War on Iran?
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Iranian gas pipeline by threats of U.S. sanctions. It is exactly the right political moment for the U.S. antiwar movement to renew itself and visibly demonstrate its support of the right of self-determination of Afghani stan, Pakistan, and, of course, Iran.
Yet, there has been a disturbing claim put forth by a number of leaders of the broad peace movement. They argue, often behind the scenes, that this year is not the time for antiwar demonstrations in the U.S. The as sumption behind this whisper campaign is that pro tests against the imperial policies of the current White House will somehow lead to the election of a “greater evil”—i.e., the Republican candidate for president. The antiwar movement, they imply, should lay low until Barack Obama has been re-elected in November.
This perspective is not always laid out in a direct fashion. Sometimes those deeply invested in mount ing an all-out campaign for the re-election of Obama argue that the issue of the wars has taken a back seat in the public mind to the fight for economic equality. Those who are against the U.S. wars abroad should not organize independent activities, these forces advise, but simply participate in community meetings and labor activities, and educate there about the way that the war budget leads to cuts for social services.
While no committed activist opposes taking the anti war message to every single community and labor or ganization in the country, there is no reason to coun terpose neighborhood outreach to mobilizing visibly in the streets at major gatherings of the war-makers. One effort should strengthen the other.
Protests at NATO/G8 Summit In truth, the people suffering under U.S. occupation and military overseers the world over will be watch justice. Without vital public antiwar organizations that are constantly educating and mobilizing, the fight for jobs and human needs will be more vulnerable to chauvinism and xenophobia, and, thus, infinitely weaker when confronting the bosses and the govern ment. An organizing pole that consciously connects war abroad with the war at home does not have to be manifested in demonstrations the size and charac ter of past U.S. peace movements to be central to U.S. politics and critical to the development of an effective working-class fightback today.
The notion that opposing U.S. intervention abroad should be subordinated to the U.S. election cycle is weak in its very foundation. There is no historical precedent that demonstrates that a Democratic ad ministration will be less ruthless in the protection of U.S. corporate interests abroad than a Republican one. Quite the contrary!
Indeed, on Feb. 19, the U.S. marked the 70th an niversary of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s issuance of Ex ecutive Order 9066, which initiated the internment of over 100,000 Japanese Americans in concentra (continued on page 4, in “Modern day witch hunts sanctioned by law”)