Sometimes you have to distance yourself from certain things to truly see them for what they are. For the past couple of months, I have taken myself slightly aback from the World Can’t Wait organization at a time where they have undergone some serious overhaul. It began with a period of complete passive activism where they suggested that the answer to “driving out the regime” involved nothing more than wearing orange and getting others to do the same. And now, with 2008 officially in progress, they have released a new statement for movement building this coming year. Being on their organizer’s listserv, I received every draft of this statement they were able to crank out over a two-month period, and was never impressed by it. In particular, I thought it was poorly written and lacked direction. But that didn’t matter… it was discussed at a meeting in New York, and I of course couldn’t exactly get up there for a 48-hour period to discuss it, and I think it was probably already set in stone before that.

That’s one of the things I noticed when I stepped back. The organization as a whole has gotten very top-down… or was it always that way?? I really don’t know because I dove in face first (I mean, I considered us to be in a dangerous situation that required immediate action… I still do think that), so I didn’t have any time to really view it as an outsider.

I do think seeing it from the point of view of an insider often helped me abolish criticisms. As a very active organizer who was not a supporter of the RCP, I could combat red-baiting from folks who wanted to criticize the organization without really ever being involved or even close to it.

But it gets hard because the way I’ve seen the organization turn (or maybe it’s always been that way?) is exactly what I despise about the RCP: the absolutist, top-down leadership with no room for criticism or even democratic organizing. I guess I have to remember that even though WCW is not an RCP front per se, it was almost completely initiated by RCP members and supporters, and with the leadership they brought to their movement, the leaderism of their vanguard party was sure to follow.

So that’s it. And I’m feeling great about it. The way I see it, this course of torture, war, spying, and attacks on human rights still needs to be stopped, and I’m not fooling myself about any Democratic candidate. The words of the Call still ring true in my heart. The inner workings of World Can’t Wait, however, I can let go.

Happy New Year!!
E.G. Smith