Mr. Goodby's comments echo those of Left columnist Alexander Cockburn,
who took quite a bit of heat last year for vigorously defending militias
against charges that they were little more than the paramilitary wing of
white supremacist groups, noting that the same Leftists who rallied to
the Zapatistas in Mexico apparently felt differently when similar
populist/nationalist groups sprouted in this country. He also was an
early critic of Waco, and one of the only ones on the Left to make an
issue of it at the time.

While AC was typically strident in his stand on militias, I think he was
making a valuable point. At the same time, it is certainly worth
investigating the extent of overlap between militia values and those of
true anarchists before deciding whether they are anathema or ally. My own
opinion is tentatively that the militias' affinity with anarchist ideas
is only superficial, and that, given a chance to realize their program,
they would be harshly authoritarian. One doesn't see much
decentralization in their command structure, for example, and their ideas
of family and social organization are hardly any better.


Tresy Kilbourne
Seattle WA

"You can't fart in this country without working for Rupert Murdoch
or Ted Turner."
        - Director John Sayles