WITNESS AGAINST WAR 2008: From Chicago to St. Paul
Joshua Brollier September 4, 2008
The Witness Against War crew walked the final stretch of the 500-mile journey from Chicago into St. Paul with a strong contingent from Veterans for Peace, friends from the Twin Cities, and several of Paul Melling’s family members. We were received with a warm welcome from the women of Code Pink, the Sisters of St. Joseph, and many well-known activists. After a short frenzy of media attention, we enjoyed yet another wonderful dose of hospitality. There was food, wine, music, and plenty of conversation to go around.
During our reception and throughout our time at the RNC, people seemed to be excited about our journey but more interested in our intentions for the protests. The sentiment is understandable, with all the tension built up around the conventions, but we collectively came to see the relationships built along the way as a more valuable guide for evaluating the project.
Did we achieve what we set out to do? Did we challenge and non-violently resist our nation’s occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan during our walk? The answer would have to be “yes” and “no.”
Along our route through Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, we conducted over twenty community forums focused on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some presentations discussed the Iraqi refugee crisis and the terrible human cost of war. Other events looked at the occupation through the eyes of a former artillery member of the United States Army. Members of local peace groups also spoke about their struggles to organize nonviolent resistance to these unnecessary wars.
We concluded our walk by participating in the August 31st march to the Excel Center, coordinated by the Veterans for Peace and Code Pink. The protest was well organized. We delivered tombstones with the names of Iraqi civilians and US soldiers to the convention to dramatize the deadly effects of the GOP’s foreign policy. We also attempted to deliver a letter to the delegates that spelled out the numerous ways in which these policies were in violation of international law. Our diplomatic overture was spurned, even though we could see a few people in fancy suits just past the police in riot gear. Nine of us were arrested after crawling under a hole in a steel fence in a continued attempt to deliver the letter. Other than Dan Pearson and me, four of the arrestees were in some way connected to Witness Against War. They very probably would have been there despite our witness, but we surely “caught courage” from each other to take part in the action. So through the relationships, the community forums, and the public witness; I would say that we passed the litmus test.
However, we also failed miserably. We found ourselves rather sarcastically joking that “well, we did not stop the war- we thought it would end the day we set foot in St. Paul.” With the level of our country’s political dialogue during this election year, we knew that would not be the case. And it is not really too funny at all. Over a million Iraqis have died as a result of these conflicts and over 4 million are now displaced from their homes. Over 4,000 U.S. soldiers have been killed. How many more lives must be crushed before we wake up and demand an end to the wholesale looting and indiscriminate killing in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Witness Against War delivered our message to the RNC despite the police aggression and pre-emptive independent media crackdowns. Our voices were raised and our presence was felt along with the ten thousand plus other protestors who gathered in St. Paul. That being said, hopefully our objective to “hold both political parties accountable” was made quite clear along the way. With the election in sight, the Democrats are now talking as if escalating the war in Afghanistan is the noble thing to do. In his acceptance of the nomination for president, Barack Obama even ridiculed John McCain for not being willing to “follow him (Osama bin Laden) to the cave where he lives.” Apparently Osama’s cave must be somewhere close to the Shindand district where over eighty Afghan civilians were recently killed. It is sad when that kind of tough talk is necessary to get you elected. There was also much talk of America’s Promise; as if the United States was chosen by God to inherit and own the planet. Judging by our over-consumption, our harsh treatment of immigrants, and the willingness to trade the lives of others for the resources we desire- I am not too sure how many of us disagree with that notion. Judging by our shortsightedness, we must think God is planning to give our American grandchildren another planet shortly down the road.
We received so much generosity and hospitality along this trip that it was tempting to fall into this form of “American exceptionalism.” Residents of the rural and urban areas throughout the Midwest were so genuinely welcoming and caring towards us as sojourners. However, after some reflection, I remembered how well I was treated as a guest in Zimbabwe in 2004 (a nation that was then considered by the CIA World Fact book to be on the “Axis of Terror”). The people of rural and urban areas in Zimbabwe took me in as if I were a brother. I also remembered the kindness and hospitality of friends that are now living in the United States that immigrated from Mexico, Colombia, India, Sudan, and so many other places. These two experiences combined resonated with the words of Eugene Debs; “I have no country to fight for, my country is the earth, I am a citizen of the world.”
