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Resist Newsletter, July-Aug 2011

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Recommended Citation Resist, "Resist Newsletter, July-Aug 2011" (2011). Resist Newsletters. 383. https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/resistnewsletter/383 ISSN 0897-2613 • Vol. 20 #4 A CALL TO RESIST ILLEGITIMATE AUTHORITY July-August 2011 Charting a Course of Resistance Five decades of an tiwar organ izing from the RESIST N ewsletter

By Nick Perricone and Christy Pardew To this day, as evidenced by our overed in dust, we sorted through Newsletter collection, the US government history last week: four decades of has continued to engage in new wars­ Ccarefully-filed issues of the RE­ declared or not-and new lies. Yet the SIST Newsletter in our office storage room. impulse to resist has not let up. Consci­ At once sobering and inspiring, the News­ entious people continue to voice their letter archives paint an intriguing picture objections to war and violence, choosing to of the past 40 years. From Vietnam War stand instead for peace with justice. We of­ draft resistance to the Black Panther Party, fer the following excerpts, in part, to catch from the Freedom of Information Act to a glimpse of this hope and inspiration. vi~lence and US complicity in Central The United States has a long history America, from AIDS activism to struggles with war. According to the historian Wil­ in labor unions: the Newsletter archives liam Blum, since World War II alone, the serve as a chronicle of left organizing for US has dropped bombs on no fewer than the latter part of the twentieth century­ 19 different countries, spanning each cor­ and the first decades of the twenty-first. ner of the globe. In this issue, we plan to With Obama' s recent declaration that look back at RESIST s origin in resistance the "tide of war is receding:' in Afghani­ to the war in Vietnam, Laos and Cambo­ stan, military interventions were on our dia, and to follow the subsequent series of minds as we parsed through old Newslet­ bombings and interventions carried out by ter issues. We followed the thread of war our government to the present day, duti­ and bombings from our very first issue fully covered in these pages along the way. throughout the collection. This is history While mass draft resistance has become we hope we can learn from. a thing of the past, its spirit remains alive When a group of antiwar organizers as conscientious objectors and soldiers started RESIST in 1967, young men all who refuse to deploy remind us that re­ over the country faced prosecution and sistance to unjust wars is always relevant. For now, 44 years after RESIST s found­ possible jail time for their resistance to In the following excerpts, selected from ing, at a time when the president has an­ the Selective Service Act, which insti­ previous issues of the Newsletter, we hope nounced that he needs no congressional tuted the draft and forced them to fight to show the various manifestations of approval to drop bombs on a foreign in Vietnam. These men rejected their American hegemony-from full-scale war country, we hope this backward glance conscription into a war they felt to be in Vietnam and southeast Asia to a more will prove to be both insightful and pro­ unjust. At the same time countless more purely ostentatious display of might such vocative to our readers. men and women across the United States as our war on Grenada; through covert organized and joined these draft resistors episodes and maneuvers in Nicaragua and Nick Perricone is a student at Tufts in solidarity, calling for an end to the war Guatemala, all the way to the present-day University and a RESIST intern. and for true justice for all. RESIST was campaigns in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Christy Pardew is the editor of the born out of this sentiment. Libya and elsewhere. RESIST Newsletter. "Already our Next Vietnam.?"

Doug McKay, March 1970 ment in the war on such a large scope Republic of Vietnam. But US involvement Not more than a month ago, newspa­ presents a dilemma of major proportions. in Laos is anything but new. It may be pers around the country "discovered" US I knew we were doing a little of this and traced to a foreign policy nearly twenty involvement in Laos. The Senate Foreign a little of that in Laos, but I had no idea years old, a policy which also explains our Relations committee began to demand it was a major operation of this kind .... " involvements in Korea and Vietnam. • information on the extent of our military Forced to concede US involvement in commitment in that country. "What Laos by incidents now too blatant to go ~SOCIAL CHANGE~ strikes me most," Senator J. William Ful­ unnoticed, the State Department is claim­ - :;o C) rri bright commented, "is that an operation ing that our military presence there is a z ~ :::> )> of this size could be carried out without recent development, made necessary by LL.. z LL J;::. members of the Senate knowing it and movements on the Ho Chi Minh trail or O 0 without the public knowing ... US involve- by attacks against Laos by the Democratic (/) -<

