Debate with the College Republicans!

Damn. Its July, 2 months since our previous posting!
Suraj and I have been busy busy busy! So many apologies for not having written in ages...
Trust us though, we are back NOW! Summer's finally rolled by into Seatown and we are happy w beaming sunshine, and free(er) with no ongoing campaign for the next month or so!

Here's an update on what we've been busy with since May 4th (our last posting)...Hopefully most of you still remember that Suraj and I were part of an organization called March 1st Solidarity, a Korean solidarity group calling for US troops to get out of Asia, and no longer have our homelands be used as a base for attacking the Middle East!

So here's whats been up:

We organized a debate against the University of Washington College Republicans! Yes, the same folks who organized the Islamofascism Awareness Week last Nov. They also *tried* to organize a game of "Tag an Illegal Immigrant" which fortunately! got shut down by every other group on the UW campus! You can read about the CR's racist events here and here .

So, why did we choose to debate the CR? Honestly, we thought it was time that the CR had their asses kicked publicly in a debate! We felt that many other activist groups' way of responding to attacks from the right was to turn it into a festival, a celebration, rather than choose direct confrontation. Of course, there is an ideological basis for it. The argument that we have heard is that confrontation is too reactionary and too much based on the terms of our "enemies." Instead, activists should work on strengthening their bonds with one another and create “positive” and peaceful spaces, thus the "celebration and gathering" route, as opposed to the confrontation route.
Honestly, we don't buy this philosophy. Its couched too much in a feel-good sort of liberalism, post-modernist PC-ness...where any form of confrontation and argument is seen as violent. For real, having heated debates or verbal confrontation is not violence! Why can't we stick up and defend ourselves against racists and white supremacists? Why do we have to pretend that they dont exist, or try to "convert" their energy into positive spaces that border on accomodating the racist attacks at times? Why do we have to cater to what bourgeois liberal society thinks of our resistance? Why do we have to act out of fear rather than strength?

Along those lines, we organized a public debate w the College Republicans. A healthy, non-violent and heated exchange of words. Here is our flyer:




* we also have a youtube of the debate but its not posted up yet. we will be adding it to this post as soon as we can!