04/04/07: In the Majority - The peace movement includes more members in unlikely places
In the Majority
The peace movement includes more members in unlikely places
by Lisa Kaiser
April 04, 2007
About 25 people joined Peg Backus-Wallner to mark the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq on March 19. The group read testimonials from families of soldiers who were killed in combat and the names of the fallen soldiers from Wisconsin, and they did a little drumming, too. Those who drove past the group honked their horns in support, and only one passing driver made a negative comment about the group’s activities.
The two-dozen peace supporters may not seem like a significant crowd, especially when a Milwaukee peace rally drew close to 1,000 demonstrators just days earlier, but the gathering may represent a watershed in opposition to the war.
The small rally was held in Greendale, a southern Milwaukee suburb that’s solidly Republican; in 2004, 59% of Greendale voters supported President George Bush and, presumably, his choice to go to war in Iraq.
“I think the tide is turning,” Backus-Wallner said.
The Greendale resident said she wanted to host a rally that suburban residents could get to easily, instead of having to gather Downtown. Besides, she said, it was nice to find out that her neighbors hold similar views on the war.
“I hope we get more people to become active in these less-expected places,” Backus-Wallner said.
In the Majority
Although Backus-Wallner may feel like she’s outnumbered by those who don’t share her views on the war, she’s actually in the majority. Indeed, as the nation enters its fifth year of war in Iraq, opposing the war seems to be as American as apple pie.
Just crunch the numbers. According to a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted two weeks ago, only 28% of survey respondents approved of Bush’s handling of the war, while 69% disapproved. More than half—56%—say the president made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq.
Contrast that to support for the war when it began four years ago. In March 2003, only 23% said that Bush was making a mistake by invading Iraq, while 75% said they supported his decision.
Opinions about Bush’s decision in January to send additional troops to Iraq are equally negative. According to a Pew Research Center poll released last week, only 36% think that the troop surge will work.
Conversely, Americans think that setting a deadline for troop withdrawal is a viable option. According to the Pew poll, 59% would support a bill that set an August 2008 deadline for troop withdrawal. Only 33% opposed such a bill.
George Martin, of Peace Action Wisconsin in Milwaukee, said that the peace movement is going strong and represents the majority sentiment.
“We’ve mobilized more people on behalf of Iraq than we did for Vietnam,” Martin said.
But even those active members are just a small minority of those who have stopped supporting the war.
“There’s a passive majority that’s against the war,” said UW-Milwaukee junior Brian Averill, a member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
Martin and Averill seemed frustrated by local media’s coverage of the March 17 peace rally that drew almost 1,000 people, which received little mention in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Yet a controversial protest by a small group at an Army recruiting office generated front-page headlines and a ton of condemnation from the usual conservative commentators.
“It’s a reflection of the corporate media,” Martin said.
Still, protesters seem to be making a difference in the direction of the war. While not every war opponent agrees on strategy—prayer vigils, confrontation, arrests and calls for impeachment are only some of the tactics used by peace advocates—and not every war opponent agrees on a legislative solution—cutting all funding now and setting some sort of deadline are only two options—activists are having an impact on politicians in Washington. (Well, perhaps all politicians except for the president, who remains committed to staying a course that’s increasingly unpopular with both Democrats and Republicans.)
“Protesting is a critical part of American democracy,” wrote David Sirota in the Baltimore Sun about Congress’ vote to add troop withdrawal deadlines to the president’s request for more war funding. “At its core, it is designed to put pressure on government in the lead-up to legislative decisions.”
More in Milwaukee
Milwaukee has a strong, long-standing peace and justice network, with many active members of Peace Action, United for Peace and Justice, Vets for Peace and a host of faith-based groups.
But there’s room for more, apparently. Peace Action has aligned with two formidable Milwaukee organizations: the immigrants’ rights group Voces de la Frontera and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 150.
Voces de la Frontera’s Christine Newman-Ortiz said this is the first time that her organization has taken a formal stand on the war.
“We feel there’s a connection between the two causes,” she said.
Newman-Ortiz pointed out the hypocrisy of the government’s attitude toward immigrants in its “War on Terror.” She noted that undocumented workers are required to sign up with the Selective Service for an emergency draft, and legal immigrants can get fast-tracked to become naturalized citizens if they sign up for the military. She added that huge corporations such as Halliburton are profiting off of the war in Iraq and for building detention centers for immigrants within the United States.