>~ RESIST (/)i "Saying No" 0 o ~ .,, z ,, Editorial, August-September 1982 attack on Beirut. Also this summer came c:r C ~ z Once upon a time the unthinkable became the first draft indictments. Threatened so w 0 thinkable, and the previously unconceived many times, when they finally occurred a::: - ~ 3~NVH:> 7'11:>0S ~ of began to blind us to the horror of the they seemed vaguely old hat. The anti­ familiar. It was the achievement of books draft movement had been crying wolf for For information and grant guidelines, write to: like Jonathan Schell's Fate of the Earth to two years. When the wolf finally arrived RESIST, 259 Elm Street, Suite 201 fill our heads with precise images for there wasn't much of a movement to Somerville, MA 02144 ultimate destruction: the firestorm, the greet him. 617-623-5110 • [email protected] blast wave, the reduction of ozone. Con­ There has been a fair amount written The RESIST Newsletter is published six times ventional war palled in comparison. In a about the continuum of violence, how a year. Subscriptions are available free to way, June 12 was the culmination of our conventional will become nuclear. The prisoners and to individuals for a suggested education, our recognition, as hundreds Middle East has long been chosen as the donation of $25/year. The views expressed in articles, other than editorials, are those of of thousands marched to to rid the world site of such a war, and Daniel Ellsberg has the authors and do not necessarily represent of our nightmares. explained that conventional forces will be the opinions of the RESIST staff or board. Then the summer came and not much the "tripwire." But right now, faced with RESIST Staff: Robin Carton was happening on the nuclear war front. the relentless shelling of Beirut, the ruth­ Ravi Khanna The Administration and Congress were lessness of that violence, it seems obscene Yafreisy Mejia Christy Pardew to condemn the conventional because it impressed by June 12 in spite of them­ RESIST Board: selves. The nuclear freeze got some serious may lead to worse. Cynthia Bargar Marc Miller consideration. The defense appropriations The reality of conventional war is Jennifer Bonardi Jim O'Brien bill passed with the MX and civil defense terrible enough. The actions of a million Melissa Carino Carol Schachet Miabi Chatterji Ragini Shah provisions intact. The nuclear freeze bill young men in saying no to such horror Warren Goldstein-Gelb Sarath Suong headed for defeat, at least for this year. should not need justifying, not to the Becca Howes-Mischel Camilo Viveiros Meanwhile, Lebanon: the invasion, the government, not to the courts, and finally, Kay Mathew Jen Willsea bombing of Sidon and Tyre, and then the not to the peace movement. • RESIST Interns: Marina Canale-Parola Nick Perricone "The Draft" RESIST Volunteer: Nancy Wechsler Newsletter Editor: Christy Pardew Editorial, April 1982 numbers will be officially estimated at Guest Co-Editor: Nick Perricone About the time that schools and col­ about one million, and will actually be Printing : Red Sun Press leges are getting out for the summer, the much higher. The government will have Banner art: Bonnie Acker Justice Department will begin selected to bring a successful, highly-publicized Printed on recycled paper with vegetable-based ink prosecutions against those who failed to case in each major television market if www.resistinc.org register for the draft. By that time their continued on page 3 0 ----

2 RESIST Newsletter, July-August 2011 their campaign is to have the desired effect of intimidating large numbers of young men to register. All indications to date are that prosecutions will be brought against those who have refused to register on principle, not those who have forgotten or were waiting to see if they got caught. One would think that the peace move­ ment would even now be preparing and positioning itself to launch a major peace initiative around the defense of non­ registrants. Coming in the politically-sen­ sitive pre-election period, and perhaps during the height of activities around the UN' s Special Session on Disarmament, such a campaign would serve to make our commitment to peace specific, and to empower and encourage young people to stand up to the drift toward war. Because the draft will be necessary to fill the ranks of Reagan's expanded Rapid Deploy­ ment Force, moreover, agitation around the draft would make more problematic the ability of the US military to suppress liberation movements, and also to get us into the kind of confrontation with the Soviet Union that could lead to a super­ power war. Yet this support from the peace move­ ment is not yet visible. After three years of anti-draft agitation, and with the still vivid memory of the effect of the anti­ draft movement on the Vietnam war, ~ .j the peace movement has yet to clearly commit itself to an active role against the draft. Indeed, the issue of the draft is not .t;I CJ) mentioned even among the many minor ._____,,;. __.;-.....;..;.;..,,;...;...... - ...... _------' ? goals of the June 12th demonstration in generally, is necessary if we are to avoid quickly and loudly against this view. We New York. Why is this? relying on nuclear weapons and thus need to reassure the young people that A disturbing possibility is that a sub­ risking nuclear war. we know that the struggle against war is stantial section of the peace movement is We know there is no truth to this argu­ indivisible, and that we won't let them buying into the argument that the draft, ment. Yet after years of benign neglect of be sacrificed for the illusory safety of the and an increase in conventional forces the draft issue we need to raise our voices rest of us. • "Pacification in El Salvador"

Frank Brodhead its pacification program in June 1983, the equipment, and training, the Salvadoran November/December 1983 United States intends to break the mili­ armed forces have been unable to defeat The US government has initiated a tary stalemate between the Salvadoran the insurgents, who now control approxi- significant escalation of the war in El guerrillas and the armed forces. For continued on page 4 Salvador. With the implementation of despite significant inputs of US money,

