Why we keep fighting for peace
Robert Jensen
School of Journalism
University of Texas
Austin, TX 78712
work: (512) 471-1990
fax: (512) 471-7979
rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu
copyright Rahul Mahajan and Robert Jensen 2003
War Times, April-May 2003, p. 3.
By Robert
Jensen and Rahul Mahajan
The beginning of the war in Iraq makes
antiwar activity more, not less important.
As the Bush administration drove us
straight to war over the past months it was crucial for those opposed to take a
stand in public. And around the country we did just that -- we took to the
streets, organized teach-ins, lobbied politicians, wrote letters and went
door-to-door. A tremendous antiwar movement was organized throughout the world.
That incredible outpouring of
opposition took political leaders and news media by surprise. The movement grew
so large that it could not be ignored.
But now -- as we realize that our
efforts did not stop the mad rush to war -- a sense of futility and hopelessness
may set in. The Bush administration has undoubtedly calculated that opposition
will collapse once the bombs start falling.
There are four key reasons why the
antiwar movement must grow even more powerful now.
First, we can minimize the length and
brutality of the war. The current plans for the war on Iraq will be devastating
to the Iraqi people. Pressure on the administration can literally help save
lives in Iraq. We need to monitor our local media and be prepared to protest if
they don’t cover civilian casualties.
Remember also that U.S. policymakers
have talked openly about using nuclear “bunker buster” weapons. We must let
politicians know that if they cross the nuclear threshold, there will be
political costs for them.
Second, the Bush administration plans a
military occupation of Iraq. A U.S. installed colonial-style government will
then use Iraq’s vast oil reserves on behalf of elite U.S. interests, not in a
way that’s best for the Iraqi people. Sustained public attention on postwar
Iraq can help keep those plans in check.
Third, Bush's program of war without
end must stop with Iraq. After Sept. 11 Bush promised an unlimited war against
endless enemies. He has targeted 60 countries. After Iraq, Iran will be
encircled by the U.S. military and under the gun. There is already talk about
strikes on Iranian nuclear reactors. And after that?
In a world in which Washington claims
the right to arbitrarily and unilaterally impose "regime change" by
force, no state that attempts to resist will be safe.
Fourth, the Bush administration plans
to use what they hope will be a great success in Iraq to implement a whole raft
of new repressive measures at home. The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled
that citizens can be held indefinitely without the right to a trial.
These repressive measures are aimed
primarily at people of color: John Walker Lindh got a trial, but Yaser Esam
Hamdi and Jose Padilla are "enemy combatants" held indefinitely in
military prisons without access to lawyers. As the economy turns sour and more
resources are drained away from social services, there will be a stronger need
for the elites to control by force. Only sustained organizing can stop that.
So we need to keep fighting. In the
short term our goal is to limit the damage of this war. In the long term we must
fight to derail the Bush plan for global and domestic domination based on the
rule of force. That is not hysterical JUST rhetoric. The administration’s
national security strategy documents make it clear that the goal is to make sure
nothing -- no nation, alliance nor international institution -- can challenge
U.S. power.
We cannot allow policymakers to pursue
these mad dreams of unchecked power. If we stay committed to a global movement
for peace and justice, another world is possible -- one based on human needs not
corporate greed, on people not profits, on justice not power.
The choice is clear. The war has come
and the immediate battle is lost, but there is still a world to win.
Robert Jensen, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, is the author of “Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream. Rahul Mahajan’s latest book is the forthcoming “Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond.” Both are members of the Nowar Collective (www.nowarcollective.com). They can be reached at rahul@tao.ca and rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu.
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