But in the bigger picture, she said that the effort to scapegoat immigrants has helped to distract Americans from the real costs of war. And since money for Iraq means that domestic needs will go unmet, there’s “real economic insecurity and hardship” among all working-class people.
A Soldier’s Call for Peace
Steve Burns of Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice in Madison said that one significant change in the peace movement is the involvement of returned soldiers from Iraq.
“Iraq vets against the war have grown by leaps and bounds,” Burns said.
One of these anti-war vets is Jason Moon, who moved to Milwaukee from Oshkosh in March. Moon served eight years in the National Guard in the 1990s in Tomahawk, and then “bought into the rhetoric” after 9/11 and re-enlisted in the Guard. He was in Iraq in May 2003, shortly after the invasion.
Although Moon, now a musician and a graduate student in religious studies at Cardinal Stritch University, wanted to serve his country, he doubted the president’s rationale for war. Moon wanted to see more evidence of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction and connections to Al Qaida. Moon’s doubts turned into action.
“I was protesting for peace before I left for Iraq, while I was on leave and I’ve been speaking out ever since I’ve come back,” Moon said of his efforts in the Fox Valley.
Moon said that many people are surprised by what he witnessed in Iraq. He said that the number of killed Iraqi civilians—children included—is staggering. It has also contributed to the current chaos.
“It’s driven a wedge between the Iraqis and the U.S.,” Moon said of the estimated 600,000 Iraqi civilian deaths. “We’ve given them an excuse to be violent, because targeting Americans is seen as a legitimate form of resistance.”
Moon blasted the notion that advocating for peace is somehow not supporting the troops or demoralizing the soldiers who are fighting overseas.
“That’s absurd,” he said. “I can speak out because I’m out of the military. When you see soldiers with the president and they’re clapping, it’s because they’re ordered to clap. Nobody wants to come home more than the soldiers.”
Moon added that the most patriotic act an individual can do is to protest the war.
“Soldiers lose their voice when they enlist,” Moon said. “We have to speak up for them.”
Moon has now gotten involved in Milwaukee’s peace activities and, as in the Fox Valley, he’s being welcomed.
“I think the peace movement is more accepting of soldiers than it was in the Vietnam era,” Moon said. “There’s an understanding that it’s not our fault.”
Suburban Support
But outside of Milwaukee, peace rallies have sprouted up in some unlikely places. There are an increasing number of people in small towns and Republican strongholds that are organizing to oppose the war and bring the troops home. Last fall’s affirmative votes on troop withdrawal referendums in 34 municipalities showed that the peace movement is alive and kicking around the state.
Even conservative Republican Waukesha County has a number of peace organizations. Judith Williams, of the Catholic Worker Movement, meets with allies to hold anti-war vigils in Cutler Park in downtown Waukesha every Sunday.
“When we first started out [almost] five years ago, about 35% were with us,” Williams said of people driving by the gathering. “Now, we have about 80% support.”
Professor Peggy Rozga, adviser to the Students for Peace group at UW-Waukesha, said that the 3-year-old organization is getting stronger.
“There are some students who engage in discussions or arguments about supporting the war, some of whom tell our members that they’re just a bunch of hippies,” Rozga said. “But we’ve found that when we’re more active, we get more members.”
She said that the Waukesha students aren’t any more liberal than the surrounding community, since many of them are fresh out of local high schools. Rozga said the increased interest in the group’s peace activities is part of a larger trend.
“There’s been a general shift in attitude against the war,” Rozga said.
Kerry Duma, of the progressive group GrassRoots of Waukesha (GROW), said that opposing the war was one of the group’s main priorities when it formed in the beginning of 2005. They’re now preparing for their third annual Mother’s Day for Peace in May.
“People are much more receptive to the anti-war message now,” Duma said. “The atmosphere has changed. I don’t know anyone who staunchly supports the war.”
The Role of the Faith Community
Just as they did during the civil-rights era, members of the faith community have become active in politics, especially in opposing the war. But while it may seem obvious that churches, synagogues and mosques ask for peace, it does take courage to stake out that moral ground.
