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CounterPunch
March 20,
2003
Opening Bell
If War is Business as Usual,
There Should be No Business as Usual
by RON JACOBS
The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers-the water from
which our civilization first sprang-are under attack. The peoples
of that land, and the river that is their lifeblood, are being
turned into dumping grounds for depleted uranium and other poison.
The merchants of death are having their way. The people of the
world must stop them before they go any further.
The time for long speeches is truly over.
It is time for action. With the volley of deadly military attacks
on Iraq by the US and UK, the masters of war have made it clear
that to them war is now business as usual. It is up to us to
make it clear that we do not intend to let them conduct their
business as usual without protest. We will not let them conduct
their business as usual without interruption. We will not let
them conduct their business as usual without challenge. Indeed,
we intend to prevent them from conducting their business as usual.
We intend on stopping this war! As we stand here preparing ourselves
for an indefinite period of protest and organizing, people in
Iraq are being killed in our name. As we stand here wondering
what the hell is wrong with those politicians and generals in
Washington and London, whole city blocks are being destroyed
in our name. We cannot let this go on without doing something
to stop this madness as soon as we possibly can. We have tried
protests. We need to mobilize even larger protests! We have tried
civil disobedience. We need to be even more disobedient! Some
have tried direct action! We need even more action!
Every government agency that is involved
in the war effort must have its business as usual interrupted.
Every business that makes money from the weapons of mass destruction
being used against the people of Iraq must have its business
interrupted! Every recruiting office that lies to young people
in order to turn them into killers and cannon fodder must have
its business interrupted!
It is important to remember that the
best way to stop a weapons manufacturer from making weapons is
by convincing those people who work for them to not go to work.
Its important to remember that the best way to get a government
to stop functioning is to get the government workers to not go
to work. If enough workers can be convinced that this war is
not what they want to be involved in, we can stop the war machine.
In the meantime, we must interrupt it. We can do this by talking
to people and getting them to join us. We can do this by protesting
in front of the buildings that house these operations. We can
do this by civil disobedience and direct action. Whatever we
feel we can do, we must. Not just today, but until the war is
ended. Until the voice of humanity can be heard above the sound
of the cruise missiles and B-52s.
So, when to day is over, go home and
talk about things with your friends. Things lie what would be
an effective protest against the war machine? Puppets? Lockdowns?
A coffeehouse for GIs? A nationwide march on Washington? What?
If it's something you can do, than do it.
Some one asked me recently how we could
stop the war machine once it began. After all, he said, there
is nothing we can do. Only they can decide when they will stop
the killing. My answer was this: remember Nixon's invasion of
Cambodia on April 30, 1970? Within twenty-four hours of Nixon's
fateful announcement, the streets and campuses of the United
States and many other countries were in turmoil. Servicemen and
women were refusing to work. Students were in the streets and
refusing to go to class. An antiwar movement that Nixon and his
henchmen had thought was dead was back in the streets bigger
and angrier than ever. Unfortunately, so were the police and
soldiers, although many of the soldiers were less than enthusiastic
or in complete refusal. As we all know, at least six students
were killed in the next two weeks for protesting the invasion.
But, at the same time, Nixon was forced to pull the troops back
from Cambodia and reconsider his war plans. This is what we must
force Mr. Bush to do. Pull back from Iraq and end his war plans.
It's not an easy task, but it must be
done. We will be called traitors. We will be told we must support
the troops. We will be attacked verbally and physically. But
we must not stop. Indeed, we must gain more adherents to our
campaign-civilians and soldiers alike. After all, if we truly
support the troops (but not the war), we must get them off the
battlefield and back home. Bush and his minions may win the battle
for Iraq, but they must not win their war for the world. Our
job is to insure that they don't.
Ron Jacobs
is author of The
Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground.
He can be reached at: rjacobs@zoo.uvm.edu
Yesterday's
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Rumsfeld and Bush Sr. Opposed 1989 UN Investigation of Saddam
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