This piece is a response to an article that appeared on CommonDreams.org and Politico.com which describes a battered and bruised peace movement that lacks vibrancy and focus. The Executive Director of Peace Action, a co-convener of United for Peace and Justice, and the Executive Director of New Jersey Peace Action tell a different story.

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Abby Phillip's article Anti-War Groups Battle for Survival posted on Common Dreams and Politico repeats the refrain that the national anti-war movement is no longer vibrant or passionate about ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The article paraphrases Cindy Sheehan stating that the peace movement is over. And while United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) may not have the staff it once had, I know there are many hard-working activists who would take issue with the statement from the article that the "anti-war coalition has practically dissolved."

As the Executive Director of New Jersey Peace Action, a member organization of United for Peace and Justice, I noticed a temporary drop-off in activity when UFPJ lost its paid staff, but now it's as if UFPJ never skipped a beat. Blast e-mails are sent out once or twice a week, calling on individual members and organizations to take action around the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, nuclear disarmament and military spending.

Michael McPhearson, co-convener of UFPJ stated, "There is a greater anti-war sentiment today than there was a few years ago. There might be less money available than before, but the numbers of people holding regular vigils and believing that the war in Afghanistan is a bad idea continues to grow. Movements didn't always have the benefit of paid staff. When that happens volunteers step up, just as they are today. The core of the peace movement will continue to work every day for peace no matter what."

It is pretty much par for the course that the mainstream media act like there's no anti-war movement. This is something many long-time activists have learned to live with over the years. But when our colleagues seeking change are quoted as saying there is no movement out there, what chance do we have? Perhaps the blame lies with the media who find may find it easier to write an article about the decline in the peace movement than to write an article that describes the peace movement's strengths, as well as its weaknesses. So let me try to do that here.

The most recent poll from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner for Democracy Corps and Campaign for America's Future reveals that nearly half (47 percent) point to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as the primary reasons for the increased deficit. It would be hard to imagine a number that high without the steady, daily educational work of the anti-war movement.

According to a CBS News article published on August 20, 2010, a majority of Americans see no end in sight in Afghanistan, and nearly six in 10 oppose the nine-year-old war as President Barack Obama sends tens of thousands more troops to the fight, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll.

The article continues, "with just over 10 weeks before nationwide elections that could define the remainder of Obama's first term, only 38 percent say they support his expanded war effort in Afghanistan - a drop from 46 percent in March. Just 19 percent expect the situation to improve during the next year, while 29 percent think it will get worse. Some 49 percent think it will remain the same."

Why such a change in public opinion? It is likely not the mainstream media or the actions of the U.S. Congress. Here is a concrete example of why I say that.

During Senator Obama's campaign for president, he spoke repeatedly of his intention to refocus U.S. attention on the war in Afghanistan. Members of many national and local anti-war organizations realized that they had a lot of work to do to educate the public on why what had once been billed "the good war" was really the longest and most costly war. Prominent among those groups were Peace Action, UFPJ, CODEPINK and September 11^th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.

September 11^th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows produced a primer titled "Afghanistan: Ending a Failed Military Strategy." UFPJ established a Working Group on Afghanistan, dedicated to ending the war. CODEPINK dedicated a lot of its time to D.C. and grassroots lobbying in an effort to end the war.

Peace Action helped convene a working group of nearly 100, which included members of national organizations, Congress, and others who wanted to influence Congress, the Administration or both to end the war in Afghanistan and utilize diplomacy instead of military might to resolve problems there.

For months, all these groups wrote, posted and distributed fact sheets, primers, reports, letters to the editor and more in an effort to influence the debate on whether or not the U.S. should send more troops to Afghanistan. I'm not exaggerating when I say that endless efforts to share our research and analysis with the media were continually rebuffed. The media showed virtually no interest in our position until the day before President Obama announced his decision to send 32,000 more troops to Afghanistan. On that day and the day of the president's heralded announcement, we were inundated with calls and interviews, but on the very next day, the interest waned once again. Clearly the peace movement was alive and well, but we were rendered invisible. While we have not succeeded in cutting off funding for the war, peace movement efforts have significantly increased Congressional opposition to continuing the war, when there were almost no members of Congress on our side in Jan 2009, right after Obama was inaugurated.

