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“Can Progressives Move the Democratic Party to the Left?”
This debate was sponsored by the Left Forum. Stanley Aronowitz, author of , and Laura Flanders, author of Blue Grit: True Democrats Take Back Politics from the Politicians discuss and debate the possibilities and limitations of working within the Democratic party. Moderated by Gary Younge is a columnist for The Nation and correspondent for The Guardian.
Stanley Aronowitz – Distinguished Professor of Sociology at CUNY Graduate Center. He is Director of The Center for the Study of Culture, Technology and Work. He is also the Founding Editor of Social Text and Situations, was Book Review Editor of Social Policy, and serves on the Editorial Board of Ethnography; Cultural Critique. He has authored and edited 24 books, the most recent being Left Turn: Forging a New Political Future.
Laura Flanders is the host of “RadioNation” heard on Air America Radio . She is the author most recently of Blue Grit: True Democrats Take Back Politics from the Politicians and also BUSHWOMEN: Tales of a Cynical Species, an investigation into the women in George W. Bush’s Cabinet.
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Arguments Against the Dismissal of Lawsuits by Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin.
Last week in New York City , a federal appeals court heard oral arguments in the lawsuits about the damage that plaintiffs say the herbicide Agent Orange did to American veterans to Vietnamese citizens during the Vietnam War.
Agent Orange, named for the stripes on the barrels that contained it was used to kill the vegetation that hid Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army unites. It was found to be contaminated with the highly toxic substance, dioxin.
Veterans who believed they and their families had suffered from exposure to Agent Orange sued. In 1984, seven of the chemical companies settled for 180 million dollars but without accepting liability.
Some veterans not covered by the settlement filed further lawsuits but US District Court Judge Jack Weinstein dismissed them. In 2005, Weinstein also dismissed a suit brought by Vietnamese citizens claiming to have suffered from exposure to dioxin. He found that use of the toxic herbicide did not violate international norms.
Whatever the technical merits of Weinstein’s rulings, a dismissal without a trial is not a suibable outcome. A full trial, with all the scrutiny it can bring to bear on this question, would be a far more preferable closing act to this sad story, both for the American veterans and the Vietnamese civilians.
As the legal struggle continues, there have been bits of progress on cleaning up the mess. Though Washington recognizes some maladies as associated with Agent Orange and does pay some compensation, its contribution to alleviating the problem in Vietnam had been minimal until recently.
We hear the voices from those at the rally sponsored by Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign. Many activists gathered outside the Federal Court to show their support during the oral arguments against the dismissal of lawsuit against companies (Dow, Monsanto) who profited from manufacturing these chemical weapons.