And if it ma difficult tos into battle a Ill like it even
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wing of the movement.
Today, Saddam Hussein, the right-wing dictator of Iraq, previously armed and financed by U.S. imperialism, and a former CIA-backed torturer, inspires no sympathy, nor is he identified with the revolutionary struggle of the Arab masses by antiwar activists of any political persuasion.
The most conscious antiwar fighters, however, make no mistake of confusing our opinions of Saddam Hussein with any justification for U.S. military aggression in the Middle East. Neither should abhorrence for Hussein weaken the support or identification of conscious anti-imperialists with the desire for self-determination of the Arab and Palestinian peoples.
Another way of looking at this question of "who is the enemy?" brings out a similarity between government propaganda now and the propaganda of the 1960s.
Although American jingosim and national chauvinism were considerably weakened with the success of the Chinese Revolution and rise of anti-colonial revolutions following World War II, as well as the Civil Rights and Black Power movements in the United States, this didn't stop the. rulers from giving the Vietnam War a racist undertone.
We should not underestimate the potential impact of attempts by the U.S. government to stir up anti-Arab racism (and the role of the Zionists in promoting racism as well). But we can acknowledge that this factor is not as useful a tool for the capitalists as it has been in the past.
Mass support exists in this country for Black South Africa and for the poor peoples of Central America. These factors affect the racist arguments. I can well envision a repeat of the Vietnam experience of AfricanAmericans in demonstrations carrying placards and banners reading "No Viet Cong ever called me nigger," coming back to haunt current national chauvinists.
GIs not immune to antiwar ideas One factor affecting mass consciousness on the war issue in terms of the Vietnam Syndrome is the draft and the fear of its reinstatement. Although many of the soldiers now in the Middle East are in the military by choice, many are there because of the phenomenon called the "economic draft." Young people enlist in the armed forces due to the lack of decent jobs or job training in the civilian sector.
This, combined with continued discrimination and institutionalized racism, causes disproportionate numbers of Black and Latino youth to sign up in the armed forces in the expectation of getting training and entry into decent jobs afterwards. The presence of so many numbers of oppressed national minorities in the military is not a good omen from the U.S. rulers' point of view. It will be