More than half of the U.S. population thinks the war in Iraq is a failure. The president's approval rating has hovered below 30 percent because of discontent with the conflict — and there is no end in sight to the violence and American casualties inflicted by a mostly unseen, easily disguised enemy.
Although the Bush administration insists that the war in Iraq is not headed in the same direction as the Vietnam War, evidence increasingly suggests that the two conflicts are eerily similar ... except for one crucial factor: Where is today's protest movement?
It's out there — it's just not marching on Washington every week.
Before the war began in 2003, millions of people mobilized in protests across the globe to voice their opposition to the war in one of the largest protests of its kind in history. But since then, despite some occasional large-scale gatherings and media-grabbing activity by Cindy Sheehan, the mother of an American soldier killed in Iraq, the anti-war movement in the U.S. has been largely been unseen and unheard by the general public.
But even though it hasn't drawn the attention of reporters and cameras, key organizers of the anti-war movement say it's bigger than ever, and its size far exceeds the more photogenic Vietnam protests, which are credited with putting pressure on presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon to end U.S. involvement, as well as turning the tide of public opinion against the war.
"Protests are just one form of getting involved," said Tom Matzzie, Washington Director for MoveOn.org. "There are a lot of people getting involved in their communities, through elections and their college campuses. The Internet has made it easy for people to get involved to stop the war — and millions and millions of Americans log on to stop the war."
While a 500,000-strong anti-war rally was staged in Washington on January 27, the real engine for the movement is on the Web. On a daily basis, sites like MoveOn.org, Andrewsullivan.com and United for Justice & Peace (http://www.unitedforpeace.org/) are trying to help kept the fires of dissent stoked, while YouTube has emerged as a platform for user-generated protest of all stripes.
In January, a YouTuber named Warren25smash uploaded a curious three minute video in which the calm, sometimes profane Englishman urged people to post their own videos with the message "get out of Iraq." Hundreds complied, from a hand-drawn, peace-sign-laden animated clip set to the tune of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" (with a chorus of "Get out of Iraq") to a trippy five-minute song decrying the war in which a breathless MC posting as Cheeryvibez asks, "What's happened to our dreams of world peace?!" over a driving techno beat.
These protesters generally have little kind to say about Bush, but few flame the president as hard as Timz (a.k.a. Tom Hanna), an American-born rapper of Iraqi descent who eviscerates the war and the commander in chief in the clip for his song, "Iraq." Wearing a black hoodie and rapping in front of a background that shifts from the desert to quick-cut images of dead bodies, exploding shells and prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib, the smooth-flowing MC raps, "Dear Mr. George Bush, why do you insist to make a fool of us?/ For over 200 years we stood for what's good, now we're despised by our peers/ And what do you do but add fuel to the fire and send in more troops."
The song, which bumps on a Middle Eastern groove, features the ready-for-radio refrain, "There's a war goin' on outside/ No birds 'round here, just bullets that fly/ There's a war goin' on outside/ There's death everywhere but I feel so alive."
Timz said he was inspired to record the song more than a year ago because of his ethnic heritage, as well as his anger as an American over the way the war was being conducted. "Ever since the beginning of the war, my heart wasn't into it, I didn't agree with it ... Looking at everything, you kind of feel helpless," he said.
"What ever happened to WMD's? What happened to all of that stuff that our soldiers are risking their lives for?" he continued. "So it's like, 'How can I get my voice heard, how can I say something and make a difference?' So naturally, being a musician, if you're making music, you put a lot of feelings and thoughts and emotions into your song, and I have plenty of thoughts and emotions and feelings about the war, so it's just natural that I'm gonna put my message out through music."
The rapper said that he's hoping that by using hip-hop as his medium he'll inspire more young people to get involved.
There may be more receptive ears out there than he expects. One activist estimates that the anti-Iraq peace movement is probably more robust than the Vietnam war movement was: Judith LeBlanc, national co-chair of the group United for Peace & Justice, the nation's largest peace coalition, with more than 1,400 member groups. "From my vantage point, I think we're seeing, in a very short period of time, an incredible amount of organizing and activity," LeBlanc said. "Now you have protests [like the one in January] and you also have this incredible congressional pressure going on because of the shift after the recent elections."
LeBlanc said that during one recent week of the debate on the recent troop "surge" in Iraq in Congress, nearly 1 million phone calls and e-mails were sent to members of Congress stating opposition to the war. "When you tabulate the numbers, it far outstrips the opposition to the Vietnam War over a 10-year period," she said. "This war caused record numbers of people to vote in the midterm elections and the biggest thing that reflects how broad this movement is: For four years there have been hundreds and hundreds of regular vigils that take place in small towns in neighborhoods and in big cities every week."
Unlike the past, when big marches in Washington and New York made headlines, MoveOn's executive director, Eli Pariser, said the Internet age has allowed organizations like his to coordinate protests in 1,000 cities across the country, which he thinks might even better illustrate to members of Congress that their constituents are upset about the war.
