An economic stimulus for the antiwar movement?

Is the U.S. Treasury, which can’t print money fast enough to pay for the trillion-dollar tragedy in Iraq, about to give an economic stimulus to peace organizations working to stop the war?

It seems highly unlikely, but if it doesn’t happen it won’t be because the antiwar folks haven’t tried.  Many seem to be on the same wave length as an email I received yesterday from United for Peace and Justice:

Spend your stimulus check on peace! The sooner the war ends, the more money the nation saves. Not to mention the lives and futures of millions of people. So let’s use the stimulus money to stop the war, bring all of the troops home and get the nation’s budget back on track.

We invite you to spend your stimulus check, or some portion of it, on the one thing the Bush administration doesn’t want you to invest in: Help strengthen the peace and justice movement!

Steve Burns, a staffer for the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, like UFPJ a coalition of many groups, didn’t even wait to get his check.  He wrote to President Bush in March to tell him how he was spending his stimulus check:

Now it seems we’re in a recession anyway, and the checks aren’t expected to arrive until May, so I decided to spend my $600 now, figuring that the US government was good for the money.

So, on March 15, for about the amount of my hoped-for rebate check, I rented the Orpheum Theater [in Madison WI] and a digital projector for a day. After a last-minute purchase of a hundred feet of internet cable (a further stimulus to the economy), the seats filled up, and the screen filled with a live video feed of Iraq Veterans Against the War’s Winter Soldier hearings. For five hours, we watched and listened as American veterans gave firsthand reports on the tragic consequences of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars — your wars, Mr. Bush.

We heard a young Army medic testify about an Iraqi prisoner brought into one of the many American prisons in Iraq. The medic noticed the Iraqi prisoner was behaving strangely and seemed disoriented. Somehow, the medic had the presence of mind to administer a blood-sugar test, and learned that the prisoner, a diabetic who had been denied access to his insulin during four days of captivity, was in the advanced stages of diabetic shock. That prisoner later died in American custody — your custody, Mr. Bush.

We heard another soldier testify about seeing one of the men in his platoon shoot into a car speeding toward a US checkpoint. When the car came to a halt, the soldier checked inside, and found a mother, father, and their two children, all dead. Sitting there in that darkened theater, we all knew better than to blame the soldier who fired those shots in fear for his life. We all knew who to blame, and we blamed you, Mr. Bush.

And when the screening was over, we left that theater with a strengthened resolve to fight against these wars, and all wars, and to do our best to heal the people you have so carelessly broken. Not a bad return on an investment of only $600.

Burns asked WNPJ members what they planned to do with their checks.  Here are some of the answers he got:

Chuck in Whitefish Bay: “I’m pledging my rebate check to Nukewatch to pay for the costs of a civil-rights suit by Nukewatch protesters who were arrested in Sen. Oberstar’s office.”

Charles in New Glarus: “All of my rebate is going to Iraq Veterans Against the War.”

Becky in Madison: “My rebate check is going to help support an immigrant family, resettled here from Thailand.”

Harland in Necedah: “I’m giving $100 of my rebate to WNPJ.”

Les in Somerset: “I’m donating $25 to Iraq Veterans Against the War”

Rose in Middleton: “I pledge $300 to help support work-study students at WNPJ”

Dorothy in Madison: “I’m pledging my entire rebate check to WNPJ”

Barb in Appleton: “I’m giving $50 to Fellowship of Reconciliation, $50 to nonviolent peaceforce, and $50 to American Friends Service Committee.”

Chick in Washington Island: “I’m donating $50 of my check to Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.”

And a friend in Waukesha reminds us that many people will need their rebate to meet daily expenses: “All of my check is going to groceries and rent. I still haven’t been able to find a job!”

I’m a little conflicted in this, as a supporter of UFPJ, a board member of WNPJ and a member of the Iraq Moratorium committee, which operates on almost no money, with no paid staffers, and has sparked more than 900 antiwar events across the country since September.  Moratorium #9 is on May 16, and you’ll find 60 events already listed on the website, along with reports, photos and videos from past events.

There are many, many other worthy organizations working hard to end this war.  Can you help one of them?  If you can’t give your whole check, or half of it, how about 10 per cent?  Two per cent?  Whatever you can do will be a worthwhile investment in the cause of peace.  Please consider it.