[Peace-discuss] On October 6, Let's Make a National Clamor for Peace

[Robert Naiman]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/on-october-6-lets-make-a-_b_983004.html

On October 6, Let's Make a National Clamor for Peace

On October 7, 2011, the United States will have been at war for ten years.

Let's mark the occasion by making a national clamor for peace so loud that
Congress, the president, and big media will have to pay attention.

October 7 happens to fall on a Friday this year. If you get to choose,
Friday is not necessarily the most strategic day to make a national clamor
for peace, because 1) Congress will likely not be in session 2) Friday is,
in general, a crummy day to try to get media attention and 3) even if these
two things weren't true or relevant, Friday is not a great day to try to
hold public attention. People's thoughts are turning to the weekend, and
then the weekend erases the chalkboard.

Moreover, the press has to cover the anniversary of the war, but these
stories are going to be largely written and produced before Friday. The
default media narrative will be: America has lost interest in the wars,
because of the economy and unemployment, because "the wars are already
winding down," or some other story that journalists or editors will make up.
We have to beat this default media narrative. To beat it, we need to get in
front of it.

So let's mark the occasion on Thursday, October 6. Let's have a national,
"ecumenical" day of action for peace: to end the wars and cut the military
budget.

By "ecumenical," I mean this: everybody will "worship" in their own way.
People who are willing to call Congress, will call Congress. People are
willing to go to demonstrations, will go to demonstrations. People who get
active online will get active online. But everybody who wants peace will do
something for peace on October 6. In the comments below, tell us what you
are going to do to act for peace on October 6.

*Call Congress*: right now, the congressional "supercommittee" is
considering proposals to cut the U.S. government debt by $1.2 trillion over
ten years. One obvious choice: end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and cut
the military budget. Poll data
shows<http://www.pollingreport.com/budget.htm#Kaiser> that
when you ask people "if the supercommittee cuts the budget, where should
they cut?" military spending walks to victory. But the military contractors
and war profiteers, who have grown fat from 10 years of war spending, are
pressing Congress not to cut the military budget and to cut your Medicare
benefits instead. If you do nothing else for peace on October 6, call at
least one of your representatives in Congress -- particularly if they are on
the supercommittee -- and tell them to end the wars and cut the military
budget. The Congressional switchboard is *            202-225-3121      *.

In this speech on the budget, I explain why people who don't want Congress
to cut domestic spending and want to save the hundreds of thousands of jobs
threatened by domestic spending cuts should be pounding on the
supercommittee to end the wars and cut the military budget:
 *Demonstrate*: on October 6, peace advocates will occupy Freedom
Plaza<http://october2011.org/frontpage> in
Washington, DC. All around the country, "occupy [city]" protests are
already springing up <http://occupytogether.org/> in solidarity with the Wall
Street protests <https://occupywallst.org/>. If you can get to one of these
protests, go. On October 6, raise the banner of peace. If "occupying" isn't
your cup of tea, have a vigil outside your representative or senator's
office, or a federal building, or anyplace where you will be visible to the
public. Send a press release to all local media the morning of the day
before, and call the local media and make sure they got your press release
and are thinking of coming.

Here's an idea that might spark media interest: form a group called "Tea
Party Patriots for Peace," demanding cuts to wasteful big government
spending on war. [After all, war spending is the majority of federal
discretionary spending.] Stop taxing us to pay for war!

*Buzz it up online*. On October 6, help "action for peace" be a focus of
attention online. Blog and comment about actions taking place for peace;
share writing about and coverage of actions for peace by others. Help it be
the case that you can't look anywhere online on October 6 without seeing
action for peace.

On Friday, October 7, don't let big media say that Americans aren't acting
to press for peace. In the comments below, tell us what you are going to do
to act for peace on October 6.

-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
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