Michael Duffey, an associate professor of theology at Marquette University, and one of the founders of the Candlelight Coalition in Wauwatosa, said that places of worship take a risk by speaking out against the war. So while Pope John Paul II spoke out against the invasion of Iraq—war is bad, peace is good—that position isn’t always easy to take at the local level.
“When you move from the church at its highest level to the local congregation, it becomes a delicate issue for pastors,” Duffey said. “Some of a congregation’s members might be in uniform. Churches try not to talk about patriotism. You rarely hear a homily about this unjust war. But I did hear one recently, and I asked the priest if this was common, and he said that it was, but that there was an occasional call to the archbishop about it.”
Duffey noted that even Milwaukee’s Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan has become more active in peace events. Dolan recently took part in an ecumenical service called “Repenting of War, Turning to Peace.” Duffey said that Dolan declined an invitation to take part in a similar peace vigil in the fall of 2005.
“He’s been politically careful,” Duffey said.
Rev. Suzelle Lynch of the Unitarian Universalist Church West in Brookfield said that her congregation took a risky stand when it voted to make a statement of conscience back in 2003 to promote peace.
“It was a difficult stand to take, because many of our loved ones are fighting in this war,” Rev. Lynch said. “People were speaking passionately on both sides of the issue and some were afraid to speak out.”
That statement of peace had consequences.
“We’ve probably had three or four people resign because they said their politics were too conservative for the church,” she said. “But on the other hand, we’ve probably had 150 people join.”
The church, which hosted and co-sponsored last Saturday’s Milwaukee Area Peace Conference: Facing the Costs of War, seems like a bit of an anomaly in Brookfield, which gave 70% of its vote to Bush in 2004.
“I suspect that we are sticking out in the community a little bit,” Rev. Lynch said.
That will only increase now that the church has raised a huge banner on its land on North Avenue that says: “Bring our troops home. Bring our dollars home.”
“We’re trying to get people to take the next step,” she said.
Duffey said places of worship could play an important role in bridging political differences and healing war wounds.
“I’d love to see the churches become a place for veterans to tell their stories as part of the healing process—not just the glory stories, but the truth about the war,” Duffey said. “And then to have the congregation support them and to say, ‘We are part of this, too.’”
The peace movement includes more members in unlikely places
by Lisa Kaiser
April 04, 2007
About 25 people joined Peg Backus-Wallner to mark the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq on March 19. The group read testimonials from families of soldiers who were killed in combat and the names of the fallen soldiers from Wisconsin, and they did a little drumming, too. Those who drove past the group honked their horns in support, and only one passing driver made a negative comment about the group’s activities.
The two-dozen peace supporters may not seem like a significant crowd, especially when a Milwaukee peace rally drew close to 1,000 demonstrators just days earlier, but the gathering may represent a watershed in opposition to the war.
The small rally was held in Greendale, a southern Milwaukee suburb that’s solidly Republican; in 2004, 59% of Greendale voters supported President George Bush and, presumably, his choice to go to war in Iraq.
“I think the tide is turning,” Backus-Wallner said.
The Greendale resident said she wanted to host a rally that suburban residents could get to easily, instead of having to gather Downtown. Besides, she said, it was nice to find out that her neighbors hold similar views on the war.
“I hope we get more people to become active in these less-expected places,” Backus-Wallner said.
In the Majority
Although Backus-Wallner may feel like she’s outnumbered by those who don’t share her views on the war, she’s actually in the majority. Indeed, as the nation enters its fifth year of war in Iraq, opposing the war seems to be as American as apple pie.
Just crunch the numbers. According to a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted two weeks ago, only 28% of survey respondents approved of Bush’s handling of the war, while 69% disapproved. More than half—56%—say the president made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq.
Contrast that to support for the war when it began four years ago. In March 2003, only 23% said that Bush was making a mistake by invading Iraq, while 75% said they supported his decision.
Opinions about Bush’s decision in January to send additional troops to Iraq are equally negative. According to a Pew Research Center poll released last week, only 36% think that the troop surge will work.
Conversely, Americans think that setting a deadline for troop withdrawal is a viable option. According to the Pew poll, 59% would support a bill that set an August 2008 deadline for troop withdrawal. Only 33% opposed such a bill.
George Martin, of Peace Action Wisconsin in Milwaukee, said that the peace movement is going strong and represents the majority sentiment.
