March 19th marked the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Across the country and on campuses nationwide, youth and students joined with thousands of other Americans to protest to demand an end to the war in Iraq and to bring our troops home.
This year’s anniversary marked a huge turning point for the U.S. peace movement. With the election November’s election victory and the historic march called by the nation’s main peace coalition, United for Peace and Justice, which drew roughly 500,000 people on January 27th, the peace movement is poised to make huge gains in ending the war.
Judith LeBlanc, co-chair of UFPJ, said the March 19th demonstration was “perhaps the most important. Now a growing majority of people not only believe that the troops should come home now, but they also want the Congress to take action to end the war and occupation.”
A Fayetteville, Arkansas-based member of the Young Communist League, C.J. Atkins, said that because of the dramatic shift in the political atmosphere since the November elections, “I think this anniversary is taking place under completely different circumstances. There is a clear and undeniable anti-war majority across the country.”
The elections re-energized and gave a boost to the peace movement. After four years of war and a Republican-dominated Congress that acted as a Bush administration rubber stamp, people are emboldened to see the Democratically-controlled Congress take action.
Atkins agreed, saying that he has personally felt the anti-war movement in Fayetteville become re-energized. “In January, the first major meeting at the local peace center since the elections brought out over a hundred people eager to get involved,” Atkins said.
“I definitely think this point is a really crucial time for the anti-war movement, especially the young movement, to step it up a notch, in light of the troop surge,” said Student Peace Action member Anna Hadingham of Syracuse, N.Y.
With the results of the elections, the focus in the in the fight for peace has shifted to Congress. “The struggle to end the war has been shifted into the legislative arena especially, on the Congressional level,” LeBlanc said.
“The war can not be ended by the peace movement alone,” she continued. “It will take the united, sustained action of all the movements together to press Congress to act. The majority wants an end to the war, and the organizations that represent those voices need to be in the center of the political organizing action.”
The focus on Congress is a tactical move based on the fact that Congress has the power to end the war. With the Democrats in control, the peace movement has the ability to put pressure on those they helped to elect to carry out the demands of their constituents.
In a lobby day that followed the Jan. 27th action, UFPJ stressed that Congress has the power to cut the funding for the war, fund an Iraqi-led reconstruction process, pass legislation curtailing Bush’s plans for increasing troop deployment and reaffirming that Bush needs to have Congressional approval before he can attack Iran.
The mass pressure created from the elections, the Jan. 27th march, the lobby day and the fourth anniversary has moved Congress to start taking action. At the beginning of the new Congress, many different bills were introduced that would create timetables for troop withdrawal, cut off the war’s funds (except those used to bring the troops home), prevent Bush from putting more troops into Iraq and force Bush to get Congressional approval before he could attack Iran.
The most comprehensive bill out is H.R. 508, “Bring The Troops Home and Iraq Sovereignty Act of 2007.” This bill was introduced by Out of Iraq Caucus members Rep. Lynne Woolsey (D-Calif.), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA). The legislation was developed out of discussions between member groups of United for Peace and Justice and the House Out of Iraq Caucus.
508 would set a six-month timetable to bring all of our troops home, cut the funding for the (except, of course, money necessary to for a safe and orderly withdrawal), fully fund the Veteran’s Administration, revoke the use of force granted to Bush and fund an Iraqi-led reconstruction process.
The focus on Congress has also provided the opportunity for organizations to strengthen the connections between the issues facing youth and the war. On Jan. 28th, the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition pulled together a meeting of different youth and student organizations to develop a “Youth Agenda” to the new Congress in 2007 and other strategies to push youth priorities.
In the meeting, the discussion focused on how the long-term fight for peace was connected to the immediate struggles for funding for higher education, workers’ rights, healthcare, veterans’ benefits and other issues. The new grouping is developing different days of action, focused on Congress, that deal with the issues affecting young people.
The Congressional emphasis is reflected in the thousands of different actions that took place to mark the fourth anniversary of the Iraq War. UFPJ called for Congress-focused local actions across March 17-19.
The National Youth and Student Peace Coalition called for youth and students to “wear their opposition to the war on their sleeve” by wearing a “Books Not Bombs” button on March 19th. The NYSPC also sent buttons to members of Congress asking them to show their solidarity with youth and students and their support of “Books Not Bombs”.
Leading up to and during the day, young people were encouraged to email, phone or visit their Congressional representatives to ask them to wear the button and to demand that they work towards ending the war.
In addition to wearing buttons, youth and students held actions on their campuses and communities across the country, including a massive march in Fayetteville on March 11th. Students in Syracuse, NY held a rally and another enactment of an antiwar play written by a Student Peace Action member. Students in Orlando, FL held a demonstration outside elected officials offices to demand an end to the war. Students at the University of Maryland held a week of action around the Anniversary, with several great speakers and events.
Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War held street theatre protests and lobbied their Congressional representatives in Washington, D.C.
On March 19th, the Hip Hop Caucus kicked off its “Make Hip Hop Not War” tour that is traveling across the country aimed at mobilizing young people of color to get involved in politics and legislative action.
In order to end the war, the peace movement must continue to put the pressure on Congress and build on the movement and energy since the elections. Leblanc summarizes: “Street heat, non-violent direct action and lobbying are all needed to bring an end to the war. The challenge for the peace movement is to maintain as much united mass action as possible, no matter what the differences are on electoral strategies or tactics.”
Miranda Wilson is coordinator of Student Peace Action Network and Adam Tenney is the Education Coordinator of the Young Communist League USA. Both organizations are members of the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition. For information on how you can get involved, visit www.nyspc.org.
|
Top level
Dynamic Magazine
