May 2005

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Intensifying Resistance: US Movement Mobilizes on Second Anniversary of Invasion

Jaime Lederer is an organizer and is currently Peacework's interim Managing Editor.

Two of the more than 1000 anti-war demonstrators in Minneapolis, MN, March 19, 2005. Photo: © Bert Schlauch

In 2003, we marched and took to the streets in massive numbers in major cities around the country and across the globe in our efforts to prevent the invasion of Iraq. Now, more than two years later, we continue to speak out. In more than 765 towns and cities in the United States, and countless cities worldwide, people gathered on the weekend of the second anniversary of the invasion, March 20, 2005, to demonstrate the growth of dissent.

In recent weeks, polls indicate that about 55% of people in the US now believe the war was a mistake. Skepticism about the war is increasing; only about 25% of the US public thought the war was a mistake two years ago. (For data from different US polls, please see www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm.)

Despite this, some critics have complained that turnout for the March 2005 demonstrations was not impressive in major cities like New York, Boston, and Washington DC. Yet this reflected a strategic decision of the major US anti-war coalition, United for Peace and Justice, to organize several regional events, while stressing the importance of broadening opposition to the war through local demonstrations nationwide. Compared to last year, organizers sponsored anti-war manifestations in more than twice as many towns and cities. According to United for Peace with Justice, all 50 states reported at least two separate locations where folks gathered. Some gatherings attracted hundreds, even thousands, while others attracted only a handful. So where are these Americans gathering if they are not demonstrating en masse in DC? The growing anti-war sentiment is in areas traditionally considered more conservative. They are in places like:

• Emporia, Kansas: a group of six people gathered for a candlelight vigil, noting the importance of making a statement against the war in their community.
• Blacksburg, Virginia: Glade Church hosted a candlelight peace vigil with about 20 participants. It was the first specifically anti-war event held there in recent years.
• Terre Haute, Indiana: organizers believed only a handful of the core group would attend, but were thrilled when 40 people demonstrated.
• Sandpoint, Idaho: a crowd of almost 200 people marched through town and then attended a community forum on war and peace.
• Lancaster, Pennsylvania: more than 500 people participated in a vigil, march, and town hall meeting, making it quite possibly the largest anti-war event ever in the town.

One of the largest demonstrations took place in Fayetteville, NC, outside of Fort Bragg; approximately 20,000 to 25,000 soldiers from Fort Bragg have been sent to Iraq. The event, organized by Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and the Gold Star Families for Peace (www.gsfp.org), gave people in a hyper-militarized corner of the country the opportunity to speak out against the war. Approximately 4,000 people joined together to add to the growing sentiment among military families and veterans that the war in Iraq is wrong.

Lou Plummer, a member of Military Families Speak Out, and on the national coordinating committee of the Bring Them Home Now! campaign (www.bringthemhomenow.org) writes, "What happened in Fayetteville on the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq should end forever the notion that the military community and the peace movement are destined to always be at odds with one another. Months of planning and cooperation between grassroots activists and veterans and military families from around the country resulted in a nearly flawless example of the power that real people have when they unite." This was the largest anti-war protest ever to take place in Fayetteville.

The message behind many of these rallies across the country is that the war is taking away from vital funding for domestic issues. The Bush Administration has chosen to fund the war, and cut taxes for the wealthiest, while cutting federal funds for education, housing, environmental issues, veterans' benefits, and so on. Organizers in New York City made "funds for cities, not war" a key demand, stating that Mayor Bloomberg's silence about large budget cuts from city services makes him complicit.

For the first time in decades, a major anti-war demonstration emerged from Harlem, a neighborhood that is symbolic of the war's disproportionate impact on communities of color. The march, organized by Artists and Activists United for Peace, stretched 15 blocks, with over 15,000 participants. The strong anti-war sentiment felt in Harlem is partially due to intense recruiting tactics used by the military in the community.

In recent months, the military has seen a backlash against recruiters. Like Harlem, communities across the country are feeling the weight of heavy military recruitment. Yet, counter-recruitment campaigns are now stronger than ever and are increasingly noticeable and lively on high school and college campuses.

