There's Force and There's Resistance

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/goldsborough/20031201-9999_mz1e1gol
ds.html

There's force, and there's resistance
 James O. Goldsborough
HE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

December 1, 2003



What do California's supermarket strike/lockout and the continued violence
against U.S. occupying forces and their collaborators in Iraq have in
common?

The answer is found in Newton's third law of motion: for each action there
is an equal and opposite reaction. Applied to human affairs this translates
into the idea of resistance.

Power creates its own resistance, equal and opposite. The French monarchy
gives way to the mob, which gives way to Napoleon, who gives way to the
coalition, which brings back a more benign monarch, who gives way to a more
benign Napoleon, who gives way to democracy.

It follows that moderate power leads to moderate resistance. Mirabeau and
Kerensky could have forestalled revolutionary violence in France and Russia
had those monarchies been more enlightened. Britain, which had an
enlightened monarchy, was spared a revolution, and its spasm of mid-17th
century violence ended in the William and Mary compromise of 1689.

Had capitalism been less savage at its origins and capitalists less
rapacious, there would have been no need for resistance in the form of labor
unions. In Europe, working classes turned to Marxism, while in America, they
turned to organized labor in such groups as the Knights of Labor and the
American Federation of Labor.

The U.S. labor movement cut its teeth in struggles against railroads and
steel companies. Politically, resistance to the capitalist "trusts" came
from progressives such as Theodore Roosevelt, Robert La Follette and Hiram
Johnson.

A good example of Newton's law in human affairs was the Cold War. Here we
had two polarized political systems providing each other with perfectly
equilibrated resistance. Convinced of its virtue and the aggressiveness of
the other, each side escalated or de-escalated the contest depending on the
amount of resistance it found.

Elaborate rules of the game were established. Each side could do what it
liked so long as it did not directly challenge the territory of the other.
The Soviet invasion of Hungary and the U.S. invasion of South Vietnam were
tolerated by the antagonist.

The Communist invasion of South Korea and the U.S. military advance on China
during the Korean War were not tolerated. The wall cutting off East Berlin
was tolerated. Soviet missiles in Cuba were not. The Middle East was
unsettled territory, which is what made it so dangerous.

The balance of power prevailed until Communism imploded, destroyed by its
own contradictions, ending a superpower equilibrium that had existed for
nearly half a century.

Today, there is but one superpower, and that is the problem.

For all their flaws, Communism, and socialism, its cousin, were necessary
counterweights to capitalism, both politically and economically.

Politically, there could have been no Bush administration "pre-emptive war
strategy" 30 years ago, the strategy that led to President Bush's war in
Iraq. "Pre-emptive self defense," as Bush calls it, in an age of nuclear
parity would have led to a U.S. nuclear strike on Russia, attacking Soviet
missiles before they could attack us.

A "pre-emptive" U.S. attack on Iraq, in the gray area, would have been
impossible. The Cold War imposed mutual restraint that no longer exists.

Economically, businesses were not as rapacious 30 years ago, not as free to
cut wages and overpay management, not as free to be corrupt.

In America, according to census figures, the share of national income going
to the top 20 percent wage-earners rose from 44 percent to 50 percent from
1973 until present. The top 1 percent now earn 15 percent of all wages, the
highest since measurements began.

In wealth, disparity in America is even greater, with the richest 1 percent
controlling 38 percent of national wealth. The stock market is not the great
leveler we believe: The richest 20 percent of Americans own 85 percent of
stock wealth.

The labor movement is as important today as it was a century ago. In
California, labor's fight against Wal-Mart - the root cause of the
supermarket strike/lockout - comes against a company whose practices are as
rapacious as anything ever tried by the trusts.

Wal-Mart, the world's biggest company, whose revenues equal 2 percent of
U.S. GDP, pays American workers 40 percent less than union workers, offers
marginal benefits and buys products from slave-wage, nonunion foreign
producers. Meanwhile, four of the world's 10 richest people, according to
Forbes, are named Walton.

Resistance is necessary against concentrated power. The Bush administration
is astonished at the level of "terrorism" against U.S. forces in Iraq. No
preparations had been made for this level of opposition because the
administration believed Iraqis would welcome the invasion.

Bush's misconceptions show a poor understanding of nationalism and of human
nature. These are not terrorists. They are inevitable resistance to an
unjust and illegal war. Americans have a tendency to believe our wars are
better than those of other nations. We find in Iraq, as we did in Vietnam,
this belief is not universal.




--
--
FAIR USE NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which
has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am
making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of
environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and
social justice issues, etc. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any
such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so
long as I'm the dictator." - GW Bush 12/18/2000.

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that
we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic
and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
---Theodore Roosevelt

"I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of
Iraq."
-- Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz,