Anti-war Movement Broadening its Base

By Cole Harrison

Two years into the Obama era, the antiwar movement is not close to having the power to end the Afghanistan war.

Many assumed an Obama administration would at least moderate the move towards permanent war and domestic reaction which developed during the Bush administration. But the opposite has been the case. Obama has tripled U.S. forces in Afghanistan to 100,000 and greatly increased drone strikes in Pakistan. He declared in November that the Afghanistan war would continue until at least 2014. Guantanamo has not been closed, and a new round of FBI subpoenas was served on antiwar activists in December. Instead of moving to a more peaceful foreign policy, the Administration has embraced military solutions that don’t work.

After nine years, the U.S. public is tired of the Afghanistan conflict, with 63% opposed to U.S. involvement there in a December CNN poll. Yet this antiwar sentiment is shallow. Only 8% of November voters indicated in exit polls that Afghanistan is the most important issue facing the country. Public opinion is swinging against the war, but not fast or strongly enough to end it.

To find new allies, the antiwar movement needs to talk much more about how war and empire are destroying the futures not only of Afghans, but also of Americans. After all, the Afghanistan war alone will cost taxpayers $119 billion in 2011, plus $51 billion for the war in Iraq. The military budget has more than doubled in the past 10 years, reaching $737 billion in FY2011 and consuming over 50% of the federal discretionary budget. Yet social security is on the chopping block, and jobs and health programs are in severe jeopardy. When people start to connect the dots and realize their economic interests are being seriously hurt by wars and the warfare state, it will bring important new allies into the antiwar camp, potentially enough to turn the tide on wars such as Afghanistan.

With more than 10 million jobs lost and a resurgent right wing opposed to stimulating the economy and helping state and local government, the economic picture for the majority of Americans is bleak. In Massachusetts, next year’s budget shortfall is expected to be $1.5-2 billion and to result in draconian cuts in education, health, local aid, and other programs. Boston plans to close 18 schools, and library closings are still on the table. You might think that Governor Patrick and the State Legislature would be asking the Federal government to end the wars, cut military spending, and send the money saved to Massachusetts. But you would be wrong.

Unions, low and moderate income community groups, advocates for jobs, education, housing, environment, and social services, and cities and towns, all have an interest in cutting back the mammoth share of federal spending that goes to the military and redirecting it to urgent domestic priorities. But many of these groups fear they will lose support if they take on broader issues such as peace, environment, and the like. They fight for their constituents in the state and local political arena, where there are few resources available, while the federal government has most of the money. Engaging in pork-barrel politics to direct military money to their own districts, liberal Democrats in Congress are not held accountable for the runaway growth in military spending. With this approach, the political power to redress national priorities is never brought to bear, the wars continue, and the hollowing out of the U.S. economy continues on its way.

The Massachusetts Fund our Communities / Cut Military Spending 25% Campaign has formed to address this strategic problem. Initiated by peace movement veterans in United for Justice with Peace, the campaign seeks to engage economic justice groups in an alliance to link military spending with state and local budget issues. The campaign and allied groups have already obtained city or town council resolutions in Cambridge, Newton, and Northampton, and a letter of support from Boston Mayor Tom Menino.

In spring 2011, the campaign is organizing budget hearings and speak-outs to coincide with state budget time-lines. The hearings will invite testimony from individuals and organizations hurt by state and local budget cuts, invite congresspeople and their staff, urge them to move money from the Pentagon to community needs, and support fair, progressive tax reforms. The campaign seeks to build locally based groups and coalitions across Massachusetts to keep participants involved and build pressure not only to cut the Pentagon budget and stop the wars, but to direct the resulting funds back to our communities and enact state tax reforms this year.

Cole Harrison is communications coordinator for Massachusetts Peace Action and convenor of UJP’s Afghanistan Task Force.