RESIST Newsletter, July-August 2011 3 mately one-fourth of the country and toral process, the "search for peace" one-third of the population. As one US conducted by Regan's special envoy official told Newsweek, if pacification Richard Stone, and the bipartisan fails, "We're sunk. We'll either have Kissinger commission on Central to give up the Salvadoran effort en­ America. The mass media have identi­ tirely .... Or we11 have to make a much fied the "negotiations track" with the larger commitment, maybe even of State Department, and particularly troops" (July 4, 1983). with State Department officials like The US pacification strategy in El Thomas Enders and Deane Hinton. Salvador brings together three main The recent demotion of these two elements: officials, and the general subordina- • The use of military sweeps and ~ tion of Central America policy to the intensive bombing to "clear and ] National Security Council, indicates hold" guerrilla areas, creating zones ~ that the negotiations track has lost from which guerrilla influence is l favor in the Reagan administration, eliminated; ~ and that its remaining elements, like • The implementation of an ambi­ =s' the Salvadoran elections scheduled ~ tious plan for "civic action," or eco­ 0: for 1984, are public relations devices. nomic rehabilitation, in areas which j The real weight of US policy in have been cleared of guerrillas. This ~ Central America rests with the "mili­ involves using large amounts of AID ~~ tary track." This is most evident in ;:s funds to generate employment, repair ~ a September 1983 speech given by roads, build clinics, reopen schools, -~ Undersecretary of Defense Fred C. and restore agricultural produc­ ~ Ikle, advocating military victory and tion. Consciously modeled on the denying that Nicaragua has the right tactics to defeat the guerrillas. As part Revolutionary Development programs ot self-determination; but it is rooted of the civic action program US advisers used during the Vietnam War, the civic in longstanding US policy toward the will also train villagers in pacified areas action component of the US pacification region. Over the last century the United to function as a local militia, defending strategy breaches the tenuous barrier States has not hesitated to intervene areas from guerrilla attack and reporting between "military" and "economic" aid militarily in Central America; and the guerrilla movements to the regular army. to El Salvador. US military has played a decisive role • The training of thousands of Salva­ The strategic context in shaping modern El Salvador, Nicara­ doran troops in counter-insurgency tac­ gua, Honduras, and Guatemala. But the The United States has maintained the tics. The creation of a new training base United States regards Central America fa<;ade of a "two-track" policy toward in Honduras for Salvadoran troops and as a vital but secondary theater of opera­ Central America. One track has suppos­ especially the training of junior officers tions, and fears that the region's conflicts edly emphasized a political or negotiated are intended to create an army schooled will divert resources needed in the more settlement. Elements of this strategy have in the lessons of Vietnam and willing vital areas of Europe, the Middle East, or included the attempt to draw opposition to employ mobile counterinsurgency Southwest Asia. • "moderates" into the Salvadoran elec- "Plotting the Destruction of Nicaragua"

Jeanne Gallo sponsored war on the people and she reveals lion people. For close to half a century, August/September 1983 the Reagan administrations objectives in Nicaragua was kept in a state of extreme Recently, Jeanne Gallo, a Sister of Notre the region. under-development by the hereditary Dame and a human rights activist in Boston, War is a horrible thing. And at this dictatorship of the Somoza family which returned from a.five-week trip to Nicaragua. moment, the United States government was installed, armed, and protected by W!zile traveling through the war zone is waging war against the Nicaraguan the United States. The Somoza dynasty she spoke with hundreds of Nicaraguans, people. The effects of US aggression came to embody the essence of imperial including Sandinista leaders. In this are tremendous on this small Central article she describes the effects of the US- American country of two and a half mil- continued on page 5

