Dear Cindy Sheehan,
In February 2003 my girlfriend and I left Tucson, Arizona and led a war protest/peace march to Washington DC. As we trekked through America spreading our message of non-voilence, we came up against exactly what you have voiced here. We hoped to prevent the war, then stop the war, then end the occupation...none of which happened. We hoped to attract media attention to our cause; that turned out to be a joke. We hoped to grow our march and end in DC with a large group demanding that we not go to/end this war/occupation; I was foolish and idealistic.
This experience has left us both radicalized and somewhat bitter. It has transformed our lives with the knowledge we gained. It has opened our eyes and our mind to the atrocities that are committed in our names every day around the world. For a while it was horribly deflating upon the evaluation that we had done all this work (such a drop in the bucket by comparison to you) and changed nothing.
When all was said and done, after much reflection and conversation, we came to realize that if we do not continue the struggle, if we just run away, we lose. The odds are insurmountable, but what other option do we have?
It is why I organize.
I was not entirely suprised to discover that the Democratic Representative who was elected in the congressional district that I used to live next to voted to continue this war. I had worked on a rival Democrat's campaign in the primary. The candidate I worked for, just like every candidate I work for, had the power of consience, the presence of mind to oppose this insane war, and the conviction to stand on principal. He was one of the "Band of Brothers" that ran for congress in 2006. He was an excellent speaker with an invincable background who was endorsed by both the PDA and the DFA. But the one thing he didn't have was a ton of money. We raised a mere $100,000. The now congresswoman raised $1.5 Million. She and the other top money raising candidate got all the media attention, and therefore more money and support.
This just further reinforced that our system is a sham. Our system is about money, not who will serve this country best. The congresswoman is, was and will always be a timid, middle of the road, business as usual Democrat. She, like so many others in the Democratic party, have failed us. She ran on the campaign platform that our candidate laid out there, end the war and bring our troops home, clean energy (to prevent further oil wars), and universal single payer health care, but has just smashed the first plank of her own platform! The Democrats will continue to fail us because they're (I should say most of them) are wholly owned by some monied few who drive their votes.
That is why I organize.
When we returned from our march in September of 2003, the Presidential campaign was already in full swing. We evaluated the candidates and decided that Dennis Kucinich had the best policies and the record to back it up. Based on their records, we regarded Kucinich as the real deal while Dean (we thought) was a mirage who will change his tune upon being elected. We both started working for Kucinich's campaign. It was crushing to get just 3% in Pima County and 2% in Arizona for a candidate who had what in many countries would be considered very moderate positions. He told the truth, and just as happened to us, the mainstream media just blackballed him.
This is why I organize.
I have realized through these experiences that our system is so corrupt, so entangled in its own power matrix, so twisted in upon itself, that the only way to change it is to rally the masses. After the Kucinich campaign, I began working for ACORN, a grassroots organizing group that gets things done through mass action. They join ordinary people together to struggle for justice. We learned during our walk what the extent of our power was. That it was miniscule. You have learned the extent of your power, it being much greater than that of most people. Now it is time to organize.
I know what you mean when you say that the internal conflicts within the peace movement make it difficult to accomplish anything. Egos get in the way. No one said organizing is easy work. My girlfriend and I have personally found the peace movement frustrating and aggrivating. Every time we march in a peace march, every time we attend a peace rally or vigil, every time we participate in any way, we get turned off by the lack of DIRECTION that the actions take. Who are they targeted at? Why not mobilize the 1000's of people to march into a Senator's office and DEMAND that they vote to end the war. Heck, why not DEMAND that they don't pass a war funding bill. That is direct action. That is direct action with a target and a specific demand. That's how it SHOULD be done.
It's easy to just throw your hands up and walk away. It's really tempting too. I struggle with this every day. The task before us is just SO huge that to look upon it as a whole is self-defeating. It is only when we break it down that we see that we can in fact tackle our issues if we only work together to confront the decision makers and demand the solutions. The decision makers are people too and they feel pressure just like anyone...let's organize and use it.
So I ask you, Cindy Sheehan, please don't give up. Don't lose heart. You are a great leader and organizer. You may need a break as everyone does from time to time; it will make you all the stronger and more resiliant. Rest up, gather your strength of will, steel your mind and organize!