What makes war protest "worth it"?
We up here did not organize around the February 15th weekend (5th anniversary of mass protest). But I read this interesting Kos diary describing some of the weekend activities around Moratorium Day #6. I just want to recognize here those actions and vigils.
Our big anti-war action will kick off March 15th with Actions statewide. Bangor will have a Chain of Concern at the Paul Bunyan statue, plus a series of other events over the week that follows. These activities, along with the STATEWIDE activities throughout Maine are POSTED HERE at the new version of the From Every Village Green website. Click on the graphic below for a full program of anti-war events in the Bangor area that week and beyond:
Why Protest?
It obviously remains an uphill fight to gel enough people together in America in order to maintain enough pressure to end the war. The Democrats in Congress posture a lot, but in the whole year since they have taken control, they have conceded policy and funding to Bush and the military. The "surge" and Petraeus P.R. machines the White House and Pentagon have operated in the latter part of 2007 have significantly changed perceptions about the war, no matter what the underlying causes of an evident easing of overt sectarian violence in Iraq (though U.S. aerial bombardment has increased). Though the media and public perception has been managed by all this, it does not represent dawn in Iraq, quite the opposite. I'll post more on this later.
For now, I want to mention something poignant the writer of the aforementioned Kos post, xofferson, quotes--a vigil participant in Norwich, CT, who had a very positive encounter with a young Marine about to ship out to Iraq:
We explained to him that we were not against the soldiers but against the war that the administration had placed them in. We asked him to convey to his fellow marines once he was in Iraq that we support them wholeheartedly, but we want them home and ready to actually defend our nation should a real threat occur. I truly got the feeling that he did not believe in the war, but as a marine he was going to do his duty. He was truly a respectful young man, and I only wished I could somehow keep him from going, from having to experience the horrors of war that would change him. I only wish this war was over now.I am in basic agreement with this, though I would be careful with the term "wholeheartedly," but that's just a quibble.
If ever I had a moment of doubt about the value of this Moratorium, tonight made it perfectly clear. For all those people who sit on the sidelines not wanting or caring to speak out, we do. That one marine understood that the US Constitution has been fought for longer than we have lived to give us the right to speak, to stand vigil, to oppose what our government is doing and that we might make the difference for him and his fellow marines, but only if we stand up and speak out.
I'll end with my own version of this statement, one that appeared in the very first posting in my original blog, Deep Blade Journal, five years ago. I believe that this is as true today as it was in February 2003 and is still my fundamental reason for protesting to end this war:
"The imperialism of Bush and his lieutenants is a BETRAYAL of the troops and the American people, while they engender a false image that American troops do not care about human life. This image of our troops as storm troopers enforcing imperial policy, like it or not, will take a quantum leap in currency after an attack on Iraq. We will have lost any remaining legitimacy we have in using our military might against actual terrorists (not that I agree this has been the U.S. aim at any point, but post-9/11 legitimacy in the eyes of the world will have been squandered totally). None of this weight do I want our great country, our troops, and all of our people to have to bear."
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