In an important strategic move for the antiwar movement, the Washington DC-based DC Anti-War Network (DAWN) has called for “nonviolent protests and actions” to mark the third anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. The call urges antiwar activists to organize nonviolent civil disobedience within their own communities in March of 2006 with a month of locally focused antiwar actions culminating with “acts of nonviolent civil resistance” that will “confront the war machine” at the Pentagon. DAWN is asking activists to organize protests against armed forces recruiting stations in their community, to organize demonstrations against the United States’ continued use of torture in the “War on Terror,” and actions against those who profit off of the war while US citizens go hungry.
The plan marks an important strategic shift for the antiwar movement that has largely organized mass demonstrations, such as the recent September 24 march and rally in DC, that while important for bringing new people into the movement, have exerted little direct pressure on the Bush administration and their Congressional allies of both parties to bring an end to the occupation of Iraq. By focusing on a target directly responsible for the United States’ ability to wage war and calling for “stopping business” at it, the antiwar movement will finally be able to show its strength after years of yelling at an empty White House and other government buildings during Saturday demonstrations in Washington DC. Moreover, the focus on organizing local actions and strengthening local antiwar groups will help overcome the problem of moving from one mass demonstration in a faraway city to the next and will build stronger communities of resistance. Such an effort in renewing local antiwar activity in Grand Rapids is certainly needed as the movement tends to make an annual showing on the anniversary of the war with other protests during the year organized in response to visits by government officials but has done little in terms of strategic and sustained antiwar organizing.
By calling for an action at the Pentagon, many will no doubt raise the comparison to the October 1967 march on the Pentagon during the Vietnam War and while such comparisons can be frustrating due to dramatic differences in circumstances, such a comparison may be welcome in this instance. The 1967 march on the Pentagon marked an important shift in the strategy for the antiwar movement at the time with it marking the first instance in which a national antiwar organization openly advocated civil disobedience and respected protestors ability to chose their own tactics. The resulting demonstration saw a variety of actions including street theatre, sit-ins and other forms of traditional civil disobedience, and confrontational protest tactics in which a group of militants was able to push through a police line and enter the Pentagon. Following the march on the Pentagon, the antiwar movement grew in terms of militancy with draft resistance increasing, student movements growing, and so-called “mainstream” antiwar protests increasing.
