PeaceJournal.org

Original article in Socialist Worker

Why is the antiwar movement so weak?

October 12, 2007

ERIC RUDER analyzes the state of the national antiwar struggle and what lies ahead.

SINCE THE start of the Iraq war, antiwar sentiment has grown dramatically in the U.S. In 2003, 23 percent of the U.S. population thought the U.S. invasion was a mistake. Today, that figure stands at 58 percent.

Yet the antiwar movement had its largest mobilization before the war began, and more recent demonstrations have been smaller than those held several years previously, before public opinion had turned dramatically against the occupation. (more…)

Organized Money v. Organized People

by Cindy Sheehan

“At a time like this, scorching iron, not convincing argument, is needed.” Frederick Douglass“

Cindy’s campaign will prove that organized people can beat organized money” Reverend Lennox Yearwood; founder of the Hip Hop Caucus (more…)

As I sit sipping my morning cup of coffee and reflect on the anti-war protests sponsored by the Oct27 coalition (where I saw some good collaboration between UFPJ and ANSWER—at least in San Francisco—yea!), I have a few thoughts.

Yesterday, tens of thousands of activists from around Northern California, Northern Nevada and some from Southern Oregon attended the rally in my new hometown, San Francisco. Despite weather in the Eastern part of the country, I hear that the rallies all over the rest of the country were extremely well attended and the energy was high.

The throngs of humanity in San Francisco stretched out between the Civic Center to Dolores Park in a line that was over two miles long and it took over an hour for the last marcher to reach the endpoint. However, what does this all mean? (more…)

Iraq Veterans Against the War members Kelly Dougherty, Garett Reppenhagen, Camilo Mejía, Chanan Suárez Diaz and Martin Smith spoke on IVAW’s strategy to end the war against Iraq at the Socialism 2007 conference in Chicago on June 16.These talks started off a 2-part, 3 hour Roundtable - Iraq: the Soldiers’ Rebellion - by IVAW veterans. All recounted their personal stories of their military experience and how they became part of the veterans’ antiwar movement. Kelly Dougherty, Executive Director of IVAW and a co-founder, gave a slide presentation on IVAW’s strategy to end the war, based on IVAW’s “Consent Theory of Power.” This video clearly shows IVAW’s theory and practice for ending this tragic war by weakening support by the military, as well as other pillars of support, such as the public, Congress and the media.We’ve started with 5 videos of the main speakers, with videos of two commentators, Helen Redmond and Ashley Smith (International Socialist Organization).All websites are invited to embed these videos on their sites. We’d appreciate it if sites would simply let us know that they are embedding the videos. If any sites have difficulty embedding the code, we’d be happy to help you trouble shoot problems. Contact: charles@peacejournal.org

Kelly Dougherty (20:42 minutes)

 Garett Reppenhagen (11:42 minutes) 

 Camilo Mejia (17:53 minutes)

 Chanan Suárez Diaz (17:37) 

Martin Smith (13:17 minutes)

Helen Redmond on the trauma of war (3:40)

Ashley SMith on how to end the war against Iraq (4:53) Learn more about the Socialism 2007 conference and see conference coverage with coverage of the Confronting Empire plenary session.The conference was sponsored by:International Socialist ReviewHaymarket BooksSocialist WorkerObrero SocialistaInternational Socialist OrganizationCenter for Economic Research and Social ChangeVideo recorded and edited by Charles JenksVideo © 2007 Charles Jenks; all rights reserved

What happened in Nahr Al Bared?
by Michael Birmingham

The systematic burning and destruction of a Palestinian camp in Lebanon – the media is banned and the world is silent?

Nahr Al Bared is a Palestinian refugee camp in the north of Lebanon which has been home to about 40,000 Palestinian people, most of whom are the children and grandchildren of those who left Palestine in 1948. Some like Abu Mohammad were born in Palestine. He was ten years old, and next year it will be sixty years since the formation of the State of Israel was achieved through the ethnic cleansing of Abu Mohammad and so many others from their home in Palestine. He told me this as the two of us sat alone in the pitch dark while rats ran around beside our chairs at his house. As I left he went in to sleep alone amongst ashes and rodents, with no neighbours around him, trying to believe that he still has something left to protect. (more…)