David Cortright is a seasoned anti-war activist who pulled together Win Without War, a new assemblage of disparate interest groups, to oppose a military invasion of Iraq. But he is battling more than the prospect of imminent war.
The Vietnam veteran from Goshen, Ind., is also fighting the stereotypical image of the protester as an aging hippie in a tie-dyed T-shirt, out on the fringe of the political left, considered unpatriotic in some circles, and opposed to war on any grounds.
“The traditional interpretation of peace rallies is that they are somewhat fringe, that they are representing just the pacifist communities,” he said. “We want to convey the message that the concern about a war against Iraq is very broad and reaches out to mainstream organizations.”
As the anti-war movement prepares for weekend rallies in Washington, where it hopes to hold its biggest protest yet, organizers are trying to expand the reach and redefine the perception of the movement.
Thus far, the protesters have featured a supporting cast including pacifists such as the Quakers, anti-globalization forces and fringe political groups such as the Freedom Socialist Party. But the movement that will be marching in the nation’s capital, and took to the airwaves Thursday with an anti-war ad campaign, includes a complex cast of other organizations that are not on the edges of American society.
The National Council of Churches, representing 36 Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox denominations, is opposed to invading Iraq and is holding a peace vigil at the National Cathedral and a march to the White House on Monday. Members of the Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows will also be represented.
Several prominent Republicans and party donors who oppose a war paid for an advertisement in The Wall Street Journal this week that read, “Let’s be clear; We supported the Gulf War. We supported our intervention in Afghanistan. We accept the logic of a just war. But Mr. President, your war on Iraq does not pass the test.”
Cortright’sorganization and others are trying to appeal to people who don’t see themselves attending peace rallies, putting bumper stickers on their cars or even calling themselves activists.
“One shouldn’t just look to the streets,” said Erik Gustafson, 32, an Army and gulf war veteran and director of the Education for Peace in Iraq Center, a human-rights organization in Washington, and an opponent of an Iraq invasion. “That’s like using the 1960s lens to measure opposition to the war.”
Still, observers say the broad coalition faces enormous challenges. No war has begun, and Thursday’s revelation that weapons inspectors discovered empty warheads for chemical weapons in Iraq may change the view of some who might have opposed military intervention.
Most, though not all, national polls show support for military action. There is no draft “breathing its hot breath down on the necks of young men,” as Joyce Appleby, a University of California-Los Angeles professor emeritus of history, put it. And the movement is trying to organize a generation for whom war protests are familiar only through history books.
At the same time, Appleby said, steps taken by the current movement suggest its leaders have learned from the past.
“This movement is less in-your-face, less angry,” said Appleby, past president of the American Historical Association. “It’s much more thoughtful, and has swept up all kinds of groups.”
Cortright said the issues raised by the prospect of military action with Iraq have made an anti-war campaign appeal to a broad array of people.
The movement, for instance, has attracted support from the National Organization for Women, which is concerned about the military budget taking away from domestic priorities; the NAACP, which is concerned about the effect on minorities; and the Sierra Club, which is concerned about the environmental repercussions. On Saturday, more than 100 trade unionists from 60 unions and the Central Labor Councils meeting in Chicago passed a unanimous resolution opposing “unprovoked war with Iraq.”
On Thursday, the Chicago City Council overwhelmingly approved a resolution opposing a pre-emptive strike unless it can be proved that Iraq poses “a real and imminent” threat to the U.S. The lone “no” in a 45-1 vote was Ald. James Balcer (11th), a decorated Vietnam War veteran who said he agreed with “95 percent” of what the resolution contained.
For the wide range of groups opposing an invasion of Iraq, the chief concerns include the unprecedented policy of opening a pre-emptive war, the possibility that the United States would take action unilaterally or with limited international support, and the lack of widespread evidence uncovered thus far by UN inspectors.
As the situation unfolds, one challenge may be in simply holding together disparate organizations with widely varying, and sometimes opposing, political aims that so far have created not one cohesive coalition but at least three–Win Without War, International Act Now to Stop War & Racism (ANSWER), and United for Peace.
Bill Massey, 68, represents the old school of peace advocates. The retired mailroom worker has helped arrange for 10 buses to take Chicago-area residents to the nation’s capital for this weekend’s protests, two more buses than were needed for the October rally there that attracted an estimated 100,000 people. That crowd was believed to be the largest anti-war protest since the Vietnam era.
John “Jack” Shanahan, an 80-year-old retired vice admiral who served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, represents a voice in the new peace movement. “I’m opposed to unilateral military intervention,” he said. A registered Republican who lives in Ormond Beach, Fla., Shanahan said: “America does not have its priorities in the proper order. We’re neglecting our domestic problems.”
Eli Pariser, 22, international campaigns director for MoveOn.org, an online network whose aim is to attract people back into politics, is mindful of the hurdles ahead. “The challenge we have now is making sure our democracy works,” said Pariser, whose group has more than 650,000 subscribers to its e-mail list nationwide.
The organization has collected hundreds of thousands of signatures on petitions to oppose war before the inspection process is finished and organized thousands of members to meet with congressional leaders next week. It also raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the provocative ad campaign that began airing Thursday in major markets, including Chicago.
The ads, urging President Bush to “let the inspections work,” show a little girl counting daisy petals only to have her image replaced by a nuclear explosion. It is a remake of a controversial commercial during Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 presidential campaign against Barry Goldwater.
