Whereas I found myself in agreement with a lot of the signs at Hands Off!, on April 5, most especially "Hands Off Gaza" and "Hands Off Yemen", I note that neither of these current bombing targets were among those officially listed on the Hands Off! poster itself, along with libraries, social security, other safety net institutions. Along with NATO.
Yeah, NATO is listed first in Wikipedia, regarding the Hands Off! agenda:
The protests were in response to what the organisers saw as the administration's overreach on many issues: NATO; schools; libraries; courts; veteran services; fair elections; transgender rights; Social Security; Medicare; Medicaid; the federal workforce; abortion rights; and many others.
How'd that happen? It'd seem pretty incongruous to an old timey anti-war activist, to see NATO, a military socialist club, really into money making, listed right up there with Social Security and Medicare.
Since Eisenhower, we've been thinking the jobs corps and charity programs administered from the Pentagon, as in competition with ordinary civilian public services. And anyway weren't those folks supposed to protect and uphold the Constitution in return for that budget? Did they? I'm afraid by now, it's way too late.
As a courtesy to fellow WILPFers, mom's organization, and by extension to Code Pink (some AFSCers too), I relayed the necessary bonafides, while circling my Venn Diagram overlap when it comes to what I actually do support, for example abortion rights (by free choice, after soul searching and consideration) and transgender rights (the right to change gender, or at least make the attempt).
I wanted other lefties to know that I'm tracking Medea Benjamin's position, although my own wakeup call came from Garland Nixon (meaning from his YouTube channel).
As I wrote to my inner circle:
Conclusion: Whereas I overlap with Hands Off! on many fronts, in fighting Trump ("resonated with most of the signage"), I think Carol, a seasoned activist, would have picked up on exactly what I picked up on: the NATO affiliation. I in no way regret my participation and would do it again with gusto. But I don't mind making my own platform (Pirate Party) explicitly clear in the wake of such meetups. I don't want to be tainted / associated with every aspect of the DNC's propaganda. I'm free to pick and choose.
