Give Peace (and Biden) a Chance
I understand the continuing rage of the militants and anarchists in Seattle and Portland, one of whose leaders denounced Joe Biden as a “feckless” tool of the power elite, as radical protestors in those cities again took to the streets and battled with police. The Pacific Northwest has a LONG history of radical activism (see the recent novel, “The Cold Millions”). But now is the time for the American Left to channel its understandable fury into pushing the system forward, instead of further destabilizing it. The left-wing echoes of right-wing tropes in these recent protests (with radicals carrying the same “Not My President” signs that MAGA rioters wielded as they stormed the Capitol) were, to put it mildly, unnerving.
Yes, Joe Biden is a creature of the DNC, a longtime spear carrier for corporate centrism. But he also strikes me, at age 78 and after suffering more personal anguish than most Washington politicians, as a decent man who wants to lift America from its dark hole. Who wants an FDR-like legacy before he dies. A man who has already signaled in his first days in the White House that he will be a bolder, more progressive president than Obama or Clinton.
Should leftists therefore just pack up their battle gear and go home? No, that would leave the field to the MAGA army, which remains fully mobilized. But we need to engage with the Biden administration in forceful but constructive ways. This will not be easy for the left, which has been in combat mode (or AWOL from mainstream politics) for a long time. But it’s essential.
As I write in “By the Light of Burning Dreams,” the forthcoming book by my sister Margaret and me, nearly a half century ago Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda left their comfortable New Left bubble and harnessed the growing antiwar ardor of heartland America, slashed Congressional funding for the Vietnam War, and helped finally end that long conflict. Hayden and Fonda accomplished that historic feat, while other radical leaders were going underground or burning out, by learning to trust their fellow American again, and by building a coalition that included seven religious denominations, labor unions, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, veterans groups and farmers. In his memoir, “Reunion,” Hayden wrote of the night when their hard work finally paid off in the Capitol building. After cheering the war budget-cutting vote from the House balcony, Hayden and his Indochina Peace Campaign comrades “walked into a starry Washington night, thanking the heavens for our trust in the process.”
We need to revive Hayden’s and Fonda’s radical will to revive American democracy. And rebuilding a peace movement — to align itself with Black Lives Matter and the Sunrise environmental movements — should be a top priority. President Biden is off to a generally good start on social justice and the climate emergency because of strong grassroots pressure in those areas. But a nationwide peace movement is still missing in action. As as result, Biden’s national security appointments have been from the hawkish wing of the Democratic Party.
My point is that especially in areas where Biden is tilting right (like national security), we need to build broad coalitions and to pressure power — not just scream and trash in the streets. Tom Hayden was forced into the streets for a time, he was branded an “ideological criminal” by the Nixon administration and put on trial for conspiracy in Chicago. But then Nixon was toppled from power (with several of his top aides going to prison) and Hayden saw the historic opportunity to organize middle America and end an endless imperial war.
We need the same bold vision — and organizational discipline — today.
