What can animalists learn from Vietnam anti-war movement?
By Jon Hochschartner
![Peter Camejo speaking at the June 1970 national anti-war conference in Cleveland which voted to establish the Peace Action Coalition. themattgonzalezreader.wordpress.com](https://www.greanvillepost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/petercamejo_1970PACConference.jpeg)
Peter Camejo speaking at the June 1970 national anti-war conference in Cleveland which voted to establish the Peace Action Coalition.
(themattgonzalezreader.wordpress.com)
Some years ago, I read "North Star," the autobiography of Peter Camejo, an American socialist. In 1976, Camejo was the Socialist Worker's Party candidate for president, but drifted away from Trotskyism, eventually finding a home in the Green Party. He likened himself to a watermelon — "green on the outside, red on the inside." The memoir is worth reading if you haven't done so already. Anyway, one of the most interesting aspects of the book is discussion of opposing strategies in the Vietnam anti-war movement, that could help inform animalist debates regarding intersectionality and single-issue campaigns.
Here I should point out that I don't have the book in front of me. It's not available through my local library system and at the moment I'm too cash strapped to buy a copy. So I will be quoting merely from those sections of the memoir available for free online. Also, my knowledge of the organizations involved is limited, so I'm taking it on faith Camejo is portraying the groups accurately. It's a subject I'd like to research more, independently.
"The fewer ideological demands one applies to potential members or participants, the larger your base of support will be..."
![Camejo_gov](https://www.greanvillepost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Camejo_gov-350x233.jpg)
Jon Hochschartner resides in upper New York State.
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