CAN Midwest Conference a resounding success.

On April 18th-20th, over 150 antiwar activists from across the Midwest traveled to Iowa City, Iowa to join the Campus Antiwar Network for a Midwest Antiwar Conference. One of several regional antiwar conferences hosted by the Campus Antiwar Network this spring across the nation, the Midwest Conference helped show that the Midwest is the breadbasket for antiwar activism!

The weekend featured numerous workshops and speakers. On the morning of Saturday, April 19th, two Campus Antiwar Network members and one Iraq Veteran Against the War member spoke about the need for immediate withdrawal, one of the main demands of the Campus Antiwar Network. The rest of the day was full of workshops, ranging from activist art (“Artivism”) to the issue of Palestine.

One of the most pressing questions on the minds of Midwest activists, and antiwar activists across the nation, is the issue of direct action. With the Republican National Convention coming to Minneapolis/St-Paul in September, and the work that groups like RNC Welcoming Committee are putting into protesting the event, many antiwar activists are questioning the best tactics to use to effectively protest. This debate was manifest at the Midwest Conference, where three workshops were dedicated to talking about Direct Action and the RNC Protests. The workshops were marked by excellent, engaging debates about the definition of Direct Action and its place in the antiwar movement as a whole, as well as the tactics that the RNC Welcoming Committee and other organizations plan to use to “Crash the Convention.” Many in CAN, and unaffiliated activists, came away from the weekend with a better idea about when and where to use Direct Action, and discussion has already begun regarding CAN’s plans at the RNC protest, and to a lesser extant at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Sunday April 20th was a powerful day. 13 Midwest members of Iraq Veterans Against the War held a mini-Winter Soldier hearing during the morning. Their testimony was incredibly powerful and engaging, and was covered by numerous local and state news papers. That afternoon, the was an antiwar rally and march through Iowa City with the more than 150 antiwar activists chanting slogans such as “Whose Streets? Our Street! Whose War? Their War!” and “No Justice, No Peace! US out of the Middle East!” The march culminated in a die-in in Iowa City’s pedestrian mall, and an energetic rally.

In all, the conference was a huge success. A number of new CAN chapters are expected to form out of the event, and Midwest CAN chapters were able to form strong bonds with other antiwar organizations, such as Students for the Democratic Society.

In the past year, we have seen a huge resurgence of the Campus Antiwar Network across the nation. This conference has shown that in the Midwest, the antiwar movement is growing by the day, and shows no sign of stopping!

To close, UIUC CAN proudly presents a new CAN-specific chant, developed by Tim Kooy of Cincinnati:

"Bombs, Sanctions, Bullets they all hurt.
Rectify, we try we try -
CAMPUS ANTIWAR NETWORK!"

Torture, Revisted.

I have written about torture before, and (surprise!) my position has not changed. Torture is never defensible. The “ticking bomb” scenario is fallacious scare-mongering, and the act itself is not only morally and ethically indefensible, but both nationally and internationally illegal. Tyrants are prosecuted at The Hague for torture.

Which puts into perspective President Bush’s recent disclosure that he approved of his national security team meeting, discussing, and formulating what can only be described as a torture policy – what kinds, how many times, and how often torture was acceptable. Present at these meetings were Vice President Dick Cheney, former National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft. Conspicuously absent: President Bush himself. His team did a good job of keeping him isolated, so that if asked under oath (not that the president would ever lower himself to be put under oath!) he could deny that he was at the meetings.

The fact that this story has not received a great deal of media play – Obama’s “elitist rhetoric” has been the major news story – stems from two causes.

The first is that the Bush media team did a good job. They released the information on a Friday afternoon – the perfect time to allow White House press releases to slip under the radar. Instant damage control, and every administration does it.

The second reason is far more insidious. The Bush Administration, in its effort to push their agenda of the Imperial (or dictatorial) Presidency – the Strong Unitary Executive, as they call it – has stated repeatedly that it should not be confined by international law, nor national law, nor checks and balances. Not in so many words of course, but by refusing to allow senior staff to testify before Congress, by using signing statements to completely undermine bills that the President signs, and by showing what can only be described of as contempt to the Congress and the American People, the Bush Administration has never stepped down.

They do the same with torture. They do not quibble whether torture is legal or not – they discuss the minutia of “Which torture IS legal? What counts as torture?” Unfortunately, the media and Congress have accepted Bush’s position that some torture is legal by engaging in the debates as he shapes them. By shaping the discourse from the outset, the Bush Administration is able to slowly turn the conversation away from the illegal nature of torture –all torture – to a legal semantics debate about what is torture, how often it can be done, and to whom.

I am reminded of a famous quote by the master of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels:

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie."

The Bush Administration had told the big lie, and they told that lie at the outset. There was furor over it, but that died down soon enough as the next Bush lie was told, smaller this time. As more lies were told, people became more bogged down in the mass of small lies, tacitly accepting the Big Lie that underlies the entire conversation. Instead of discussing if Water Boarding is legal, we should be discussing how long Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and the others will be spending in The Hague.

