LETTERS EXPOSE ROOTS OF FTT DIVISIONS


By Kimball Cariou

For more than five years, the diverse political left in the Vancouver area has grappled with difficulties arising from the "Fire This Time" organization (FTT) and its complex set of sub-groups, such as Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO). Now, the appalling impact of this group has been exposed by Ivan Drury, one of FTT's original five founders.

     In two letters published in early February, Drury outlines his reasons for leaving FTT, painting a devastating picture of the group's sectarian and divisive role. Two other original members quit in 2005, but Drury's is the first comprehensive analysis published by an insider.

     From the moment FTT emerged in December 2002, it sparked constant sectarian disputes. The founders were expelled at that time from the Anti-Poverty Committee, the anarchist-oriented grassroots movement which organizes in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

     From there, FTT moved into StopWar, the Vancouver anti-war coalition established in the fall of 2002 to build protests against the U.S. drive for war in Iraq. The biggest StopWar rally drew about 40,000 on the historic Feb. 15, 2003 day of global peace actions. But within the coalition, FTT made a determined push for total control, intent on transforming StopWar into a tool to strengthen their own organization. By the fall of 2003, a special meeting of StopWar affiliates voted 24-2 in favour of expelling FTT.

     FTT went on to alienate a wide range of movements: anarchists, Communists, independent left-wingers, social democrats, anti-poverty and anti-war activists, Palestinian solidarity groups, trade unions. For many, the ultimate shock was FTT's support for the shameful extradition of aboriginal activist John Graham, who faces trumped-up murder charges in a U.S. jail.

     But despite such isolation, FTT and its sub-groups kept plastering the city with colourful posters advertising a constant stream of pickets, conferences, film showings, and public forums. Unlike most left groups, they receive regular media attention, especially from the local free dailies.

     The FTT monopolized control of a few important areas of political activity, such as the local campaign to win freedom for the Cuban Five. But their divisive and bullying actions have driven increasing numbers of progressives to simply avoid FTT-sponsored events.

     The natural question has been, "if this group is so destructive, how can they maintain such a high level of activity?"

     Now, Drury's letters help answer this question. Drury played a major role in all FTT efforts for four years, until deciding in early 2007 to break away, a process which took months. Now, he hopes "to stand accountable for the many irresponsible and destructive things I am responsible for having done when I was a member of these groups."

     In a letter to the public, he outlines his reasons for leaving FTT, apologizes for the damage he helped inflict, and presents his current beliefs.

     "From my feeling that the activist community was too insular and too much of it self-satisfied, I was able to draw conclusions that I now see as bitterly sectarian," he writes, discussing the FTT's sweeping condemnation of the so-called "Status Quo Left", which in their view includes all other left forces.

     "From this program," he writes, "flowed an endless string of justifications on the part of FTT - from ultra-centralist, abusive internal dynamics to petty disrespectful conduct towards other leftists, to profoundly sectarian sabotage acts... FTT has never involved itself in a coalition or founded a committee or worked on a project or written an article or taken on a campaign or done anything for any reason other than for the purpose of cadre building."

     The public letter concludes that "sectarianism and hollow sloganeering is a cancer in our movement." He calls for the "complete dissolution of FTT ... and for the freeing of the membership to do important work within the left as it exists in Canada."

     A second letter addresses the Youth Third World Alliance, a key FTT sub-group, whose members are not allowed any contact with Drury. This letter explains the FTT methods of recruiting and manipulating young members, and urges them to reject the absolute control exercised by leader Ali Yerevani, one of the two remaining founders. The shocking details of this control are nauseating, to say the least.

     Two points in Drury's lengthy analysis are worth noting in this publication. At one point, he argues that "Stalinized Communist Parties" no longer "command the support of hundreds of thousands and millions of workers in imperialist countries." From an avowed Trotskyist, this is not a surprising statement, but unfortunately such phrases play into the hands of anti-Communists. Given his admitted destructive past, Drury would do well to steer clear of sectarian criticisms; in fact, he is in no position to hand out any advice to others on the left.

     Second, after describing the bizarre inner workings of FTT, Drury argues that "merely dismissing their work as simply the machinations of a cult is unfair." It's true that dismissing FTT as a cult explains little, and such attacks may indeed only tighten Yerevani's grip on the remaining members. On the other hand, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck... maybe it's a duck.

     Drury's letters have been widely circulated by email, and can be found on the internet at http://ivandrury.wordpress.com. They make illuminating reading for anyone who has ever asked: "why are there two different anti-war groups in Vancouver these days?"

     (PV editor Kimball Cariou, a founding member of StopWar, lived through the FTT attack on the anti-war coalition.)

Found at: http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/articleprint12/09_LETTERS_EXPOSE_ROOTS_OF_FTT_DIVISIONS.html