Students nationwide have the responsibility of planning effective follow-up efforts to the actions that occur with students at the forefront.
Recognizing the opportunities that are opened up for the antiwar movement by the actions that are taken in the next week is imperative. Putting together resources and getting organized to respond to actions by students in D.C. is what students should be doing.
Adopt a message to impeach Bush and Cheney so that this war can be brought to an end. Bush and Cheney are preventing an end to this war and until they are removed from office, this illegal war of aggression cannot be ended. Students’ peers in the military cannot leave harm’s way until Bush and Cheney face impeachment hearings.
With the events surrounding Winter Soldier and the unfortunate fifth anniversary, the last thing student groups should be talking about is the need to just “DO SOMETHING.”
As Scott Ritter says on page 13 of Waging Peace:
“…If there ever was a plaintive cry in the dark for help, this is it. Do something. Just don’t organize along proven lines for success, Don’t think outside the box that has been constructed by a distinct minority of the public who dominate a movement (whether one calls it “antiwar” or “peace”) which should be, and could be, readily embraced by a majority of Americans. In short, don’t win. Continue losing. This seems to be what the “antiwar” movement is best at doing. Losing, and rationalizing away their unending string of defeats, and failing to take responsibility for why they are being whipped by their opponents at nearly every turn. Losing has become so prevalent that it seems to have been absorbed into the very essence of the “antiwar” culture.”
Much of the antiwar movement believes the actions by many in Berkeley to be their savior. The town’s counterrecruitment actions have become the model for actions for the past month and a half. And the walkouts by more than 700 students to show solidarity with the city council's decision to label the marine recruitment center as an unwelcome entity was profound. But has any reaction other than a backlash led by Republicans occurred? No.
The plans to capitalize off of the success of Berkeley have failed. It's time to move forward.
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