corrente

Yesterday, while we were outside trying to figure out what was wrong with our phones, I ran into the guy who had said he was thinking of voting for ABB because of the flu shots and stem cells. He was plowing the road. He invited me into the cab of his truck for a cup of coffee, and I accepted because it was (is) cold as hell.

We drank in silence for minute and then he said to me, “Well, I voted for Bush anyway. I knew you were wondering.”

While we were drinking coffee and talking, things were happening on moral values front, and although I didn’t know it at the time, they were interjecting themselves…

Victory was being declared yesterday in the battle of Fallujah, with 1,000 rebels reported dead, hundreds more in custody and spectacular footage from embedded television crews, showing Marines charging through deserted neighbourhoods.

“That’s too bad,” I said.

Aamir Haidar Yusouf,a 39-year-old trader, sent his family out of Fallujah, but stayed behind to look after his home, not just during the fighting, but the looting which will invariably follow. "The Americans have been firing at buildings if they see even small movements," he said. "They are also destroying cars, because they think every car has a bomb in it. People have moved from the edges of the city into the centre, and they are staying on the ground floors of buildings.

“And I can tell you why you guys lost, if you want to know,” he added.

"There will be nothing left of Fallujah by the time they finish. They have already destroyed so many homes with their bombings from the air, and now we are having this from tanks and big guns."

“Okay, tell me,” I said, knowing that I had a half-pint of whiskey in my jacket if needed.

"Anyone who gets injured is likely to die, because there's no medicine and they can't get to doctors," said Abdul-Hameed Salim, a volunteer with the Iraqi Red Crescent. "There are snipers everywhere. Go outside and you're going to get shot."

“You got no organization compared to the Republicans,” he said. “None.”

Sami al-Jumaili, a doctor at the main Fallujah hospital who escaped arrest when it was taken, said the city was running out of medical supplies, and only a few clinics remained open. "There is not a single surgeon in Fallujah," he said. "We had one ambulance hit by US fire and a doctor wounded. There are scores of injured civilians in their homes whom we can't move. A 13-year-old child just died in my hands."

“We tried. It’s hard for our side, y’know. No easy voting blocs to tap—no churches or gun clubs or money.”

Around 10,000 people took shelter in Habbaniya, 12 miles to the west of the city, and many had tragic stories. "There have been a lot of innocent people killed," said Suleiman Ali Hassan, who lost his brother. "The Americans say they are just aiming their tanks and aircraft at the mujaheddin, but I know of at least eight other people who have died beside my brother."

“That’s what I’m talking about. No organization. You better start making up some churches and gun clubs, or whatever it is you guys are into. Because that’s the key. I ended up voting for him because I knew I had to. Everybody I know was. It was organized. My vote was pledged.”

Samira Sabbah arrived at the refugee centre yesterday with her three children, but her husband stayed behind in Fallujah. "People have been living like animals," she said. "There has been no electricity, no food and no water. We were very afraid to move out because there were so much shooting everywhere. I do not know how we will live now."

“I guess I knew how you would vote. But why are you telling me this?” I asked, finishing the coffee.

Rasoul Ibrahim, a father of three, fled Fallujah on foot with his wife and children. "There's no water," he said. "People are drinking dirty water. Children are dying. People are eating flour because there's no proper food."

“Because you look so down. Listen, if your side wants to win, they gotta organize. That’s it.”

And we left it at that. And I got to thinking. I mean, I know I harped on about the need to organize, and how disorganized the locals were (and are), and I know there are real efforts to build coalitions among progressive causes. And, yeah, I know blogs are one way to do that. But you know, the maternalfornicators’s right. He’s right. The key to getting anything done is going to be organization. And I don’t just mean Moveon and Michael Moore and so forth. I mean an all-out effort. Some way to coalesce into powerful voting blocs, locally and nationally. Should it be around issues and causes? Churches? Covens? Pottery classes? It’s got to be more than last minute van rides to early voting, registering, and going to party meetings. House parties are great, but that’s not it, either. Don’t get me wrong, all of this is great—but I think maybe we don’t realize how well organized the jackbooted wankers we’re up against really are. We can’t afford to be pockets of resistance. We need a national movement—it has to be the Dems, nobody else is even that organized—but how to pull it together so we feel we're part of a national movement? I’ve asked myself this question ever since I gave up the idea of a general strike or revolution working, years ago, and thought grassroots Green organizing was the answer, and…and I still have no answer. Maybe there ain’t one. Readers?

I know we’ve got to stop this “war.” Can we get together on that?

When the smoke has cleared around Fallujah, what horrors will be revealed?