Grass-Roots Forces Recharge Anti-War Movement: Eyewitness Report from Cleveland National Assembly By Jonathon Hurd

Grass-Roots Forces Recharge Anti-War Movement:

Eyewitness Report from Cleveland National Assembly

By Jonathon Hurd
Freedom Socialist, August 12, 2008

Five and a half years after the invasion of Iraq, organized opposition is fractured and disoriented. Polls show more than two-thirds of the U.S. population opposes the war, yet national anti-war organizations do not work together to build major protests. Many still believe in the Democrats, even as Obama moves quickly to the right and Democrats in Congress continue to fund the war.

This grim state of affairs sparked serious anti-war organizers across the country to plan a conference in Cleveland. Coordinated by the National Assembly to End the Iraq War and Occupation, over 400 gathered on the weekend of June 28-29, to revive the movement and plan unified action. Open and respectful debate was the heart of the conference, the first open, national meeting since the war began. Discussions were democratic, votes taken, decisions made. I was there representing the Freedom Socialist Party (FSP) and working with Gina Petry and Emma Allen, who attended on behalf of Radical Women (RW).

Major coalitions ANSWER, United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) and U.S. Labor Against the War were invited. But most who attended were grass-roots activists tired of waiting on movement leaders or Democratic politicians, and determined to jump-start the anti-war movement themselves.

Winning push to quicken and broaden. The majority of the conference Coordinating Committee opposed calling demonstrations before the November election, arguing that ANSWER, UFPJ and organized labor wouldn't support it. But other committee members, including RW and FSP, favored October actions, citing how ILWU longshore workers shut down West Coast ports on May Day to protest the war.

In Cleveland, grass-roots attendees overwhelmingly approved a proposal by the Boston and Rhode Island anti-war groups for local demonstrations on Oct. 11. (Contact John.R. Harris@verizon.net.) They also endorsed demonstrations from Dec. 9-14. And they broadened the anti-war program developed by the Coordinating Committee by adding Iran, Afghanistan, and Palestine. They argued passionately and successfully to include strong language against Israeli aggression.

End the war at home too! Among the many amendments referred to the Assembly Administrative Body was one from FSP and RW to redirect war monies toward creating jobs and social services in the U.S. and rebuilding Iraq. To strengthen the movement the Assembly must adopt a platform that connects the war abroad to the war at home, which includes police-state attacks on immigrants and people of color, miserable healthcare and the sharp rise in prices of everything from gas to groceries.

RW and FSP delegates urged participants to reach out to the women's, LGBT, immigrant rights, people of color and labor movements. Hip-hop artist Son of Nun also pressed the conference activists to bring more people of color into the anti-war movement by engaging in their issues.

In a workshop organized by RW called "Women, War and Resistance," the need to fight sexism in the movement and the disproportionate impact of war on women were hotly discussed. The workshop group also brought up lack of childcare at the conference as a barrier to female involvement.

Later, at Radical Women's "Meet & Greet," with beer and pizza to enhance the flow, conversation quickly moved towards the need for multi-issue politics to draw working women and mothers into the movement. RW's upcoming national conference in early October in San Francisco generated considerable enthusiasm.

No time like now. The Cleveland conference energized everyone, and activists traveled home eager to build for demonstrations in October and December, and at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

To live up to its potential, the Assembly needs to connect the war to everyday struggles of working people and draw more women, youth, and people of color into its ranks and its leadership. As the rank-and-file offensive in Cleveland so clearly showed, this is no time for waiting on leaders who refuse to break with the Democrats and forge the inclusive, united movement the world needs.

Jonathon Hurd, a recent nursing school graduate, has helped organize walkouts and anti-war rallies at Seattle Central Community College.

Freedom Socialist • Vol. 29, No. 4 • August-September 2008

http://www.socialism.com/fsarticles/vol29no4/antiwar_conference29411.html