4 RESIST Newsletter, July-August 2011 power, scheming, corrupting, buying, selling, terrorizing, plundering. By the time of the most recent Somoza, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, the family controlled a large part of the Nicaraguan economy: nearly 30% of the arable land, the national airline, the only shipping company, the extensive interests in bank­ ing, hotels, real estate, fishing, construc­ tion, radio, television, and newspapers. During the last years of the regime, the corruption rampant throughout the Somoza administration pushed the Nica­ raguan people to the limit. As opposition to Somoza developed and the influence of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) grew, Somoza became even more repressive and his National Guard unleashed a reign of terror. Will Allen of Madison Veterans for Peace speaks out to bring the troops home. This was aimed at the peasant popu­ lation particularly, who at the time were into Managua and installed a new gov­ ships loaded with planes, bombs, tanks the FSLN' s base of support. Whole areas ernment. and troops, on both its Atlantic and Pa­ were burned out, driving thousands of Today, as it struggles to heal its war cific coasts, is one of tension, one of fear, peasants off their land in order to create wounds, to build a revolution, to rebuild of waiting, of wondering when, not if, "free fire" zones in which the FSLN gue­ a country that's been ravaged not only the US bombs will be unleashed, blasting rillas would be unable to survive. There by a war but also by an earthquake, by them "back to the stone age." is no exact data as to how many people provoked shortages, by economic desta­ But, as one religious worker told me were tortured, imprisoned or murdered bilization, and now by a blockade, Nica­ this past month in Managua: "It doesn't at this time. ragua is forced to use precious resources make any difference how many bombs Then it ended. It ended with a massive for self-defense against a US backed or how many people are killed. This and total insurrection by the people of "not-so-secret" covert war. struggle of the poor will keep on going. Nicaragua which began in the last days The feeling in Nicaragua today as it It cannot be stopped. I know that's the of May and culminated on July 19, 1979, fights counter-revolutionaries or "con­ way thousands of Nicaraguans look at when the FSLN marched triumphantly tras" on both its northern and southern it. Their mission is to plant the seed and borders, as it is surrounded by US war- for others to continue. • "US invades Grenada" Editorial administration's attempt to beat the lustrates in "Sixteen Years of Resistance" November/December 1983 "Vietnam syndrome" calls us to demon­ in this newsletter. With 500,000 US troops The hypocrisy and contradictions in­ strate that we will not forget the lessons presently stationed around the globe, volved in the recent invasion of Grenada of Vietnam. Our movement grew out of the kind of work Resist has supported are blatant. Reagan couldn't have given the struggle to end the war in Vietnam. since 1967 is needed as much, or more, us a clearer mandate to mobilize. This That war is our legacy as Louis Kampf il- than ever. • "The Reality of Grenada"

Jaenne Gallo, February 1984 ment needed in the struggle to create a that change for Latin America depends The question for us here in the US is how more human world .... upon the people of the United States. This to take that anger that so many of us felt, What is new is the moment, for us and is also not a new statement, but the way especially after the invasion of Grenada, for Latin America. Grenada has had a in which it is being said is new. and turn it into energy, into the commit- profound effect. There is a new awareness continued on page 6

RESIST Newsletter, July-August 2011 5 -7-. t~ ·:: •• -·.-t~:.., ... :- ~~., .,, ... ~ """II(,~:·. . . .

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• ' - • !" I ~-.,, i.i~ ~ : •, ~ • -~ : •- ,. • ~ • • The revolutionary struggles for libera­ tion continue. The people of Latin America are conscious. The people of El Salvador, of Guatemala, of Nicaragua, are awake. But, the giant to the North can crush them and do so because its people are asleep, or if not asleep, impervious to the cries of the poor, deaf to the cries of their brothers and sisters to the South for peace, for justice, for liberation. How to unblock these deaf ears? How to give sight to blind North Americans so that they can see the other" not as an enemy but as one who is like them. For many years I had believed that if people but heard, they would act. But now I know that is not true. It is not so easy, especially when "hearts and minds" of US citizens can be won so readily through the control and manipulation of the media as was experienced during the Grenada invasion. The Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine organizes for a more just world. Other things have to happen and much of country so small that it cannot be helped world protecting someone else's interests. it on an ideological level. by war. There is no person, no village, that We're there protecting our own" (New York "The objective of imperialism and of is not important to them." Times, 10/28/83). the regimes that cooperate with imperi­ Ronald Reagan when giving his rea­ It is in this context that we must view alism inside our countries is to convince sons for the invasion of Grenada stated: the invasion of the tiny island of Grenada. people that peace and security are based " ... We are a nation with global responsi­ In this kind of worldview, no place is on war. That is the way they will control bilities, we're not somewhere eels in the considered small. • any situation in any country. There is no

"A Matter of Conscience: Resistance Within the US Military in Vietnan1"

Bill Short and Willa induction between 1963 and 1973. Deser­ and protest often ran counter to the values Seidenberg, March 1988 tion, AWOL, disciplinary infractions, they learned as children. The obligation In recent years there has been a plethora of refusing orders, fraggings and sabotages to defend God and country seemed an books, articles, television documentaries were all expressions of protest for ser­ inevitable task. The military demanded and movies about the Vietnam War and its vicemen and women. Often they risked blind trust and soldiers were expected veterans, much of it coming from veterans court-martial, imprisonment and ostra­ to obey, right or wrong. But at the same themselves. But one voice has not yet been cization from their family and friends. time, they entered the military with a set heard from: the men and women in the Along with civilian peers, Gis developed of moral values that often did not conform United States military who resisted a war their own counter-culture, spawning a GI to the duties they were expected to carry they came to see as morally wrong. movement complete with demonstrations, out as soldiers. Their courage to listen to Dissent within the military during coffeehouses and newspapers; all a way of their consciences serve as a lesson to future the Vietnam War is unprecedented. Ac­ rebelling against the authoritarian control generations, particularly tomorrow's sol­ cording to Defense Department figures, of a military ready to sacrifice their lives diers who may one day be faced with their as many as 503, 926 incidents of deser­ for a cause Gis didn't understand. own Vietnam, and the decision between tion occurred between July 1, 1966 and Growing up in the shadow of World right and wrong. December 31, 1973; compared with 191, War II, on a steady diet of John Wayne 840 reported cases of men refusing draft movies, these veterans' acts of dissent continued on page 7

