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Recent
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June
27, 2003
Jason
Leopold
CIA: Seven Months Prior to 9/11 Iraq
Posed No Threat to US
David
Lindorff
The Catch and Release of "Comical
Ali"
Ray McGovern
Cheney, Forgery and the CIA
June
26, 2003
Sen.
Robert Byrd
The Road of Cover-Up is a Road to Ruin
Jason
Leopold
Wolfowitz Instructed the CIA to Investigate
Hans Blix
Paul
de Rooij
Ambient Death in Palestine
Chris Floyd
Mass Graves and Burned Meat in Bush's New Iraq
Elaine
Cassel
Wolfowitz as Lord High Executioner
CounterPunch
Wire
Musicians Unite Against Sweatshops
Sheldon
Hull
Squatting in Mansions
Ben Tripp
A Guide to Hating Almost Anyone
Uri
Avnery
The Best Show in Town
Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars Web Log 6/25
Website
of the Day
Ordinary Vistas:
The Photographs of Kurt Nimmo
June
25, 2003
Bruce
Jackson
Buffalo Cops Wage War on Pedal Pushers
Mickey
Z.
The New Dark Ages
David Lindorff
Indonesia's War on Journalists
Dan
Bacher
Butterflies and Farmworkers Confront USDA and Riot Cops
Adam Federman
"Success is Not the Issue Here"
Elaine
Cassel
"Ain't No Justice": Fed Judge Quits, Assails Sentencing
Guidelines
Bill Kauffman
My America vs. the Empire
Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars Web Log 6/25
Website
of the Day
You Are Being Watched:
Elevator Moods
June
24, 2003
Elaine
Cassel
Supreme Indemnity
Holocaust Denial at the High Court
Roya
Monajem
A Message from Tehran: Is It Worth
It to Risk One's Life?
John
Chuckman
The Real Clash of Civilizations
David Lindorff
WMD Damage Control at the Times
Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars Web Log 6/24
June
23, 2003
Marc
Pritzke
Washington Lied: an Interview with
Ray McGovern
Conn
Hallinan
The Consistency of Sharon
Wayne Madsen
Commercials, Disney & Amistad
Edward
Said
The Meaning of Rachel Corrie
Steve Perry
Bush's Wars Web Log 6/23
June
21 / 22, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
My Life as a Rabbi
William
A. Cook
The Scourge of Hopelessness
Standard
Schaefer
The Wages of Terror: an Interview with R.T. Naylor
Ron Jacobs
US Prisons as Strategic Hamlets
Harry
Browne
The Pitstop Ploughshares
Lawrence
Magnuson
WMD: The Most Dangerous Game
Harold
Gould
Saddam and the WMD Mystery
David Krieger
10 Reasons to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Avia
Pasternak
The Unholy Alliance in the Occupied Territories
CounterPunch
Summer Reading:
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Todd Chretien
Return to Sender: Todd Gitlin, the Duke of Condescension
Maria
Tomchick
Danny Goldberg's Imaginary Kids
Adam Engel
The Fat Man in Little Boy
Poets'
Basement
Guthrie, Albert & Hamod
June 20, 2003
Walter
Brasch
Down on Our Knees
Robert
Meeropol
The Son of the Rosenbergs on His Parents Death and Bush's America
Russell
Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
Grannies and Baby Bells
Norman
Madarasz
Pierre Bourgault: the Life of a
Quebec Radical
Gary
Leupp
Bush on "Revisionist Historians"
Steve
Perry
Bush's Lies
Marathon: the Finale
Hot Stories
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
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Cindy
Corrie
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I Can't Hear From
Elaine
Cassel
Civil Liberties
Watch
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
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June
28, 2003
From the Polls or
the Populace
Democracy's
Future
By
LAURA CARLSEN
Three years ago Mexico's one-party system was
finally cracked open by the election of Vicente Fox. Since then
Mexico has rushed from euphoria to apathy in record time. The
change from over seventy years of Institutional Revolutionary
Party (PRI) rule to a presidency led by a member of the National
Action party (PAN) was heralded as the revitalization of the
political party system and of government itself. Many leaders
of grassroots organizations and citizen movements looked forward
to a new era of participation, openness, and transition. Now
the speed with which those hopes were dashed is commensurate
to the snail's pace of real change.
