Don’t stop thinking of tomorrow, don’t stop thinking of today

How do we move forward from here? Mobilize the majority of Americans against the war in Iraq to end it, now, not after the next election or the one after that?

The possibility is there, but the action and the belief are not. Why is that?

How can we better support GI Resisters, Iraq Veterans Against the War and Vets for Peace so that we can not only stop this war, but all war?

Can the Non-profit Industrial Complex overcome the Military Industrial Complex? Or have we forked over our responsibilities as citizens and a peace movement over to another institution? How do we reclaim movements and our government and change the world for the better?

Where can we exchange our apathy for action? When do we start trusting ourselves more than institutions? When do we take responsibility for that trust and act on it for ourselves and our communities?

There is no one answer, different actions work differently in every community, try something new and see what happens and who it brings to the table. Build networks and dreams, keep expanding and you keep making an impact. Give everyone a voice; trust your own.

Keep talking to the same 4 people every week? That’s not a movement, that’s a tea party. Go somewhere new, re-think your networks, connections and perspectives. Educate and activate.  Your community has unique concerns, how do economic injustice or environmental degradation relate to militarism there? Movements need a diversity of tactics, strategies and dreams to succeed; everyone has a part to play and a responsibility to act. As we build communities locally we build a much larger movement that has a greater capacity for change.

Believe. Believe that we can end this war now, not eventually, and that we won’t attack Iran or anyone else, then backtrack to how you can help make that possible. Belief is required in a movement, demilitarize yourself before you can demilitarize your world. You are your government, you are your country, realize that immense power and use it.

We can no longer believe in ‘soon,’ instead we must demand now.

Stop children, what’s that sound?

“Withdrawing US forces from Iraq would leave the Middle East to the ‘forces of radicalism’ and jeopardise US security, according to George Bush, the US president.”

Apparently George has missed those National Intelligence Estimate conclusions that “The war in Iraq has become a primary recruitment vehicle for violent Islamic extremists, motivating a new generation of potential terrorists around the world.” Further proof of the devastating destruction that the occupation has caused the social, political and economic fabric of the country, there’s been a drastic increase of child fighters being detained in Iraq. These child fighters have been coerced or paid to place roadside bombs and even kidnap or kill. U.S. forces can detain them for up to one year before releasing them to the Iraqi judicial system, and in some places have implemented education centers to counteract the lack of options or beliefs that drove them to commit or attempt the crimes – despite the fact that the U.S. government uses similar coercion in the form of a poverty draft for it’s ‘all-volunteer army.’ It doesn’t seem to be as widespread as the use of child soldiers in other parts of the world in recent years, it is yet another aspect of the occupation that has lasting consequences for the country and the next generation that will only worsen as time goes on.

So the U.S. government continues it’s verbal assault on Iran and arrests more of it’s government employees while blaming the Iraqi government for not doing what we told them to quickly enough, without remembering that all of our involvement in the Middle East has brought more suffering, which creates space for fundamentalist and violent radicalism to grow.

At least Great Britain is now saying that the U.S. can’t dictate how long they’ll keep troops in Iraq, hopefully they’ll withdraw all or most of their remaining 5,500 troops by the end of the year; France’s Sarkozy also joined in with a call for full withdrawal of foreign troops by the end of the year, stating that only then could France play a role in supporting a political solution to the conflict.

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