Your humble correspondent was one of over 200 people
representing all fifty states on a DSA call Thursday. This variety will be part
of the success of the anti-war movement, especially as it reaches more affected
populations, such as Muslim-Americans, veterans, socialists in faith communities
and the like, as we attempt to reach the socialist goal of “end of empire”
through mobilizations in local areas.
The former president of the Lawyers’ guild spoke and offered
a harrowing tale about growing up in an Iran torn apart by the Iran-Iraq war
and said that her family was lucky that their house was not hit by bombs.She
also explained that problems with US interventions in Iran go back to the Shah
in the 1950s, and already, despite the pause in tensions, Iranian-American
citizens are having trouble getting back in the country if they leave. She said
that one moment that heartened her since Trump’s election was when thousands of
people showed up at the nation’s airports to fight the Muslim ban.
Veteran for Peace and member of DSA’s Veterans Working group Rory Fanning
cited Pew Surveys taken this summer in which clear majorities of Afghanistan
and Iraq vets say that fighting those wars wasn’t worth the effort or
expense. He also said that ending
student debt would be a clear blow to militarism, citing his own enlistment to
pay loans in 2003. He is not alone…200,000 active duty personnel owe 2.9
billion dollars, according to the National Military Family Association.
Eco-socialists should want to end war, not only because the
cost of military engagements saps will and takes money from other things but because
the military’s own status as a polluter equal to some small nations. https://www.newsweek.com/us-military-greenhouse-gases-140-countries-1445674
Activist Linda Sarsour cited DSA’s endorsement of Bernie
Sanders, as well as other more local electoral successes, as a path to build
power and bring leftist ideas into the mainstream, though she stressed that our
job doesn’t stop at the ballot box.
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