Speakers Discuss Obama's Wars

It's like we're in an alternate-reality 1969, Bobby Kennedy is President, and he's following Johnson into Vietnam. That's how a member of the audience described our current situation, Obama's wars. Those wars were what 50 people gathered at Rochester's School Without Walls on Friday night to talk about. Featured speakers were Paul Kawika Martin, the National Political Director for Peace Action Washington, DC and Snehal Shingavi, Professor of South Asian literature at the University of Texas, Austin, and expert on Pakistan.

The intent of the event was to address what appears to be a decreasing of antiwar activities while at the same time, US military activity is increasing. Along with that increase comes increased casualties. Last month was the deadliest in Afghanistan since the war began. Despite the election of Barack Obama and a Democratic majority in Congress, the wars continue. How does the antiwar movement reach out to an indifferent public? Why is the public indifferent?

Public indifference can be traced to several factors one of which is the economy. Like every other institution, the Peace Movement has been hit with economic hardships. “I used to have five paid staffers” said Martin. “Now I have two.” People who have lost their jobs find they must spend more time looking for work, leaving less time to volunteer. Other issues, such as working for health care reform or opposing corporate bailouts have taken time away from antiwar activists.

Failure of the mainstream media to accurately report on the wars has been another contributing factor. Distracted by hoopla like the death of Michael Jackson, little attention has been paid to Afghanistan, almost none to Iraq. During the Bush years, a culture of Islamophobia was fostered. Even though no Afghans were involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks, Afghanistan was promoted as a “good” war. Americans were taught to fear Arabs and Muslims. Little is made of the fact that Osama Bin Laden, the alleged perpetrator, was an ally trained by the US up until the attacks. The reported killing of Baitullah Mehsud by a US air strike in Pakistan also killed his wife and several other innocent people. Why is this not a war crime? We have not declared war on Pakistan. The reported withdrawal of US troops from Iraqi cities is another ruse. The boundaries of the cities were redrawn, putting the military bases outside of the city limits. No troops have been moved or sent home.

The election of President Obama has contributed to public indifference as well. He sold himself as an antiwar candidate making many reluctant to criticize him. However all we've gotten after 200 days in office is a “Bigger Better War On Terror.” There is no doubt that the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex is pressuring him to escalate the wars and increase troop levels. Candidate Obama was once asked if there would be a place for Dr Martin Luther King Jr in his administration. His reply was “He would be out in the street holding us accountable.” It is doubtful that Dr King would approve of sending 20,000 more US troops into a devastated country that did nothing to us. It is time to hold the Obama Administration accountable.

Reaching out to an indifferent public presents a challenge to the Antiwar Movement. The first step is educating people. Afghanistan is a tribal society. It does not adhere to the idea of national borders common in the West. The current “borders” were drawn by the British in the early 20th century as part of their efforts to dominate the region. The native Pashtun population who live in the border region have been especially hard-hit by indiscriminate bombing. This has created a refugee crisis of 2.5 million people. Every Afghan has a family member or close friend who was killed in the war. The economy has been devastated. Average income is $1.50 a day. On a good day there will be 6 to 8 hours of electricity. As is often the case with desperate populations, many turn to religious leaders no matter how violent or oppressive those leaders may be. In the case of Afghans, US attacks are causing poor farmers to ally themselves with the Taliban.

What should the public be demanding as steps to end these wars? First we need to acknowledge that going into Afghanistan was a mistake. We need to bring the combatants into the political arena and talk diplomatically. The air strikes must be stopped. Resources need to be inserted into devastated areas to begin to rebuild their economies. Local civilian policing must be implemented to stop violence, not military occupation.

How to do it? Educating the public is priority number one, and it is beginning to work. Sixty percent of the public is now opposed to the Iraq war, and approval for Afghanistan is falling below 50 percent. Almost all major Congressional leaders favor an Afghan exit strategy. The wars are the only things the Republicans praise Obama on. That says a lot. We need to keep pressure on Congress to cut the funding for these wars. Unfortunately much of the funding is “off-budget” or “supplemental.” Some comes from a program called Title 50 which was created to finance top secret covert operations. There is no public accountability. Our own Congress member Louise Slaughter (D-28) holds a powerful position as chair of the Rules committee. Newly-elected Eric Massa (D-29) needs to continue to lead and needs our support.

We need to make it more difficult for the military to recruit. The military has turned to marketing tactics used by the toy, candy, fast food and tobacco industries to target kids in grade school. The Rochester School District recently caved in to financial pressure from the Pentagon and resumed providing students' names to military recruiters unless the student or parent explicitly opts-out. While getting the policy changed back may be near-impossible, we can certainly encourage opting out. We must also oppose cuts to education and youth programs that cause the so-called “poverty draft” where joining the military is the only way for a young person to earn a living or go to college.

Basic grass roots organizing can help stop complacency with these wars. We need to lobby the current Congress and support the election of antiwar candidates. We have new tools at our disposal that weren't around in the Vietnam era. Email, the Web, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, online petitions and mailing lists are all 21st century solutions to 20th century problems. Of course there's still plenty of room for rallys, vigils and town hall meetings.

Other social changes did not come about quickly. The abolition of slavery, womens' vote and civil rights all took time. They also took alliances that some may find uncomfortable. For instance, Susan B Anthony while fighting for womens' voting rights was also a proponent of prohibition. It may take an alliance with a populist or conservative group on this one issue in order to achieve the desired result.

We need to have more events such as this to keep the public motivated. We need to increase attendance. A Chinese proverb mentions how “A single spark can start a wildfire.” We need to start some fires. What started as Bush's wars are now Obama's wars. But that also makes them Obama's wars to end.