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Yes David, you did just that.
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<div class="">You wrote on the costs of war, focusing on the loss of health services, loss of infrastructure which if we dealt with would create jobs, alternative energy creates jobs, loss of funding for education for all, not just the wealthy, loss of housing
for many, etc., etc. due to military spending. </div>
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<div class="">Making “money” issues more relevant to Americans is what we talked about, and planned. First with the Costs of War Panel, and then with the Anti-War Teach In. I hope someone picks up where we left off, as Harry has suggested and continues……
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<div class="">Did I accuse you of IP? </div>
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<div class="">No, David I did not. I didn’t accuse you of anything in relation to these articles. I just don’t accept what the 3 authors posted as “hopeful,” especially Phillis Bennis whose analysis was clearly off. Is she like so many others now so impoverished
by our system of capitalism and squeezing members of society, that she is afraid to offend power? </div>
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<div class="">I agreed totally with the article you provided by Andrew Bacevich, though I think many Americans are really "just too busy surviving” to involve themselves in the anti-war movement. Though with Trump in power, we now, when demonstrating against
war, get a lot of positive response, much more than ever before. </div>
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<div class="">Trumps provocations against N. Korea have a lot of people I communicate with frightened of NK. I do have to explain that the fear, and solutions are on the part of our own government, something Bennis failed to do. </div>
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<div class="">On Oct 11, 2017, at 11:25, David Johnson <<a href="mailto:davidjohnson1451@comcast.net" class="">davidjohnson1451@comcast.net</a>> wrote:</div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Karen,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">I don’t see this as “blame the anti-war movement” for not arousing more public concern over war. But instead a VERY accurate analysis and plans to make the war more relevant to more Americans.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Isn’t that what we have talked about ?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">I know that is why I wrote my recent article “ The Hidden Costs of War “, and that article only touched upon money issues, not other issues like – loss of civil liberties / right to privacy, as well as police militarization
and the subsequent murders by police of unarmed citizens. Or do you lump that under the category of “ identity politics “ ??? <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">None of the authors said<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;" class="">““The Anti-War Movement needs to care more for racial and economic injustice”</span><o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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<o:p class=""> </o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">It is all interconnected and emphasis needs to be on how to show that these imperialist wars of U.S. 1% corporate aggression indirectly and directly effects Americans, ESPECIALLY Working class Americans.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class=""><a href="http://inthesetimes.com/community/profile/322171" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">Phyllis Bennis</a></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">To strengthen all our movements, we must also understand that militarism is a key cause of domestic crises: Military spending strips funds from the social safety net; excess Pentagon equipment sent to local police departments
militarizes our communities; Islamophobia rises in response to wars abroad; militarism’s outsized carbon footprint threatens us all. The Movement for Black Lives, the new Poor People’s Campaign, various environmental and economic justice organizations, and
many others already recognize this.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">We in the anti-war movement must do better in getting accessible information and analysis—on the human, environmental and economic costs of war and militarism, and the integral links between war and racism—into the hands
of today’s resistance. <o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class=""><a href="http://inthesetimes.com/community/profile/322171" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">Vijay Prashad</a></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Call for the conversion of military industrialism into a peace economy not rooted in arms sales.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Such a concrete platform would find broad agreement across the American Left. Unity in action should be possible if we are able to set aside—for now—the debates around Syria and Venezuela. The American Left, weak beyond
measure, can be strengthened by taking a strong class position against the warfare state—one that not only itches to sell arms and bomb countries abroad, but then turns these same weapons on its own people.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class=""><a href="http://inthesetimes.com/community/profile/322171" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">Ali Issa</a></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Just as we need not choose between “domestic” and “global” concerns, but rather must see them as intertwined, we need not choose between a focus on U.S. empire and regional dictatorships, as ultimately each relies on
the other. The deeper question is: Can we step back from our insistence on a U.S. focus, allow others the spotlight and see an internationalist vision through?<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">You are correct that a connection to capitalism should be shown, but that would need an entirely separate article in my opinion.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">David J.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<b class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;" class="">From:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;" class=""><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Karen Aram [<a href="mailto:karenaram@hotmail.com" class="">mailto:karenaram@hotmail.com</a>]<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br class="">