6 RESIST Newsletter, July-August 2011 On the following pages are the faces derwater maps and charts for landings they could start a chapter, the thing just and stories of some of these veterans. all over the world. I was outraged the sort of organized itself. We soon had They are part of a project called "A Mat­ invasion had taken place. It made me hundreds of officers from all branches ter of Conscience: Resistance Within the realize the stupid thing was far from of the services, all over the country U.S. Military During the Vietnam War," ending. I read about some Navy of­ involved. We were perceived as a real a series of portraits and oral histories of ficers who were speaking out against danger, because as officers we were the resistance vets. Like all veterans of the the war and I tracked them down. I command structure and many of us had Vietnam War, protest vets have deep was so happy to find these guys be­ high security access. We didn't think we internal wounds, and feelings of con­ cause I thought I was alone; you feel were doing anything wrong; we figured fusion, self-doubt and isolation. These so isolated when you're in the military. that's what we fought in Vietnam for, veterans not only feel alienated from the There were about ten or twelve of us in our constitutional rights. Our right to community at large, but also from other the beginning. We got together another speak our mind. Everybody identified veterans who might resent the stands six or seven joined in the next week, and with the Concerned Officer Movement they took. We hope this project will give the Concerned Officers Movement was had funny things start happening to them a forum to finally talk about their born. We didn't do anything really to them; you'd be transferred, you'd be experiences ... organize; it was more like a rap group. offered an early discharge, or suddenly It was more like, wow, we'd found each your fitness report would go from excel­ Jim Packer's oral history other. It was just good to talk about what lent to unsatisfactory. The reaction from When they invaded Cambodia it was the hell was happening, how the war the Marine Corp was so out of line that I just horrendous. I was in Washington sucked and what we could do about it. would have to say the Corp radicalized DC at the time; a career marine officer The next thing we knew people all over me more than the demonstrators out on going to school to learn how to do un- the country were calling us asking how the streets did. • "The Gulf Crisis: Unasked Questions on the US in the Middle East"

Irene Gendzier trations of dealing with repressive re­ was not created by the Iraqi invasion November 1990 gimes, and pervasive despair generated of Kuwait. The alienation, anger and A political earthquake is in the mak­ by unresolved conflicts in the region. despair were everywhere to be seen ing in the Persian Gulf. Whatever the This explosive combination of factors prior to Iraq's recent aggression. But the outcome, and the options are few, it is mobilization by the US of a vast military safe to say that the Middle East will not armada stationed in Saudi Arabia has­ be the same. This is not a lament, but a far more than the reaction of the USSR reflection on the dimensions of a crisis or the United Nations-catapulted Arab as complex as it is divisive and danger­ regimes out of their habitual alliances, ous for the peoples of the region. From and alerted them to the dangers from the initial invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, to below, from the ready anger of their the response it evoked in the US and the own masses .... West, the multiplicity of issues involved The agenda on the Middle East, freed is staggering, the stakes are high, the of such restrictions, must include one conflicts deep and the potential for mas­ fundamental question: what are US in­ sive destruction evident. Everywhere terests in the Gulf and the Middle East? there is fear, uncertainty, and a deep dis­ How is it that some former Reagan ad­ quiet about what tomorrow will bring. ministration officials contest that this is In the Middle East, the crisis has an area necessary for the "national secu­ exposed the disparate, desperate, and rity" while this administration says the contradictory nature of Arab state reverse? Why has no congressional voice politics. Simmering beneath the frantic been raised to question exactly what the movements are deeply rooted divisions administration means when its officials of states, searing class conflicts, the frus- continued on page 8

RESIST Newsletter, July-August 2011 7 talk of an extended stay in the Gulf? And what of oil companies, and their aligned against Iraq, to the escalation exceptionally low profile? And what of of the arms race in the Middle East? • arms, and specifically, the contribution "US/Iraq War: New Order 'In a World Gone Mad"'