“We’ve mobilized more people on behalf of Iraq than we did for Vietnam,” Martin said.
But even those active members are just a small minority of those who have stopped supporting the war.
“There’s a passive majority that’s against the war,” said UW-Milwaukee junior Brian Averill, a member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
Martin and Averill seemed frustrated by local media’s coverage of the March 17 peace rally that drew almost 1,000 people, which received little mention in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Yet a controversial protest by a small group at an Army recruiting office generated front-page headlines and a ton of condemnation from the usual conservative commentators.
“It’s a reflection of the corporate media,” Martin said.
Still, protesters seem to be making a difference in the direction of the war. While not every war opponent agrees on strategy—prayer vigils, confrontation, arrests and calls for impeachment are only some of the tactics used by peace advocates—and not every war opponent agrees on a legislative solution—cutting all funding now and setting some sort of deadline are only two options—activists are having an impact on politicians in Washington. (Well, perhaps all politicians except for the president, who remains committed to staying a course that’s increasingly unpopular with both Democrats and Republicans.)
“Protesting is a critical part of American democracy,” wrote David Sirota in the Baltimore Sun about Congress’ vote to add troop withdrawal deadlines to the president’s request for more war funding. “At its core, it is designed to put pressure on government in the lead-up to legislative decisions.”
More in Milwaukee
Milwaukee has a strong, long-standing peace and justice network, with many active members of Peace Action, United for Peace and Justice, Vets for Peace and a host of faith-based groups.
But there’s room for more, apparently. Peace Action has aligned with two formidable Milwaukee organizations: the immigrants’ rights group Voces de la Frontera and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 150.
Voces de la Frontera’s Christine Newman-Ortiz said this is the first time that her organization has taken a formal stand on the war.
“We feel there’s a connection between the two causes,” she said.
Newman-Ortiz pointed out the hypocrisy of the government’s attitude toward immigrants in its “War on Terror.” She noted that undocumented workers are required to sign up with the Selective Service for an emergency draft, and legal immigrants can get fast-tracked to become naturalized citizens if they sign up for the military. She added that huge corporations such as Halliburton are profiting off of the war in Iraq and for building detention centers for immigrants within the United States.
But in the bigger picture, she said that the effort to scapegoat immigrants has helped to distract Americans from the real costs of war. And since money for Iraq means that domestic needs will go unmet, there’s “real economic insecurity and hardship” among all working-class people.
A Soldier’s Call for Peace
Steve Burns of Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice in Madison said that one significant change in the peace movement is the involvement of returned soldiers from Iraq.
“Iraq vets against the war have grown by leaps and bounds,” Burns said.
One of these anti-war vets is Jason Moon, who moved to Milwaukee from Oshkosh in March. Moon served eight years in the National Guard in the 1990s in Tomahawk, and then “bought into the rhetoric” after 9/11 and re-enlisted in the Guard. He was in Iraq in May 2003, shortly after the invasion.
Although Moon, now a musician and a graduate student in religious studies at Cardinal Stritch University, wanted to serve his country, he doubted the president’s rationale for war. Moon wanted to see more evidence of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction and connections to Al Qaida. Moon’s doubts turned into action.
“I was protesting for peace before I left for Iraq, while I was on leave and I’ve been speaking out ever since I’ve come back,” Moon said of his efforts in the Fox Valley.
Moon said that many people are surprised by what he witnessed in Iraq. He said that the number of killed Iraqi civilians—children included—is staggering. It has also contributed to the current chaos.
“It’s driven a wedge between the Iraqis and the U.S.,” Moon said of the estimated 600,000 Iraqi civilian deaths. “We’ve given them an excuse to be violent, because targeting Americans is seen as a legitimate form of resistance.”
Moon blasted the notion that advocating for peace is somehow not supporting the troops or demoralizing the soldiers who are fighting overseas.
“That’s absurd,” he said. “I can speak out because I’m out of the military. When you see soldiers with the president and they’re clapping, it’s because they’re ordered to clap. Nobody wants to come home more than the soldiers.”
Moon added that the most patriotic act an individual can do is to protest the war.
“Soldiers lose their voice when they enlist,” Moon said. “We have to speak up for them.”
Moon has now gotten involved in Milwaukee’s peace activities and, as in the Fox Valley, he’s being welcomed.
