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6 SOCIALIST ACTION JANUARY 1991 An antiwar movement of unprecedented breadth and unity is emerging across the country.

The Bush administration and its military chieftains have paraded before the cameras to try to convince a wary public that war is necessary to "free Kuwait." Meanwhile, organizing for the Jan. 26 national protests in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, called by the National Campaign for Peace in the Middle East, is in high gear.

Simultaneous demonstrations have been called throughout Europe, Canada, and Latin America. In Paris, a mass action has been initiated by the largest trade-union federation in France, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), and by a host of worker's parties and left organizations.

The rapidly-growing American antiwar movement has united forces ranging from SANE/Freeze, Pledge of Resistance, CISPES, War Resisters League, National Organization for Women and the Mobilization for Survival, with major AFL-CIO central labor councils, regional and national church denominations, environmental organizations, and political parties of the left.

This diverse coalition has effectively put aside, at least for the time being, a host of different and conflicting positions on the Middle East in favor of a united-front-type effort to thwart the bipartisan war plans of the U.S. government.

The energetic involvement of campus youth, now organizing on a city-wide, regional, and national basis adds another dynamic aspect to the movement, as does the growing number of GI resisters, often Black and Chicano, who link the antiwar struggle to the communities of the oppressed. The most recent national poll indicates that 75 percent of Blacks in the U.S. oppose U.S. intervention.

The antiwar sentiment has already reached into the ranks of the military services. This was shown by the case of Jeff Paterson, a marine who refused to fight in the Gulf. When the judge moved to send Paterson's attorney to the Middle East to take testimony from the troops, the government quickly gave Paterson an administrative discharge.

And finally, the youthful activists are standing shoulder to shoulder with Vietnam veterans, whose experience exposes the lie of government and media hype about imperialism's "democratic" war aims. The 'generation gap' is gone, as today's parents caution their children from direct experience about the horror, not glory of modern warfare, U.S. style.

Without doubt, the new antiwar movement stands on the shoulders of ali social movements of past decades. From the beginning—in its teach-ins, rallies, mass demonstrations, and leadership composition-the new antiwar forces have demonstrated an awareness of the importance of building a broad non-exclusionary movement. It is qualitatively more aware of the destructive and disunifying nature of sexist, racist, and

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The following is an interview with Hilary Diamond, an organizer for the California Student Network Against U.S. Intervention in the Middle East. The interview was given to Socialist Action editor Alan Benjamin on Dec. 28 and has been edited for space.

Socialist Action: We are seeing an explosion of antiwar activity among students-the largest since the Vietnam War. Why has the student antiwar movement developed with such strength at this time?

Hilary Diamond: Last September, when the schools went back into session, antiwar committees started to form on individual campuses almost immediately. Soon afterwards, networks began forming between the different campuses and between different areas.

This process was widespread. We've gotten phone calls from smaller campuses in places like Mississippi and other areas that traditionally have not had large student movements.

In past years, the political problems that had arisen on the world scene-such as dent protests, Dec. 3-8, and the idea ended up taking off nationally. Teach-ins, forums, and vigils were organized from one end of the country to the other.

I'll give just a few examples. At the University of California, Davis (which is a new area for antiwar organizing) 1000 people showed up for one protest march and 700 at another rally. At Fordham University in New York, students organized a nighttime vigil—really a sleepout—in the sleet and rain. And students in Chicago led a march through the city.

Within California, campuses such as Laney College and Mills College-which issues of the war as well. The New York student network hooked into it, and then the Chicago one. We ended up with about 70 different campuses participating in the week of student protests.

Out of those 70 campuses, a loose umbrella coalition calling itself the National Student Network against U.S. Intervention in the Middle East formed on the basis of three demands: Bring the Troops Home Now; Money for Tuition, not Ammunition; and No Selective Service, No Economic or Mandatory Draft.

SA: I understand that both the California and the national networks are Hilary Diamond