Promoted by Steven D. I know this is on the recommended list, but it also deserves to be seen on our front page, as well.

                                           Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

The Anti-War movement in this country is alive and well, despite what the media would have you and me believe. The rise of opposition to this war came much faster and with larger numbers involved than the protests against the Vietnam War did. We still have a long way to go though, to match and surpass the level of visible opposition to the war in Vietnam. Those actions  began slowly, but over the course of a decade produced numbers in the hundreds of thousands.

April 17, 1965 – March Against the Vietnam War. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held its first anti-Vietnam War protest rally in Washington. 25,000 attend.

November 27, 1965 – Another March Against the Vietnam War.

May 16, 1966 – Another March Against the Vietnam War.

October 22, 1967 – March on the Pentagon. Major march to protest the Vietnam War.

January 15, 1968 – Jeannette Rankin brigade. Called for withdrawal of troops from Vietnam.

November 15, 1969 – National Mobilization to End the War. 600,000 demonstrate against the war in Vietnam.

May 9, 1970 – Kent State/Cambodia Incursion Protest. A week after the Kent State shootings, a 100,000 demonstrators converged on Washington to protest the shootings and Nixon’s incursion into Cambodia.

April 24, 1971 – Vietnam War Out Now rally. 500,000 call for end to Vietnam War.

May 3, 1971 – May Day Protests 1971. Mass action by Vietnam anti-war militants to shut down the federal government.

 
Anyone who tells you that the recent mid-term elections  weren’t influenced by anti-war efforts is either delusional or actively working to sustain the war effort because it’s profitable to do so.

Perhaps these events go largely unnoticed because of a false paradigm that anti-war protesters must be isolated, howling, fringe figures. That doesn’t fit Cindy Sheehan or the military families who have turned against the war.

Even defined as a street phenomenon, the anti-war movement has commanded significant numbers. The global movement surely succeeded in pressuring foreign governments against supporting the U.S. invasion in 2003. The February 2003 protests were the largest turnouts in history before a war began. The August 2004 demonstrations at the Republican convention in New York were unprecedented in convention history, including the 1,800 arrests (approximately three times the number arrested in Chicago in 1968.)

It is true there have been periodic lapses in street protests since 2003, but these can be explained by the surge of activists into anti-war presidential campaigns like that of Howard Dean. Not only were thousands involved, but MoveOn.org’s voter fund raised $17 million in 2004, most of it from 160,000 contributors averaging $69 donations.

Those of us who’ve been  protesting over the last three years know that Americans of all political persuasions, age groups, social and economic backrounds and ethnic makeup have raised their voices against this war. Though there was little coverage by the media, the huge protest in Washington on September 24th, 2005 brought 300,000 into the streets. Not as much as the largest of the Vietnam protests, but still a number that can’t be ignored or dismissed.

                                Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Another and much more significant difference between the anti-war efforts of today and those of the 60’s and 70’s  is the perception that anti-war is anti-soldier. Without going into the justification for the belief that Vietnam protestors were anti-soldier, it’s clear that today’s activists are by and large motivated just as much to get American troops back home and protect them as for other reasons. That difference has surely been a factor in the diversity of protestors involved this time around.

One last and even more significant difference is the absence of a national draft in this war. I do agree with the opinion today that anti-war actions would increase if there were a draft in place. That doesn’t mean though that I would advocate a draft as a way to bring about a quicker end to this war or that I believe a draft would be a deterrent to politicians who commit troops to war because there is no personal risk either to themselves or to their children. That is a subject for a different diary.
Xicanopower’s excellent diary, Reinstituting The Military Draft explains why, despite what you hear, a draft could be looming on the horizon and why it won’t be more fair, if a draft can be called fair at all.

Why am I going into all of this? Because in spite of the democrat’s recent gains in the House and Senate and the added pressure that they can and hopefully will bring to bear against Bush to end the war, Bush has made it quite clear that he has no intention of withdrawing our military from Iraq so long as he’s the president. With incoming House majority leader Nancy Pelosi’s flat statement that “impeachment is off the table” and Bush likely to ignore any of the suggestions coming from the Iraq Survey Group (susanhu post), the absolute need to maintain and increase anti-war efforts is more important now than ever.

United for Peace and Justice recognizes this imperative and is organizing another huge demonstration for January 27th in Washington.

On Election Day the voters delivered a dramatic, unmistakable mandate for peace. Now it’s time for action. On January 27, 2007, we will converge from all around the country in Washington, D.C. to send a strong, clear message to Congress and the Bush Administration: The people of this country want the war and occupation in Iraq to end and we want the troops brought home now!

Congress has the power to end this war through legislation. We call on people from every congressional district in the country to gather in Washington, DC — to express support for those members of Congress who are prepared to take immediate action against the war; to pressure those who are hesitant to act; and to speak out against those who remain tied to a failed policy.

You all know that democrats made gains because of opposition to this war, not some bullshit beltway propaganda about centrism. Now they need to be made to understand that we’ll hold them to the people’s call to end the war. There should be no letup because things just got a little bit better. On the contrary, it’s time to push…hard, and get back out in the streets of Washington and America to bring about as swift an end to our military involvement in Iraq as possible.

Yes, it’s cold in DC at the end of January. My answer? More bodies, more heat.

Bring the heat!!