Village Voice: The New Fight Against the War

[struggle4progress]

A big march in D.C. marks a change in tactics for those who want the U.S. out of Iraq

by Jarrett Murphy
September 19th, 2005 7:03 PM

<snip> The weekend of protest begins on Saturday, September 24, with a march and concert. Sunday there's an interfaith service. And on Monday, while some lobby Congress, others will get busted at the White House. Both are newly prominent tactics in the fight against the war—and products of the realization that protest alone won't work.

Not that they haven't tried. On February 15, 2003, about a month before the war began, the side streets around the United Nations were choked with people who couldn't make it in to a huge rally demanding the war be stopped. At the same time, there were people packing the streets in London, Amsterdam, and other cities. It was exciting. The television shots were striking. But the policy didn't budge.

"Most of us knew there was an inevitability to the war. But we didn't expect how little would matter to the administration," says War Resisters League national anti-militarism coordinator G. Simon Harak. "That was a realization that came to people: Just to bring up our objections is not enough. That's why this demonstration, there's not only going to be lobbying, there's going to be well-coordinated civil disobedience. That's the lesson we've learned: Now we have to obstruct this war machine that's not listening to the people. That's, I think, the change that's come in the past two years." <snip>

http://villagevoice.com/news/0538,murphy,67976,5.html