Puerto Rican activist attacked for anti-war stance
By Bryan G. Pfeifer
Amherst, Mass.
In times of severe political crisis such as
the current U.S. quagmire in Iraq, the ruling class seeks out
diversions in an attempt to legitimize and rescue itself from
the inherent contradictions within capitalism. Some of the
ruling class's most faithful servants in this incessant endea
vor are the capitalist media and politicians.
A recent example of this was the vicious chauvinist and
racist attacks on Rene Gonzalez, a Puerto Rican graduate
student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
On April 28 the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, the college
newspaper at U-Mass Amherst, published Gonzalez' opinion piece
headlined, "Pat Tillman is not a hero: He got what was coming
to him."
Tillman, a former National Football League player, gave up a
three-year, $3.6 million contract to join the army in 2002. He
eventually became a member of the Army Rangers, an elite
mercenary force of U.S. imperialism. He was killed by Afghani
guerilla fighters April 22 while "patrolling" the
Afghanistan/Pakistan border near North Waziristan.
In his commentary, Gonzalez focused mostly on the hero
worship of Tillman. He wrote in part:
"Tillman's service, along with that of thousands of American
soldiers, has been wrongly utilized. He did die in vain,
because in the years to come, we will realize the irrationality
of the War on Terror and the American reaction to Sept. 11. The
sad part is that we won't realize it before we send more people
like Pat Tillman over to their deaths. ...
"However, in my neighborhood in Puerto Rico, Tillman would
have been called an 'idiot'. This was a 'G.I. Joe' guy who got
what was coming to him. That was not heroism, it was prophetic
idiocy. ...
"Tillman, probably acting out his nationalist-patriotic
fantasies forged in years of exposure to Clint Eastwood and
Rambo movies, decided to insert himself into a conflict [where]
he didn't need to insert himself."
Besides putting U.S. imperialism on trial, another aspect of
the piece that drew the right wing's ire was Gonzalez' astute
critique of the interconnection of U.S. sports and the
military. Most notably, he pointed to the way these
institutions perpetuate a super-aggressive, pro-heterosexual,
misogynist and patriarchal culture.
Within hours of the Collegian hitting the news stands, a
media and jingoist public frenzy ensued. Capitalist media
across the United States published accounts of the attacks on
Gonzalez. These began when a former Arizona State University
football player and Tillman friend now attending U-Mass Amherst
posted Gon zalez' piece to a message board on an ASU web site,
encouraging readers to bombard the Collegian with anti-Gonzalez
messages. The newspaper eventually received so much email and
web site hits that it shut down.
Gonzalez has since apologized for any perceived
insensitivity. But reactionary forces intensified the racist
witch hunt.
There have been death threats, menacing enough that Gonzalez
and his family decided to leave Amherst temporarily; a racist
denunciation of Gonzalez by U-Mass System President Jack M.
Wilson; a resolution passed in the Massachusetts State Senate
condemning Gonzalez; and a petition on campus, circulated by
the College Republicans, to oust Gonzalez from his job at the
Office of ALANA Affairs. This office is a progressive student
organization representing African, Latino/a, Asian/Pacific
Islander, and Native American students.
The Western Massachusetts affiliates of the International
Action Center, Jobs with Justice, and U.S. Labor Against the
War issued statements defending Gonzalez.
At the time of the anti-Gonzalez attacks, U.S. imperialism
was suffering yet another public-relations disaster in Iraq
with the revelation of the Pentagon's torture tactics, as well
as increasing G.I. casualties--all while various polls showed
the U.S. public increasingly in opposition to the
occupation.
The right wing used Gonzalez in a most vile manner to fan
the flames of national chauvinism in an attempt to divert
attention from a U.S. occupation that has cost the lives of
thousands of Iraqis and hundreds of GIs and diverted billions
of dollars from poor, working and oppressed people in the
United States and across the globe.
The right wing and its supporters also used this as an
opportunity to attempt to terrorize into submission anyone who
questions any aspect of U.S. imperialism, to slander Gonzalez'
Puerto Rican heritage, and to drive a wedge between Gonzalez
and the Office of ALANA Affairs.
As U.S. imperialism becomes increasingly bogged down in
Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, the ruling class will increase
such attacks, either nuanced or overt.
The task then is to resolutely defend individual
progressives like Gonzalez who come under attack, while
building an independent mass movement that can organize against
war, racism and occupation at home and abroad.
Reprinted from the May 13, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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