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Letters to the editor

November 14, 2003 | Page 4

Standing together against this occupation

Dear Socialist Worker,
While travelling to the anti-occupation protest in Washington, D.C., October 25, I had an encounter that reaffirmed for me all the work that we have been doing in the campaign to end the occupation of Iraq. I was stopped by a man who admired my "U.S. out of Iraq" pin and inquired where he could get one.

I gave him my pin, and he told me that he was a soldier on leave from Baghdad--and that he could not put into words the horrors that he had experienced there. He then went on to tell me that he could also not express how grateful he was for the continued support of people in this and other countries working against the occupation.

He ended by saying that he would wear the pin with pride, and with a raised fist, wished me luck for the protest. The fact that a soldier on active duty felt strongly enough against his mission to openly wear a pin opposing it gave me confidence in the huge potential for this movement.

That solider physically feels and sees the horror of this occupation on the ground, and people in this country feel and see the effects throughout the economic and social sphere. It is when these two perspectives unite that real progress will be made to highlight and act upon the hypocrisy that upholds this illegal occupation.

This meeting between a Black male soldier and a white female college student showed how this issue can be transcendent of racial and social boundaries. We must stand together in solidarity against this imperialist and money-grubbing occupation.

Charlotte Miller, Burlington, Vt.

Kucinich shouldn't get our vote

Dear Socialist Worker,
In a recent issue (SW, October 24), Chuck Augello wrote in his letter to the editor that Dennis Kucinich deserves the support of progressives. We beg to differ.

Real change will not occur by giving our votes to a progressive Democrat like Dennis Kucinich. Rather, change occurs through active protests and grassroots organizing.

Republicans have been shown to give in to the demands of progressive as much as Democrats--when pressure is applied by a mass movement. That is why, as progressives and socialists, we must work towards building a mass movement for change rather than believing the empty promise that Democrats make us every election year: that they will instigate change for the public good.

Although Kucinich may support our progressive ideals, it is obvious that the Democratic platform for which Kucinich stands will diminish the conscious effort of the movement by channeling our votes away from a deserving third party.

Gimena Gordillo and Dan Rogers, Chicago

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