Anti-War Movement: MIA
Press Action
Sunday, July 24, 2005
http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/hoenigbaker07242005/
By Myles Hoenig and Brandy Baker
This weekend in Baltimore, Md., is the annual Artscape. It’s a wonderful venue for art of all kind as well as the usual politicking, especially during election time. Last year, many were out to get out the vote for John “I’ll send more troops if I’m elected” Kerry. Many were also at Artscape getting signatures to get Ralph Nader and Peter Camejo on Maryland’s ballot. Some in the peace movement in Baltimore will be petitioning this weekend to tens of thousands, if not more, demanding to “Bring the Troops Home by Christmas.”
Christmas????
Christmas is four months away and many more will be dead. We all know how effective this petition will be, so when December comes around, we can look forward to the “Bring them Home by Ground Hogs’ Day” petition or the bizarrely quaint, “Bring the Troops Home by April Fools’ Day” petition. Using Christmas also plays into Bush’s psychosis that this is a Crusade. Christmas has no meaning for the Iraqi people the US and its allies are bombing.
What would work would be relentless civil disobedience and other actions that’ll show the world that it’s Congress, Bush, his Neo-cons, and particular industries that are squarely behind this and the majority of the American people are not. But as seen in Baltimore and elsewhere, the American anti-war movement has lost its courage: at their February assembly in St. Louis, many United For Peace and Justice delegates voted against many direct action proposals and they voted for the Progressive Democrats of America proposal calling for “multi-year” lobbying of Congress. Maybe if we asked the Democrats nicely, so the theory goes, they will stop the war that they helped to start. A war that many in PDA would not be working against if John Kerry had won last fall.
On September 24, the anti-war movement will be marching for the first time in many months. Gone from UFPJ’s list of demands for the 24 is the call for the end of the occupation of Palestine: an obvious move to appease the Democrats and skittish anti-war liberals. Some opposed the inclusion of Palestine on the list of demands for past demonstrations forecasting dire consequences such as low protest turnout. They were wrong then. And they are wrong now.
Many correctly assert that petitioning is an excellent opportunity to talk with people. Instead of succumbing to our own fatigue we need to see that this war is getting worse and the situation of grave: we should now be beyond petitions. We need flyers calling for the shutting down of highways leading to Ft. Meade on specific days, or massive demonstrations in front of the Maryland National Guard Armory, or on a national level, shutting down Congress or the Pentagon. People often sign petitions as a way of relieving themselves of the obligation to actually DO something to stop the war, then go ahead and re-elect their pro-war representatives. It’s often a guilt release. Outreach plus action is more likely to make the anti-war movement successful.
What seriously helped to stop the Vietnam War were body bags and street demonstrations. It was the zeitgeist of the 60’s that gave us all the Kumbaya demonstrations, flower power, etc. but it was action that turned a nation against the war criminal class known as Congress and the White House and radicalized many who served in the military and became a part of a vibrant and militant movement.
Today the body bags are hidden and the street demonstrations are rare. Something is terribly wrong with today’s peace movement.
Myles Hoenig is a Baltimore City schoolteacher and was a Green Party candidate for Baltimore City Council in 2004. He is currently working on counter-recruitment issues in the anti-war movement.
Brandy Baker is a writer living in Baltimore. She was a contributor to CounterPunch’s “Dime’s Worth of Difference: Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils.” She is also a contributor to Plastic Sugar Press’s upcoming book: “Yellow Fever: Searching for Meaning in Supporting the Troops.”