Peace Archive - Tom Hayden

Tom Hayden on Radio Nation 2/19/03

A few weeks ago I said the peace movement was larger than the movement at a comparable time as the Vietnam war began. Revise that estimate.

The current peace movement is the largest in history. Period. Over ten million people demonstrated in mid-February in 600 cities around the world. The New York Times threw its customary caution to the winds, declaring that there may be two superpowers on the planet, the White House and world public opinion.

" . . .The willingness of France and Germany to balk at the American empire sofar is a great tribute to the power of people in the streets in those
countries"

lAnd this war hasn't even started. The cynics say the anti-Vietnam movement was big because of the draft and the fear of American casualties.

But here you have a larger movement already, a global movement, with no draft and no body bags. What will they think up next to deflate this movement? They've already started blaming the Europeans as if they were wimpy McGovern Democrats. It's very confusing.

Growing up with a Marine father, I heard that we fought World War 2 to end German militarism, Nazism, nationalism. Now the Bush Administration
complains that the Germans have become too pacifist, which I thought was the point! blossom.

Globalization apologists like Thomas Friedman are calling for the expulsion of France from the UN Security Council. The complaint is that they are unserious, stupid, insufferable, cheese-eating surrender monkeys. Okay, they like organic food, and their own movies, and they have a 35 hour workweek. That's why the White House and corporations are rubbing their hands over the new Europe to the east where labor is cheap and US military bases are welcomed.

The willingness of France and Germany to balk at the American empire so far is a great tribute to the power of people in the streets in those countries. Corporate media were clueless, but the resistance around the world went wild when the French foreign minister embraced the slogan of the anti-globalization movement to close his speech at the Security Council: France, he declared, "believes in our ability to build together a better world."

The smug dreams of empire are turning into a chapter in Barbara Tuchman's March to Folly. President Bush is home alone. His poll ratings on the war and the economy are dropping like smart bombs on his presidency. only 45 percent would vote for him if the election were held today, against 40 percent who would vote for an unnamed alternative, a nobody!

If Bush exposes American troops to chemical attack in the desert at a cost of $200 billion for a permanent imperial outpost, the peace movement will only grow. The stage is set for what was unthinkable six months ago, a serious presidential campaign in 2004. The nobodies are becoming a force to contend with.


	Tom Hayden on Radio Nation 2/19/03 A few weeks ago I said the peace movement was larger than the movement at a comparable time as the Vietnam war began. Revise that estimate. The current peace movement is the largest in history. Period. Over ten million people demonstrated in mid-February in 600 cities around the world. The New York Times threw its customary caution to the winds, declaring that there may be two superpowers on the planet, the White House and world public opinion. " . . .The willingness of France and Germany to balk at the American empire sofar is a great tribute to the power of people in the streets in those countries" lAnd this war hasn't even started. The cynics say the anti-Vietnam movement was big because of the draft and the fear of American casualties. But here you have a larger movement already, a global movement, with no draft and no body bags. What will they think up next to deflate this movement? They've already started blaming the Europeans as if they were wimpy McGovern Democrats. It's very confusing. Growing up with a Marine father, I heard that we fought World War 2 to end German militarism, Nazism, nationalism. Now the Bush Administration complains that the Germans have become too pacifist, which I thought was the point! blossom. Globalization apologists like Thomas Friedman are calling for the expulsion of France from the UN Security Council. The complaint is that they are unserious, stupid, insufferable, cheese-eating surrender monkeys. Okay, they like organic food, and their own movies, and they have a 35 hour workweek. That's why the White House and corporations are rubbing their hands over the new Europe to the east where labor is cheap and US military bases are welcomed. The willingness of France and Germany to balk at the American empire so far is a great tribute to the power of people in the streets in those countries. Corporate media were clueless, but the resistance around the world went wild when the French foreign minister embraced the slogan of the anti-globalization movement to close his speech at the Security Council: France, he declared, "believes in our ability to build together a better world." The smug dreams of empire are turning into a chapter in Barbara Tuchman's March to Folly. President Bush is home alone. His poll ratings on the war and the economy are dropping like smart bombs on his presidency. only 45 percent would vote for him if the election were held today, against 40 percent who would vote for an unnamed alternative, a nobody! If Bush exposes American troops to chemical attack in the desert at a cost of $200 billion for a permanent imperial outpost, the peace movement will only grow. The stage is set for what was unthinkable six months ago, a serious presidential campaign in 2004. The nobodies are becoming a force to contend with. << back
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