[Peace-discuss] Fwd: WAR TIMES: History, Evaluation, Lessons, Future

[Al Kagan]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: distribution at war-times.org
> Date: December 3, 2004 3:28:34 PM CST
> To: <akagan at uiuc.edu>
> Subject: WAR TIMES: History, Evaluation, Lessons, Future
>
> X-RecID=4218
>
> WAR TIMES: History, Evaluation, Lessons, Future
>
> From the War Times/Tiempo de Guerras Organizing Committee
> December 2004
>
> You are receiving this message because of your past support and/or 
> work with War Times/Tiempo de Guerras.
>
> War Times/Tiempo de Guerras, a nationwide, free, bilingual (Spanish 
> and English), antiwar newspaper, produced 19 issues (distributing 
> roughly 100,000 copies of each) between February 2002 and the 
> suspension of publication in October 2004.
>
> Below the War Times/Tiempo de Guerras Organizing Committee reviews the 
> paper’s origins, purpose, and activities, and then presents some 
> lessons we have learned from this experience and our future plans.
>
>
> ORIGINS AND PURPOSE
>
> War Times/Tiempo de Guerras was initiated in fall 2001 following a 
> series of ad hoc workshops, “Radicals of All Generations” meetings, 
> and forums involving several hundred San Francisco Bay Area activists. 
> These discussions did not focus on the need for a newspaper. Rather, 
> they centered on the sweeping character of the “permanent war on 
> terrorism” and the urgency of building broad opposition, especially 
> among constituencies who would be most impacted by the post-9/11 
> escalation of militarism, racism, repression and anti-immigrant 
> assaults.
>
> As these gatherings proceeded, an inter-generational, majority people 
> of color group of a dozen activists decided to try to launch an 
> antiwar newspaper. We envisioned the publication as taking advantage 
> of a new “EDUCATIONAL MOMENT” to reach people - especially but not 
> exclusively in working class, people of color and immigrant 
> communities - who were open to an antiwar message but not (necessarily 
> yet) in the antiwar camp. We believed that reaching this crucial 
> audience required a vehicle that could be BROUGHT TO THEM (via free 
> distribution of printed matter) rather than requiring them to come to 
> us. We hoped to provide an educational/organizing tool for antiwar 
> activists, and through them, an ENTRYWAY for new people into the 
> antiwar movement, thus complementing the many other antiwar projects 
> then taking shape. We also hoped to contribute to unity and better 
> morale among existing antiwar organizations by providing an 
> attractive, accessible and visible outreach tool utilized by a broad 
> and inclusive network.
>
> In January 2002 we drafted a prospectus outlining our objectives, 
> signed on a broad array of well-known endorsers, and began work on a 
> pilot issue. (For the text of the prospectus, list of endorsers, 
> on-line versions of War Times/Tiempo de Guerras’ issues and other 
> materials, go to www.war-times.org).
>
> Our initial plan was to print 10,000 copies of War Times/Tiempo de 
> Guerras’ pilot issue and distribute them in the Bay Area, with the 
> hope that eventually distribution could go national. However, shortly 
> before we went to press we sent the prospectus out over the internet 
> and within a week orders came in from all over the country for a total 
> of 70,000 copies. By February when our pilot came off the press there 
> was a network of several hundred individuals and organizations eager 
> to distribute the paper. This network included many community-based 
> organizations whose main focus was not on antiwar activism but who 
> wanted to utilize War Times/Tiempo de Guerras to educate their 
> membership and base about the real agenda of the “war on terrorism” 
> and the links between international, national and domestic issues. We 
> began regular publication in April 2002.
>
>
> KEY FEATURES OF WAR TIMES/TIEMPO DE GUERRAS
>
> The content and appearance of War Times/Tiempo de Guerras were 
> designed to reach our prime audience with accurate, timely and 
> accessible information and analysis. The paper utilized short articles 
> (800 words maximum, and most pieces were much shorter), photographs, 
> drawings, and cartoons to get our message across. We strongly 
> emphasized putting a HUMAN FACE on those most impacted by militarism, 
> racism and repression, and on featuring VOICES AND IMAGES FROM 
> TARGETED, DISPOSSESSED COMMUNITIES at home and abroad. We did our best 
> to make sure all the paper’s reporting was fact-based and clearly 
> sourced, with reference to recognized national and international news 
> sources.
>
> War Times/Tiempo de Guerras made a point of consistently linking 
> domestic and international issues, and from the outset stressed the 
> urgency of building support for Palestinian national rights as an 
> integral part of fighting the “war on terrorism.” The paper gave 
> special stress to combating the racism intertwined with all aspects of 
> Bush’s “war on terrorism” agenda. War Times/Tiempo de Guerras’ 
> BILINGUAL CHARACTER was a crucial aspect of the paper. This made the 
> paper available to Spanish readers and also made it crystal clear that 
> this newspaper was extremely racially conscious about its readership 
> and its vision of the make-up of an antiwar movement.
>
> Indicating War Times/Tiempo de Guerras’ quality, two of our stories 
> were named by the award-winning media research group Project Censored 
> to their list of the 25 Top Censored Stories of 2003.
