And you don’t stop…
Both TrueMajority.org and MoveOn.org are running email campaigns to get people to encourage their representatives to have the U.N., not just the U.S., involved in the rebuilding of Iraq.
These campaigns are well-meaning, but, I think, dangerously naive – and sadly lacking in conviction. It was just a few weeks ago these groups were solidly opposed to an Iraq invasion. Now they seem to have forgotten about their antiwar stance, and instead are content to let the U.S. occupy Iraq, with barely a whimper from them.
You don’t stop organizing against a impending war when the war actually starts! And you sure don’t stop organizing against a war while the war is still going on! The Vietnam antiwar struggle took years, yet these two groups have given up the antiwar struggle after a mere ten days of war. I find that sad.
What’s worse, the focus of the email campaigns is to give advice to the warlords in D.C. about how to run the occupation of Iraq, which in effect legitimizes the occupation.
In short, these campaigns send a muddled message, and end up endorsing that which they claim to be opposed to.
We need to stay focused on opposing the war, on building more momentum, more coalitions, more supporters. And not give up and say all is lost.
Take heart! As Tom Hayden recently said in an open letter, “Our pre-war polling numbers are likely to come back. We are the iceberg and Bush is the Titanic.”