Up until now there have been at least two major nationwide demonstrations against the Iraq War each year since it began, a mass mobilization in March on the anniversary of the war and another one in the fall. But this fall there’s nothing. ANSWER hasn’t called one, neither has United for Peace. Sure, the war isn’t in the news as much and the presidential campaigns are vampiring energy out of progressive movements. But I also think the antiwar movement is a bit out of ideas at the moment. We got millions in the streets for some of the protests, but those numbers have steadily dwindled even as mainstream opposition to the war has grown. Why is that? That’s the question that needs to be answered.
Um, what happened to the antiwar movement?
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You’re far better qualified to measure this than I am:
What’s the impact of the 2011 exit timeline (that is conditional upon a fuzzy undefined — and undefinable — level of security)?
Right when I saw that headline (picked up my head while on the stationary bike and accidentally saw CNN, as usual), I said to myself ‘good-bye anti-War movement’.
Rioting against a 100 year occupation is a lot sexier than whining about a 3 year death-vacation.
When I lived in LA, I helped organize some of the those antiwar protests. Some of them were among the biggest ever seen in Los Angeles. But that was early in the war. The numbers then bounced downwards fairly steadily.
One problem is that such protests are usually organized by hardcore Lefties who add many militant causes and speakers to the event. This alienates the mainstream who stop coming.
Also, if millions in the streets worldwide, as happened on one of the mobilizations, had no immediate effect on ending the war, then what will? People started getting discouraged.
Currently, with a bad economy and the elections, people are distracted and not really paying much attention to the wars. Yes, with that timeline that even Bush endorses, then the urgency seem less to get in the streets.
The antiwar movement is just waiting for Obama to win the election and solve all of our problems.
Wait. What’s so funny??