• 
• 
  • Arts & Culture
  • City Hall
  • Environment
  • Housing & Displacement
  • Immigrant Rights
  • LGBQT
  • Poverty
  • Youth & Schools
• 
  • Features
  • News Briefs
  • Newswire
  • Headlines
• 
  • Mailing Lists
  • PhillyIMC's Wiki
  • LAVA
  • Contact us
• 
• 
• 
• 

Recent Similar Articles

• > Vote Out PA and NJ Congresspersons Who Voted For Bush Obama War
• > Community Antiwar Speak-Out
• > March 20th National Antiwar March Outreach and Volunteers Meeting
• > Philly Against War June 3
• > Make Peace Count Party at Finnigan's Wake

           As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the latter now the longest war in U.S. history, continue to rage on a small yet spirited opposition organizes in the Philadelphia area.  On Wednesday July 7^th Philly Against War (PAW) and the Philadelphia Regional Antiwar Network (PRAWN) called a meeting at the Tabernacle Church on 37^th and Chestnut to discuss the situation regarding the beleaguered local and national antiwar movements and what must be done to revive interest, opposition, and most importantly activism.  Present at the town hall style speak-out were activists from a variety of local groups as well as unaffiliated participants who sat in a large circle in the sweltering heat to share agendas and priorities.

The purpose of the meeting being discussion and organizing, it was prefaced by three short presentations to help put the wars and the current struggle against them into context.  Copies of a list of proposals for united actions were distributed amongst the participants to under score the importance not of dialogue for the sake of discussion, but the importance of using the realizations come upon in the meeting to outline concrete plans for demonstrations, teach-ins, mass actions, etc.  The list itself is half of the action proposal drafted by the co-sponsors of the United National Antiwar Conference, www.nationalpeaceconference.org, to take place this summer in Albany, N.Y. July 23-25. Members from PAW, PRAWN, and other local groups will be attending the conference and saw the meeting at the Tabernacle as a way to unify the antiwar movement in Philadelphia with national efforts which will be present at the conference.

Wayne Rossi of PAW, www.phillyagainstwar.org, was the first person to speak as he provided a brief analysis of U.S. imperialism and how it relates to the extreme disparity of wealth amongst U.S. citizens.  He was followed by David Houck, a member of the Green Party, who voiced his complete disappointment with Obama and the lack of activism following his election.  Mr. Houck also gave a quick endorsement for the U.S. Senate campaign of Mel Packer, www.milpacker.com, from Pittsburgh, a founding member of the Teamsters for a Democratic Union, a Green Party member, and critic of U.S. military policy who is petitioning to get on the ballot for the November election.

The last person to speak before the floor was opened up for discussion was Tom Paine Cronin, the retired president of AFSCME District Council 47 union as well as an experienced civil rights and antiwar activist.  Mr. Cronin stressed the importance of linking the issue of domestic need with the sprawling, appallingly expensive U.S. war effort.  He also emphasized, despite the overwhelming multitude of issues connected to U.S. imperialism, the need to “focus, concentrate on one or two issues,” in hopes of drawing more people into a politically active role.  It is in this way that isolated contingents begin “gelling into a movement” as Cronin puts it.

With the introduction complete, attention is turned to the proposal for united actions.  The first numbered point on a list of nine reads: “October 6 to 16, 2010 a period of local and regional protests across the country to mark the ninth year of the U.S. war on Afghanistan. Actions to included demonstrations, marches, vigils, teach-ins, solidarity, etc.”  The discussion focused on the specific events that, as of now, are in the works.  Tom Paine Cronin and John Grant, an attendee with Veterans for Peace, mentioned an event planned for October 30^th at the Community College of Philadelphia at Bonnell Hall that will focus primarily on the way the current wars are leaving ordinary Americans with their domestic needs unmet.  Mr. Cronin and Mr. Grant hope to have a large turnout with lots of discussion and exchange between those concerned from the immigrant community, labor community, environmentalists, civil rights, etc.    Information about a United for Peace and Justice forum on October 3^rd at the Friends Center in Philadelphia on the issue of the war and the economy also came up. 