Which, of course, will be no time at all. America does not acknowledge the International Criminal Court for just this reason. It would prevent our officials, elected or appointed, from committing torture or genocide, or continuing an illegal occupation. And America can’t have that. It would be… Un-American.

Or so another Big Lie goes.

“Impeach the Bastards!”

Teens Protest Against Iraq War

I want to commend those of us who were out there, lying on the gross, wet, cold, and cigarette-littered street. Great job helping out the high school movement!!!

The Religious Left

There are many problems with many Republicans and conservatives in power – their lying, blatant flaunting of laws and the Constitution, the illegal invasion and occupation in Iraq… the list goes on. But one of the most egregious problems with the Right is their stranglehold on Religion.

Many on the left are agnostics, atheists, religiously apathetic, or downright hostile towards religion. In the interest of full disclosure let me state that I myself am an ex-Catholic atheists, but not hostile towards religion (except when people bastardize religion for their own purposes). Between the cold reception that many religious people receive from the Left and the lies crimes being committed by the Right, many progressive or even independent religious or spiritual people are stuck with what seems like no choice.

In the antiwar movement at UIUC, we make a real attempt to bring in Muslim students and to work closely with Muslim student associations – ASA, MSA, CAIR, and SJP. This is for quite understandable reasons: the current US hegemonic interests lie in the middle east, and the War on Terror has also led to the creation and dissemination of the inherently fallacious idea of “Islamofascism.” Arabs and Muslims in general are targeted by racial profiling at airport and border checkpoints, and attacks on Muslims continues. The hajib is routinely criticized, the Qur’an and misquoted or quoted out of context, and the religion itself has been called a religion of hate. Muslims are routinely the bad guys in TV, movies, and video games, and the mainstream media coverage helps foster negative ideas about Muslims.

For these reasons and more, we actively seek out our Arab and Muslim brothers and sisters and invite them to join us in our cause. Yet at the same time we ignore our Christian and Jewish comrades. While we send representatives to the Atheists, Agnostics, and Free Thinkers organization on campus, we don’t even look to see if there are any Christian groups on campus that might be favorable to our cause.

Let us not forget that the Christian Extremists are also reviled in the mainstream media, and rightly so. Groups like the Westboro Baptist Church (whose homepage I will not link to) and documentaries like Jesus Camp show that there are many deranged individuals out there, following a belief that is as alien to the tenants of Christianity as the views of most Islamic extremists are alien to the very nature of Islam.

This is not supposed to give support to those Evangelical Christians who believe that the Earth was created in 6 days and is only 40,000 years old, or who seriously believe that Intelligent Design should be taught alongside Evolution in public schools. Nor am I giving any ground to people who claim that Hurricane Katrina was God’s wrath at New Orleans for the debauchery that goes on there. These Christian Extremists preach a rhetoric often just as bad as that preached by the Islamic Extremists, and often quite in line with them. These, and people less extreme, make up the Religious Right, who the Republicans have both maintained a hold on and in turn have themselves been molded by. And I say, let the Republicans have them.

However, focusing solely on the Religious Right is the narrow view of Christianity. There are many, many Progressive Christians who likely feel alienated by the Left. The fact that we do not reach out to them likely does not help at all. We in the antiwar movement must begin to make a real effort to reach out to Progressive and Leftist Christians, to make for them a safe and welcoming environment to protest the war. We may not see eye-to-eye when it comes to religion, but I think we can put that aside and focus on the more immediate problems facing us.

There is tricky situation when it comes to some Jewish people. Many in the Antiwar movement see clear parallels between the occupation of Iraq and the events occurring in Palestine. Some support the second Intifada, and call for a single state. Others call for a two state solution, but might show solidarity with Palestine. Many Jews have very strong opinions about the Israel-Palestine problem, with many supporting Israel. The problem of Palestine is not an easy one to confront, let alone solve. I take comfort in the fact that there are a growing number of Jews who support Palestine, either in a one state or two state solution, or at the very least think that Israel is approaching the problem the wrong way. But the issue of Palestine should not prevent the antiwar movement from reaching across the aisle and trying to embrace antiwar Jews as important members of the antiwar movement. It might mean toning down the pro-Palestine rhetoric during demonstrations put on with the support of Jewish organizations, which is obviously a contentious issue for some people.

There are many things the Right has claimed a monopoly on – Patriotism, the Flag, the Troops, and, yes, Religion. It is the job of the Left, especially the Antiwar Left, to reclaim these symbols, ideas, and people. Let it be OK to fly a flag at a protest, be it Iraqi, American, or upside down. Let it be OK to say, “Support the Troops: Bring them Home” as we so often do. IVAW has gone a long way towards showing people that the soldiers and vets are not the pawns of the Right, nor their property. They belong to themselves only, and can decide whom to support. Let it be OK to use the trite expression “Dissent is Patriotic” and mean both parts of the phrase, to reject the rhetoric that Patriotism is blind faith and support of the President and simply, mindless Jingoism. And let it be OK for religious people of all faiths to join the antiwar movement and find a welcoming, inviting environ in which to grow as activists. To quote two bumpersticker slogans, “Jesus wouldn’t own a gun and vote Republican” and “Who Would Jesus Torture?”