<b class="">Sent:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Monday, October 09, 2017 9:23 PM<br class="">
<b class="">To:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>David Johnson<br class="">
<b class="">Cc:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net" class="">peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net</a><br class="">
<b class="">Subject:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Re: [Peace-discuss] A counter balance of hope to the previous article I posted<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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I don’t see this as “hope.” I see it as “blame the anti-war movement” for not arousing more public concern over war. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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One statement “The Anti-War Movement needs to care more for racial and economic injustice” is rather telling. Placing the focus on domestic issues, which are tied to our wars, and won’t be solved unless we end our wars.<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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Most, like the authors of these articles, make no attempt to address the “root” of the problem which encompasses all of the injustice referred to, that is “our system of capitalism." “Reform” is not a solution. <o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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At least focus on war, if one really researches the subject, prevents any illusions that “elections” or “candidates” with our two party system, will bring about change. It educates one as to “why” we have wars, and it becomes inescapable, that “imperialism”
is the reason, and cannot be eradicated within a capitalistic system. <o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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On Oct 9, 2017, at 09:11, David Johnson via Peace-discuss <<a href="mailto:peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net</a>> wrote:<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">The U.S. Is Bombing at Least Six Countries. How Can the Anti-War Movement Step Up?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">A discussion of the future of the peace movement.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">October 5, 2017 | October Issue</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class=""><a href="http://inthesetimes.com/community/profile/322171" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">Phyllis Bennis</a></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Time for the Anti-War Movement to Throw Down for Racial and Economic Justice</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Why peace activists must look beyond our own movement.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">When the United States threatened to bomb Syria in 2013, an outpouring of public opposition helped stop the Obama administration from launching a new air war.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">But this success also transformed existing disagreement over the conflict among anti-war organizers into bitter debates. Activists disputed the nature of the Assad regime and Syria’s domestic opposition forces; they diverged
on what to do about ISIS, the neighboring countries and their militia proxies, and intervention by global powers. The intense intra-movement battle involved only a small cohort of people, largely on social media. But, while both sides agreed on many things,
the feud derailed the rise of a unified and internationalist anti-war movement—a movement that would focus on<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i class="">ending</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>the Syrian wars, rather than urging victory
for a preferred side.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Of course, the movement’s mission extends beyond Syria. Anyone monitoring U.S. wars today is whipsawed as military crises—along with U.S. drones, bombers, troops, weapons and more—bounce from continent to continent, target
to target. Iraq to Syria, North Korea to Yemen, Iran to Afghanistan, the Philippines to Somalia. Ending those lethal wars demands our urgent attention even as Charlottesville, Flint and Standing Rock continue to claim our time, commitment and passion.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">An independent anti-war movement, especially a divided one, cannot take this on alone. Challenging the wars abroad, while at the same time addressing domestic crises, requires that we focus on building a larger, broader
people’s movement in which the struggle against war and militarism is inextricably linked to the fight against racism, for equality, for the Earth and for justice.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">During the George W. Bush years, the movement achieved significant victories, most notably the Feb. 15, 2003, global mobilization against the Iraq War. This may not have prevented the U.S. invasion, but it created a model
for what a truly international protest could look like, helped keep Bush from attacking Iran and later helped inspire the 2011 overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">When Barack Obama was elected, some activists believed that with a supposedly anti-war president, they could move on. In addition, the economic crisis meant that many more people faced newly desperate circumstances, necessitating
a greater focus on urgent domestic issues, including housing, jobs and healthcare.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">The movement strategized on how to respond. Should we focus on rebuilding an independent movement? Or prioritize building an anti-war component into other progressive movements? Supporters of the first idea won the debate,
and produced some powerful short-term mobilizations. But subsequent movement-building efforts failed to sufficiently respond to the new political conditions. People of color and (excepting veterans) younger people were still underrepresented, and the movement