>
> As we spread word about this new effort – mainly via e-mail – more and 
> more individuals and organizations stepped forward to become 
> distributors. From our first issue the paper reached readers in ALL 50 
> STATES, WASHINGTON, D.C. AND PUERTO RICO via the efforts of more than 
> 700 individuals and groups. Roughly 40 percent of our average press 
> run of 100,000 copies was utilized by distributors rooted in immigrant 
> and people of color communities. Another 30 percent were distributed 
> on sociologically diverse college campuses and high schools, many by 
> bilingual education teachers who used the paper both inside and 
> outside their classrooms.
>
> The final 30 percent were handed out by labor activists and mainly 
> white peace and faith-based groups. Distributors in smaller cities and 
> towns and rural areas from Texas and Nebraska to New Hampshire and 
> upstate Minnesota found War Times/Tiempo de Guerras especially useful, 
> since otherwise many of these areas lacked any other antiwar media 
> presence.
>
> Printing and shipping so many copies of a newspaper was expensive - 
> about $15,000 per issue. For funds we RELIED MAINLY ON GRASSROOTS 
> INDIVIDUAL DONORS, who provided close to 60% of this project’s income. 
> Another 20% came from unions and other social justice organizations, 
> the final 20% from foundations. We had the rare pleasure of gaining 
> immediate and meaningful feedback on the usefulness of the paper as 
> its continued existence was literally dependent upon thousands of 
> dollars in small donations showing up in our mailbox each week, and on 
> hundreds of volunteers (few of whom we ever met) requesting bundles 
> issue after issue.
>
> War Times/Tiempo de Guerras was overwhelmingly a VOLUNTEER-BASED 
> project. Some 30-35 people contributed regularly to our Editorial 
> (including translation and art/design), Production, Fundraising, 
> Administration, and Distribution-Coordination committees. A number of 
> these individuals were not located in the Bay Area. Only our Managing 
> Editor received a full-time salary. We also gave our National 
> Distribution Coordinator a part-time stipend in the last year.
>
> Policy for the project was set by a 12-member Organizing Committee 
> consisting of the people who did the most consistent work on the paper 
> and were prepared to take overall responsibility for the effort. 
> Though among us there were a wide array of views on many political 
> questions, and we came from different political backgrounds, we shared 
> an unusual degree of unity around the goals and approach of this 
> particular project. This allowed decision-making to be decentralized 
> and enabled us to carry out our work with an absolute minimum of 
> meetings.
>
>
> ACTIVITIES: FEBRUARY 2002-OCTOBER 2004
>
> The centerpiece of War Times/Tiempo de Guerras’ work was publishing 
> and distributing the paper itself. Circulation peaked at 125,000 for 
> three issues appearing just before and after Washington’s March 2003 
> invasion of Iraq. Demand for the paper was also above our overall 
> average right after its launch, when antiwar voices were all but 
> totally excluded from the mainstream media and War Times/Tiempo de 
> Guerras played a unique role in offering (and modeling) an accessible 
> antiwar message.
>
> Supplementing this project’s core activity, we also:
>
> *Launched and maintained a War Times/Tiempo de Guerras website 
> (www.war-times.org), which contained downloadable copies of each 
> regular issue as well as other outreach materials (in particular 
> bilingual flyers in downloadable PDF-file format) and links to other 
> useful sites;
>
> *Provided articles from War Times/Tiempo de Guerras to other 
> publications for reprinting, a service used extensively especially by 
> the Spanish language community press.
>
> *Established an e-mail Announcement List which grew to include 8,000 
> people who opted to join;
>
> *Played a role in helping organize and sustain the nationwide UNITED 
> FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE coalition, with one of our Organizing Committee 
> members elected as a National Co-Chair and another serving as 
> Organizing Director on the UFPJ national staff;
>
> **Played an initial but then receding role in the Racial Justice 911 
> National Network, with two of our members on the steering committee 
> and one as national coordinator.
>
> *Built a network of financial supporters, allowing us to RAISE OVER 
> $400,000 since February 2002, about 60% of which came in small amounts 
> from individual donors.
>
> In spring 2004, War Times/Tiempo de Guerras began to experience severe 
> financial strain even though our distribution remained intact. Our 
> donor base was putting its resources into other projects. In part this 
> was because Washington’s policy in Iraq and elsewhere was now being 
> challenged by a much wider array of voices, and in part this reflected 
> the unprecedented resources progressive people were pouring into 
> election-related initiatives. By October we lacked the funds to put 
> out another issue. We announced that we were suspending publication 
> for the time being and would take another look at options for moving 
> forward after the November election. (See www.war-times.org for the 
> text of our announcement.)
