Michael T. McPhearson, Veterans For Peace, Executive Director, United For Peace and Justice, Co-Chair -05/23/09
The next 5 weeks are very important to the anti-war and peace movements. March 19th, the 6th Commemoration of the U.S. invasion of Iraq is less than four weeks away. On March 21st, two days later comes the March on the Pentagon mobilization and then April 4th, two weeks later is the Beyond War; A New Economy is Possible mobilization on Wall Street in New York City. This is a lot of action in a short period of time. It is as it should be. There is much to protest and much to change.
The U.S. is in a mixed mood of Obama euphoria and economic dread. It is time to make our presence felt to remind the people, Congress and, most sharply, President Obama that the troops must come home now!
March 19th and the 21st will remind the nation that the United States of America is still conducting an immoral war: that Iraqis’ and U.S. service members’ minds are being torn apart and bodies maimed; that the sons and daughters of mothers and fathers are dying.
It is good that we will be in D.C. President Obama must know that we hold him accountable for his promise to bring the troops home from Iraq. He is now the Commander and Chief of the Armed Forces. Their use is up to his discretion.
We will not stop there. We will also tell the President and Congress – because they seem not to know – that Afghanistan is not the “Right War.” Democrats used anti-war agitation and mass sentiment as a stepping stone to gain a wider majority in Congress and win the White House. We will not let them turn now to use war as a means to forward their agendas. We will not allow them to go uncontested as they attempt to justify these morally deprived policies. More troops in Afghanistan equals more war in Afghanistan. We will not stand for that. We will be in Washington to make sure that both Congress and the President understand that our demand to Bring Them Home Now! includes Afghanistan.
Two weeks later we will show up on Wall Street. The economic crisis is real and war is the greatest single drain on world resources. War is the ultimate use of aggression for the sake of greed. It is the vilest instrument of power brokers and financiers to wring profit from the blood and bones of the least of us. We must confront them at their seat of power.
On April 4th forty-two years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at Riverside Church giving his prophetic Beyond Vietnam: Breaking the Silence speech. He warned us that, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” King challenged us to begin a revolution of values to free our nation from the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism. He urged us to reorder “our priorities so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war.” He called for, “a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one's tribe, race, class, and nation.”
Dr. King called for a time Beyond War.
April 4th is also the date of King’s assassination in 1968 in Memphis, TN. True to form; he died in the midst of struggle wrestling with two of the triplets: organizing the Poor People’s Campaign – resisting extreme materialism and supporting the Memphis Black Sanitation Workers strike – resisting racism.
April 4th is both the day of King’s visionary speech and the day of his death. April 4th, 2009 is a time that, if he were with us, King would be amazed at the gains made towards his “dream” and find great joy seeing a Black man in the White House. I believe he would also feel great wonder and sadness that after coming so far we have learned so little. The U.S. is still at war, continues to manipulate the poor to fight the wars and the nation’s economic avarice has led to an economic collapse. A collapse that above all else will hurt the poor.
Today, King’s images and words are used again and again to herald the arrival of change. We are bombarded with the portion of King’s vision that help America feel good about itself. This April 4th we will carry, read, listen to and shout King’s full message that demands America continue to change. We will draw inspiration from his words that call on us to abhor war, make peace and seek justice. In his speech King warned that “The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality..., we will find ourselves organizing ‘clergy and laymen concerned’ committees for the next generation.” We are the clergy and laypersons concerned committees of our generation. In these times of change, there is no better way to remember Dr. King than to be in the field, engaged in struggle.
See you in the streets!
Power to the Peaceful!
Michael T. McPhearson, Veterans For Peace, Executive Director, United For Peace and Justice, Co-Chair -05/23/09
The next 5 weeks are very important to the anti-war and peace movements. March 19th, the 6th Commemoration of the U.S. invasion of Iraq is less than four weeks away. On March 21st, two days later comes the March on the Pentagon mobilization and then April 4th, two weeks later is the Beyond War; A New Economy is Possible mobilization on Wall Street in New York City. This is a lot of action in a short period of time. It is as it should be. There is much to protest and much to change.
The U.S. is in a mixed mood of Obama euphoria and economic dread. It is time to make our presence felt to remind the people, Congress and, most sharply, President Obama that the troops must come home now!
March 19th and the 21st will remind the nation that the United States of America is still conducting an immoral war: that Iraqis’ and U.S. service members’ minds are being torn apart and bodies maimed; that the sons and daughters of mothers and fathers are dying.
It is good that we will be in D.C. President Obama must know that we hold him accountable for his promise to bring the troops home from Iraq. He is now the Commander and Chief of the Armed Forces. Their use is up to his discretion.
We will not stop there. We will also tell the President and Congress – because they seem not to know – that Afghanistan is not the “Right War.” Democrats used anti-war agitation and mass sentiment as a stepping stone to gain a wider majority in Congress and win the White House. We will not let them turn now to use war as a means to forward their agendas. We will not allow them to go uncontested as they attempt to justify these morally deprived policies. More troops in Afghanistan equals more war in Afghanistan. We will not stand for that. We will be in Washington to make sure that both Congress and the President understand that our demand to Bring Them Home Now! includes Afghanistan.
