A Call to all Anti-War Activists from Elaine Brower, member of World Can’t Wait Steering Committee:
PROTEST IN THE STREETS THE DAY AFTER AN ANNOUNCEMENT IS MADE TO SEND MORE TROOPS INTO AFGHANISTAN
We in the anti-war movement have been tirelessly and endlessly calling upon the government to end the occupations. We want our troops out of the middle east, and an end to the drone bombings that are killing thousands of innocent civilians.
Letters have been written, petitions signed, arrests made but the wars drone on. And now we are grimly awaiting the announcement by the Obama Administration of an escalation of troop levels once again in Afghanistan.
It is impossible to predict when this announcement will come, but it will, and we must be ready. Everyone of conscience who can’t stand one more day or one more minute witnessing the death and destruction being wreaked upon countries and its people, under the guise of “bringing democracy” or “helping women” or “ending the poppy production” or “protecting civilians”, or the best yet, “fight the war on terror”, must join together, show unity, and strength against this scourge.
We must stop flying our own banners announcing our “affiliations” and fight our common enemy, those who chose to continue wars of aggression in our names, and we must fight cohesively and with one message, and in one voice: END THE WARS, ALL TROOPS HOME NOW!
Soon the announcement will be made to send more young men and women to die and to kill. We don’t want it, we have told those who have taken power that it must end. But slowly we have come to realize that our cries fall on deaf ears, and it is in our hands and our hands only to enter the belly of the beast and show them what the people can do united.
We must have a national day of resistance against these occupations, and when the announcement is made to send more troops to Afghanistan, it is time for ALL of us to get into the streets and stop business as usual.
It may mean going out in your community during the week! It may mean expressing our anger in the form of non-violent civil disobedience.
But if hundreds of people around the country picked a location where they live and formed alliances to make sure this happened, our message would be heard, loud and clear. We owe it to the troops and to the people of other countries who are looking to us for their salvation.
If Obama makes his announcement on a weekend, then we as a collective group of anti-war activists, with a plan in place, go to a pre-determined location the next business day at 5 PM and shut down the streets in the name of PEACE.
If we are truly determined to face our enemy then we must do it with resolve. We must be relentless, unafraid and staunch in our demands and demeanor.
It is way past time to join together and move forward to a more peaceful world. But without hundreds if not thousands out there around the country being arrested in the name of peace at the same time and on the same day, we will not move one inch from where we are now. It is a step forward, a small brave step, but if we do it in unison we will find strength in our numbers. The world is counting on us!
5 comments ↓
Very Good Debra
But you need to add to your statement
"We owe it to the troops and to the people of other countries who are looking to us for their salvation."
We also owe it to our Children and theirs. This madness can only end one of two ways:
1 We will be the Dictators of the World
2 We will be defeated in our World conquest
Some will say that the best option is #1 , but ultimately #1 will end in overthrow of a despotic government. Let me quote you Marcus Aurelius a former Emperor of Rome:
"Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too." – Marcus Aurelius
A good article, but it proves tht Human nature is alive and well. Meaning that while there are many many good hearted,kind and wise people who do wonderful & merciful things for people, but no one ever seems to want to write about then here ? But as my grandmother told me in many years ago ( 1955) you can't have it both ways many times in life. She was right. if the government leaders of Afghanistan really loved their people the mess that has gone on for centuries wouldn't be would it ? Or is that too simplistic ?
Unfortunately, that "mess" has gone on for centuries of attempted conquest and control. Afghans, and I include Pashtun who occupy both sides of the Western delineated boundary separating Afghanistan and Pakistan, have been fighting off invaders for centuries. They have been successful, but at a tremendous cost. That cost has now become normalized. The British Raj attempted to control the area for a couple of centuries, until they could no longer afford the fight, the losses. The Russians took their best shot, and left bankrupt and demoralized. Now we are stepping into the breach, with the deadliest weapons mankind has ever developed, with nuclear bombardment held in reserve, but with DU and its attendant ills to fill that gap.
When we destroy a village, or a wedding party, or even take out a man with a gun and call him an insurgent or terrorist, we create even more blood feuds, more dedication to drive out the invader.
We, like the British, the Russians, and probably even Alexander, pour more troops, more weapons, more blood into that land. Eventually, we, too, will leave. The only possible difference is in the amount of blood on the ground when we leave, ours and theirs.
The science fiction author Heinlein once wrote, "What is the one thing the most modern equipped soldier with all his hardware and sensors fears? A naked man with a knife." We, with all of our sophisticated weaponry are in the same spot. It costs around a million dollars per man annually, to keep troops equipped and supplied in Afghanistan. The Afghan makes his weapons in caves and villages by hand, cost negligible. It also costs about a million dollars a kill to hit one "terrorist." It costs a bullet or so for an Afghan to kill a foreign invader. You do the math.
It is not our destiny to be the world policeman. Especially when our policing inevitably leads to a takeover of the target's natural resources and wealth by our own oligarchy, usually supported by a quisling government put in power by us.
Changes in a country or nation are likely to be more sweeping and more permanent when accomplished by negotiation, compromise and example. Unfortunately, our example seems to be that he with the biggest gun wins the pot. That certainly doesn't "win friends," but it certainly "influences people."
I agree Steve.
I ask can there be wars without villains?
Do these villains just happen or are they created by propaganda?
Are the Palestinians Villains? The Iraqis?, the Afghans? The Iranians?
Would they think we are the Villains? Why would they think otherwise?
I read an article today about Iran and how they took those Embassy hostages back in, was it 1979? It told everything about those 444 days , but that story never used a drop of ink to tell WHY the students took the Embassy personnel as hostages. The slant was – Iran Bad, U S good. Finding the reason for the taking of the hostages in the MSM is as rare as winning the lottery.
I think I might remember that they had just deposed our Puppet, the SHAH, and we were trying to stir up the populace to overthrow the new Government.
Gosh that sounds a whole lot like what is ongoing there now.
Great post.
We need to get out of there – NOW! Or the people of Afghanistan will continue to fight until we leave. They view us as occupiers, and we are indeed that.
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