Latin American countries have long been
encouraged to emulate U.S. representative democracy, channeling
ebullient social movements into party-building and electoral
processes. Since the 70s, most opposition movements have taken
the plunge into party politics--with varying degrees of success.
Now, throughout the hemisphere, the relationship
between grassroots mobilization and electoral participation has
come under the lens of political analysts and activists alike.
In Brazil, a government born out of an opposition movement walks
a tightrope between its grassroots constituency and its obligations
to maintain stability and appease the international finance system.
In Bolivia, coca-leader Evo Morales' close bid for the presidency
has strengthened the resolve of the movement to continue participating
in local and national elections.
On the other hand, the members of the
powerful Ecuadorian social movement that brought Lucio Gutierrez
to power--led by the CONAIE--have called the president to task
for what they consider a betrayal of the popular mandate and
have begun to question their participation in party politics
and government. Mexico appears to have been so successful in
creating a <U.S.-style> tweedle-dee, tweedle-dum party
system that the electorate has lost interest in the multimillion-dollar
midterm campaigns. A recent study by the Federal Electoral Institute
concludes that recent high abstention rates reflect discontent
with political parties and a sense that, according to a quote
from a citizen survey, "the vote doesn't contribute at all
to changing things."
U.S. society is also reevaluating the
role of elections in democracy, but in strangely contradictory
ways. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) recently launched
an attack on nongovernmental organizations, warning of the "growing
power of the unelected few." By attacking citizen groups
that seek to inform policymaking as "unelected," the
implicit assertion is that voting is no longer a form of democratic
participation, but the sole legitimate exercise of democracy.
The second implication--that NGOs have no valid role to play
in policymaking or governance--is, as many have pointed out,
ironic since the AEI is an NGO and plays an unprecedented role
within the Bush administration. As if that weren't enough, the
Bush administration itself holds office in violation of the popular
vote that the AEI now claims is the be-all and end-all of political
action.
While criticizing these views, progressive
organizations have also begun to look seriously at returning
to the electoral arena. This week, <MoveOn.org--the> million-and-a-half
member internet group that catalyzed anti-war actions across
the country--is sponsoring a political primary, a year and a
half before the presidential elections. Other grassroots organizations
that have avoided electoral politics like the plague are suddenly
talking about participating due to what they perceive as the
urgency of unseating the conservative coup. This infusion of
activism in electoral politics could reduce the traditionally
high abstention rates in U.S. elections, which in itself would
be a triumph for the democratic system. What remains to be seen
is whether the doddering Democratic Party will respond to pressure
from a revitalized base or continue to cater to entrenched interest
groups.
What all these experiences go to show
is that in equations for social change, going to the polls is
just one variable. Real democracy depends on a keen interplay
between electoral participation and grassroots movements. High
abstention in Mexico's July 6th elections would be a wake-up
call not only for that country's major political parties, but
also for parties throughout the hemisphere. If political parties--in
the United States and Latin America--insist on distilling complex
demands for change into a media-centered battle for the vote,
they may soon be writing their own epitaphs.
Laura Carlsen
directs the Americas
Program of the Interhemispheric Resource Center. She can
be contacted at mailto:laura@irc-online.org.
Weekend
Edition Features
Alexander
Cockburn
My Life as a Rabbi
William
A. Cook
The Scourge of Hopelessness
Standard
Schaefer
The Wages of Terror: an Interview with R.T. Naylor
Ron Jacobs
US Prisons as Strategic Hamlets
Harry
Browne
The Pitstop Ploughshares
Lawrence
Magnuson
WMD: The Most Dangerous Game
Harold
Gould
Saddam and the WMD Mystery
David Krieger
10 Reasons to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Avia
Pasternak
The Unholy Alliance in the Occupied Territories
CounterPunch
Summer Reading:
Our Favorite Novels
Todd Chretien
Return to Sender: Todd Gitlin, the Duke of Condescension
Maria
Tomchick
Danny Goldberg's Imaginary Kids
Adam Engel
The Fat Man in Little Boy
Poets'
Basement
Guthrie, Albert & Hamod
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