Radicalism isn’t anti-American

A week before the presidential election a couple of students and
I were discussing the campus and national discourse. We were afraid
of the outcome of the election because we felt that if President
Bush won, progressive people would be demoralized.

If Sen. John Kerry won, progressives would feel a false sense of
calm, ease and success. It is not because the current
administration is Republican that people are so angry with them. It
is instead because of their anti-American policies.

Anti-American, that is, in the way that they have made Americans
suffer under wars, militarization of the economy, divestment from
education and health care, anti-union sentiments, and the
outsourcing of jobs ““ all in the name of the American people.
These actions are not inherent in the GOP agenda (even though they
are the main perpetrators of it) but rather policies and actions
carried out by both parties.

We felt a need to convey this message to UCLA students, so we
decided to plan an event entitled “Not My President” to
reflect our allegiance to the people and to the bettering of lives,
rather than the deceitful, elitist president currently sitting in
the White House.

The event had two main focuses: to address issues of voter
disenfranchisement that occurred throughout the election process
and to get students to realize that we need to organize to create
change. Electing a Democrat or a Republican alone won’t bring
about any substantive change.

It is important to clarify the allegations being put forward
that this event was sponsored by a specific organization or an
Undergraduate Students Association Council slate. These allegations
are completely false.

The event was put together by students, and no USAC office
sponsored or gave any material support. The allegation that because
the USAC president and some Student First! members attended the
event means they sponsored it is ridiculous.

Event speakers who took the microphone spoke about the
event’s different focuses. I emceed the event, and during my
introduction for one speaker I criticized the bipartisan barbecue
and the seeming alliance between Bruin Democrats and Bruin
Republicans.

This critique, which was my own and not that of the organizers
of or any organization, I guess angered the BR ““ I mean the
BD Issues Director Scott Nenni (“”˜Not My
President’ rally anti-American,” Nov. 9), and he felt
that my comments were anti-American, radical and extremist. He
misunderstood the issue, so let me put it in some context.

What disheartens me about their bipartisan “yay, we can
get along with BR even if they’re Republican,” is that
bipartisanship must be strategic and principled ““ not blind
to the reality of the group you’re working with.

The reality is that BR, as showcased by their events and
rhetoric, have demonstrated that they are not traditional
conservatives, or even principled, but rather ultra-right-wing
fanatics bent on attacking student organizations by rephrasing
subtle racist, ignorant and homophobic positions as mainstream
tolerable discourse.

Last year BR attacked MEChA in their silly “media
blitz,” daring to call this organization with its deep
dedication to community service a Nazi-like racist organization. BR
prides itself with ideologies such as “tolerance is the
virtue of the man without convictions,” which was put on
their fliers. I invite students to look at the history of BR to
prove me wrong, but unfortunately they will not.

You would expect BD to be working with the progressive
organizations that help better people’s lives through
community organization and service, rather than allying themselves
with a regressive, reactionary organization.

Why validate an organization with positions and attitudes you
find abhorrent? Unless, of course, you don’t find them
abhorrent, in which case you should rename your organization Bruin
Republicans Lite.

The BD groups of the past were principled. They had a strong
commitment to progressive principles and to serving and bettering
the lives of the oppressed peoples in our country. Now they have
lost their principles, becoming weak. BD has become irrelevant to
the campus and to the 82 percent of people Daily Bruin exit polls
voted for Kerry. They find their strength in their alliance with an
organization like BR, rather than organizing people around
progressive issues and actions.

Partisanship isn’t the problem in our country. Therefore,
bipartisanship is not the solution. The problem is people’s
inability to humanize each other and to truly work to better each
other’s working condition.

We must take a radical step away from the current discourse in
the mainstream and pledge our commitment to people who are
suffering because they have no health care and their kids are being
sent to war in Iraq rather than to study at UCLA. Let us not be so
quick to call people anti-American ““ no one in this nation
has a monopoly on what the United States is or what it should
be.

Let us not be afraid of being radical because certain times and
certain crises call for radical responses. Sometimes we need to
attack a problem at its roots and that is what we will be
doing.

Tajsar is a fifth-year political science student.