's role in the US workers' movement saw her address the million-person May
Day rallies in Havana, in the years 2000 and 2002. Immediately after Hurricane
Katrina, she led a solidarity delegation to New Orleans and has since shown the
survivors’ heroism through the documentary "Heroes Not Looters."
Another PSL candidate who is turning many heads has been Michael Prysner, a
soldier turned anti-war activist who is taking his experiences as part of the
illegal invasion to the US ballot box. Having graduated high school in 2001, in
2003 Michael Prysner found himself based in Iraq for over a year and, horrified
by what he saw happening, he decided to start informing the American public
about the devastation which the invasion of Iraq has caused.
On March 17th 2007, Prysner took part in the national anti-war march on the
Pentagon, which brought together tens of thousand of protesters. A few months
later in September, he was arrested in Washington as part of a contingent of
veterans who participated in a mass die-in.
Drawing on his experiences in Iraq to prove the criminality of the war, Prysner
has become a powerful commentator on Iraq and will be sending a clear message to
the American people, "Families in Iraq are not our enemies. The hungry and
impoverished workers in Iraq are the same as workers who struggle to survive in
the United States."
Speaking on the effects that the Iraq war has had on US soldiers, Mike recently
attacked the Bush administration for its failures over soldier suicide and Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder, and announced that like many others he too had
experienced the bureaucracy of the Veterans Administration (VA) system.
"I have walked into the mental health office and been pointed in a hundred
different directions, told to come back another time, and told to drive over an
hour to another VA office. After several months of frustration, I ended up with
a bag full of pills. This was the treatment I was offered."
In his article, "U.S. war machine is the real enemy, not Iraqis", the Iraq
Veteran informed his audience, that "Real liberation will come when we -
soldiers, workers, immigrants, students and families - no longer let the ruling
class divide and create barriers between the exploited in the United States and
the exploited abroad… Soldiers should refuse to fight and, instead, bring the
struggle home. Real liberation will come when we struggle together against our
common enemy, instead of being used against each other to profit the rich."
Apart from standing on a platform against the war in Iraq, the Party for
Socialism and Liberation are also raising the banner for change, by demanding
that there be decent jobs for all, with full "job training for youth and the
unemployed", "Free, high quality education from pre-school through to college"
and "Free, quality healthcare for all".
The decision to stand socialist candidates in the US elections has been met with
a lot of support among campaigners abroad, with the Iraq Solidarity Campaign
already pledging its support to the Party for Socialism and Liberation, having
already supported, along with the Iraqi Women's League; the US Million Worker
March back in 2005.
In their manifesto, "People Over Profit", the PSL proclaim that "Politicians and
corporate bosses have a message for working people: salute the flag, stop
thinking and send our loved ones to fight in imperialist wars. They proclaim we
"are one nation", when they want to drag workers into the next war of
aggression."
* Hussein Al-Alak is Chairman of the Iraq Solidarity Campaign.