It is time for us to make amends for the past and to begin seeing ourselves as equal partners in the global community. Maybe then we could hear the claims of the Arab nations. Maybe then we could hear the voice of indigenous peoples in the United States, Asia, Latin America, and Africa when they cry out for equality and justice. To quote Robert Moses from a memorial service in 1964;
“Now we’ve watched the phenomenon time and time again… Before the summer project last summer we watched five Negroes murdered in two counties of Mississippi with no reaction from the country. We couldn’t get the news out. Then we saw that there were three civil rights workers killed (Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman), and two of them were white, the whole country reacted, and went into motion. There’s a deep problem behind that, And I think that if you can begin to understand what that problem is—why you don’t move when a Negro is killed the same way you move when a white person is killed—then maybe you can understand this country in relation to Vietnam and the third world, the Congo and Santa Domingo.”
Our country has come along way in black/white relations since 1964 and most people now welcome that change as positive. The circumstances of the current election certainly prove that there has been some major progress. Meanwhile, hopefully we can still recognize that en route to the peaceful society we long for, a long path lies ahead of us. Understanding that path requires each of us individually to see our common humanity reflected in our brothers and sisters across the globe regardless of whether they are in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Palestine; Russia, Vietnam, or Zimbabwe.
Similar to Robert Moses’s experience, Voices in the Wilderness had a hard time “getting the news out” about the brutal consequences of the US/UN economic sanctions imposed on Iraq from 1991 to 2003. The UN itself estimated that over 5,000 children under the age of five died per month as a direct result of the sanctions. People in the US scarcely heard a word of this in the media and reacted with disbelief when informed, so Voices and the Middle East Children’s Alliance decided to honor one Iraqi child, named Omran, who was killed by a bombing in the “no fly zone.” People were able to picture their own children in Omran’s eyes.
Maybe if each of us knew just one Iraqi youth, we would think twice before allowing drone planes to fly bombing missions over the child’s home for the purpose of “liberation” or “fighting terrorism.” Maybe if each of us knew just one mother from Afghanistan, we would actually move to stop our government from continuing its criminal policies that lead to so much “collateral damage.” Maybe each of our actions combined would form the basis for an actual collective movement.
So many US citizens, young and old, enjoy and applaud progress toward racial equality, here in America, even though we did not lift a single finger to help the civil rights movement. So many are now eager to condemn the Vietnam War, even though they didn’t take a single risk to end the madness of that war. Will we have the courage to step up to the current challenges posed? What risks are we willing to take on behalf of voiceless people whose lives and future are jeopardized? How can we work together to form a viable and cohesive movement that challenges the powers that be and the status quo American life- that puts and end to the so called “war on terror” and begins to see each community across the globe as inter-related and equally valuable?
These are the questions that I pondered as the walk came to its conclusion this week. Voices for Creative Non-Violence is considering several options for future projects. One suggestion is to undertake an “electricity fast” in DC, during which a group of people would agree not to use electricity for a certain time period, thereby identifying at least partially with Iraqis who have, for many years, lacked this most basic service. Voices will continue urging activists and concerned citizens nationwide to take their vigils into the offices of elected representatives. It is obvious that public opinion has shifted against the war, but legislators are reluctant to defy the will of oil and defense companies, even though their own constituents register strong disapproval of the war. Should Barack Obama be elected, Voices will join in a 24-hour vigil, from December 27th – January 15th, near his Chicago home to remind him not to forget the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. These are just some suggestions. If you have any creative ideas on how to bring these wars to an end, please keep us informed. Many people looked at us with disbelief when they read our signs announcing that we’d walked 492 miles from Chicago to St. Paul. “It’s do-able!” said Dan Pearson, repeatedly. It’s amazing what we can do.
