An appeal for support
www.couragetoresist.org/donate
By Sarah Lazare
Courage to Resist Project Coordinator
February 24, 2009
We are entering a critical period for G.I. resistance. The recent
elections showed that a clear majority of Americans are fed up with the
war. Now that Obama has been elected on the anti-war ticket, the peace
and anti-war movement must define what that means. It is vital that we
push for a real end to the war, including a pullout of all "non-combat"
troops and independent contractors from Iraq.
We are also entering a time of heightened aggression in Afghanistan,
Pakistan, and elsewhere, with Obama planning to send 17,000 more troops
to Afghanistan this spring and summer, in addition to the 36,000 that
are already there. Not only is the Global War on Terror not "working,"
but it is turning into a war of attrition with no end in sight, causing
great hardship for people living in occupied lands, as well as for the
troops being sent overseas. Now is a vital time to be developing
strategies to stop the escalation before it becomes a centerpiece of
U.S. foreign policy.
Let me take a moment to introduce myself to those of you I have not
had the opportunity to meet. I came to this work with a background in
anti-war, labor, and community organizing. During the buildup to the
Iraq invasion and after the bombing started, I was heavily involved in
organizing anti-war war protests. However, as the war dragged on,
despite public opinion and mass mobilizations against it, I became more
and more interested in anti-war strategies that focus on building a
mass movement to directly withdraw military support for the war.
My experience in labor and community organizing gave me a sense of
the importance of movements grounded in building the voices and power
of most-affected communities. When I learned about the work that
veterans and resisters are doing to withdraw support from, and speak
out against, the war, I was convinced that this was exactly the kind of
organizing that needs to be happening right now.
We have been working with war resisters and civilian ally networks
to help support the G.I. resistance movement. It has been a busy,
exciting, and extremely fulfilling six months since I started. Here are
some highlights of my job so far:
- Working with war resisters Benjamin Lewis, Brandon Neely, and Andrew Gorby to build an information campaign about the facts of resisting the Individual Ready Reserves (IRR).
- Meeting
many anti-war veterans and war resisters at the Veterans for Peace /
Iraq Veterans Against the War Convention and the Republican National
Convention protests in Minneapolis last August.
- Helping war resisters get their personal stories of refusal out to the media.
- Coordinating an open letter of solidarity from Iraq and Afghanistan War resisters to Israeli Shministim (high school youth) conscientious objectors.
War resisters are on the front line of efforts to stop unjust war
and occupation. By directly withdrawing military support, resisters
slow down the machinery of war, and, as demonstrated during the Vietnam
War, can ultimately bring it to a halt.
Moving forward, here are a few things that we at Courage to Resist are working on right now:
- Reaching out to active duty GIs at military bases and induction centers.
- Articulating a clear and effective strategy for ending the war in Afghanistan.
- Organizing a national week of letter-writing parties March 16-23 to show support for war resisters.
- Unfolding a sanctuary for war resisters effort, with the help of community members, unions, and churches.
- Launching a campaign to eventually win amnesty for war resisters in the U.S.
Service members are getting in touch with us daily, to learn about
their rights, ask for support, and share their stories. We are working
hard to make sure that the troops who refuse to fight do not have to go
it alone.
We are excited about where we are at with our collective. We just
welcomed three new collective members who I think will add a lot to our
organization:
- Benji Lewis, a former Marine who is currently resisting involuntary activation from the IRR
- Michael Thurman, former Airman who won a conscientious objector discharge from the Air Force last year with our assistance.
- Bob Meola, a life-long peace activist and current National Committee member of the War Resisters League.
That being said, we have a lot of work to do. Chris Teske and Cliff Cornell have been forced out of Canada by the Harper Administration and will
likely face military court martial. Several more U.S. war resisters,
including Kimberly Rivera and Jeremy Hinzman, continue to fight their
deportation orders in the Canadian courts. Meanwhile, Robin Long, the first U.S. war resister deported from Canada since Vietnam, is serving a 15-month sentence for refusing to fight in Iraq.
The current economic climate presents obvious challenges for
sustaining this kind of work. Yet, it is exactly because of the
impending economic troubles that our work is so important now. If our
government did not waste trillions of dollars on wars abroad, we would
be better equipped to take care of each other at home. It is time for
our society to stop wasting resources on immoral and unjust wars and
start genuinely tending to problems right in our own backyard.
Thank you for all you have done to help Courage to Resist sustain
our work. With your assistance, I'm confident we'll be able to continue
to build G.I. resistance against unjust war.
Sincerely,
Sarah Lazare
Courage to Resist Project Coordinator
P.S. I'm asking that you consider a
contribution of $100 or more, or become a sustainer at $25 or more a
month. Regardless of the amount, it's your tax deductible gift of
whatever you can afford that is critical to our efforts in support of
the troops who refuse to fight.
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