Joseph Gerson, November 1990 for this war: The Iraq/Iran war, and US The US preparation for war against Iraq military intervention on Iraq's behalf; is drawing to a close. The United States the invasions of Grenada and Panama; has assembled more than 200,000 troops, hostages and US Marines in Lebanon; an aerial armada, and a naval flotilla in economic embargoes against Nicaragua, gg~ Saudi Arabia, other Gulf states, Turkey, Vietnam and Cambodia; the budget battle ;:s c.::: the Persian Gulf, and the Arabian Sea. and the battle for "burden-sharing"; war cu President Bush has staked his political fu­ games in Egypt and the construction of ~ ~ ture on Iraq's unconditional withdrawal US bases in Saudi sands and in nations .8 from Kuwait, even as his administration surrounding the Gulf. The rehearsals are ~ is opposing Iraqi, Arab and French dip­ over and the struggle is now on to shape sanctions and an embargo, not war. The lomatic efforts to provide Hussein a face­ the contours of the post-Cold War era. Soviet Union has thus far refused to give saving way to leave Iraq. Time is running Would that issues were simple, either/ the US a UN flag and a carte blanche for out. In the words of Senator Kennedy: or, black and white. Saddam Hussein a war the UN cannot control. "The President is heading for war-per­ has long been among the world's most There is cruel irony in that the US re­ haps next week, perhaps next month, but vicious dictators. The pillage of Kuwait conquered Panama just last December, almost certainly by the end of the year." and the terrorization of its people are but and secret mass graves of Panamanian With the new year will come sand storms the (il)logical extension of his brutal rule. civilian victims of that war are just not and then intense desert heat-two more The Iraqi conquest of Kuwait can only be being discovered. Moreover, the US' s reasons that war is likely to be launched condemned and resisted. But, as UN Sec­ allies in the Gulf confrontation include sooner rather than later. retary General Perez de Cuellar repeated, Turkey, which has occupied portions of This will not be a replay of Panama or the US exceeded the Security Council's Cyprus for 16 years; Morocco, which has Grenada. The toll is likely to be thousands mandate by unilaterally deploying occupied the Spanish Sahara since the fall of US lives, hundreds of thousands of military forces and establishing a block­ of Franco; Syria with its 40,000 troops in Iraqi and Kuwaiti lives, the devastation ade-an act of war-against Iraq. As King Lebanon; and of course, Israel which has of the land, and the disappearance of Hussein of Jordan desperately observed, militarily occupied the West Bank and the whatever shred of respect lingers for the the US deployments have made the con­ Gaza Strip for 23 years and which has US in the Middle East. frontation far more dangerous, a "crisis annexed the occupied Golan Heights and The 1980s provided dress rehearsals in a world gone mad." The UN called for Palestinian East Jerusalem. • "Warring with the Coverage of War: Dissent Disappears f ron1 Media Coverage"

Danny Schecter, December 2001 -despite new technologies, hundreds journalism. American flags fly in the la­ We have all been here before. Watching of new channels and the diverse views pels of newscasters and in the graphics our country go to war, with the main­ available through the internet-the situ­ on news sets, masking their uncritical stream media enlisted as a megaphone ation is worse. analyses in patriotic symbols. The voices for official views and sanitized news. Worse, in part because journalists of dissent are mostly absent, as the New It was like that in Vietnam, in the Gulf, have effectively been barred from the York Times discovered almost two months and now, with a significant difference, in battlefields, and because most media Afghanistan. The difference is that today institutions have confused jingoism with continued on page 9 s· RESIST Newsletter, July-August 2011 after the war began. op-ed writers at the Post, only seven were a defining moment for many journalists. A Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting women, Proportionally, the Times did It's the story that permits news depart­ (FAIR) survey of the New York Times and slightly better, with eight female writers ments to mobilize their "troops" -that's Washington Post op-ed pages for the three out of 79. This is especially ironic in a what ABC called employees when I weeks following the attacks (9/12/01- war against a Taliban condemned for its worked there-and show off their hi­ 10/2/01) found that "columns calling treatment of women.... " tech deployments. Many reporters who for or assuming a military response to "make it" to the top do so because of war the attacks were given a great deal of Marriage of media and military reporting. Ask Peter Arnett, Cristianne space, while opinions urging diplomatic Understand at the outset that TV news Amanpour or even Peter Jennings-no and international law approaches as an thrives on the excitement, challenge and disrespect intended-if being under alternative to military action were nearly budges that accompany the coverage of fire helped or hurt their careers. The non-existent. A total of 44 columns in war. I wrote about this media context in answer is obvious. Less obvious is the the Times and Post clearly stressed a the Electronpress.com edition of my book relationship between our bloated defense military response, against only two col­ News Dissector. While war unleashes dev­ budget and war coverage. The Pentagon umns stressing non-military solutions." astation and death on people, it delivers manipulates TV's military boosterism to In addition, both op-ed pages showed ratings and brings life to television. War hype adventures, secure appropriations a striking gender imbalance. Of the 107 is often the "big story" (when sex isn't), and sell weaponry. • "Why We Resist in a Tiine of War"

