[Peace-discuss] Silence of the Antiwar Movement

[C. G. Estabrook]

"No wonder UFPJ is essentially closing shop, bereft of most of their 
contributions and shriveling up ... Obama is an enormous gift to the Empire. 
Just as he has silenced most of the single-payer movement, an effort 
characterized by its superb scholarship exceeded only by its timidity, Obama has 
shut down the antiwar movement, completely in thrall as it is to the Democrat 
Party and Identity  Politics."

	August 26, 2009
	The Silence of the Antiwar Movement is Deafening
	Cindy Sheehan's Lonely Vigil in Obamaland
	By JOHN V. WALSH

Cindy Sheehan will be at Martha’s Vineyard beginning August 25 a short way from 
Obama’s vacation paradise of the celebrity elite but very far from the 
Afghanistan and Pakistan and Iraq where the body bags and cemeteries fill up 
each day as Obama’s wars rage on.    She will remain there from August 25 
through August 29 and has issued a call for all peace activists to join her 
there.  For those of us close by in the New England states and in New York City, 
there would seem to be a special obligation to get to Martha’s Vineyard as soon 
as we can.

A funny thing has happened on Cindy Sheehan’s long road from Crawford, Texas, to 
Martha’s Vineyard.   Many of those who claim to lead the peace movement and who 
so volubly praised her actions in Crawford, TX, are not to be seen.    Nor 
heard.  The silence in fact is deafening, or as Cindy put it in an email to this 
writer, “crashingly deafening.”  Where are the email appeals to join Cindy from 
The Nation or from AFSC or Peace Action or “Progressive” Democrats of America 
(PDA) or even Code Pink?   Or United for Peace and Justice. (No wonder UFPJ is 
essentially closing shop, bereft of most of their contributions and shriveling 
up following the thinly veiled protest behind the “retirement” of Leslie Cagan.) 
   And what about MoveOn although it was long ago thoroughly discredited as 
principled opponents of war or principled in any way shape or form except 
slavish loyalty to the “other” War Party.  And of course sundry “socialist” 
organizations are also missing in action since their particular dogma will not 
be front and center.  These worthies and many others have vanished into the fog 
of Obama’s wars.

Just to be sure, this writer contacted several of the “leaders” of the 
“official” peace movement in the Boston area – AFSC, Peace Action, Green Party 
of MA (aka Green Rainbow Party) and some others.  Not so much as the courtesy of 
a reply resulted from this effort - although the GRP at least posted a notice of 
the action.  (It is entirely possible that some of these organizations might 
mention Cindy’s action late enough and quickly enough so as to cover their 
derrieres while ensuring that  Obama will not be embarrassed by protesting 
crowds.)   We here in the vicinity of Beantown are but a hop, skip and cheap 
ferry ride from Martha’s Vineyard.   Same for NYC.  So we have a special 
obligation to respond to Cindy’s call.

However, not everyone has failed to publicize the event.  The Libertarians at 
Antiwar.com are on the job, and its editor in chief Justin Raimondo wrote a 
superb column Monday on the  hypocritical treatment of Sheehan by the “liberal” 
establishment.  (1)  As Raimondo pointed out, Rush Limbaugh captured the 
hypocrisy of the liberal left in his commentary, thus:

     “Now that she’s headed to Martha’s Vineyard, the State-Controlled Media, 
Charlie Gibson, State-Controlled Anchor, ABC: ‘Enough already.’ Cindy, leave it 
alone, get out, we’re not interested, we’re not going to cover you going to 
Martha’s Vineyard because our guy is president now and you’re just a hassle. 
You’re just a problem. To these people, they never had any true, genuine 
emotional interest in her. She was just a pawn. She was just a woman to be used 
and then thrown overboard once they’re through with her and they’re through with 
her. They don’t want any part of Cindy Sheehan protesting against any war when 
Obama happens to be president."

Limbaugh has their number, just as they have his.  Sometimes it is quite amazing 
how well each of the war parties can spot the other’s hypocrisy. But Cindy 
Sheehan is no one’s dupe; she is a very smart and very determined woman who no 
doubt is giving a lot of White House operatives some very sleepless nights out 
there on the Vineyard.  Good for her.

Obama is an enormous gift to the Empire.  Just as he has silenced most of the 
single-payer movement, an effort characterized by its superb scholarship 
exceeded only by its timidity,  Obama has shut down the antiwar movement, 
completely in thrall as it is to the Democrat Party and Identity  Politics. 
Why exactly the peace movement has caved to Obama is not entirely clear.  Like 
the single-payer movement, it is wracked by spinelessness, brimming with 
reverence for authority and a near insatiable appetite to be “part of the 
crowd.”  Those taken in by Obama’s arguments that the increasingly bloody and 
brutal AfPak war is actually a “war of necessity,” should read Steven Walt’s 
easy demolition of that “argument.” (2) Basically Obama’s logic is the same as 
Bush’s moronic rationale that “We are fighting them over there so we do not have 
to fight them over here.”  There is a potential for “safe havens for 
terrorists,” as the Obamalogues and neocons like to call them, all over the 
world; and no one can possibly believe the US can invade them all.  However, the 
ones which Israel detests or which allow control of oil pipelines or permit 
encirclement of China and Russia will see US troops sooner or later.

The bottom line is that everyone in New England and NYC who is a genuine 
antiwarrior should join the imaginative effort of Cindy Sheehan in Obamaland 
this week and weekend.  We owe it to the many who will otherwise perish at the 
hands of the war parties of Bush and Obama.

1.See: 
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/08/23/war-coverage-and-the-obama-cult/

Or go to Antiwar.com and make a contribution while you are there.  It’s almost 
as good as CounterPunch.com.

2.See:http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/08/18/the_safe_haven_myth

John V. Walsh can be reached at John.Endwar at gmail.com  He welcomes comments, and 
he looks forward to seeing crowds of CounterPunchers at Martha’s Vineyard this 
week and weekend.

http://www.counterpunch.com/walsh08262009.html