Waging Peace: From Protest to Resistance

author : T. J. Johnson topic : Iraq occupation | Port Militarization Resistance | Port of Tacoma

We will be there in our ports, our streets, in our media, our jails, our courtrooms, and everywhere else they dare commit violence in our name

[Speech delivered by TJ Johnson at the March 24 Olympia peace rally]

This week we mourn the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, an illegal and immoral act of aggression that many Americans now understand to be the greatest foreign policy blunder in US history. As we reflect on the past four years, it is also important to remember that the drumbeats of war began long before March 2003. In fact, they started just five hours after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the other architects of this violence ordered underlings in the Defense and State Departments to begin building the case for a pre-emptive war against Iraq, which they knew had nothing to do with the attacks of September 11.

This cabal of criminals who led us to war down a path paved with lies, deliberate misinformation and distorted propaganda are the same people who assured us that US soldiers would be hailed as liberators, that the war would be over in weeks, that the costs would be minimal, and who dismissed claims to the contrary as "the typical hysteria from the left."

It's now four years later and it seems only appropriate to ask: Who was right? The answer to this question is obvious. Today, we continue to be mired in the midst of bloody civil war and military occupation that has now taken the lives of over 3,200 US soldiers, hundreds of journalists, and perhaps as many as 650,000 Iraqi civilians.

The National Priorities Project estimates the cost of the war now exceeds $411 billion. The cost to Thurston County residents alone exceeds $337 million. Had this money not been spent in the pursuit of violence against a sovereign country that posed no threat to our safety and security, our county's share of the cost could have built over 3,000 units of affordable housing, provided health care to over 200,000 children, or provided a four year college scholarship to over 16,000 high school graduates.

As we reflect on the past four years, it is also important to look into the mirror and consider how we, as members of the peace movement, have performed. Remember back in 2002, before the invasion? Tens of millions of us around the planet marched, rallied and demonstrated against the invasion. And while this effort was important, we also know it was ultimately ineffective.

In the weeks and months after the invasion, back in the halcyon days of "Mission Accomplished" and soaring presidential approval ratings, some of us continued to speak out, though our numbers were much smaller. However, as the violence continued unchecked through 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, our numbers began to grow again. By last November, a strong majority of Americans knew that the peace movement had been right all along. We turned out in record numbers to vote for a change in direction, sending a clear message to the new Democratic congressional majority that it was time to end this national nightmare, to bring our troops home, and to begin to repair our shattered standing among the community of civilized nations. After the election, many of those who voted for change slipped back into the comfort of their daily routines, convinced that their voice had been heard and the end of the war was near.

Unfortunately, it has become crystal clear over the past 3 months that the Democratic majority has failed to understand their mandate, and we the people are failing to hold them accountable. Rather than bringing our troops home, they offered only token opposition -- in the form of non-binding resolutions -- as Bush began a dangerous escalation of the conflict. Rather than using the power of the purse, the one tool clearly within their authority, the House only yesterday agreed to extend the war for at least another 18 months, and to spend another $120 billion in pursuit of this failed policy. Anti-war voices within the Democratic Party are routinely marginalized by party leadership, while first tier presidential candidates like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama promise a sustained US presence in Iraq, coupled with threats, including the use of nuclear weapons, against Iran, Syria and other nations who would dare to question US hegemony in the region.

All of this makes it painfully obvious to me that Congress will not stop this war, nor prevent the next one. Therefore it is up to us. The time has clearly come to move from passive protest to active resistance. We must wage peace with the same intensity that the forces of darkness wage war. The days of standing on a corner with a sign, or writing a letter to your senator, or voting for your favorite Democrat and believing that action is sufficient to change the course of history must be complemented with active and sustained resistance.

People all over the country seem to have reached this same conclusion. In San Francisco, activists have maintained a continuous presence at the mansion of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, demanding that she put her political ambitions aside and start representing her constituents. Hundreds of citizens have been arrested and drug from the offices of their Senators and Congressional representatives as part of The Occupation Project, which demands accountability from our elected officials. Citizens have blocked recruiting stations from Times Square to Eugene, Oregon to counter the false promises used to seduce young men and women into risking their lives for a lie. And last week 44 people were arrested on Wall Street for delaying the opening of the New York stock exchange to highlight the role of corporate war profiteers.

Here in our own community just weeks ago, members of the Port Militarization Resistance movement successfully prevented the deployment of the 4th Stryker Brigade through the Port of Olympia with a coordinated campaign of public education, aggressive lobbying and commitments to non-violent civil disobedience. When the Army was forced to shift operations to the Port of Tacoma, we moved north to help our friends in Tacoma prevent their port from being used to export death. For over 10 days we directly confronted the war machine with non-violent resistance, while at the same time watching our fellow citizens being abused by hyper-militarized law enforcement agencies who seemed intent on suppressing our constitutional rights to dissent from the misguided policies of a government drunk with violence.

I am so honored to have been among those people who stood up for peace in Tacoma when we attempted to deliver a Citizens' Injunction to stop the shipment of war supplies. The inspiration I found from my fellow patriots and cell mates, many of whom are here today, has given me a renewed determination to work for peace. If the powers that be believe that arresting me and 36 others has done anything to diminish our resolve, they should listen closely:

We will no longer allow you to use our public facilities to export your illegal wars of aggression, and if you try to do so we will be there to confront you in our ports, in our streets, in our media, in our jails, in our courtrooms, and everywhere else you dare commit violence in our name.

People across the planet are hungry for peace, and news of our actions in Tacoma has spread throughout the country and around the globe, providing a beacon of hope for other communities struggling to end their participation in war and oppose the expansion of the US military empire.

Let me close by sharing a message I received yesterday from Mr. Shoji Niihara, a member of the Japan Peace Committee and one of the 25 Japanese peace activists who visited Olympia last summer to learn about our resistance to weapons and war, and to build one more link in the expanding global alliance against US militarism. [See "Message from a Japan Peace Activist" on page 5.]

No More Compromise! No More Passive Resistance! No More War!

TJ Johnson is an Olympia City Councilmember and organizer with the Olympia Port Militarization Resistance.