And with the 10^th anniversary of 9/11/01 and the 10/7/01 invasion of Afghanistan coming up in 2011, these efforts will continue and increase in intensity.

The media aren't the only reason we don't see the good work of the anti-war movement.

Kevin Martin, Executive Director of Peace Action, founded in 1957 and the nation's largest grassroots nuclear disarmament organization wrote, "There is no question the economy is hurting everybody, including non-profits and peace groups but I see resilience among our activists and members and in the leadership of colleague organizations. I think we have been doing some of our best program and organizing work in years, especially around the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference at the United Nations in May, ratification of the New START Treaty; slowly but surely helping turn public, congressional and media opinion our way on Afghanistan, and the very promising initial steps to build new alliances to move the money from the war machine to jobs and human needs. A lot of that resilience and strength comes from persistence at the grassroots level."

An additional important part of the peace movement's work is to continue to tell the truth about what's going on in Iraq. While the administration wants people to believe that combat operations are over in Iraq, it's important for the peace movement to tell the full story that 50,000 troops, 75,000 contractors and 90 military bases remain in Iraq.

In the past few months, something else exciting has emerged and that is the work around the One Nation Working Together national mobilization planned for Washington, D.C. on October 2^nd. Close to 70 peace organizations have endorsed this effort initiated by the SEIU, CWA, the NAACP and more! The Peace Table contingent of this vibrant coalition has almost doubled in size over the past 2 weeks. The message: in order to free up dollars for creating jobs and funding community programs like education, health care and the environment, at least 25% of the nearly $600 billion spent annually on the military needs to be redirected.

New Jersey Peace Action's own efforts in North Jersey will likely result in approximately 10 busloads of peace activists heading down to Washington, D.C. with additional buses leaving from South Jersey.

These efforts not only show a growing peace movement, but a peace movement that is ready to work with allies in both the labor and civil rights movement. This kind of alliance is what is needed in order to make significant changes in our national priorities.

While raising money may be an issue for the peace movement, passion, commitment and vision isn't.

A strong peace movement isn't always or only about high visibility actions. It is also about doing the hard work day in and day out to change the course of the discussion or debate, or to reach out to people through Facebook and Twitter, one person at a time.

Of course, the intensity generated by the 2008 Presidential election could not be sustained. Some of those involved with working for change naturally figured that their work was done when the elections were over. That often happens when people put too much faith in others to address problems that can only be addressed through hard work and persistence at the grassroots level over an extended period of time. Additionally, it is always easier to turn out numbers when people think they can actually prevent a war from beginning rather than trying to bring an end to a prolonged conflict.

And while people have to make sure that they have the money to survive the recession, that doesn't mean that they stop worrying about the wars, especially when almost half of those polled understand the connection between the two.

Let me throw down a challenge, right here and right now. May the peace movement and those who cover it acknowledge that it is possible to struggle with raising money and weather a natural drop-off in numbers based on circumstances, while doing focused, effective and historic work to build a movement for peace at the same time! In fact, it's a testament to the passion and vibrancy of the movement that it is determined not only to survive through these times, but to grow.

--Madelyn Hoffman, Executive Director of New Jersey Peace Action

Authors Bio:
Madelyn Hoffman is the Executive Director of NJ Peace Action, based in Bloomfield, New Jersey. She has held that position since August 2000. Madelyn Hoffman traveled to Afghanistan with Global Exchange in June 2005 and has given dozens of presentations about her experiences since her return.

Madelyn Hoffman holds a Masters of Public Administration from Rutgers-Newark. She is an adjunct professor of Political Science at two colleges in New Jersey.