“I think the peace movement is more accepting of soldiers than it was in the Vietnam era,” Moon said. “There’s an understanding that it’s not our fault.”
Suburban Support
But outside of Milwaukee, peace rallies have sprouted up in some unlikely places. There are an increasing number of people in small towns and Republican strongholds that are organizing to oppose the war and bring the troops home. Last fall’s affirmative votes on troop withdrawal referendums in 34 municipalities showed that the peace movement is alive and kicking around the state.
Even conservative Republican Waukesha County has a number of peace organizations. Judith Williams, of the Catholic Worker Movement, meets with allies to hold anti-war vigils in Cutler Park in downtown Waukesha every Sunday.
“When we first started out [almost] five years ago, about 35% were with us,” Williams said of people driving by the gathering. “Now, we have about 80% support.”
Professor Peggy Rozga, adviser to the Students for Peace group at UW-Waukesha, said that the 3-year-old organization is getting stronger.
“There are some students who engage in discussions or arguments about supporting the war, some of whom tell our members that they’re just a bunch of hippies,” Rozga said. “But we’ve found that when we’re more active, we get more members.”
She said that the Waukesha students aren’t any more liberal than the surrounding community, since many of them are fresh out of local high schools. Rozga said the increased interest in the group’s peace activities is part of a larger trend.
“There’s been a general shift in attitude against the war,” Rozga said.
Kerry Duma, of the progressive group GrassRoots of Waukesha (GROW), said that opposing the war was one of the group’s main priorities when it formed in the beginning of 2005. They’re now preparing for their third annual Mother’s Day for Peace in May.
“People are much more receptive to the anti-war message now,” Duma said. “The atmosphere has changed. I don’t know anyone who staunchly supports the war.”
The Role of the Faith Community
Just as they did during the civil-rights era, members of the faith community have become active in politics, especially in opposing the war. But while it may seem obvious that churches, synagogues and mosques ask for peace, it does take courage to stake out that moral ground.
Michael Duffey, an associate professor of theology at Marquette University, and one of the founders of the Candlelight Coalition in Wauwatosa, said that places of worship take a risk by speaking out against the war. So while Pope John Paul II spoke out against the invasion of Iraq—war is bad, peace is good—that position isn’t always easy to take at the local level.
“When you move from the church at its highest level to the local congregation, it becomes a delicate issue for pastors,” Duffey said. “Some of a congregation’s members might be in uniform. Churches try not to talk about patriotism. You rarely hear a homily about this unjust war. But I did hear one recently, and I asked the priest if this was common, and he said that it was, but that there was an occasional call to the archbishop about it.”
Duffey noted that even Milwaukee’s Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan has become more active in peace events. Dolan recently took part in an ecumenical service called “Repenting of War, Turning to Peace.” Duffey said that Dolan declined an invitation to take part in a similar peace vigil in the fall of 2005.
“He’s been politically careful,” Duffey said.
Rev. Suzelle Lynch of the Unitarian Universalist Church West in Brookfield said that her congregation took a risky stand when it voted to make a statement of conscience back in 2003 to promote peace.
“It was a difficult stand to take, because many of our loved ones are fighting in this war,” Rev. Lynch said. “People were speaking passionately on both sides of the issue and some were afraid to speak out.”
That statement of peace had consequences.
“We’ve probably had three or four people resign because they said their politics were too conservative for the church,” she said. “But on the other hand, we’ve probably had 150 people join.”
The church, which hosted and co-sponsored last Saturday’s Milwaukee Area Peace Conference: Facing the Costs of War, seems like a bit of an anomaly in Brookfield, which gave 70% of its vote to Bush in 2004.
“I suspect that we are sticking out in the community a little bit,” Rev. Lynch said.
That will only increase now that the church has raised a huge banner on its land on North Avenue that says: “Bring our troops home. Bring our dollars home.”
“We’re trying to get people to take the next step,” she said.
Duffey said places of worship could play an important role in bridging political differences and healing war wounds.
“I’d love to see the churches become a place for veterans to tell their stories as part of the healing process—not just the glory stories, but the truth about the war,” Duffey said. “And then to have the congregation support them and to say, ‘We are part of this, too.’”
Submitted by wnpj on Wed, 04/11/2007 - 9:30am.