Eliot Weinberger: Lincoln Center

[This came flying into my inbox this morning -- see Weinberger's earlier commentary in the archives. Not quite sure if this is going to spark a flame war -- the kind of thing I don't want on Circulars -- but nonetheless, it pertains to the way poets are engaging in the anti-war effort and is thus important.]

Why is the "Poems Not Fit for the White House" event at Lincoln Center a benefit (with $100 orchestra seats) for Not In Our Name (NION)?

NION was founded a few months ago by leaders of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). The RCP is a nut-group that defends Pol Pot, the Shining Path in Peru, the Chinese occupation of Tibet and the massacre in Tiananmen Square. NION is their attempt-- as has been done in the past by various Lyndon LaRouche spinoffs-- to insert themselves into more mainstream opposition politics.

NION has been instrumental in organizing antiwar demonstrations, but otherwise only exists to propagate the NION statement and the "Pledge of Resistance," which is meant to be recited (at considerable length) in unison by large groups.

The NION statement has a few strange sentences, but generally confines itself to opinions held by most with antiwar and anti-Bush sentiments. It was signed by many honorable people, and was notable as the first widespread newspaper petition. Whether this petition should continue to be propagated is another question.

I do not share the opinion held by lefties such as Todd Gitlin, Michael Berube, and David Corn that the presence of NION, ANSWER, and other bizarre groups as organizing forces delegitimizes the antiwar movement (though it certainly provides plenty of ammo for the right). The organizational skills and dedication of their followers are often initially necessary, until they recede into the mosaic of hundreds of other grassroots organizations. They do not delegitimize the movement; what is disturbing is that the movement legitimizes them.

All forms of non-violent antiwar anti-Bush protest from all sectors, and all antiwar poetry events are, without question, worthwhile. Personally, I happen to believe that the hundreds of smaller antiwar poetry readings and the free circulation of poems and statements on the internet are more effective than an expensive and glitzy event at Lincoln Center.

But if this event is to be held, why should it benefit the perpetuation of a dubious fringe group and not Unicef or Oxfam or Doctors Without Borders or a hundred other organizations that are actually out there helping the victims of US policy?

Or if, as Michael Palmer has suggested, newspaper advertisements and humanitarian aid are separate issues or causes, why shouldn't the proceeds from the event go to advertisements of a statement written by the invited poets themselves? Why should they continue to allow Not In Our Name to speak in their name?

Posted by Brian Stefans at February 14, 2003 01:07 PM