What’s this Moratorium doohicky, anyway? A primer

I’ve been writing in this space about the Iraq Moratorium for months now, and it’s coming around again tomorrow, Friday, May 16.

And quit calling me Alfie.

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The Iraq Moratorium project grew out of the frustration the organizers share with so many Americans. Why does the war grind on when the people of this country have so clearly rejected it? Clearly voting didn’t do the job. In response to questions like these, the idea of the Iraq Moratorium took shape.

* I really hate this war and what it’s doing to my country, but I’ve never protested. I am not sure that I would be comfortable at a vigil or peace march.

If you do attend a vigil or other protest, you will probably be surprised at how many people very much like you are present. You’ll also find that being part of a group action can be inspiring and motivating.  But if that’s not your thing, or there’s nothing going on in your community, there are many other ways to take a stand as an individual. Wear a black armband or ribbon on Moratorium Day. Call or write your elected officials that day or send a letter to the editor of the local paper. Donate to a peace group.  Put a sign in your yard or window.

Whatever you do, you’ll be doing with lots of other people. And whatever you do, we hope you will fill out the easy report form on the Moratorium website, to let others know what you did.

* I’ve already done all this. What good will this do?

We know. So have we. That’s where the Moratorium idea came from. Imagine that even half the people who have stood up to end the war over the last five years were joined by even a tenth of all those who oppose the war privately – on the same day! It would be the biggest single outcry of protest in US history. And it will continue month after month until Washington listens and ends the war.  

* Why black ribbons and armbands?

In U.S. society, black is the color of mourning. We wear the ribbons to remind ourselves, and our country, of the thousands of US troops and the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children who have died needlessly in this fiasco. We wear them as well to remind ourselves that if we do not act to stop it, the deaths will keep on coming. And coming.

* We’ve been holding a vigil on Sunday morning for years, and we don’t want to change the day.

Fine, don’t change your vigil time. But as you have an organized group, consider doing something else on the Third Friday. You might hold an additional vigil. You might on Friday morning leaflet houses in the neighborhood where the vigil takes place, leaving a flier with a ribbon attached and calling on folks to attend the vigil. You might plan an educational event or film showing on Friday evening at which you could also promote your vigil.

* What good does writing and calling my elected officials do?

Isn’t that a great question.  It clearly won’t change things overnight, but politicians keep track of every call they get. And they watch the polls. They know the war and the administration are hugely unpopular. What they won’t know until we make it crystal clear is that the people of this country are willing to back their views with action.

As a rule of thumb, the more effort you put into contacting politicians, the more attention they have to pay: one email is worth a dozen petition signatures, one phone call is worth a dozen emails, one hand-signed letter is worth a dozen calls, one office visit worth a dozen letters.



* Why don’t you say “Troops Out NOW”?

Hey, most of us on the IMC think “Now” is more than five years too late. If you feel that “Now” is a key part of the message, raise it in the local actions you plan – the Iraq Moratorium Committee has neither the authority nor the desire to dictate local planning. The important thing is for folks all over the country to raise their own demands and plan their own activities. AT THE SAME TIME!

* Maybe we shouldn’t have gone in the first place but won’t things get worse if we leave now? Don’t we have a moral obligation to the Iraqis?

Will bad things continue to happen in Iraq after U.S. military forces are pulled out? Yes. But as long as there is a large presence of US troops and mercenaries there (considered an occupying force by the majority of Iraqis), there is no way the people of Iraq can find their way to any solution to either the civil strife, or the infrastructure destruction, poverty and desperation that ravage their country now.

If the US occupation continues for years to come, as Gen. Petraeus is planning, it only means more death and more destruction and more delay, and the Iraqi people will still eventually have to deal with the damage, and chart their own way forward.

* Why do you call this a moratorium?

We chose the name in the spirit of the Vietnam Moratorium, the 1969 day of action that helped turn the corner toward ending that bloody conflict.

Moratorium means a suspension of activity — to stop what you’re doing for a time. We chose it to signal that business as usual must be challenged and suspended.

We chose it to demonstrate that more and more people from the majority of Americans who oppose the war will be taking action.

* How do I join?

You don’t join. This is not an organization, it’s a project. You endorse it. To take part you DO SOMETHING on the Third Friday of every month. Ideally you do it with other people.

* My group organizes in urban communities around the fact that the war is draining resources that we need for our cities, schools, youth etc.

Great! The war impacts every aspect of our lives, and the more that point is made the better! We need local groups to bring campaigns that they are working on.

* What is your relationship to other antiwar groups and coalitions?

This is not a group. It’s a campaign. Many diverse and often divergent groups and individuals have signed on to this project and consult with us about plans and direction. We are not asking any groups to stop doing what they are doing. Instead, we hope this project will be a tool they can use to strengthen their mobilizing.

* Nothing is going to change until after the 2008 election anyway, so wouldn’t it be better to concentrate on the elections?

We can’t rely on our elected officials to do this. Unfortunately it is only unremitting pressure from the public that can bring this war to a speedy conclusion. Even after the 2006 Democratic sweep demonstrated how overwhelmingly the people of this country want the war to end, we have watched as the war escalates. After Nixon was elected in 1968 in a campaign that promised to end the war, it took seven more years before it finally ended. As IM endorser Howard Zinn says, “We who protest the war are not politicians. We are citizens. Whatever politicians may do, let them first feel the full force of citizens who speak for what is right, not for what is winnable.”

* Doesn’t this undermine the morale of the troops?

Keeping the troops in harm’s way in this unjust and unjustifiable war is not supporting them. Risking death and having to kill others for no good reason is what destroys morale. Working to get the troops out and to make sure they are taken proper care of once they get back home is the surest morale-builder there is. Organizations like Iraq Veterans Against the War and campaigns like the Appeal for Redress are concrete manifestations of the growing urgency many of the troops feel about ending this futile war. That is why many veterans and veterans organizations participate in and sponsor Iraq Moratorium activities every month.