SANTA CRUZ, CA, April 6, 2002--Participants had an enthusiastic response to a proletarian-led event in Santa Cruz titled "Culture against War," opposing the U.$. intervention in the Philippines. The day's speeches and cultural activity stood in stark contrast to the "war on terrorism" rhetoric from Washington, DC.

Three hundred people attended a sunny afternoon picnic on a lawn overlooking the Pacific Ocean. They saw bands, dancing, political theater and speakers. Most people took a copy of the April 1st MIM Notes and a Santa Cruz committee working on Mumia Abu-Jamal's case helped pass out some older MIM Notes on U.$. military action in the Philippines at their table.

MIM interviewed several people as they exited the event to see what their reaction was. The speakers had condemned U.$. interference in other countries' affairs across the globe. The speakers condemned the chauvinism against northern Korea, Iraq and Iran stirred up by President Bush and others recently. The audience learned the details of the renewed U.$. military presence and activities in the Philippines.

Terry Valen asked "what does U.S. militarism mean for the . . . native peoples. [It means] stolen land. . . . [It means] displacing indigenous peoples in Mindanao."

The organizers of the event obviously put in great effort and succeeded in bringing out people new to politics. Some teenage activists not only attended but also set up tables to explain various causes. At one table, MIM interviewed the Cesar E. Chavez National Holiday Campaign participants. Cesar Chavez was a union leader who organized truly super-exploited farmworkers, mostly from Mexico.

MIM asked the Cesar Chavez National Holiday Campaign activists what is the connection between their issue and the issues addressed in speeches that day. The three wimmin agreed, "there is no connection." Then MIM asked, "how come you're here then?" One activist replied, "I'm the Sargent of Arms." Then MIM asked, "how did you decide to come here today?" and still there was a reply "I don't think there is any connection."

The "Asian & Pacific Islander Coalition Against War" in contrast made a point of issuing a leaflet at the event "in solidarity with the people of Palestine." The leaflet attacked "state-sponsored genocide by the U.S. supported Israeli government."

A visiting faculty member had this to say about the whole event: "It's brilliant. It's the first teach-in here I've gone to."

Another young white womyn said she didn't know what to say, but when asked about the skit she just viewed she said, "I don't know that I agree with any one of them [actors in a skit about September 11th], but it kind of opened my eyes to different perspectives."

The audience had a good reaction to the content and diversity of the event's speakers. One persyn leaving mentioned "positive vibe" and "really good information." One male student said, "I thought it was really good, a basic introduction to the historical [situation]. I'm excited to see all these other people out here educating themselves."

Some wimmin were passing through Santa Cruz from Los Angeles and one of the group said of the skit about U.$. troops in the Philippines, "It was great...funny...I really enjoyed it." Another womyn had come down from Berkeley to see the event and said, "I liked it. It was interesting, very informative."

The attendance at the event featured strong representation by all nationalities, with whites only a tiny minority. One persyn leaving said, "it was amazing, really amazing. . . different ethnicities involved." Only one persyn MIM interviewed was unwilling to comment on her reactions to the event, which we gathered might have been negative.

The band Diskarte Namin condemned "greedy white corporations" seeking to profit from the war and who seek "not to deal with our issues in the united $tates, veteran's equity, education, children." However, none of the speakers separated themselves from Amerikkkan parasitism and none really addressed the reasons underlying the tremendous support the "War on Terrorism" has in the united $tates.

MIM would caution all participants that the Bay Area, Manhattan and parts of Los Angeles and occasionally tiny college towns like Cambridge may be capable of pulling together "integrated" events, and in some cases in California it is possible that the proletariat leads these events. Nonetheless, we have to recognize that such situations are tiny pockets of resistance in the overall scheme of things in the united $tates. We have to balance these events against the white jury in Simi Valley who said Rodney King's attackers were innocent and the Cincinatti jury who let off Vincent Chin's attackers. Such people in those juries are much more numerous than the petty-bourgeois radical democrats of the Bay Area.

MIM has spoken to both international and U.$.-based comrades who adopt a provincial view of things within u.$. borders. In New York City, there is a welfare state within the welfare state and there is a "multi-racial" coalition defending that specific welfare state. This gives the New York comrades an illusion rooted in a special system of parasitism. As a result, "CP-USA" social-democracy retains a chokehold on much political activism in New York City.

Likewise, not every city in the united $tates is a petty-bourgeois radical democratic haven like the Bay Area where people actually do read a dozen different newspapers and keep any number of bookstores and cafes in business. The Bay Area is one of the few places where democracy is not "dumbocracy." People who think the Bay Area is representative are missing the overall picture.

The credit for the "Culture Against War: Philippines on the Axis of Empire" event on April 6th goes to a number of organizations--"Filipino Coalition for Global Justice, Not War," "Filipinos for Affirmative Action (FAA)," Stanford Community for Peace and Justice (SCPJ), Asian & Pacific Islander Coalition Against War (APICAW), American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice (AMGPJ), Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (CHRP), All People's Coalition Against War (APCAW), Filipino Workers Association, Ad Hoc Faculty Committee on Current Events, Center for Cultural Studies, Filipino Students Association, Asia Pacific Islander Student Alliance, Graduate Student Alliance, Pacific Islands Research Cluster and the Criminals in Action (CIA).