LETTERS

...This is both confusing and untrue...

...Progressives are routinely denied access to the same private ADL archives opened to conservatives and government agents...

...bands that really do tr\ lo make a change...

...There is an implication in writings using this approach that the control and policy decisions of national governments are of second-order importance, and that national focus and protectionism are bad...

...Does it include humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and helping refugees'' More importantly, the use of nonlethal weaponry— which even its advocates admit is a misnomer—is not being developed, at least by the military, with the aim of reducing the likelihood of civilian casualties in future foreign interventions...

...It is unclear, even to the military, what constitutes OOTW...

...We are going to wait a very long time for wage equalization from below, and both the economically advanced and poor countries are going to need protection in a variety of forms to prevent economic disasters and to maintain any kind of cultural and political integrity...

...And in interviews...

...David Isenberg Center for Defense Information Washington, D.C...

...This hothouse concoction ill serves a journalist addressing the prevalence of misguided conspiracy theories...

...Februarv issue...

...The ADL does not maintain a single archival research library or "repository of information" open to the general public...

...In general, neither one is ideal...

...Punk is about anger and alienation...

...pie-viousiv published in [hi 1'io^ies-sue...

...Nader's refusal to do so is a blot on an otherwise admirable career, A similar rebuke of Nader appeared in an article by Marc Cooper in The Nationol April 10...

...The word points up an important aspect of reality, and an additional reason for opposing NAFTA and GATT...

...Roads to Dominion, that during the Reagan years, the ADL joined with conservative and Christian right groups and government intelligence agencies to covertly plan a propaganda campaign designed to bolster public support for Reagan's Central American policies...

...Whether someone uses sticky foam as opposed to an M-16 will depend entirely on the circumstances...

...Then and Now...

...Paul Wnd'l Woodburn, Oregon Post-Sixties Music While I liked Elayne Rap-ping's article ("The Sixties...

...In addition to Hole, there are some white rock groups such as Bikini Kill...

...Rancid was voted one of the worst new bands of 1W4 in the real punk fanzine tieartattaek...

...1 believe that Rapping's selection of Hole was not the best choice...

...Rancid fails to be anything but that...

...As General Edward Meyer (former Army Chief of Staff and participant in a Council on Foreign Relations task force that released a report on this last year) noted, nonlethal weapons are just one more instrument in the tool kit of the infantryman...

...There are so many inspiring punk bands that vou could have focused on...

...Some critics of the ADL are indeed cranks and anti-Semites, but Foxman's use of this fact as a shield against criticism is shameful...

...January issue), there are a couple of nits [ would like to pick with it...

...The accusations stem from a 1993 investigation of the ADL by the San Francisco district attorney that did not produce a single charge of wrongdoing...

...For years...

...Berlet's persistence in asserting what has been shown to be false—that the ADL conducts some sort of clandestine, unlawful espionage operation—is ridiculous and offensive...

...My gripe is that Nader refuses to distance himself from rightwing populists and conspiracy theorists who use his credibility to promote a xenophobic defense of sovereignty that funnels people toward racist and anti-Semitic movements...

...Christopher hrakora West Chester, Pennsylvania Let's get the record straight: Rancid is not punk rock ("On the Line...

...Chip Berlet Cambridge, Massachusetts Prison Grads 'm the editor of Prison Legal News, and today I received the latest issue of The Progressive with the articles on the juvenile justice system ("Crackdown on Kids...

...Berlet trots out these ominous misdeeds as if they were facts, but they're not...

...Chip Berlet's criticism of Ralph Nader ("Anatomy of the Right," December issue)—for allegedly playing the "rightwing populist card" by "resorting to nationalist appeals to defend sovereignty" in the NAFTA and GATT debates—combines inapt semantics and a regrettable sectarianism...

...Courtney not onlv has identified herself as a feminist, she has also criticized sexism within the music industry, and she has quoted such books as Susan Faludi's Backlash...

...As to semantics, in his published op-ed pieces on GATT, Nader consistently used "sovereignty" to mean the right of the public to control its destinv through the acts of elected local, state, and federal governments, which he contrasted with rule by agreements and bodies (like the World Trade Organization) able to override this democratic control...

...I find political inspiration in this music, just as Hucy Newtun and Herbert Marey-e did in Bub D\ km To say that Courlne\ I.o\e is the next Madonna is o\ eiMmplil\ ing things...

...All later-, nun be edited for clarity and i'oiu i\eties...

...It is about fighting the greedy corporate world, not walking hand-in-hand with it...