Henry Rosemont, Jr and Carol of civil disobedience to bring a half to policy while prosecuting the war: there Schachet, January/February 2006 the war? There are several answers to is no conscription; no food or gas ration­ As the number of US dead and wounded this question, all of which progressive ing; no energy cutbacks, no tax increases, in Iraq swell past 15,000 (the overwhelm­ activists must continue to address in their nothing. Indeed, a new, fourth round of ing majority of them military) with the political and organizing work. tax cuts for the rich is now before the Iraqi count eight times as large (the over­ The first reason why protest has been Congress .... whelming majority of them civilians), the muted thus far is because the great major­ Of course, there is a major exception majority of Americans are beginning to ity of the US population has suffered not to the generalization that the US has not question the invasion, occupation, and a whit because of this war being waged in suffered because of the war: namely, the ongoing slaughter taking place in their their name. Bush has thus far been able name .... to pursue a "guns and butter" economic continued on page 10 In a speech just after the Iraqi election, President Bush accepted "responsibil­ ity" for the invasion based on "faulty evidence," an altogether throwaway line (unless accompanied by a resigna­ tion). His admission of culpability was interjected in the midst of a succession of other speeches with but one message: We shall not give an inch; we shall "stay the course."

Where is the outrage? Given these horrors, the intransigence of those responsible for them, and only rhetorical answers being given to justify our purpose(s) for being in Iraq, why are not more US citizens demonstrating in the streets, writing or phoning their representatives local and federal, and/or engaging in the time-honored tradition Iraqi labor leaders join hands with local Milwaukee labor leaders in 2009.

RESIST Newsletter, July-August 2011 9 military themselves, their families and their friends. But the deepest and most long-range suffering of the US troops is not due to the constant threat of death, but rather to what few wish to confront directly-the dehumanization that at­ tends the regular infliction of pain, death and destruction on others who are not clearly distinguishable as friend or foe. Evidence is mounting daily that many of the inhumane horrors descriptive of the worst excesses of the US during the Vietnam War are being repeated, and in­ tensified, in Iraq. Many civilians die daily, not all of them killed by insurgent bombs. Our soldiers are machine-gunning resi­ dents who may all-too-quickly seem to be insurgents, but upon later investigation, turn out to have been workers confused about where, when, and how best to Children call for peace at the opening of the 6th Cairo Antiwar Conference. show themselves at checkpoints. Others young and old, male and female, are shot the more destructive for being suffered home and abroad. A grant -to the San in cars which approach occupation con­ to no purpose. Hence there is a strong Diego Military Counseling Project voys too closely. Torture extends far be­ desire to insist that the war did and does provided assistance to military service yond a "few bad apples" and is not even serve a purpose, which is not possible if members who refuse war-related as­ confined to obtaining intelligence, but at the troops are withdrawn quickly. signments and seek discharge. RESIST times simply to "let off steam," according also funded several groups to counter to one account. The atmosphere in which Resistance and opposition mount military recruitment efforts, including they live and fight makes it commonplace Despite these obstacles, opposition Alternatives to the Military Project to belittle, if not altogether detest, the to the war is growing, particularly on (Lincoln, Nebraska) and the Project on people they are supposedly fighting for, moral rather than pragmatic grounds. Youth and Non-Military Opportunities and to make light of the ancient culture In the military, a number of soldiers are (Encinitas, California). With help from these people have inherited. refusing to fight, or be shipped to Iraq, or RESIST, many local community peace The psychological and psychic dam­ are applying for Conscientious Objector and justice centers, from Albuquerque, age being done to the US military forces status-all on principled ethical bases. New Mexico, to Bangor, Maine, have in Iraq (and Afghanistan) may, in the RESIST stands ready to assist these played important roles in bringing ac­ end, be the most costly part of the war movements and others as well, not only curate information and a spirit of resis­ for American society to bear, damage all for peace but for social justice both at tance to their communities. • "Whose Peace? Our Peace: War and occupations continue under Oba:ma; resistance grows at ho:me"

Clare Moen, July/August 2009 through September 30. The suicide rate for the military has Sadly, we have passed the 5,000 mark The wars are taking their toll on US surpassed the civilian rate, and military on troops killed in Iraq and Afghani­ soldiers in myriad other ways as well, psychiatrists are doing little more than stan, refugees and internally displaced including post-traumatic stress disor­ prescribing pills. Until recently, the persons. To date, over $830 billion have der, alcoholism, failed relationships Army has been blaming the suicides been allocated to the wars in Iraq and and suicide. The mental health screen­ on the soldiers themselves rather than Afghanistan. And in late June, Obama ing, studies and increased psychiatric lengthy, repeated deployments into a signed into law a measure containing staff the Army is scrambling to provide $79.9 billion to further fund these wars have mostly been too little, too late. continued on page 11

