PGA Action at WTO Seattle - http://members.aol.com/mwmorrill/pga.htm

(With no apologies to McDonald's-they rip us off all the time)
Did somebody say disinformation?

The current tempest in a teapot over Che's accusations get me angry.  Not because the accusations are true-they aren't.  What gets me angry is our constant willingness to see our friends and allies as the enemy.  Instead of focusing on the people and institutions who are threatening our health, our democracy, our lives, we beat each other up in a more radical than thou sense of superiority.  We waste precious time and energy on fighting each other's not-quite-orthodox views.  And isn't that just what they want?

I have recently been the subject of an unwarranted attack which I had to spend time rebutting.  The timing of that attack and Che's makes me wonder if this is just coincidence.  In both cases, we were trying to find financial support for the caravan.  The attack on me came when we were trying to get some funding from Europe.  Right after our email appeal for caravan funding, questions were raised about PGA, me and my organization.  Enough questions were raised that some donors were hesitant, and other may not have contributed.  The result was we almost cancelled the caravan.  We are now at another critical juncture for the success of the caravan.  I think it is not coincidence that there is another attempt to break solidarity and raise questions about who should be working with whom.

I think we should be a little smarter the next time these things come up.  If accusations are made, we should check into:

1)  Who is making them?  In this case, an icon of the left was appropriated to give this person some validity.  Does anyone out there know who this Che is?  If the accusations are not coming from someone we know and trust we should be very skeptical.  My guess is that Che read our emails, learned our lingo and our problems, and decided to drive a wedge into the fissures in our movement.

2)  Do they have any proof?  I didn't keep the original from Che, but I think he started out by saying something like "I've heard that the caravan is being sabotaged..."  No documentation, no way to verify.  Just rumors.  It also included ad hominem attacks on people and institutions, designed to make us take sides.  Do you like or dislike the AFL-CIO?  Mike Dolan?

By the way, enough of the attacks on Dolan.  We may disagree on tactics and strategy but he is not the Devil incarnate.  (No, I can't explain the horns and tail.)

3)  What do the parties involved have to say?  In this case, I suppose I should have responded right away, but I thought it was silly drivel, laughed with my coworker about it and forgot about it.  Let me state my response to the accusations (as best as I can remember them).

To my knowledge, no one from our side, reformist or rejectionist, is trying to sabotage the caravan.  We have had problems, but they are not coming from people whom I consider allies and friends.  We still need some community hosts (e.g., St. Louis and Oklahoma City).  We still need a bus or vans.  We are still in need of significant money.  Any help you can provide to any of these problems would be appreciated, by the way.  We are also concerned about visas.  But none of these problems are due to any collusion by the "reformists."  (If anyone has any solid information that there is a plot to destroy the caravan, let me know.)

The attacks we are receiving tell me that we're scaring some people.  They know that if the people in the U.S. join the peoples' movements who are already active in the struggle, their plans for corporate domination will fail.  They are going to do everything they can to divide us, destroy our credibility and if all else fails, eliminate us.

Please, let us not fall into their traps.  Let's work together when we can, work in parallel when we must, but never work against each other when our goal is the elimination of the WTO and its corporate benefactors.

Michael Morrill
1-610-478-7888

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