Far-Left linkage: Bloggers speak out against the war

It’s been four years since the invasion of Iraq and to mark this horrendous anniversary, there’s been rallies in major cities around the world this weekend. Of course, bloggers were there and catching the events on film. So, as part of the first ‘Far-Left linkage,’ I’ve got a selection of posts of the demonstrations from around the world.

In Sydney, a few hundred converged on Town Hall to call for the troops out as well as the release of David Hicks, an Australian locked up in Guantanamo Bay.

Washington DC played host to thousands of Christians holding a candlelight vigil outside of the White House to express their opposition to a war that was justified by Christian rhetoric.

Albuquerque was full of powerful and creative placards as around 1,000 people turned out to oppose the war.

Tens of thousands of protesters, including Cindy Sheehan turned out at the Pentagon to oppose the war.

Thousands marched in Los Angeles to compliment the rallies in other parts of the States.

Admin note: If any blogger out there has a post about the protests this weekend, let me know and I’ll see if I can add you to the links. I’ll be making this feature more regular in order to publicize the Far-Left’s presence in the Blogosphere, and also, Bloggers presence amongst the Far-Left.

Hello from the new guy…

I first came across the FLBU a week or so ago while browsing the internet. I’m usually read the blogs that focus more on the writing and less on shiny gizmos to distract me; the FLBU fit this profile. The site also caught my eye because of the words “far left” at the top, two words that are in the url for my own personal blog. I left a comment for Benjamin, he wrote a comment on my blog, we exchanged a few e-mails, and voila – here I am. It’s that easy, folks. So the real question is this – if you are a progressive and you enjoy writing and you’re reading this post right now – Why aren’t you writing for the FBLU as well?

My name is Shannon and I’m a public school teacher in Georgia. I’ve written on a blog called A la Gauche since 2004. Before that I created a website dedicated to exposing religious zealotry called BaptistWatch.org (although apart from the forum it is very rarely updated).

I’ve been interested in politics for as long as I remember. My first memories are actually of me being a Republican. I remember scrawling “Impeach Clinton” on one of my folders in Middle School back in 1992. Obviously I was a typical Republican – the man had only been in office for a few months. Gradually, and either despite or because of my rural surroundings, I became more and more liberal. And the shift hasn’t slowed since it started. I described myself as a Democrat for most of my college years, but began to grow disillusioned with the Democrats and with the two-party system shortly after I graduated from the University of Georgia.

Despite feeling left out, I was eager to work on a Senate campaign in 2004. I very much wanted to work in politics and what better way to get your foot in the door than by working on a Senate campaign. The problem was – we lost – miserably. I now call myself a socialist and feel even less represented than I did as a liberal Democrat.

The two-party system of government is one of the major problems in the United States, and arguably the world. To think that just two parties represent the beliefs and opinions of 300,000,000 people in the United States is ridiculous. How many Americans call themselves Republicans or Democrats because they don’t know of any other labels? After the Democrats and the Republicans, the next two most visible parties are the Libertarians and the Green Party. And what happens when they run a candidate? The MSM starts carrying stories about how they might spoil the election of one of the major party candidates. I could go on and on… And I will at some point, but not all in this one single post.

I hope to write about the failures of the two-party system, the love affair between the MSM and the government, how weak of a democracy we actually have in the United States, and the benefits of a socialist society. I’m glad to be a part of the FLBU and I hope that it continues to grow with both writers and readers. Cheers.

A new direction for the FLBU

There hasn’t been a post to this blog since last year’s atrocious war on Lebanon in July and so, by a new direction for the FLBU, I actually mean an actual direction as opposed to nothing. This blog was initially designed for bloggers who called themselves part of the ‘Far-Left’ to unite in one place and to express our views. The fact that there’s been a total of three bloggers posting here means that this is really not a blog of the Far-Left and it is something that needs to be turned around.

I think the main problem is in the fact that most Far-Left Bloggers have no idea that this thing exists let alone are convinced to become part of this. And for those bloggers who are waiting for a revival of the FLBU, it’s encouraged to get in contact with me and also to spread the word about the Far-Left Bloggers Union.

Also, I think what we want to do is to use this blog to look at blogging itself from a Far-Left perspective and how it impacts or is impacted by the real world. We need to use this connection to emphasize the need for political activity in real life and not just as isolated bloggers exchanging ideas through cyberspace. And this means getting involved in the other political blogs and online activities such as the Carnival of Socialism and to attend political rallies, meetings and even join a political organization that is committed to building demonstrations and movements.