still failed to sufficiently link militarism to the economic and racial justice campaigns on which younger activists had cut their political teeth.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">This is why we must build on the vision of Martin Luther King Jr., who, in his 1967 “Beyond Vietnam” speech, called for a unified movement against “the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism”—adding,
as Dr. King surely would have, protection of the planet.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Yet, we still must figure out the dynamics of particular conflicts to determine how—and convince others why—to end specific wars. Today’s wars are vastly more complex than U.S. interventions during the Cold War. In those
years, many activists supported “the other side”—the National Liberation Front in Vietnam, the African National Congress in South Africa, the Sandinistas and the FMLN in Central America. It’s more difficult to ground our movements in international solidarity
when “the other side” is composed of fighters we don’t support, who hold anti-democratic, extremist religious, misogynist or other reactionary views. We still have progressive counterparts—the Iraqi oil workers union, some Syrian opposition activists and more—but
they’re not the ones engaged on the battlefield.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Here, we can learn from the strong anti-war movement following the 9/11 attacks. The two big coalitions—United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) and ANSWER—divided over organizing strategy and whether to criticize the Saddam
Hussein government. The broader of the two, UFPJ—powerfully anti-war but willing to criticize Hussein—grew far more influential, partly because its more nuanced position encouraged engaging a wider range of domestic and international organizations.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Today, we must ensure that opposing U.S. intervention in Syria does not blind us to Bashar al-Assad’s legacy of torture and collaboration with other U.S. wars, just as we have to acknowledge that however progressive and
indeed heroic the original protest movement of Syria’s Arab Spring, the majority of those now engaged in armed anti-regime fighting are not those progressive heroes. While activists facing brutal repression in Syria or Libya or elsewhere may call for U.S.
intervention, we must not uncritically accept that call.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Similarly, we have to recognize that Washington’s continued violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, requiring it to move toward full nuclear disarmament, is a major reason North Korea is so determined to produce nuclear
weapons of its own. At the same time, we must insist that Kim Jong-Un’s threats are unacceptable.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">To strengthen all our movements, we must also understand that militarism is a key cause of domestic crises: Military spending strips funds from the social safety net; excess Pentagon equipment sent to local police departments
militarizes our communities; Islamophobia rises in response to wars abroad; militarism’s outsized carbon footprint threatens us all. The Movement for Black Lives, the new Poor People’s Campaign, various environmental and economic justice organizations, and
many others already recognize this.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">We in the anti-war movement must do better in getting accessible information and analysis—on the human, environmental and economic costs of war and militarism, and the integral links between war and racism—into the hands
of today’s resistance. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class=""><a href="http://inthesetimes.com/community/profile/322171" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">Vijay Prashad</a></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">We Must Find Common Ground Without Giving In to Liberal Interventionists</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">An effective anti-war movement's first priority must be stopping U.S. imperialism.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Phyllis writes with characteristic sense and sensitivity about the dilemmas of the U.S. anti-war movement. She is right that the current conjuncture is quite different than that of the Cold War. Then, there was a clearer
sense of international solidarity—in the U.S. wars and coups of that period, the U.S. Left could find progressive allies. No such easy solidarity is possible today. Comparing the two eras, there is a wide gulf between Algeria’s FLN and al-Qaeda, between El
Salvador’s FMLN and Mexican drug gangs. A great deal of confusion reigns.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">As Phyllis notes, the Western Left tore itself apart over Syria. One section sees the Assad government as the enemy, while another sees that government as the victim of imperialist attack. But the vast bulk of Western
leftists fall between these two poles, in part because they do not know how to understand the Syrian war. The imperialist media has confounded judgment, offering a theory of humanitarian intervention that clouds over previous certainty about the wrongness
of imperialist wars of aggression. It is this bewilderment and insecurity that has led to fratricidal debates.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">We saw evidence of the American anti-war movement’s weakness at the Women’s March, where few anti-war positions took center stage. There have been marches against the Muslim Ban and for science, but no comparable march
against U.S. bombings in Syria and Iraq, U.S. arms delivery to Saudi Arabia for its brutal war on Yemen, and U.S. escalation in Afghanistan. The liberal wing of the resistance to Trump is simply disoriented when it comes to war, having been associated with
the Democratic Party’s wars during the Obama years. It has surrendered to liberal interventionism and the war machine.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">If a serious anti-war movement is to be part of the new resistance to Trump, it would have to come from the Left. But this is not possible given that this Left is not only weak but fractured. The divides are old—the American