Iraq For Iraqis! Troops Out Now!

Candlelight Vigil Speech

The following is from the speech I gave at the Candlelight Vigil UIUC CAN held on Friday, April 4th, to commemorate the Americans and Iraqis killed in Iraq. It was also the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

We are here to commemorate those who have lost their lives in the Iraq Occupation, both US and Iraqi. However, I think it would be a gross oversight on our part if we did not also mourn the loss of another antiwar activist 40 years ago today.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated 40 years ago today in Memphis, Tennessee while he was working to help the city’s sanitation workers, both black and white, obtain fair living wages. Dr. King is best known as a leader of the civil rights movement, as well he should be. A magnificent orator, Dr. King was one of the most pivotal people in the struggle for civil rights, and arguable one of the most important people in American history. However, it is important to remember that Dr. King did not devote himself solely to the struggle for racial equality.

It is a strange coincidence of fate that today also marks the 41st Anniversary of Dr. King’s first public statement opposing the Vietnam War, in his famous “Beyond Vietnam” Speech. It is important to remember that in the last years of his life, Dr. King struggled not only for racial equality, but for social and economic equality, and was an ardent opponent of the war, although many of his former allies in the Civil Rights movement vocally criticized Dr. King for becoming involved. The fact that he stood firm in face of this criticism is one more reason he is rightly venerated, and his untimely death mourned.

But the primary reason we are here is to remember those who have been killed in the illegal occupation of Iraq, both American soldiers and Iraqis. As of Tuesday, the Defense Department has listed the total number of Americans killed in Iraq as 4,012 with another 29,628 wounded. Estimates on the Iraqi death toll range from 650,000 to over 1,000,000, with another 2 million displaced internally and a further 2 million displaced internationally. Thus, if we take the estimate that 1,000,000 Iraqis have been killed, approximately 1/5 of Iraq’s pre-war population has been either killed or displaced by the invasion and illegal occupation.

And the occupation is illegal. The United States has failed to uphold the duties of an occupying force. Its continuing presence is creating more chaos and destruction, and also an environment ripe for exploitation by the likes of corporations such as Halliburton, KBR, Bechtel and mercenary groups accountable to no one, such as Blackwater USA. These corporations receive enormous contracts from the United States government and then fail to fulfill those contracts, pocketing American taxpayers money to further their own corporate profits, to the detriment of both Iraqis and Americans. They also commit gross crimes – KBR, a former Halliburton subsidy, has been accused of using slave labor abducted from India, and there are currently two suites being brought against the company, alleging that they have covered up cases of rape of American citizens. Bechtel has failed to provide clean water or electricity for Iraqis, creating widespread and deadly outbreaks of dysentery. Blackwater USA is still being investigated for causing unwarranted carnage in Iraq.

There are currently as many foreign contractors in Iraq as there are American troops, yet we do not know how many of these contractors have been killed. Nor can we know precisely how many Iraqis have been killed, either directly by Occupation forces or by the toll that 5 years of occupation take on a country. We can, however, commemorate their deaths, and work to enact positive change by bringing our troops and contractors home now.

While we may not know the names or numbers of the slain Iraqis or contractors, we do know these things about our troops. We will now read the names and hometowns of the 143 Illinois soldiers who have been killed so far.

Is al-Maliki on Crack?

The Real News Network is totally kick ass and this story gives awesome insight into the violence still occuring in Baghdad even after a al-Sadar has called a cease fire. There is a question to who is actually attacking the Green Zone; whether it be members of the Mehdi Army or another group piggybacking on their success. The clip goes on to show part of al-Maliki's speech demanding the Mehdi Army disband in order for al-Sadar to participate in the October elections. Don't you have to win a battle before making demands? But even if he does decide to dispand the milita, it will be in response, according to Reuters, to the advice from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Resistance to Civil Government

I have to read Resistance to Civil Government (commonly known as Civil Disobedience) by Henry David Thoreau for one of my classes and I never realized how kick ass he was until now. I highly suggest checking out even though it is sort of long.

"[When] a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army, and subjugated to military law, I think that it is not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize. What makes this duty the more urgent is the fact, that the country so overrun is not our own, but ours is the invading army."

As I read this quote, it came to mind that Thoreau is high credited in American public consciousness and he legitimizes the case for Iraqi resistance. It's a total up yours to any right winger who has a problem with the Iraqi people defending their civil rights. Man it sucks how we cannot learn from our historical mistakes of the past.

Group holds vigil for soldiers, civilians killed

Getting the publicity we deserve!!! Plus, having a little amount of people for something like this is actually a good thing because it makes it more personal, and more respectful.