Up In Arms Against War in Iraq

By Frank Farkas

    The threat by the Bush Administration of a full-scale war in Iraq, including a ground invasion, has galvanized the anti-war movement in this country and ignited a series of major international protests. Millions of people have assembled in massive marches, rallies, and in crowded meeting halls, in dozens of countries, to oppose the Bush war plans. While the Bush administration is massing troops and arms on the Iraqi border and stepping up its bombing campaign, the people of the world are calling for peace in the region.

    Like their counterparts in Europe and elsewhere around the world who are opposed to a war in the Middle East that would bring death and destruction to untold thousands, Americans have demonstrated for peace in growing numbers and frequency. One of the high points was the anti-war demonstration in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 26 which drew 200,000 marchers, doubling the numbers that had attended a comparable anti-war demonstration held in the nation;s capitol only six months earlier. The other high point was another D.C. demo on a bitterly cold Jan. 18 that brought together, much more quickly than in October, an even larger and more diverse group of protesters.

    In September and October, when Congress was preparing to vote on a resolution authorizing the White House to wage war in Iraq, opposition to the war in this country went into higher gear and expressed itself in new ways. Democratic and Republican Senate offices reported receiving thousands of messages against war in Iraq. In addition, advocates for peace met with their members of Congress or staged sit-ins.

    Despite a slow start, labor opposition to the war has been mounting. One of the first labor groups to ratify an anti-war resolution was the United Teachers of Los Angeles. Its Feb. 2002 resolution, passed overwhelmingly, condemned the deaths of innocent civilians in Afghanistan, and the curtailment of civil rights in this country. It opposed the "political use of the September 11 attacks as a pretext for pro-corporate, anti-labor, anti-environmental policies." Many other unions have spoken out since then. Locally, these have included the 34,000 member New York State Nurses Association; the Albany Central Federation of Labor; the Executive Council of Local 1199/SEIU ; and the Troy Area Labor Council.

    One can make a case that rank-and-file opposition to the war, surfacing in unions from Washington State to New York State, has reached a critical mass and is being heeded in labor's highest circles. The statement issued by John J. Sweeney, president of the 13 million-member AFL-CIO, on Oct. 7, provides strong evidence for this position. Sweeney's statement expressed skepticism about the administration's justifications for war, concern about its legality, and doubts about the administration's integrity regarding Iraq. Such a statement from the head of the AFL-CIO, an organization that supported U.S. foreign policy for much of its history, is virtually unprecedented.

    Religious leaders representing millions of parishioners have spoken out forcefully for peace too. The National Council of Churches, which includes Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodists and scores of other denominations, with a combined membership of 50 million, has spoken out against attacking Iraq. So has the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, in the name of 65 million Roman Catholics. .

    The unusual confluence of groups that are coming out against the war prompted Washington Post reporter Evelyn Nieves to write the following recently:

    "The extraordinary array of groups questioning the Bush administration's rationale for an invasion of Iraq includes longtime radical groups such as Workers World Party, but also groups not known for taking stands against the government. There is a labor movement against the war, led by organizers of the largest unions in the country; a religious movement against the war; which includes leaders of virtually every mainstream denomination; a veteran movement against the war, led by those who fought Iraq in the Persian Gulf a decade ago; business leaders against the war, led by corporate leaders; an antiwar movement led by relatives of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks; and immigrant groups against the war. There are also Black and Latino organizations, hundreds of campus antiwar groups and scores of groups of ordinary citizens meeting in community centers and Church basements from Baltimore to Seattle..."

    Bronx Action for Peace and Justice certainly fits the description of "ordinary citizens meeting in church basements." The basement of Epiphany Lutheran Church is precisely where you will find us every third Thursday of the month. Won't you join us and add your voice to the rising national and international chorus for peace?

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