Hero from Oakland, Calif.
Lone standout on war resolution
By Monica Moorehead
Barbara Lee from California was the sole member of the U.S.
House of Representatives to vote against giving open-ended
approval to U.S. military action after the devastating Sept. 11
attacks that took 5,000 lives in New York.
The House vote was 420 to one.
Over the past three years, Lee has developed a reputation of
going against the tide of political reaction. She has
especially opposed warlike actions.
In 1998, she cast one of five congressional votes against
the bombing of Iraq. In 1999, she was the only member of
Congress to vote against the U.S./NATO bombing of
Yugoslavia.
Lee, who is African American, said: "I don't think that we
should take any action that should cause any more loss of life.
Violence begets violence and we don't want that to happen. That
kills people."
She represents the heavily Democratic Ninth Congressional
District. This district includes Oakland and Berkeley,
Calif.
Oakland, a predominantly Black city, was home to the
founding of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in 1966.
During the 1960s and 1970s on the campus of the University of
California at Berkeley, militant struggles took place against
the genocidal U.S. war in Vietnam and in solidarity with the
struggle for Black, Native and Latino studies.
Lee was once an aide to Ronald Dellums, who represented the
same district. Dellums also took progressive stances against
militarism during his tenure in office until his
retirement.
Lee has been an outspoken opponent of any increases in the
U.S. military budget. She especially opposes the National
Missile Defense program.
On her web site, Lee states: "Taken as a whole, the
continued increases in defense spending are deeply disturbing.
The FY01 Defense Appropriations bill runs $4 billion over the
president's request, while at the same time Congress cuts
funding for education, health, and social programs. Added to
that, much of our defense spending goes to dubious, inefficient
projects that serve the defense industry, not the national
interest. ...
"Our defense budget can and should be more efficient and
must be re-designed for the Twenty-first Century, post-Cold-War
world. To be secure in this world, we must educate our
children, house the homeless, and feed the hungry. We must work
to promote peace and attack fundamental threats to global
security such as AIDS and other profound health threats."
The representative's stance recalls an earlier experience.
In 1964, Sens. Wayne Morse of Oregon and Ernest Gruening of
Alaska came under political attack when they were the only two
in the Senate to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin resolution.
This infamous resolution gave the green light for the U.S.
government to broaden its military intervention into the
Vietnam War.
While these senators were not consistently progressive,
their courage as a minority of two helped galvanize a nascent
anti-war movement. The alleged attack on U.S. ships in the Gulf
of Tonkin was later shown to be a phony incident used by the
administration to press its aims of expanding the war.
Lee has been more consistent in her anti-war actions. By
saying no to war in this key vote, Lee carried out what
amounted to a revolutionary act within a dangerous atmosphere
of warmongering on the part of the U.S. ruling class and its
willing servants, the Bush administration and big-business
media.
Her vote has symbolically helped to give voice to millions
of people in the United States who are against a bloody war
being carried out in their name.
To send letters of support, write to
barbara.lee@mail.house.gov.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page