From there the discussion meandered a bit as attendees talked about topics ranging from the role of the dual party system to the corporate media to the I.M.F. meeting scheduled for October 9-11 in D.C.  John Grant from Veterans for Peace mentioned the recent alliance of Ron Paul with Barney Frank and other members of the two-party system to significantly cut the U.S. military budget.  Wayne Rossi, the first introductory speaker, responded to his remarks with, “it’s not about supporting this or that bill, it’s about ending the war,” pointing out that gestures made by the Democrats and the Republicans are merely “token”. 

Even the fundamental principal of our country was up for discussion.  “I would argue that we don’t have democracy in this country,” Tom Paine Cronin said as the debate over party leadership reached a consensus that the people of the United States are in a corporate strangle hold.  “We need to put people in motion …put people in motion around ideas that are in their interest,” said Sam Mastriano, a member of PAW highlighting the major focus of the meeting. 

But how do we convince people that the war is not in their interests? It is this exact task, convincing the unconvinced, that appeared to be viewed as crucial for the revival of the national antiwar movement.  Most attendees seemed motivated to make the working class the central focus while others seemed to be more confident in the ability of students and younger people to come out to demonstrations and marches.   Even labor activists like Cronin acknowledged the absence of a strong sentiment against the war amongst unions:  “You don’t have an antiwar movement in the labor movement; you can, but it has to be built!  You always have to make connections with people and that takes time…they have to be shown how it affects them.”

Minor differences also arose between the people advocating the final goal while ignoring the tedious process of organizing and those dedicated to the process of coalition building through tireless political action.   Dan Zaleski of the group Workers Power spoke eloquently about the need to create solidarity between American workers and the workers of Iraq and Afghanistan.  He called for “indefinite strikes” to “grind imperialism to a halt.”  Of course the impact and force of workers’ strikes is doubtless a powerful tool especially considering the recent ILWU blockade of an Israeli Zim Line ship at the Port of Oakland; but talk of such goals at such an early stage in the building process amounts to little movement.  A sobering remark from Cronin steers the discussion back towards the next step in organizing against the war, “workers won’t even strike for there own paycheck, let alone the war.”  Reviving the antiwar movement is about creating opportunities that allow everyday people to realize that the war affects their lives.  Education, organizing and participating in the movement and not just observing it, are key.

But if history has taught us anything it’s that, as Michael Schreiber of PAW says, mass action is not an “exotic method.”  He mentioned the impact of direct action in the streets during the Vietnam years and emphasized the need to be “in the street and visible” in order to make progress.  Indeed in the late 1960’s Lyndon B. Johnson could hardly go out in public without people protesting his administration and the war he escalated.  Consider Washington in 1971 when twenty thousand protesters came to demonstrate their opposition to Nixon’s continuation of the war in Vietnam.  He later conceded that the various actions taken by the people, everyone from priests to lawyers to soldiers, the students, the religious community, the workers, prevented him from further perpetuating the occupation.

At a small meeting of diverse minds there is one consensus: if the U.S. military budget is to be cut, if the wars will end, if money is to be allocated towards human need instead of corporate profit, it will be up to our ability as organizers to establish a strong presence focused on change and solidarity.  One of the last comments made at the meeting was from John Kirkland of PAW.  He said, “How you get people to feel their potential as working people is to get them out into the streets!”  Good advice to heed as the Albany conference approaches and we draw from the lessons of history to revive a movement, an interest, an involvement that is beleaguered and marginalized but not extinct.

            For more information on the Philadelphia peace movement or the United National Antiwar Conference, please call 267.994.9448 or email phillyagainstwar@gmail.com,

###                 ###                 ###

Photo is of Iraq War protest on January 27, 2007 in Washington, D.C. organized by United for Peace and Justice.