A call for direct action against the war

author : Marco Rosaire Rossi topic : Iraq occupation

by Marco Rosaire Rossi

The war in Iraq is the most unpopular war in history. The international community has opposed the war, and even those nations that were first supportive are now retracting their support: Spain has already pulled out, and Italy has committed itself to pulling out by the end of the year, if not earlier. In America, support for the war has plummeted. Polls have consistently shown that the majority -- with some polls demonstrating almost 70% -- of Americans believe the occupation is wrong, and US troops should be brought back home immediately. The opposition to the Bush administration's willingness to "stay the course" has also found its way into the military. A growing number of soldiers and military officials are questioning the reasons for the United States to remain in Iraq. Indeed, at this point it is a fact and not merely propaganda to proclaim that the majority of people in every country, even the United States, want peace.

A question lingers in the face of this fact: if the majority of people in the United States want peace, then why don't we have it? The answer is that the war in Iraq doesn't demonstrate a failure of policy, but a failure of democracy. Currently, the opposition against the war in Iraq has popular support, but not active support. The message of the peace movement in the United States reflects people's opinions, but not their desires and not their actions. This makes our current time period critical for ending the war. We must now start the process of moving from protest to resistance, from education to direct action, from working within the system to building our own outside of it.

In Olympia, this process has already begun in the nonviolent "mini-rebellion" of activists who have sought to block the shipment of materials and soldiers to Iraq along Olympia's port. What these activists have done in terms of physical stoppage of the war is very little. The actions of a small group of people, no matter how well-intended or effectively executed, will never be able to stop the massive workings of the world's largest empire. True peace will happen by mass action or it won't happen at all. However, what they have produced in inspiration is priceless. They are demonstrating both the need and the possibility for a prolonged civic resistance against the United States government.

To call their actions civil disobedience is a bit misleading. Their actions, though technically violations of minor local laws -- trespassing, blocking traffic, disorderly conduct - are fully protected under international law. The Nuremberg Trials clearly laid down the principle that citizens not only have a right, but a duty, to disobey and resist the laws of regimes that ignore international law. The United States government, without any doubt, is such a regime. The conflicts in Iraq are not accidents; they are war crimes. The actions of the activists who were arrested may not be congruent with local laws, but they are in full compliance with international laws, and in so far as those laws have been ratified by the United States government, they are also in compliance with the US Constitution. If anything, these activists are law-abiding global citizens who are trying to hold accountable the largest organized crime syndicate in the world: the United States government.

Holding the United States government accountable to its human rights violations, both abroad and here, ought to be the most immediate goal of the global citizen, and in-turn the peace movement here in America. To do so, we must create an active democracy -- a direct democracy that is infused with an ethical dimension -- in this country through waging a non-violent campaign of civil disobedience and direct action. The Port of Olympia is just the beginning, not only for this town, but also for the nation and the world.

To pull off this campaign on a mass scale -- one that is necessary for true democratic participation -- we will have to find new ways of working together. From this moment on, we must walk as if each step was not merely our own, but a step of our entire movement -- our entire history. We must walk collectively into the future. This requires an acceptance of great responsibility, and deep perpetual reflection on one's own consciousness, but the reward will be far superior to the burden. The energy we use in working together will fuel the light that will guide us toward freedom. The only way we will be able to walk toward that light -- toward that freedom -- is if we walk together. Essentially, the cooperation that we foster in helping us realize our peace will also help us realize our justice, and the struggles that we endure today will be the source of our freedom for tomorrow.