Last month our own Angela Keaton spoke on a panel in the Live Free or Die state on the future of the antiwar movement. Along with her are Will Hopkins of NH Peace Action, Iraq veteran Alex Peterson and John V. Walsh, MD of Come Home America.us, which has just posted the video on the forum. As Angela so eloquently explains, any truly effective antiwar movement will not come from the left, right, or libertarian spheres of ideological association, but from a diverse movement unified against state violence abroad. Broad appeal is the key to any successful mass campaign. Only when people are demanding an end to America’s military imperialism for their own darned reasons will we see this movement get the attention it needs and deserves.
Watch and enjoy!
"As Angela so eloquently explains, any truly effective antiwar movement will not come from the left, right, or libertarian spheres of ideological association, but from a diverse movement unified against state violence abroad."
Absolutely. It must attack the war and the warfare-state from every possible angle. It must highlight the environmental effects-both local and global-of warfare. Here is the Green's strong point, for a great number of green groups have done excellent work documenting such effects. It must attack the war prosperity myth, using hard numbers and the reports of affected groups to demonstrate the ill-effects of war on the economy and trade. Here, economists (whether Chicago, Austrian, Keynesian (Stiglitz is no military Keynesian), etc) have done much valuable work. It must attack the erosion of liberties for both citizens and noncitizens. Here libertarians, progressives, and the ACLU have done excellent work. The radical left can mobilize the working class against the few plutocrats who have benefited from the wars; wouldn't mind seeing a violent strike in front of Lockheed Martin or Boeing. Non-politicos, such as psychologists and sociologists, can attack the psychological and social destruction of war-soldiers and noncombattants become scarred and broken people.
Important to emphasize is the contribution the small, but important, antiwar right can make-and it is not in the realm of economics. It is to be found in the havoc that war inflicts on the things conservatives care most about: on family, hearth, home, order, stability, and tradition. War destroys more than lives and property; it cleaves the very fabric of society itself, both here and abroad. It eats away at the very soul of man. This is the role that the likes of Bill Kauffman, Pat Buchanan, and Dan McCarthy can be strongest.
Then, I realize I missed the whole point. It is about making it less ideological.
Null Void, eh? You must be the guy Sabrosky had in mind when he wrote his The Strategic Void: Israel, Palestine and the US, which you can see on Veterans Today, Intifada Palestine or on Debbii Menon's My Catbird Seat.
"Less ideological"? You mean keep it vague, right?
Ideology is no substitute for action…except, unfortunately, that's precisely what it is for the "correct" sectarians who do nothing to change the world.
You mean like those sectarian Palestinians with their BDS campaign? Or their sectarian friends with their "Flotilla"? Which "sectarians" do you mean? Rev Hagee is certainly doing what he can to change the world more to his liking.
Heh heh, I'm kidding:) I knew all the time that you had in mind those ANSWER Coalition sectarians that are wasting time putting on a speaking tour for Cynthia McKinney to report on her vacation in Sunny Libya.