Hello from the Midwest USA

[ecologicalrevolutionary]

Hey everyone,

I have been lurking on this site for about a month now, and I have come to realize that this is such the thing for me: individuals civilly debating issues.

I am currently attending the University of Wisconsin - Madison, working toward a degree in Sociology and Environmental Studies.

I'm just here to learn and find out how I can take action locally around Madison and my hometown (ie: where I spend my summers while class isn't in session) located near Chicago.

I'll be willing to answer any questions, but first I have a question for you:

What are your thoughts on the troops? I assume most of you are not in favor of America's occupation of Iraq, but what are your thoughts on the volunteer military who are the occupiers? Are you like many people in this country who support the troops but are against the war or are you all against the war and everything that it stands for?

Thanks a bunch, and I'll be seeing you all around!

[Raúl Duke]

Welcome!!! :)


find out how I can take action locally around Madison and my hometown

I think there's a sticky thead here in Practice that helps you in getting active...

or maybe you could post something asking if there are any organization in those areas.


individuals civilly debating issues.


Sometimes its like that...but many times things have gotten rowdy.


What are your thoughts on the troops? I assume most of you are not in favor of America's occupation of Iraq, but what are your thoughts on the volunteer military who are the occupiers? Are you like many people in this country who support the troops but are against the war or are you all against the war and everything that it stands for?

People have different opinions about this..but:

In my opinion: I'm against it, against the war machine, etc. (not against the people in the army per se....but against the role of being a soldier, which are trained foremost to unquestionable obedience or orders. If they were ordered to shoot civilians, they might actually do it and later say "hey, I only do what I'm told" crap. I also heard that they just got a audioclip of the Kent state massacre from the 60s showing that the troops were ordering to fire. So that massacre likely wasn't just some mistake but a deliberate order and action.) SO I would fit in the last category.

[Tower of Bebel]

Welcome!

There never was a good reason to invade Iraq. It was corrupt! I don't have anything against soldiers (as I started a training course for the army reserve last year, but I had to quit for now because of my studies at university), but I do oppose to the war machine and to the army as a weapon of Sate.

[Rawthentic]

Welcome comrade, I am actually from Milwaukee, but I live in California.

I plan to go to UW Milwaukee in the fall of 2008.

[The Grey Blur]

Hi.

[ecologicalrevolutionary]

Originally posted by [email protected] 08, 2007 10:07 pm
Welcome comrade, I am actually from Milwaukee, but I live in California.

I plan to go to UW Milwaukee in the fall of 2008.
I had a buddy at MSOE, and when I would visit, we would go to fun parties at UWM.

So would you be a junior in high school then? Are there a lot of high school kids here?

[Rawthentic]

Yeah, I'm a junior.

And yes, there are very many high schoolers and youth here.

[YSR]

A few. Quite a few, actually. About half of the people here are students of some stripe (I think).

It's awesome that you're getting active in Madison. There seems to be a strong left tradition there but it also seems to get watered down in hippiedom. Then again, I live in the TC now (I'm from western WI) so I'm probably just saying that to assert how cool we are here.

As to the soldiers/war question: Soldiers are proletarians. I don't have a problem with them and understand the kind of propaganda that we USAians get convinces them that they're doing the right thing. That being said, I also support the Iraqi resistance (critically: terrorism in the name of anti-imperialism is bullshit) and they're efforts to kick the soldiers out. I think we're going to start seeing a lot more AWOL soldiers and soldiers fragging their officers, which I think is fucking fantastic. So I guess I think that all imperialist wars are wrong, coercive State or religious agents should be stopped, soldiers should mutiny or rebel.

[joser03]

Welcome.

I am against the Iraq War and US imperialism to dominate the region and ultimately the world through neocolonial tactics to use puppet regimes to support their attempts of global hegemony.

As for the troops, I cannot really say I am against them personally, but I do not support the things that they do. They are just pawns of this government. They are not educated in the sense that they do not think for themselves. They have been brainwashed; believing everything their leaders say and do and thinking that it is the right and only way. They do annoy me [not all] because they are unwilling to open their minds and their ears to a voice other than their commander-in-chief's. Hopefully in time they will come to realize that the position their leaders put them in is contradictory to the best interests of the nation.

[chitown_brotha]

welcome companero,glad to see another chicagoan here

[NorthStarRepublicML]

Hello from Minneapolis, Minnesota .....

i just signed up for this list myself, but am looking to talk with people all over the midwest ... check out our website : http://northstarrepublicml.googlepages.com/home

-R

[Delirium]

good to see more people from the midwest, from SW michigan here

welcome :) :star:

[Genosse Kotze]

I'm sorry, but I don't "support 'our' troops." As soon as we start seeing them defecting en mass and fragging their officers I don't see them doing anything worthy of support. However, more and more are going AWOL so maybe there's hope.

I've got two (former) freinds in Iraq, and their reasons for going are just sickening. One of them had absolutly no illusions about the war. He's the most viscious and hateful right-winger you could imagine but he said to me one time: "You know, when they're talking about spreading democracy, they're really talking about spreading capitalism." Well that seems pretty on the mark, but what he said next made me jimmy-tap him good. "But even if the troops are slaughtering Iraqi civilians, it's right becasue they're US soliders doing it!" I now want to see this kid's face on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer.

Now, his case is interesting because he went into the marines with this mentality, but I think all soliders later get brainwashed to think in this manor. Yes, lot's of them join because they've got no alternative, but also there's a lot of Christian fascists in there too, who are really beyond hope. We've got to get past this whole "support the troops" nonsense and take a lesson from our parents' generation and start calling them out as the murders they are.

....oh whoops, welcome to revleft.

[Aurora]

Solidarity companero! hope you stay active :)