Views in brief

A step forward for BDS

IN RESPONSE to "A national union backs BDS": Thanks for reporting on the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers' (UE) courageous endorsement of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS). Along with International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) members' refusal to handle Israeli Zim Line cargo and United Auto Workers Local 2865's BDS resolution, the UE resolution indeed shows that "labor's power will form a crucial component of the Palestinian BDS movement."

Please note, however, that the UE is not the first national U.S. union to endorse BDS; in fact, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) did so in 2010. Solidarity!
Michael Letwin, Labor for Palestine, New York City

Insults weaken our arguments

IN RESPONSE to "A fiendish stupidity": Elizabeth Schulte's excellent article exposing bigotry during the Republican "debate" clearly shows why we have to take GOP's reactionary politics seriously. However, her title and introduction both weaken this point. Calling Trump "stupid" does not elevate our debate. In numerous political conversations I had, I noticed that the word stupid is often used against opponents when one runs out of sound argumentation.

Trump has been filthy rich for several decades and is getting richer despite, as mentioned in the GOP "debate", having gone bankrupt several times. One can call Trump stupid all they want, but he is a successful businessman. He must know something about power, money and politics. Indeed, Trump's quote at the end of Schulte's article proves the latter. Yes, Trump is racist, sexist, anti-immigrants, etc. but he is not stupid.

Secondly, although it is not Schulte's aim, calling a right-wing politician stupid is equivalent to dismissing their politics based on his/her alleged mental capacities. Let us remember that this claim is often thrown against left-wingers like us.

Beyond this, there is a thin line from associating right-wing politics with stupidity to progressive (bourgeois) politics with intelligence. This dichotomy has the unfortunate effect of creating the misconception that all we need is smart politicians to represent us since intelligence is often (and wrongly) associated with benevolence and compassion. At first sight, this makes sense, but the truth is that politicians rule in the interest of capitalists, not ours, and therefore, whether the bunch of them is intelligent or stupid--which is never the case!--does not directly concern us.

To give an example, many anti-war activists labeled Bush Jr. stupid to point out he was unfit to be president. The insult became even more prevalent when the movement failed to make any significant impact. This rationale led them to think that Obama--who one can say was posturing himself as an intellectual--would understand the wrongness of Bush's war, end it and shut down Guantanamo among many other promised progressive actions.

SocialistWorker.org contributors should refrain from employing the word stupid.
Francois Laforge, Princeton, New Jersey

More disappointing Democrats?

IN RESPONSE to "Winning talk isn't winning action": Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writes that "The national Democratic Party realizes that it has a potential problem in Black-voter turnout because Barack Obama will not head the ticket in 2016."

That people thought electing Obama was going to make a difference demonstrated a central weakness of identity politics: Voting for identity instead of policy and integrity. Anyone paying attention could have seen Obama's devotion to the corporate agenda when, despite his promise to filibuster any bill that gave immunity to the telecom companies that helped George W. Bush spy without warrants, he voted for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act, which did just that.

Obama also refused to even propose universal single-payer health care and did promise to expand the war in Afghanistan (pretty much the only promise he kept). And Obama threw Rev. Jeremiah Wright under the bus rather than tell the truth--that Wright was correct when he called out the racism of the U.S.

I have seen the same thing about Hillary Clinton: Otherwise aware people are supporting her because she is a woman, while ignoring her war-mongering, corporate-supporting record.
Bill Michtom, Portland

For Michfest without the bigotry

IN RESPONSE to "Michfest is dying from bigotry": I just returned from the 40th annual--and last ever--Michfest. I, too, stopped attending in recent years because of their position on the trans issue, but I wanted to go to the last-ever festival and to attend the trans-inclusion workshop that was being held there.

I was impressed by the number of women who are now open to trans inclusion and who understand that to be against the civil rights and inclusion of the trans community is akin to being against the civil rights and inclusion of every other oppressed minority throughout history.

There are very few hard-core separatists remaining at the festival. In fact, rumors were flying that the festival would be rekindled in the near future--under different leadership and no doubt allowing for ALL women to be included. When that happens, I look forward to returning once again, home to the land.
Carrie Stone, Bretz, West Virginia

Defend Robert DeKelaita

I WOULD like to draw your attention to a case that involves Judge Robert Newberry, whom you have written about before. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are involved in a case against a well-known and respected Chicago Assyrian lawyer named Robert W. DeKelaita. They have so far spent millions in taxpayer money and more than a decade preparing this mind-boggling case.

It seems that Mr. DeKelaita ruffled some feathers in his pursuit of winning asylum for his persecuted Middle Eastern clients. (The absurdity has reached to such levels that one U.S. judge recently declared that there is no persecution of Christians in the Middle East.) Mr. DeKelaita, himself an Assyrian Christian born in Iraq, is well-versed in the history of the Assyrian people and fully understands what they have gone through and has merely pursued the best possible outcome for his beleaguered clients.

The Assyrian American community is deeply offended and shocked by the relentless pursuit of this frivolous case by the DOJ, DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. There seems to be hate against Chaldeans of Detroit by some judges, who have often done their utmost to deny asylum cases to the most vulnerable minority of Iraq and Syria.
Ramon Michael, from the Internet