The Campus Anti-War Network (CAN) is a growing independent, democratic, grassroots network of campus-based anti-war committees. Many groups involved with CAN are promoting anti-war sentiment by protesting the military presence on their campuses. On March 9, students from the City College of New York (CCNY) were arrested for peacefully protesting the presence of military recruiters at the school's career fair. A staff member at CCNY was escorted out of her office days after the protest and arrested for participating in the event. The same day, on the other side of the country, Students Against War at San Francisco State University organized a demonstration against military recruiters where over 200 students rallied. Army and Air Force recruiters eventually gave up and left without any new recruits. The next day, when activists attempted to hand out anti-recruitment leaflets by the recruiters' tables, activists were forced out of the Cesar Chavez Student Center. They were told they posed a fire hazard and would be arrested if they didn't leave.

At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, students staged a "Troops Out Walk Out" of over 200 students who marched past a military recruiting center near campus and then headed for the chancellor's office to hold a sit-in, demanding that the military be removed from campus.

At New York University, a program designed by NYU students in a marketing class to recruit their peers to the CIA backfired when the strong opposition to the CIA's unique recruitment tactics forced its visit to be cancelled. The CIA emailed all registered participants, stating that the event was "cancelled due to the possibility of a protest by the Campus Anti-War Network." A similar program was organized at the University of Texas-Pan America and faced similar protests by its student body.

The expanding and growing participation in the counter-recruitment movement is a giant step in opposing the war through direct action. Hadas Their, a student at CCNY, and Katrina Yeaw, a student at SFSU, wrote in CounterPunch Magazine, "Here in the US, high school and college student activists all over the country can take up the fight for peace and democracy and organize to kick recruiters out of their schools. Like the lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro 45 years ago that challenged segregation across the nation, you can get started opposing the recruiters at your school. Getting the military out of our schools and replacing them with real educational opportunities is our generation's fight. No one will do it for us. We owe it to ourselves, the Iraqis, and the American soldiers dying for a lie."

Recent reports say that on a national level, the military has not been able to meet recruitment quotas for March or April. An April 6 report from the Associated Press states that the military fell nearly one-third short of its recruiting goal in March, the second consecutive month of shortfall, anticipating a shortfall in April as well, although Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey believes it will still make the year-end goal of 80,000 new recruits. According to Reuters, the Army Reserve is behind 10 percent in its recruitment targets for this year and the National Guard fell short at least 25 percent of its targeted recruitment numbers. The military newspaper Stars and Stripes reports that African-American recruitment is down 41 percent since 2000.

The Iraq Pledge of Resistance aims to engage grassroots communities to join nonviolent civil disobedience actions. A growing number of demonstrations organized by local community members are focusing on military recruitment centers. In Washington, DC, on March 17, over 50 people gathered and read a signed statement supporting soldiers who refuse to fight in the Iraq War. The group effectively shut down the DC recruitment center for one hour. Gordon Clark, coordinator of the Iraq Pledge of Resistance states, "This is the beginning of a larger civil disobedience campaign to encourage and support resistance within the US military, and to shut down recruitment centers for as long as young people are being taken to kill and die in an illegal and immoral war in Iraq." (For more information on the statement, please see the April 2005 Peacework.) Similar demonstrations were held throughout the country during the anniversary weekend, including in:

Tucson, Arizona: Despite unusual rain, 300 people marched down Speedway, the busiest street in the city, focusing on the army recruitment center, where weekly protests are held. Three days later, over 1000 people protested Bush's visit to the city.

Las Vegas, Nevada: The recruiting station was scheduled to be open until 2 pm. Instead, when protesters arrived at the army recruitment center at noon, they found the place closed and locked.

Cleveland, Ohio: A march that started as a small group swelled to over 60 people demonstrating at the Lakewood military recruitment center. They planned to peacefully occupy and shut down the center, but upon arriving, the recruiters, seeing the crowd, closed and left.

Rochester, New York: As part of a large march through the city, about 300 people marched to the military recruitment center and read the names of US soldiers and Iraqis killed during the war and occupation.

Eugene, Oregon: 70 people occupied and shut down the recruiting center for the entire day.

We need to continue to build our strength in numbers, mobilize the untapped public sentiment against the occupation with creative approaches such as Vermont's Bring the Guard Home campaign, and build stronger links with our global counterparts. In the February 2005 issue of Peacework, Rick Jahnkow opined, "By countering military recruitment, people can actually nonviolently stand in the way of what is being done in Iraq. If more of us get involved in stopping the machinery of war in our own communities, this could be a turning point for the anti-war movement." In the face of the continuing bloodshed in Iraq, with the movement's geographic scope improving, public opinion shifting, involvement of veterans and military families growing, racial inclusiveness increasing, students mobilizing, interest in nonviolent direct action growing, and counter-recruitment efforts burgeoning, evidence that we have reached Jahnkow's turning point is strong.

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