Marx and the War essays

Marx and the War essays The United States invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq, and the world- wide protests against these actions provides fertile material for sociological analysis, specifically from the perspective of conflict theory. Recent media attention given to the March 20th protests here in the United States and around the world, specifically an article by CNN will provide a template for a critical sociological analysis. As critical theory depends so much on the foundation laid by Karl Marx I will focus my analysis on, first a Classical Marxist analysis, then explain how it is inadequate and turn to a Neo-Marxist Perspective, then finishing with a Post- Marxist explanation of the war, occupation and the protest movements and the theoretical issues they raise The article I chose is entitled Americans Demonstrate For, Against War. It summarizes protests in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington DC and Los Angeles and reports on both the pro-war and anti war-activists. According to the article more than 200,000 people marched in New York City, and reported policed violence through the use of pepper spray and violent activist behavior. The article also focused on the pro-war marchers in Chicago, and their support for the troops and President Bushs policies. The protest in Washington, like the protest in New York City took place within a sanctioned barricade and reports that the police in Washington DC and the protesters had a stand off when the demonstrators departed from the route set out in their parade permit. CNN also reported that many of the protesters, specifically in Los Angeles protested the media coverage of the war. Participants carried signs reading CNN Weapons of mass deception and CNN-Censorship Cable Network. I will highlight the protests as outlined in the article as a communicative action, as well as the concerns of a delineate...