The Iraq Moratorium: It's Time

You are reading an argument that the next step for the anti-war/anti-occupation movement is the establishment of a one-day-a-month Iraq Moratorium. This idea is loosely based on the hugely effective Vietnam Moratorium of 1969, with elements borrowed from more recent movements like the Nuclear Freeze and the immigrant uprising of last spring.

This post will review very briefly why the situation today calls for an Iraq Moratorium, and then sketch out five components of such a moratorium, which should provide a clearer idea of what's being proposed here. It’ll close with a few remarks (all pretty obvious) about the critical role of the Internet in such an undertaking.

Where We’re At

By the end of March, the anti-war movement will be at an awkward juncture. We will be coming off a varied batch of actions around the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq--the Fayetteville,NC protest by vets and military families, the hundreds of regional and local actions called by United For Peace & Justice, International ANSWER’s march on the Pentagon. Congress will have debated and passed some version of Bush’s $93 billion “emergency appropriation,” which many activists have focussed on forcing Congress to block. (The best case scenario, and none too likely looking at the moment, is that it passes with enough of John Murtha’s conditions in place to ensure that the occupation will have to start gradually winding down.) There is nothing major on the horizon afterwards.

At the same time, the movement has seen the rise of new forms of collective action and network building, like the “Appeal for Redress,” the seizures of Congressional offices with the Occupation Project at the core, and the call by students at UC Santa Barbara for a February 15 student strike, which was taken up at a score of campuses.

Finally, the whiteout of the growing anti-war movement in the national media shows no sign of abating. The diary that triggered this one, two nights ago, was on the current wave of Congressional office occupations. Plenty of comments came from people who didn’t know it was happening at all, and that’s here at Daily Kos, a crew that tracks Congress with an intensity rarely found in the broader US population.

Five Aspects of the Proposed Iraq Moratorium

ONE. The Iraq Moratorium is built on a foundation of linking, of concentrating and of making more visible the already existing forms of protest and forces demanding an end to the occupation. On any given day in this country there are scores of significant activities--talks given, fasts undertaken, vigils continued, rallies organized, elected officials pressured, articles written--and by and large it’s treated by the mainstream media (MSM) as not worth mentioning.

This is the heart of the approach which gave the first Vietnam Moratorium on October 15, 1969 such a huge impact--have everyone possible do something on the same day (say, the first Friday of every month) and wherever possible have that something interrupt the normal “War? What war?” flow of everyday life in as many places as possible throughout the country.

Two. The Iraq Moratorium should promote activities with the lowest possible threshold of entry to expand the reach of the movement to the tens of millions who have come to oppose the war but never taken an active step to end it. One unifying thread could be the one utilized so effectively in the October 15, 1969 Vietnam Moratorium--black armbands (and ribbons, and streamers for car antennas). Another could be locally or nationally prepared post cards addressed to Congresscritters. Clog their damn mailboxes like they’ve never been clogged before.

The internal organizing slogan I’d suggest for the campaign to build a moratorium is “Down and Out.” Push the center of activity down to the most local level practical--to neighborhoods and communities. Push ourselves to do more outreach at that level--look to models like MoveOn.org’s living room movie showings.

Three. The Iraq Moratorium will have to be a new initiative, combining limited but intense central coordination with viral organizing at the grassroots. New--the Moratorium won’t take off if it is seen as the project of any existing organization, even one as broad as UFPJ. Perhaps some respected outfit like US Labor Against the War could initiate it. (USLAW put out the first call, soon taken up by UFPJ, NOW, Operation PUSH and other broad forces, for last Spring’s moblization in NYC.)

Central--A small crew has to keep on top of things, to use diplomacy to get participation from as wide a range of forces as possible (and restrain sectarian outbursts), to wage a centralized media campaign and to provide resources to those who need it. Viral--This idea won’t become a reality because somebody tells people to do it. It will spread because it is in keeping with the tenor of the times and people’s desire to do something to end the war. Leaving planning of the actual Moratorium Day activities to folks at the most local level practical is an important road to breaking the limits many activists have come up against.

FOUR. The Iraq Moratorium will seek to impinge on the normal business of society in order to highlight the costs of the occupation, both in Iraq and here, and to force the war to end. This formal moratorium aspect will initially be concentrated on campuses (which is why a May starting date is very important). A general strike to end the war would be nice, but it won’t happening this spring. Calling a consumer boycott--without some analysis that tells us we can affect sales (generally, or of some commodity like gasoline) to the point where it would clearly show up as more than normal business fluctuations or statistical noise--would likewise set us up for MSM declarations that we failed.

That does not mean it will be limited to college strikes and high school blowouts. The moratorium should adapt tactics like those of the AIDS movement’s Day Without Art, which had a giant impact in its first few years, or the solidarity shutdowns by small businesses during last Spring’s immigrant uprising.

5. The Iraq Moratorium will carry a simple message: end the occupation pronto and bring the troops home. That will be the effective message because that’s what unites the majority of people who oppose the war. Any slogans suggested by the central organizers should reflect this, but there’s no way that a project like this can enforce slogan discipline (or, for that matter, tactical uniformity)--nor should it. The most important thing is the breadth and depth of participation, period.

The Netroots and the Internet

Obviously there’s much more I could write to flesh out this proposal. Just as obviously, these ideas will benefit immeasurably from readers giving them a thorough look-over and offering criticisms, comments and suggestions. That’s the first valuable role that the Internet can play, but it is certainly not the only one. Ideas for novel tactics will be needed; so will short reports on past or ongoing campaigns that might hold lessons for this proposal.

If this is taken up, the Internet will be a central force in mobilizing people, and not just the usual suspects. An example--many here are also deeply into one or another music scene. Would it not be possible to issue a call that on Moratorium day (or better still all during the week leading up to it), bands add to their set at every performance one of three covers--”Give Peace A Chance” or Edwin Star’s “War” or, say, “Traveling Soldier”? If a central website were maintained, pledges and gig reports could plug participants and encourage others to get on board.

This points to the next obvious need--a central website, changed daily, with reports on local planning and mobilizing for the Iraq Moratorium, links to news coverage it does get, tools like model leaflets, and most importantly, the capacity to take in and turn around 24 hour coverage in various media on the day of the Iraq Moratorium itself.

And of course folks here may have access to other crucial resources--media contacts, anti-war donors, celebs who might want a piece of this, etc.

But for now, what this proposal needs most is your thoughts and suggestions.

So holler, y’all!