>
>
> LESSONS FROM THIS PROJECT, LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
>
> Looking back on these three intense years of antiwar activism, our 
> Organizing Committee believes War Times/Tiempo de Guerras’ experience 
> is rich in lessons for the urgent work that still lies ahead:
>
> 1. The framework of a post-9/11 EDUCATIONAL MOMENT – during which 
> millions were thinking anew about the U.S. role in the world – was a 
> valuable insight and crucial to War Times/Tiempo de Guerras so quickly 
> finding a large audience. And in our opinion, the antiwar movement 
> still faces the challenge – and opportunity – of reaching truly large 
> numbers of people with information, analysis and historical 
> background. Print media can be one of the most valuable tools in our 
> outreach efforts because it allows us to BRING OUR MESSAGE TO OTHERS 
> rather than wait for people to come to us. Thinking and acting 
> LARGE-SCALE is vital: War Times/Tiempo de Guerras’ reach of 
> 100,000-plus was a good start but we must get to the point where our 
> antiwar, anti-racist message gets put consistently in front of a much 
> larger audience.
>
> 2. We believe it was important to aim War Times/Tiempo de Guerras 
> especially at the CONSTITUENCIES MOST IMPACTED by the “war on 
> terrorism.” These sectors - communities of color, immigrant 
> communities, the Arab and Muslim populations, workers and poor people 
> – were and are most opposed to the Bush agenda and crucial for 
> building a powerful and stable antiwar movement. Of course other 
> sectors often could and did run ahead of these constituencies in terms 
> of visible activism (especially attendance at demonstrations) and the 
> potential of each of these must also be tapped to the full: students 
> and youth, women, the peace and civil liberties communities, 
> progressive religious sector, environmental activists. Also, War 
> Times/Tiempo de Guerras made a point of featuring the voices of 
> VETERANS, MILITARY FAMILIES AND ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY PERSONNEL WHO ARE 
> OPPOSED TO THE WAR; these have a unique role to play and amplifying 
> their voices is a priority for the entire antiwar movement.
>
> 3. Feedback from readers consistently emphasized that stressing the 
> LINKAGES between different aspects of the “war on terrorism” was a key 
> strength of War Times/Tiempo de Guerras. Our editorial policy 
> considered the INTIMATE CONNECTION BETWEEN RACISM AND WAR to be the 
> most vital link to hone in on. It was also important to keep the 
> connections between the INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC COMPONENTs of the 
> Bush administration’s war program in view, and to incorporate support 
> for PALESTINIAN NATIONAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS into ongoing antiwar 
> education and mobilization.
>
> 4. We learned that effectively getting our message across required 
> speaking to people on many levels, in different ways and in different 
> languages, in a non-preachy, non-didactic manner. Besides providing 
> historical background, basic information and analysis of week-to-week 
> events, it is vital to put a HUMAN FACE on the victims of US policies 
> – in particular to combat demonization of “the other” - and also to 
> promote VOICES FROM TARGETED, DISPOSSESSED AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES 
> at home and abroad. War Times/Tiempo de Guerras’ BILINGUAL CHARACTER 
> was of central importance to this project and ongoing production of 
> materials in Spanish and other languages seems to us an ongoing 
> priority for the antiwar movement.
>
> 5. Both our efforts to get War Times/Tiempo de Guerras distributed as 
> widely as possible and our involvement in mobilizations/campaigns have 
> reinforced our view that a BROAD COALITION APPROACH and special 
> efforts to provide a WELCOMING SPACE FOR NEW PEOPLE must be 
> cornerstones of the antiwar effort. Our eyes must be on building a 
> movement with the support of millions of people holding diverse views.
>
> 6. War Times/Tiempo de Guerras’ rapid expansion to reach tens of 
> thousands of readers, and also the financial difficulties which forced 
> suspension of publication this October, have underscored the point 
> that the antiwar movement needs STRONG, WELL-RESOURCED, AND 
> BROAD-BASED INSTITUTIONS/COALITIONS/ORGANIZATIONS.  These are 
> essential to educate, mobilize and conduct ongoing action campaigns on 
> a truly large scale. At the present time, we see building on the 
> accomplishments of UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE (UFPJ) and 
> strengthening UFPJ’s capacity in all areas as especially important.
>
> Looking ahead, we plan to continue producing bilingual outreach 
> materials with the same political character, target audience, and 
> editorial mix as War Times/Tiempo de Guerras. We do not have – and 
> cannot foresee attaining in the immediate future – the funds to 
> continue as an in-print free tabloid. But with current technology we 
> can post leaflets and flyers on the web, and these can be downloaded 
> and reproduced for hand-to-hand distribution by organizers (as well as 
> forward via e-mail). We hope to cooperate with UFPJ and/or other 
> organizations/coalitions in crafting the most useful content and 
> maximizing distribution.
>
> We are eager to hear your ideas about this evaluation and plan. Please 
> send us your thoughts via the contact addresses below. It has been a 
> privilege to work with so many dedicated antiwar activists across the 
> country who - under tremendously difficult circumstances - have turned 
> peace sentiment into a powerful force in U.S. politics. We look 
> forward to further work together with you as the urgent struggle for 
> peace and justice continues.
>
> War Times/Tiempo de Guerras Organizing Committee
> c/o EBC, 1230 Market, PMB 409
> San Francisco, CA 94102
>
> -----------------------
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Al Kagan
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61820
USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax 217-333-2214
akagan at uiuc.edu
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