Where is the Anti-War Movement?

Does such a thing exist? Are we all going to remain complacent accomplices? You can come out and at least voice your opinion on March 19, the eighth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Street demonstrations are scheduled in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. You can find details at Answer: Act Now to Stop War and End Racism.

Since declaring a moratorium on anti-war protests in 2004, we have experienced both major political parties. Neither one of them are truly interested in ending these wars. It is up to us, the people to end thse wars. Are you against war or not? Working within the system has not worked. We must start a new anti-war movement. The Democratic Party has proven its willingness to remain enslaved to Wall Street and it turned its back on the working men and women of this country in doing so.

This attitude of ‘let’s play nice’ and ‘you can attract more flies with honey instead of vinegar’ is allowing corporations to dictate our national mores. By allowing these wars to continue we are taking part in allowing the traumatizing, maiming and killing of tens of thousands of Iraqi, Afghan and Pakistani civilians, as well as U.S. soldiers and Marines.

Can we really afford to numb our collective conscience while allowing these atrocities continue? What is this saying about our character?

We are spending nearly nearly a trillion dollars a year to pay for these wars while we have more than 30 million people unemployed, some 40 million people living in poverty and tens of millions more in a category euphemistically called “near poverty.” Our federal government, in order to remain functioning is slashing social services while the profits of weapons manufacturers and private contractors have quadrupled since the invasion of Afghanistan.

The corporations, no matter how badly the wars are going, make huge profits from the conflicts. They have no interest in turning off their money-making machine. Let Iraqis die. Let Afghans die. Let Pakistanis die. Let our own die. And the mandarins in Congress and the White House, along with their court jesters on the television news shows, cynically “feel our pain” and sell us out for bundles of corporate cash.

Does anybody really know what time it is? It is time to stop these wars. The people, you and me, American citizens hold the true power in this country. Politicians think they have it but they are working for corporations. The press think they have it but they also are run by corporations. Corporations have it only because we have allowed it to be shifted to them. Speak with your wallets and your purses. Cut your spending to the bare necessities.

We are not in Iraq to protect them. We are there to put in place a permanent military occupation. Talk of leaving that country is a sham. The U.S. military is used to conquer countries for the rich, to seize markets, land, resources and labor for Wall Street. This is what drives U.S. foreign policy. Julian Assange of Wikileaks tried to get the American people to see this and he was labeled a traitor by the people who stood to lose the most.

During the election of 2008, we voted for Obama because he promised to end the war.  But, U.S. soldiers are still being killed, wounded and psychologically traumatized, especially those on their third, fourth and fifth deployment who were traumatized in previous deployments and are being re-traumatized. The reasons that led people to oppose the war in 2003 are still in effect.  All of the horrors we heard shortly after the invasion of Iraq are still there. Iraqi’s still have no electricity, they  still live with constant violence, have no functioning government, have occupying forces still in their country and suffer rampant birth defects from the depleted uranium.

Why don’t we continue to hear of these awful conditions? Media is being paid off so we don’t see them. How can we continue to trust in a news media that is owned by corporations and refuse to present the news of atrocities we are allowing to exist?

The reason people are joining th military is because of the abysmal job market and tuition rates are skyrocketing. If a fraction of the money spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was used to meet human needs, our kids would be able to go to college at affordable rates. We would be able to create jobs for young people when they get out of high school. Vast amounts of wealth, which we create, are poured into these wars and the military while people here are facing increasing hardship. We have to demand and fight for change, not ask for it.

Where is the seemingly progressive president that was going to end this war? Where did that Obama go? Spending more money on the military is not progressive. Sending more of our citizens into the military and on to foreign countries is not progressive. The war has become progressive, it is now spreading into Pakistan and Yemen.

We need to build an independent political movement that is outside of the Establishment. This is the only way we have ever won real victories in our history.