"I think people are opposing the war in different ways than they used to," he said. "I think they are giving money to candidates who are against the war; helping change elections to propel people who are against the war into office; I think they're doing things locally. We had 1,000 events across the country the day after President Bush announced his escalation plan (see "President Bush Orders 21,500 More Troops To Iraq; Democrats Blast Plan") — so it's not all about big marches anymore, but that's just a tip of the iceberg.
"There are millions of people in this country who are upset about the direction of this war and want Congress to do something to change it. We aren't going to take no for an answer, and we want to facilitate that in every way that we can."
Scott Allen
I was asked by an older friend recently, who vividly remembered the student protests during the Vietnam War, why hasn't there been mass student protests against the war in Iraq at Sacramento State?
The student protests that went on during the Vietnam War were not only massive, but helped bring the Vietnam War to an end. Four years into the Iraq War, and it is evident that our presence there is adversely affecting the Iraqi population, stability in the Middle East and our own security. There appears to be no end in sight.
If this war is so abhorrent as current opinion polls show, where have all the protesters gone who numbered in the millions worldwide before and during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, before thousands of American soldiers, American and foreign civilian contractors and Iraqi civilians were slaughtered?
The war in Iraq has little popular support as more body bags are zipped up each day. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, 1,614 of the 2,988 American war dead as of January of 2007were 24 years of age or younger. To date, the total number of American military deaths stands at 3,162. Over half the soldiers killed could easily be sitting in a college classroom. So, where have the protests gone?
In late 2002, Associated Students, Inc. board members approved a pro-peace resolution that opposed a first-strike military attack on Iraq. Sac State students and faculty held an anti-war demonstration in 2003. More recently, in February, there were student protests at many of the UCs in California as well as Sonoma State, San Francisco State and other colleges across the nation such as New York University and North Carolina at Greensboro. Where are the anti-war demonstrations at Sac State? After discussing with my friend why Sac State in particular has not had an inclusive, robust protest movement, I tried to come up with a few answers.
Our school lacks cohesion, comradery and community. Sac State is a commuter school, the major sports teams aren't great and it is not well known for academics. I don't feel a real sense of belonging. There is no school spirit as exists at universities such as Duke, UCLA or Ohio State. It seems that many students put their blinders on and go to class, they don't join clubs, they don't read much, they don't have time for extracurricular activities because of work or they simply don't care.
Maybe some just want their C-average degree so they can get a job. I believe many in my generation are apathetic and disinterested in anything that doesn't deal with American Idol, Britney Spears, fraternities, Hollywood, The Hills, MySpace and drinking. With no sense of comradery, no sense of community and belonging and the distractions that the entertainment industry inundates America's youth with, it is small wonder why the students here don't organize to do something that could really cause change in our nation.
I didn't realize that I too was perpetuating the silence, the apathy and the hopelessness that sometimes comes with being young and feeling like one can't affect change. Maybe people feel the same way I do, but are simply looking for someone to lead. Maybe people are afraid to speak out against the war because they might be branded as unpatriotic or seen as not supporting the troops. Personally, I can think of no greater patriotic action than propagating a movement to bring our fellow Americans home and out of harm's way. Contrary to current rhetoric from supporters of the war, one can oppose the war and at the same time support our troops, or at least empathize with their plight.
Our college years are supposed to be times of change, to me to discover a sense of responsibility and activism. I hesitated to write an "End the War in Iraq" column because, at first, I figured I had nothing new to say. However, I realized that silence on something as costly as the debacle in Iraq was absolutely dangerous and that we must do something.
I think our generation seriously needs to examine what kind of world we want to live in, one of peace or one of perpetual war. Protesting for an end to a war isn't just about showing the devastation of war. It is about normal citizens being able to make a change. We can't rely on entertainers or Cindy Sheehan to do the work for us. If you don't want this war to continue, then say so. It is about standing up and saying, "No more!"
Regardless of what your major is or what your interests or hobbies are, as an American, this war affects you every single day. It may affect you because you know a soldier in Iraq or have lost a friend or loved one in Iraq. It affects your bank account as well. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Iraq war is costing U.S taxpayers $8 billion to $10 billion a month.
The CBO also states that the recent troop surge will cost an additional, "$9 billion to $13 billion for a four-month deployment and from $20 billion to $27 billion for a 12-month deployment, depending on the total number of troops deployed and including additional costs that would be incurred during the build-up and ramp-down periods."
This could be the issue that defines our generation and our century. It is imperative that we, as students, take back our country because we will have no one to blame but ourselves 20 years from now when people are saying, "Why didn't someone do something?" I ask all Sac State clubs, organizations, individuals, ASI, faculty and anyone else to once again start a movement to end this war. The CSU system has nearly half a million students and faculty. We have the numbers and we have a voice. We can be the change, we can help our brothers and sisters come home.
Scott Allen can be reached at opinion@statehornet.com
The peace bag you see in this picture was made by me for Melida. She carries it with here all the time. I made one like it for Cindy Sheehan and her sister Dee Dee too. Mel uses hers, Thanks Mel! (I made one for myself too) I also made Carlos a gold star flag he carries around with him.
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