Vive la France? The World Pulls for the French

By Ahmed Nassef

Much of the United States movement against war in Iraq revolves around calling for further inspections and demanding Security Council approval before any invasion. On the surface, this seems like a reasonable strategy, given the fact that three veto-wielding Security Council members, France, Russia, and China, have come out opposing any new war resolution and in support of more time for inspections.

The situation today is eerily similar to the one twelve years ago, when anti-war activists were involved in a tense debate over whether to advocate for a United Nations endorsed solution or to stand flatly against war no matter what the UN proclaimed. Then, this debate caused a damaging rift--two rival coalitions emerged with different organizing strategies, conflicting messages, and different demonstration dates. At the time, in almost every major city, activists had to choose sides between the “SANE/Freeze people” (Pro UN, so named after the anti-nuclear group that was a leading member of the coalition) and the “Ramsey Clark people” (anti-war, no matter what--so named after the Worker’s World members with whom the former US Attorney General is affiliated).

I remember long debates at early organizing meetings in the Fall of 1990 where I and others argued against people who insisted on including an endorsement of the United Nations as a point of unity for our Los Angeles Coalition Against US Intervention in the Middle East. Our LA coalition became one of the few to remain independent of either national coalition, honoring all protest dates but steadfastly refusing to put our trust in the United Nations.

In the end, the UN pulled the rug from under the SANE/Freeze grouping when the Security Council endorsed military action.

The SANE/Freeze coalition has now been replaced by United for Peace and Justice (UFP), and the Ramsey Clark people are International ANSWER (both groups actually represent a broad cross section of grassroots organizations).

Although the good news is that there is much more cooperation between both groups, and that they have both steered clear of explicit UN endorsements, there is still the underlying problem, reflected in much of the speeches and media interviews, of putting faith in the United Nations.

Many activists are once again calling for heeding the call of the Security Council.

But is it wise to rely on regimes like the ones in China, Angola, Cameroon, Pakistan, and Guinea to represent the democratic will of the people of the world?

Or should we depend on Vladimir Putin to raise his hands, bloodied from the slaughters in Chechnya, in opposition?

In the end, the hopes of the UN-struck activists come down to one thing:

Vive la France!

Let’s hope they are right.