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CounterPunch
November
20, 2002
Madison Votes
"NO" on Iraq War
by LORI KORTE and MIKE
LEON
Madison, Wisconsin. "One function of local government is to
inform the national government what the views of its citizens
are about issues of national moment."
Those words were spoken by University
of Wisconsin at Madison Professor of Sociology Maurice Zeitlin
in 1968 explaining the rationale behind a Madison citizens' referendum
for the immediate cessation of US hostilities during the Vietnam
War.
On April 2, 1968 after more than 37,000
American soldiers had been killed, a mere 43 percent of Madisonians
voted in favor of the referendum when Madison was a furious hotbed
of activism. Today, anti-war sentiment in Madison presents a
resolutely more decisive, healthy anti-war proclamation. "It
is important to use all available means to prevent this war,
and the devastating human suffering it will cause. This is a
very serious national effort that may well stretch out over a
decade with an occupation," said Barbara Smith of the Madison Area Peace Coalition
(MAPC).
The city of Madison Common Council joined
some 13 municipalities, in such locales as Syracuse, New York
to tiny boroughs in Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia,
in officially denouncing early this morning the Bush administration's
desire to preemptively strike Iraq_message, don't kill in Madison's
name and we will find a way to stop you.
The resolution was passed on an 11 to
2 vote. Seven Council members did not vote. Only one public speaker
spoke in opposition to the resolution.
The sadly revolutionary act of passing
such a resolution at a community level seems historic to many
here in the face of a national political climate where the people
feel disenfranchised from their national government and a supine
congress (although many here point with pride to the work of
Sen. Russ Feingold D-Wisconsin and Rep. Tammy Baldwin D-Madison).
People here are pissed. They don't want
to go to war. The Bush administration is acting on behalf of
the American people without hearing their voices. "We are
deeply concerned that the current rush to war is subverting our
democracy. Americans are not getting enough information about
this issue...It is urgent that local leaders step in to provide
a forum for citizens to express their opinions", said MAPC's
Smith, a major supporter of the Madison Common Council resolution
and an organization with genuine political clout at the city
level.
The resolution gives voice to Madison
citizens' objections to the war and their frustration with the
seemingly inevitable path to killing, where the citizens are
for now consigned to the position of muffled backseat drivers.
"A preemptive strike by the US violates our commitments
under the UN charter, goes against established international
law, sets a dangerous precedent for the world community, and
further isolates the US from the rest of the world", reads
the resolution in part. "Hastily implemented unilateral
actions would risk the deaths of thousands of Iraqi civilians
without guaranteeing the safety of US military, the inability
of Iraq to respond, or even the likelihood a new Iraqi regime
would adopt national or international priorities more acceptable
to the US."
So what if 13 cities and the DC of Columbia
have voiced opposition to the war? Is there actually a peace
movement? Does this speak to a widespread commitment to peace?
"Passage of this resolution will help build a grassroots
movement against the war. It is significant that City governments
declare opposition to war. We need to send as many signals as
we can that this war is unwanted and unneeded, and a City Council
vote such as this adds a certain credibility to that message",
said Melea Carlvin, member of the University Wisconsin at Madison's
Stop the War coalition.
The clear effect of the resolution is
that it does not do much good for the 500,000 Iraqis who have
died under the harsh UN sanctions. Resolutions also will not
comfort the tens of thousands of Iraqis who will die in the near
future as the consequence of compliance to this rush to war.
So the questions arise--has the citizenry ever had the power
to halt the march to war? Can we stop them now?
Many here feel that even without seeing
37,000 body bags, we can rise above the Bush administration's
callousness and cowardice killing Iraqi people and indeed halt
a war. Eighty-five years ago people were thrown into jail for
merely protesting the entry of the US into World War 1. Thirty-five
years ago 37,000 American soldiers were killed, and even in the
political hotbed of Madison, only 43 percent voted against a
referendum to halt the war then.
But now the eyes of political insight
are wide open to the verities of war, and the public relations
people hiding the war from public view are abundantly aware of
this truism.
"A referendum such as that passed
in 1968 would pass overwhelmingly here now," said Allen
Ruff, a veteran peace activist and historian.
And yes there has been a bombing campaign
in Iraq; yes we just killed 1,000s in Afghanistan, and the toll
continues across the globe.
Standing and doing nothing is not an
option. The Madisons, the Berkleys, the Cambridges and New York
will lead the way in this peace effort again. But along with
these enclaves come Syracuse and a diffuse peace movement that
will find a way to halt the destruction of war and until then
speak to the international community that the war is waged not
in their name.
(Ted McManus provided research for this
article)
Lori Korte
is a writer living in Madison, Wisconsin. She can be reached
at lorikorte@hotmail.com.
Mike Leon is a writer living in Madison, Wisconsin. His
writing has appeared nationally in The Progressive, In These
Times, and CounterPunch. He can be reached at: maleon@terracom.net
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