Left has been arguing about Cuba, for instance, since 1959, and some continue to believe the country’s government is a state capitalist system that should be removed. Infighting has prevented the American Left from uniting around a clear anti-imperialist platform—one
that centers the violence wrought by the U.S. government.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">But there ought to be agreement on some core issues that could unite the Left and rejuvenate the anti-war movement:</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">• Reduction of the military budget.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">• Freeze on U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia and Israel.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">• Reduction of the U.S. military footprint through bases and naval expansion.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">• Call for an investigation of civilian casualties by U.S. bombings and U.S.-backed militias from Afghanistan to Syria.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">• End to the CIA secret arming of reactionary forces across the Third World.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">• Call for the conversion of military industrialism into a peace economy not rooted in arms sales.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Such a concrete platform would find broad agreement across the American Left. Unity in action should be possible if we are able to set aside—for now—the debates around Syria and Venezuela. The American Left, weak beyond
measure, can be strengthened by taking a strong class position against the warfare state—one that not only itches to sell arms and bomb countries abroad, but then turns these same weapons on its own people.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class=""><a href="http://inthesetimes.com/community/profile/322171" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">Ali Issa</a></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">The U.S. Anti-War Movement Must Reject a U.S.-Centric View of the World</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">We don't have to choose between U.S. empire and regional dictatorships—activists on the ground are fighting for a better alternative.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Phyllis and Vijay’s reflections on how to rebuild the U.S. anti-war movement couldn’t come at a better time. In the wake of Trump’s recent announcement that he plans to send more troops to Afghanistan, and his escalation
of U.S. bombings in several other countries, one wonders: Is there an anti-war movement at all?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Phyllis and Vijay rightly perceive a lack of large-scale political work against U.S. militarism. Both point to debates around Syria and other conflicts, and suggest areas of common ground. Engaging these debates is essential.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">But I would like to offer another reason for the movement’s absence: Many in the anti-war Left fall prey to an inverted form of U.S. exceptionalism, in which U.S.-caused harm is so central to our messaging, analysis and
strategy that little room remains for the agency of people in other parts of the world, or the solutions they could offer.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Growing up in an Iraqi-American household in the 1990s—a period when military attacks and crippling sanctions on Iraq provided frequent reminders of U.S. cruelty—I’ve long been aware of the harmful role the United States
plays in the world. It wasn’t until 2014, however, that I discovered the work that Iraqi organizations on the ground were doing to respond to the skyrocketing number of birth defects linked to radiation from U.S. munitions in the northern town of Hawija. I
spoke to local leaders over Skype, and learned how, through fundraising, lobbying the Iraqi government and building global awareness, they were able to open a needed treatment clinic. They were also organizing against both right-wing movements linked to ISIS
and anti-woman laws backed by the neighboring government of Iran. This helped me understand that, while the liberation Iraqis were working toward depended on what we did here in the United States, we were also completing a much broader picture together—one
that involves building alternatives that could someday replace U.S. (and regional) hegemonies. This understanding honestly changed my life.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Going forward, deepening our internationalist engagements is necessary in opposing U.S.—indeed all—militarism. Though it takes effort, grounding strategic campaigns in the lived experience of those on the front lines
provides the accountability and inspiration we need. The Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ), in its opposition to U.S. support of repression abroad, highlights the legacy of Berta Cáceres, a remarkable indigenous leader assassinated in the fallout from
the U.S.-backed coup in Honduras eight years ago. GGJ has educated people in the United States on the Honduran indigenous land-protector movement of which Cáceres was part, pushed for Congress to suspend U.S. security assistance to the Honduran military and
police, and helped build in-person relationships between U.S. grassroots organizers and Honduran activists. Bringing this lesson to Syria, how very different would our relationship to that war be if our analysis began with the popular 2011 movement for freedom
and justice that was crushed by the Assad regime?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">These are not easy questions, but as Vijay acknowledges, these debates aren’t new. Anti-war organizers have been navigating this terrain for decades. In 1982, for example, the U.S.-based Campaign for Peace and Democracy
was founded to support dissidents working for human rights in the Soviet Bloc.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Just as we need not choose between “domestic” and “global” concerns, but rather must see them as intertwined, we need not choose between a focus on U.S. empire and regional dictatorships, as ultimately each relies on
the other. The deeper question is: Can we step back from our insistence on a U.S. focus, allow others the spotlight and see an internationalist vision through?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""> <o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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