[Peace-discuss] State of the anti-war movement

[Ricky Baldwin]

I second the motion!  (In fact, I'd love to go, but I won't be here :-(
...)

Ricky
--- "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu> wrote:

> [I think it would be worthwhile for AWARE to represented at this
> assembly, June 
> 28th and 29th 2008 in Cleveland. --CGE]
> 
> "The only correct demand for the U.S. anti-war movement is for the
> immediate and 
> unconditional withdrawal of all US forces from Iraq."
> 
> 	CPR for the Anti-War Movement
> 	by Ron Jacobs
> 
> It is fair to say that the anti-war movement in the US is moribund. 
> A movement 
> that put a million people in the streets a month before the invasion
> of Iraq in 
> 2003 and has drawn as many as half-a-million protesters to protests
> as recently 
> as January 2007 has failed to mobilize anything even near those
> numbers since 
> then.  Part of this is because of differences among the leadership of
> the two 
> primary anti-war organizations, part of it is because many people
> opposed to the 
> war have put their energies -- however misplaced -- into working for
> Barack 
> Obama, and part of it is attributable to the belief that there is
> nothing one 
> can do to stop the bloody occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.  The
> most recent 
> example of this occurred during the week of March 15th, 2008. 
> Despite the 
> announced intentions of both anti-war organizations to organize some
> kind of 
> national march marking the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq,
> there was 
> no such protest.  Instead, hundreds of cities and towns around the
> country held 
> smaller observances.
> 
> In the wake of the failure to organize a national protest, some folks
> from the 
> US who had formed a coalition following a 2007 international anti-war
> conference 
> in London decided to step outside the existing organizational stasis.
>  They 
> formed a steering committee with the intention of reigniting the
> national 
> movement against the war in the United States.  The primary movers
> behind this 
> effort include members of the American Friends Service Committee
> (AFSC), US 
> Labor Against the War (USLAW), military veterans and individuals with
> decades of 
> experience organizing against imperial war, and representatives of
> numerous 
> local anti-war committees.  Characterizing themselves as the mass
> action wing of 
> the anti-war movement, the steering committee in early spring 2008
> put out a 
> call for a national meeting of anti-war activists and citizens in
> late June of 
> this year -- a call which has been answered by hundreds of
> organizations and 
> individuals from across the US.  Organizing under the name The
> National Assembly 
> to End the Iraq War and Occupation, the steering committee has
> garnered the 
> endorsement of several labor organizations and individuals like Cindy
> Sheehan, 
> Howard Zinn, and Mumia Abu Jamal.  In addition, a multitude of local
> peace and 
> justice organizations, church groups, and student organizations have
> signed on.
> 
> When I asked AFSC organizer and coordinator of the Northeast Ohio
> Anti-War 
> Coalition Greg Coleridge, who along with Marilyn Levin of Greater
> Boston United 
> for Justice with Peace, is one of the national spokespeople for the
> National 
> Assembly, why this conference should be held now, he responded this
> way:
> 
> "The ever-increasing human carnage, economic costs, and desire for US
> military 
> conquest connected to the Iraq war and occupation demand effective
> resistance. 
> There is an urgent need for greater coordination, collaboration and
> cohesion 
> among US anti-war organizations without giving up their own missions
> and 
> identities.  The upcoming elections provide ample opportunities to
> distract 
> attention from the current permanent nature of the war and
> occupation.  Now is 
> the time for anti-war activists and concerned citizens to come
> together and call 
> on the anti-war movement to organize mass actions which communicate
> to the 
> public and pressure elected officials that US troops, bases and
> contractors must 
> leave Iraq immediately."
> 
> It is important to note that there is not a call for a withdrawal
> timetable 
> here.  As Coordinating Committee member Jerry Gordon told me in a
> conversation, 
> the only correct demand for the U.S. anti-war movement is for the
> immediate and 
> unconditional withdrawal of all US forces from Iraq. Furthermore, it
> is assumed 
> that the best way to make this demand is through mass action and a
> unified 
> anti-war movement that utilizes democratic decision-making and
> remains 
> independent of any and all political parties and organizations.  It
> is not the 
> intention of those on the steering committee to supersede UFPJ or
> ANSWER. 
> Indeed, they have the utmost respect for the two organizations and
> the work they 
> have done to this point.  This respect is evident in the fact that
> both 
> organizations have members from their coordinating committees on the
> speakers 
> list for the Assembly.
> 
> The Assembly, which will take place on June 28th and 29th 2008 at the
> Crowne 
> Plaza Hotel in Northeast Cleveland, is open to all.  A five-point
> action plan 
> will be discussed and voted on during the weekend.  Although there
> are several 
> speakers slated for the podium and a number of workshops scheduled,
> there will 
> be ample time for anyone to speak and it is hoped that those who have
> serious 
> ideas on how to organize a movement that will stop this war will
> attend and 
> speak up.  As Greg Coleridge put it in an email to me, "I see the
> Assembly as a 
> collective facilitator -- enabling the many different voices against
> the war to 
> coalesce and create a massive roar to force an immediate end to the
> war and 
> occupation."  He continued, hoping that a "greater trust" can be
> developed among 
> those working to end the war.  As for concrete outcomes, he said the
> organizers 
> "hope that Assembly attendees will agree to urge that the broad
> anti-war 
> movement unite in calling for mass actions this year and next."
> 
> Reminding me that the vast majority of people in the US oppose the
> war and 
> occupation, Coleridge explained why he believes mass action is not
> only 
> important but essential.  "Unfortunately," he wrote in an email. 
> "the US 
> Constitution doesn't permit national initiatives or referendums."  If
> it did, he 
> "believe(s) most people today would vote for a federal initiative
> calling to end 
> the Iraq war, bring US troops home, close military bases, and end
> funding beyond 
> required to transport the troops back."  Coleridge continued,
> explaining that 
> "Organized mass street actions have played a historically important
> role in 
> producing social change in this country.  A government that ignores
> public 
> opinion and mass mobilizations loses credibility, authenticity, and
> legitimacy. 
>   No government can effectively govern without support from the
> majority of its 
> citizens.  A vast majority of people oppose the war and occupation. 
> The 
> anti-war movement has a responsibility to provide forums where those
> feelings 
> can be expressed.  National and coordinated mass action is certainly
> not the 
> only strategy required to end the Iraq war and occupation.  Over the
> last couple 
> of years, however, it is a strategy that has not been utilized for
> maximum 
> effect.  That must change."
> 
> Conference speakers include Jonathan Hutto, Navy Petty Officer,
> author of 
> Anti-War Soldier and Co-Founder of Appeal for Redress; Donna Dewitt,
> president 
> of the South Carolina AFL-CIO; Cindy Sheehan (by satellite); Colia
> Clark, long 
> time civil rights activist; Fred Mason, President of the Maryland
> AFL-CIO and 
> National Co-Convenor of USLAW; Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater:
> The Rise of 
> the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army; and Clarence Thomas,
> Executive Board 
> member, ILWU Local 10, the trade union that initiated the May 1
> one-day strike 
> that closed all U.S. West Coast ports from Canada to Mexico.
> 
> For information and to register for the National Assembly, please go
> to their 
> website at www.natassembly.org or call 216-736-4704.
> 
> Ron Jacobs is author of The Way the Wind Blew: A History of the
> Weather 
> Underground (republished by Verso). His first novel, Short Order
> Frame Up, is 
> published by Mainstay Press. He can be reached at
> <rjacobs3625 at charter.net>.
> URL: mrzine.monthlyreview.org/jacobs210508.html
> 
> 	###
> 
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