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| Fifth Column |
| Anti-War Groups Fear Loss of Momentum |
| 2003-04-11 |
| EditedWell....DUH????? Ya think so??? Anti-war groups are quickly reshaping their tactics for a postwar era, but they fear the huge movement they forged over the last several months will inevitably lose steam as the fighting winds down in Iraq. Think they'll try to nudge us into Syria? "C'mon! We want to be RELEVANT again! We want to play SIXTIES again! It was over TOO FAST!!!" "Everybody has paused for a moment," said Mary Ellen McNish, head of the American Friends Service Committee, a branch of the pacifist Quaker church. "We're trying to make sure we're doing the right thing at the right time." Read: We have no clue what to whine about next. None at all. With near unanimity, anti-war organizers say they will carry through with demonstrations already arranged for the next few weeks, including a march to the White House and a rally in San Francisco on Saturday. Already booked the bands and it's not like any of us would be doing anything constructive that day anyways... International Answer, which is organizing the events, will retool its message as "occupation isn't liberation," said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a member of the group's steering committee. "We believe that the U.S. must withdraw from the Middle East," she said. The group draws support from the Free Palestine Alliance, some communists and socialists, as well as clergy, unions, academics and others. US Out Of America! Free Mumia! Free Info Man! No Blood for Statues! Help us out here, will ya??? As U.S. forces took control of Baghdad this week, anti-war activists said they were pleased the war they couldn't stop may be nearing its end. Privately, they also began a heavy round of e-mails, phone calls and meetings to take stock of their own strategy to preserve at least some of the momentum of the largest peace movement since Vietnam. Oh, God! I'll never get laid again! The Rev. Bob Edgar, co-chairman of Win Without War and general secretary of the National Council of Churches, said organizers were hashing out "whether Win Without War should continue and what it should do." Tom Andrews, Win Without War's national director, said he believes the large coalition, which formed last fall to stop the war on Iraq, will survive with a wider agenda. United for Peace and Justice, another big newcomer to the peace movement, may start focusing more heavily on smaller regional events than on mass protests, spokesman Jason Kafoury said. God, it didn't even last long enough for me to score some good weed... Sociologist Eric Swank of Morehead State University in Kentucky, who is studying the peace movement, said it has already begun to ebb. "There's a perception that the war has been fast in the last week or so, and that Baghdad has been conquered, and the American public can move on to another issue," he said. Better pay attention, folks. He's a sociologist! For now, anti-war leaders say they will refocus on supporting a dominant U.N. role in rebuilding Iraq and greater American cooperation with that body. Many groups say they must stay active to guard against any Bush administration plan to attack Syria or Iran next, though Secretary of State Colin Powell was quoted as saying that won't happen. "The message that we're concentrating on now is that Iraq needs to be for the Iraqis and, as soon as possible, the United States should withdraw," said Sister Alice Gerdeman, a Roman Catholic nun who coordinates the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center in Cincinnati. Some groups are retooling their messages to denounce what they view as excessive American militarism and to push for U.S. nuclear disarmament, promote domestic issues like better schools and health care, and organize to expel Bush and war-backing congressmen in next year's elections. In other words, ya know, "Screw America!" But that's always been our point when you think about it. Peace Action expects to place newspaper ads this month with two other groups encouraging sympathizers to vote their convictions next year. "It may not be 100,000 people in the streets, but it's necessary to make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen again," said Peace Action spokesman Scott Lynch. Because if you're, like, against the war, and there is no war, then you, like, don't really need that many people out protesting against it. Like....wow. Many organizers claim credit for delaying the war and forcing Bush to consult with Congress and the United Nations. However, they said their most abiding accomplishment could be a much broader base of support for peace and social justice causes — if they can rechannel the anti-war energy of recent months. They accomplished shit! All they did was show the world what a feeble bunch of ineffective losers they really were. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #7 Highlarryous! Bye-bye Sister Alice Gestapo. See ya Scott LynchIraqis. It's also great to see the incredibly self-righteous American Friends Service Committee "paused." Maybe they'll take a moment to reflect on how they supported a mass murderer with their peace-at-any-price mentality. The "peace movement" died on March 28. That was when the San Francisco cops found molotov cocktails in a backpack. After that, the demonstrators were never able to organize more than a few hundred die-hards here. And they'll protest ANYTHING in San Francisco. |
| Posted by: R. McLeod 2003-04-12 03:45:13 |
| #6 PJ was last spotted in Iraq,reporting on the war.He doesn't write for Rolling Stone anymore,but contributes to The Atlantic Monthly,found at www.theatlantic.com (-I hope so too.But there's always Mark Steyn) |
| Posted by: El Id 2003-04-11 17:37:09 |
| #5 I personally do not have a problem with the people in the "Peace Movement" that are consistant. The ones that oppose all violence and war. You the two or three that would of demonstrated against Saddam or Milosevich. As is they only time they care is if the US is involved |
| Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire 2003-04-11 17:31:43 |
| #4 "We believe that the U.S. must withdraw from the Middle East," she said. Interesting. Wasn't that Osama's jihadi platform? |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-04-11 17:20:35 |
| #3 Talk about bad timing, Daschole, summer's coming, who's going to want to protest? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-04-11 17:06:42 |
| #2 "The message that we're concentrating on now is that Iraq needs to be for the Iraqis and, as soon as possible, the United States should withdraw," Thanks for restating the government's position. organizers were hashing out "whether Win Without War should continue..." short answer: no |
| Posted by: Former Russian Major 2003-04-11 17:04:24 |
| #1 Oh I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope PJ O'Rourke gets some space in Rolling Stone, or anywhere, in fact, to address this issue. Hey! Maybe we can get Peace Action wound up to protest Kunicich's Peace University, which University would pretty much be a government institution. My gosh - the best possible fitting of protest to target ever made! |
| Posted by: FormerLiberal 2003-04-11 16:15:16 |