New Strategy Needed: "Bringing It Home: Local Organizing Against the War"

author : Emily Lardner topic : Conscientious Objection | Iraq occupation | Military Recruiters | Port Militarization Resistance | Port of Olympia

Strategizing event on July 9

by Emily Lardner

In the early 1930's, John Dewey wrote that the public has no hands except those of individuals. There is no public, only individuals who decide to act on behalf of themselves and of others, including people who live far away. The U.S. is engaged in a war that is illegal under international law, a war that has no justification. Hundreds of thousands of people are suffering and dying, their lives and homes are being destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. have expressed their view that the war is wrong. A majority of Americans think the war was a mistake. However, nothing is changing. On July 9, a group of Thurston County residents will gather at a downtown location to design a local campaign to withdraw support for the war. The purpose of coming together is to develop a concrete plan for mobilizing enough citizen support to actually bring about change at a local level.

We need a new strategy. Demonstrating against the war has not been enough. The question is, how can we act collectively to withdraw our support for the war and the local practices that support it? How can we stop military recruiting in the high schools? How can we stop military shipments from going through our port? What other creative actions can we envision and carry out to deny our support for the war?

In spite of demonstrations at the port, the port commissioners report that the decision to ship military supplies is simply a business decision. Shipments are increasing. What can we do? Simply demonstrating will not change the status quo. The lessons we can learn from successful community organizing around the world are, first, figure out concretely what to change, and then mobilize people from all parts of the community -- business, labor, churches, media, government officials--who work together, persistently, until the status quo changes. Key actions required include building allies throughout the community, public actions and demonstrations which dramatize the effects of the war, providing news and information about the war that the regular media avoids, regular presence at the port commission, city council and other meetings -- until finally it is impossible to carry on business as usual. Only then will change come.

Imagine that the people in Thurston county decide that too many Iraqi people have suffered and died because of our government's illegal and ungrounded war. We decide to take a public, practical stance against the war, right now. We decide to register our dissent in a collaborative and concrete way. We say together: we don't want military shipments in our port. Acting on behalf of others, we work together until those ships are no longer in our port, and military recruiters no longer have free access to our children. Imagine that groups throughout the county -- including churches, schools, neighborhood associations, unions, parenting groups, clubs -- worked together to bring this about.

Yul Gamboa, a local organizer, puts it this way: "The question is, who is in control? Who will determine what happens in our community? This war is an illegal war. We don't want to participate in it. But unless we learn to organize differently, more effectively, for sustained periods of time, a simple no -- even a demonstration-- means the status quo continues. We need enough interruptions in the ordinary running of things to bring the process to a halt. Then change can happen. That's what people know around the world, and we can learn it here. People feel good when you win one battle. Fight one front, and learn from that one struggle how to organize successfully on another front. But first, decide what to focus on. One thing. The port. Military recruiting in the high schools. Build momentum by successfully addressing one issue, with material outcomes."

The purpose of the gathering on July 9, "Bringing it Home: Local Organizing Against the War," is to develop a strategy for resisting the war through concrete, local efforts. We will meet from 9-3 downtown, with food and singing and serious planning. We are inspired by nonviolent resistance movements around the world, and we are also excited about our collective possibilities. "Bringing it Home: Local Organizing Against the War" is co-sponsored by Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, and the Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation.

If you will share your ideas and energy with us on July 9 for practical action to stop the war, or are interested in helping to organize the day, please contact one of the coordinators: Tom Crawford (280-0242; tcpraxis@comcast.net) or Emily Lardner (705-3678; hungrytigerofoz@hotmail.com).