...Furthermore, "sovereignty" is a useful word in the context of NAFTA and GATT, because it relates to the question of independence as well as to democratic rule, and both these agreements do in fact entail a shift of authority from locals to a foreign agency (the World Trade Organization), transnational corporations, and/or foreign governments...

...Maine I he editors welcome torrespon-ilcncc from readers on all topn v hut prefer to publish tellers thai lommcm ihreeth on materia...

...Sara Diamond reveals in her recent book...

...I find it sad that these children have as their only role models prison guards and convicts...

...If Ralph Nader and others choose to fight NAFTA and GATT by using their own familiar intellectual tools, isn't labeling them rightwing populists and classing them with conspiracy theorists exactly the kind of intolerance and sectarianism that a weakened left cannot afford...

...Foxman takes a legitimate criticism, misstates it, and labels it a potshot...

...I would tike to congratulate vou for covering the issue and helping raise awareness about it...

...First, while I agree that a majority of today's white youth-music acts are self-absorbed and narcissistic...

...However, since the populist and fascist right is using these same themes to promote conspiratorial scape-goating and hate, it is necessary to explicitly reject these interpretations...

...Who's a Sectarian...

...but thev are out there if you look for them...

...I consider the ADL's relationship with law enforcement and intelligence agencies unethical, and have so stated publicly for more than ten years...

...It is not about having UPC bar codes on your records so they can be sold at inflated prices in the local Wal-Mart...

...Berlet states that "groups like the ADL have no business circumventing privacy rights by collecting information on their political enemies and sharing it with government agents barred from seeking the information by law...

...Edward S. Her/nan Penn Vallev, Pennsylvania Another Chip Berlet article, another potshot at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL...

...Progressives need a thoughtful critique of sovereignty, international treaties, foreign military intervention, intelligence-agency operations, and Federal Reserve policies...

...Is this rightwing populism and a sinister nationalist appeal or a completely legitimate argument for self-rule...

...The truth is that OOTW is a concept, not a formal program...

...They mav not get widespread media exposure in comparison with Pearl Jam...

...Granted, lead singer Courtney Love can (mis)be-havc excessively, but I do believe that her music contains "a sense of social and political context for [her] much-vaunted suffering...

...Instead you showcased a band riding the wave of "alternative" garbage, prepackaged for the MTV generation...

...these two women ha\e different musical...

...Punk is not a product...

...Punk is not about doing cheesv MTV videos or appearing on Saturday Night Live...

...Abraham H. Foxman National Director, ADL New York, New York The author replies: Herman is smart to argue against a strategy that "puts all its chips" on crossborder organizing, but I wasn't trying to make that argument...

...Berlet uses the phrase "participatory democracy" to designate the approved mode of contesting the surge in corporate global aggression, aligning himself with the school of thought that puts all its chips on organizing a cross-border opposition from below and striving for upward harmonization via improvements in poor countries...

...my concern did not originate with the revelations of the ADL's significant role in a political spying network in San Francisco...

...He fails to address the issues, while using the language of personal attack...

...1995...

...about right-wing populist radio-talk-show host Chuck Harder, who featured both Nader and notorious anti-Semite Eustace Mullins as experts on the economv and opponents of GATT and NAFTA...

...The ADL works lawfully and without sectarian bias as a repository of information for the Jewish and civil-rights communities, the press, community groups, public officials, law enforcement, and concerned citizens...

...Every day I see the "graduates" of the juvenile prison system entering the adult prison system...

...and emotional st\les—just about the onh thing thev have in common is that thev are bleached blondes...

...Extra Fancy, Bad Religion, and L7 that make clear the social and political context for their rage...

...In Washington state, children as young as fourteen are placed in adult prisons...

...Far from acting as the authoritarian quisling of Berlet's imagination, we have always honored principles of free speech and democratic pluralism, as our record abundantly demonstrates...

...Nonlethal weapons are a complement to, not a substitute for, the use of lethal force...

...This is naive, and arguably plays into the hands of the ncoliberals, who also support a global focus and oppose protectionism...

...ADL has worked with a network of rightwing spies who have illegally obtained data on leftists from law enforcement, pilfered information from the offices of progressives, and then shared the information with public and private agencies...

...Mike Ptesion Windham...

...Ivrieal...

...Finally, while I do agree that there was a lot of radical political activism during the sixties, we must also realize that progressive political activism has occurred before and since that decade...

...If Rapping took the time to listen to Hole's music, she would find that it tackles such issues as sexism, the suffocating roles that are imposed on women, rape, domestic violence, and grief...

...January issue) on operations other than war (OOTW in military jargon) states that nonlethal weapons are being developed jointly by the Justice and Defense departments as part of an OOTW program...