Dear Progressive Reader,
September 11, 2001 was surely a moment of “shock and awe” for many people in this country. It was the first time since the War of 1812 that a foreign adversary (with the exception of some German sabotage in the early 20th century and some battles during the Mexican-American War in the mid-nineteenth) had launched a major attack on the soil of the continental United States. There was, in many parts of the country, an immediate cry for revenge.
The first war after September 11 was the U.S. bombing and invasion of Afghanistan that began on October 7, 2001. I spoke recently by phone with author and activist Tariq Ali who remembers, “when the United States went in, there wasn't too much opposition, but that was when we were propelled into creating the Stop the War campaign in Britain, which has been going now for twenty years, a very consistent campaign. And I remember saying at a speech in Trafalgar Square the weekend after the American and NATO intervention [began], ‘This is not going to work.’ ” Ali’s new book, The Forty-Year War in Afghanistan: A Chronicle Foretold (Verso Books) will be released November 9. It is a collection of columns and articles covering the years from the Soviet occupation to the U.S. withdrawal in August of 2021.
According to Washington Post reporter Craig Whitlock in his brand new book, The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War (Simon and Schuster, August 31, 2021), “Over two decades, more than 775,000 U.S. troops have deployed to Afghanistan, more than 2300 died there [2461 as of this writing (including the 13 killed in the airport bombing of August 27)] and 21,000 came home wounded. The U.S. government has not calculated a comprehensive total of how much it spent on war-related expenses, but most estimates exceed $1 trillion.”
The Progressive covered opposition to the U.S. war in Afghanistan from the start. As Howard Zinn wrote early in October for the November 2001 issue, “War is terrorism, magnified a hundred times.”
In 1917, Robert M. La Follette, this magazine’s founder, said on the floor of the U.S. Senate, “Whenever an American citizen presumes to question the justification, either in law or morals, of our participation in the European war, he is at once denounced by the war party and the war press as disloyal to the country.” The same charge of disloyalty was often leveled against anyone who questioned “the war on terror.”
Just as La Follette had spoken out against entry into World War I, this magazine opposed entry into the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq. History has shown we were right.
This past week we celebrated the La Follette legacy with our 20th annual Fighting Bob Fest. The virtual gathering of speakers and musicians can still be viewed online on our Youtube channel or on Facebook. Thanks to everyone who made this year’s event possible. This morning we also gathered at Madison’s Forest Hill cemetery to rededicate the newly restored grave markers of Robert M. and Belle Case La Follette, helped by some rousing music from Madison’s Raging Grannies.
Recent legislation in Texas has occupied many of our writers this week. Wendy Chavkin writes about the fight against democracy in that state, noting, “Together, Texas's three bills represent dramatic incursions on the basic rights to vote, bodily integrity, and public safety.” However, she continues, “while these three laws represent potent threats to our democracy, they also provide a promising opening for common action by three movements that have been working long and hard to pursue their separate goals.” Elana Rabinowitz points out that the new Texas abortion law “highlights the urgency of the fight for reproductive rights.” Rabinowitz says, “I’m tired of people, especially men, making decisions for pregnant people. Decisions over what we do with and to our bodies ought to be ours to make. These are after all our bodies.” And cartoonist Mark Fiore illustrates that one very dangerous component of this new law is that it encourages people to become rightwing “lawsuit vigilantes,” in many possible areas.
Finally, on Tuesday, September 21, at 7:00 p.m. Central Time, sportswriter Dave Zirin will take part in a discussion of his new book, The Kaepernick Effect:Taking a Knee, Changing the World, sponsored by The Progressive magazine and A Room of One’s Own bookstore. The event will be streamed live on Facebook and on YouTube. It will also be archived for later viewing. Please plan to join us.
Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
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