Works In Progress - July 2003 - United For Peace and Justice Conference

The United for Peace and Justice first-ever national conference was held June 6-8 in Chicago, and I went as a delegate of United for Peace Thurston County. UFPJ formed during the fall as one of several national coalition groups seeking to articulate a broad voice of resistance to the Bush agenda of war at any cost. Hundreds of organizations across the country voted to become affiliate groups under the umbrella of UFPJ. In Thurston County, over thirty different groups - including the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Green Party, Stonewall Youth, and the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace - came together to form the United for Peace Thurston County coalition to organize, strategize, and get out in the streets against the immoral and illegal Iraq war.

Over 500 people attended the conference, representing about 325 different organizations and encompassing an amazing amount of diversity. The diversity extended not just racially, but also in terms of ages, backgrounds, geographic regions represented, and tactics espoused. It was not unusual to look around the table at lunch and see an urban queer radical talking to an anti-nuclear activist from Nebraska, and a gray-haired former Black Panther discussing strategy with a labor activist from South Carolina. There was a widely-felt focus on our commonalties rather than our differences, leading to genuine friendliness and mutual support among the attendees.

The main purpose of the conference was to democratize UFPJ and in doing so to make it a stronger and more effective organization. To this end we voted on a unity statement, a strategic framework, and action proposals. We also elected a Steering Committee that will be the central organizing body of the group.

The unity and framework statements, as well as the action proposals and the list of Steering Committee members, can all be found at http://www.unitedforpeace.org .

Affirmative Action in Action

The principals of affirmative action were incorporated into the conference from the start. The UFPJ organizers encouraged groups across the country to send women and people of color to the conference, and the conference delegates appeared to be about half women and one-third people of color. Most of the plenary panels and workshops were led by women and people of color. And the strategic framework statement that we voted on specified that the elected, thirty-five member Steering Committee should be (at a minimum) half women, half people of color, twenty percent youth, and fifteen percent lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered. (In addition, the Steering Committee members would represent both national and local/regional groups more or less equally.)

These requirements sounded good to everybody except a handful of vocal attendees (who happened to be white and male). They suggested several "unfriendly" amendments, resulting in an additional hour of debate and process before the amendments were resoundingly voted down. The most problematic of these proposed amendments would have limited the numbers of women and people of color to their actual percentages in the US population - but no more than that. The proposal would have mandated a majority-white Steering Committee. This is precisely why affirmative action is needed, and needs to be consciously employed by the peace movement. We need to move beyond a white-majority movement if we are to remain vital and relevant.

The lesson learned for me is that it's time for the peace movement to merge with the anti-racist movement. In fact, let's not just merge - let's become synonymous with the anti-racist struggle. It's not enough to say we oppose racism and discrimination. Affirmative action, aggressively employed, is necessary every step of the way to insure that under-represented populations are fully involved in the planning, strategizing, and leadership roles within peace and justice groups.

The September 27 Question

Some European pro-Palestinian groups have issued a call for a global day of protest on September 27, to end the Israeli occupation. September 27 was chosen because it will be the anniversary of the beginning of the second intifada in the Occupied Territories. ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) has enthusiastically taken up the call for a day of protest on September 27, so there will certainly be a large demonstration on the East Coast and perhaps in cities nationwide. The question raised at the conference was whether UFPJ would endorse the global day of protest and lend its weight to publicizing, funding, and supporting demonstrations on that day.

September 27 is Rosh Hashanah, one of the most sacred holidays on the Jewish calendar. (Rosh Hashanah falls on a different date each year.) Having a major protest about the Israeli occupation on a Jewish holiday is a sure way to alienate many Jewish allies and lose their participation. An equivalent situation would be if OMJP were to organize a demonstration against China's occupation of Tibet, and schedule it on Chinese New Year. Such a move would be seen as insensitive and needlessly divisive, because certainly many Chinese oppose the occupation of Tibet, and in fact Chinese comprise some of the leadership in the campaign to free Tibet (just as many Jews make up the leadership within the anti-occupation struggle).

In addition to losing the participation of some Jews who would not join in a demonstration on September 27, the peace and justice movement would also make itself more vulnerable to allegations of anti-Semitism if we were to endorse this date. Already these criticisms, and counter-criticisms, are a painful wedge within our movement, and we can't afford to lend the appearance of validity to the claims.

Instead, the conference delegates voted to endorse a different day of action and protest against the occupation in the fall. September 13 is the top contender, because other international groups have already called for protests on this day. More information about which day is chosen will be forthcoming on the UFPJ web site.

Honoring Rachel

During the conference I got into conversations with dozens of people about Rachel Corrie. It was heartening to realize that, based on my conversations, virtually every person there was aware of who Rachel was and why she was in Gaza. I also frequently heard people comment that they had heard Cindy and Craig Corrie speak on the radio or at a demonstration, and how moved they were by the Corries' strength, dignity, and commitment to carrying on Rachel's legacy.

On the second day I went to a "mini-plenary" in which we debated the merits of about a dozen action proposals related to Palestinian justice issues. Simona Sharoni and Starhawk had collaborated on one such action proposal, which was the only one to both call for UFJP to encourage Congress to pass Resolution 111 (the Resolution which calls for a governmental investigation into Rachel's murder), and to support the work of the ISM.

These two directives were dropped from the synthesis proposal on Palestinian justice, to my disappointment. The reason was that the proposals were focused on actions which would involve new activity from the coalition. Since there are already national campaigns to get Congress to pass Resolution 111 (Jews Against the Occupation and Veterans for Peace are two national groups that have initiated campaigns), it was decided that UFPJ could endorse this campaign without taking the lead. Similarly, UFPJ can endorse the work of the ISM, but initiate other types of actions here in the US to compliment their work.

Nevertheless, one shortcoming of the conference (due to time limitations) was that we did not have the opportunity to formalize and vote on which endorsements we wanted to make. The "Justice for Palestine" action proposal states that a working committee will be convened to develop the message of the campaign and make decisions about endorsements.

Overall Impressions

I left Chicago feeling inspired and invigorated. Our allies in the US peace and justice movement are everywhere - in every town and city, in rural areas and the inner city. We have amazing resources in our grasp - the talents, skills and passion of millions of people. And collectively we can and we will change this country for the better.