10 RESIST Newsletter, July-August 2011 violent, unpopular war. erans against the War and Veterans fo r ties, the government, weapons makers, As the peace movement has been Peace are active in these spaces, offering the media, corporations, and more are saying since before Obama' s election, resources to conscientious objectors and all heavily invested in and supported by we cannot sit back and wait for any war resisters who have seen first-hand the war machine. Through investigation president to end these wars. A powerful, the crime and brutality that is all war. and hard work, many individuals and grassroots movement is the only change Where the GI peace movement seeks organizations are working to stop the we can truly believe in, and that move­ to starve the Pentagon of the people flow of indirect support of the military. ment continues to grow even among power to fight wars, others who work for Not only adults and organizations worries that Obama' s election has left peace are looking to remove its funding. are refusing to be complacent under activists complacent. United for Peace and Justice, a national the new Democratic administration. coalition of antiwar groups, is calling Students of all ages are at the forefront Resistance grows for Congress to cut military spending of the peace movement. As the military Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are by 25% by 2010. War tax resisters are focuses more heavily on high school resisting and organizing in amazing refusing to pay all or part of the 51 % of recruitment, young people and adults and creative ways . that pay tribute to their taxes budgeted for current and past are combining their efforts to keep their predecessors during the Vietnam military. In addition, the National War recruiters out of schools and to train War. GI coffee houses inspired by the Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee youth to ·organize for peace ... . BAY­ Vietnam-era movement are springing up continues their campaign to encourage Peace (Better Alternatives for Youth), near bases around the country, like Cof­ a boycott of war taxes throughout the a RESIST grantee, is a California-based fee Strong in Fort Lewis, Washington, country. group that fights back against aggres­ or Under the Hood in Killeen, Texas. Other groups are working on anti­ sive military recruiting in high schools. These are spaces where veterans and war profiteering campaigns promoting Meanwhile, university students have soldiers can meet to support one another divestment, brand busting and direct been occupying buildings on campuses and exchange experiences, screen films action to cut off financial support of the from New York City to Edinburgh call­ like David Seiger's Sir! No Sir!, offer GI military-industrial complex. Bite the ing for aid to Gaza, scholarships for rights counseling and hold meetings. Bullet! is a network of organizations that Palestinians, divestment from Israel's Groups like Citizen Soldier, Iraq Vet- focuses on the ways in which universi- military and more. •

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Inside this issue: Five Decades of Antiwar Organizing

RESIST awards grants six times a year to justice in communities contaminated by one another and with civilians to transform groups throughout the United States engaged in military waste. US foreign policy and military culture. organizingfor social, economic and environmen­ Through music, outreach and organizing, tal justice. Below we list a few grant recipients Trans Youth Support Network they empower those who resist to do so PO Box 7625, Minneapolis, from our most recent allocation cycle in June of effectively and in solidarity. Minnesota 55407 RESISTs "Hell Yes!" grantof$4,000will 2011, the third cycle with our new maximum www.transyouthsupportnetwork.org help the alliance continue to work with grant award of $4,000. For more information, veterans and active-duty service members visit the RESIST website at UJWW.resistinc.org The Trans Youth Support Network to build a GI resistance movement towards or contact these groups directly. formed in response to the hostile environ­ a just foreign policy. ment toward young transgender people, Defense Depot Memphis Ten­ especially trans women of color. Offer­ Sand Mountain Concerned nessee - Concerned Citizens ing young people who are gender non­ Citizens Committee conforming a safe space for support and PO Box 428, Ider, Alabama 35765 1000 South Cooper, Suite 237, Memphis, community-building, they work to ensure Tennessee 38104, www.ddmtccc.org that people who are transgender are given The Sand Mountain Concerned Citizens the resources they need. came together in 1999 to challenge corpo­ Founded in 1995 to stand up against RESIST's $3,000 grant will allow Trans rate agriculture's destabilization of rural toxic contamination coming from the Youth Support Network to continue to communities and pollution of the rural nearby Memphis Defense Depot, the continue using community gatherings and country side by corporate hog farms of Concerned Citizen's Committee works support as a first step in youth organizing. immense size. They work to force changes both to spread awareness about and to to corporate agribusiness's harming of end environmental injustice. In collabora­ rural communities by dumping their waste tion with a local youth group, they work Civilian-Soldier Alliance nearby. against pollution through public educa­ 2638 North Charles Street, Baltimore, A $4,000 "Hell Yes!" grant to the organi­ tion and direct action. Maryland 21218, www.civsol.org zation will help them continue to organize RESIST's grant of $3,000 will help against the growth of the corporate swine Defense Depot Concerned Citizens Com­ The Civilian-Soldier Alliance enables industry in densely populated rural areas mittee continue to work for environmental members of the military to engage with of Alabama and its surrounding states.

12 RESIST Newsletter, July-August 2011