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The Urgency of Now: Stopping the War on Iran
We have…come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the
fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury
of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.”
- Martin Luther King Jr., Aug. 28, 1963
By Mike Kress
02/10/06 "ICH" -- -- “Last winter, former UN weapons inspector
Scott Ritter revealed that George Bush asked for an Iran war
plan ready to use by June of 2005. Seymour Hersh, writing for
the New Yorker, has reported for some time about US covert
operations in Iran. Today we are told that war in Iran is
inevitable by the same observers who warned us about the
cooked-up war in Iraq.
Evidently, the neo-conservatives who control the US government
decided to wage war against Iran long ago.
Now that International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed El
Baradei says that Iran isn’t cooperating fully with IAEA
inspectors, the neo-cons will use their tool at the UN,
Ambassador John Bolton, to help create an international crisis
and thereby justify attacks on Iran. Though there’s no evidence
to prove that Iran has a nuclear weapons program, Iran’s refusal
to halt its lawful nuclear programs will become the pretext for
America’s next unnecessary war.
Again, the mainstream sources that most Americans use to get
their information will not investigate the facts or give equal
time to critics, and the smoke and mirrors of the Bush
administration will dominate the debate. To paraphrase Noam
Chomsky, in the absence of just cause the consent for war will
be manufactured.
It now falls upon people of conscience to create and organize a
mass movement of nationwide non-violent resistance – in the
spirit of Dr. King and Mohandas K. Gandhi – that will stop the
war before it starts. At the rate the White House rhetoric is
beginning to boil, this movement must start now and swing into
full action by the early days of March.
The only way to stop another senseless and unnecessary war is
with a mass movement rooted in a moral strategy that brings
people together. This movement must also earn the sympathy and
trust of those who are undecided about the necessity of another
Middle East war. Forget traditional protest rallies – 200,000
people crowding the Capitol Mall make no difference. Large
marches that don’t influence the nation’s decision makers will
only increase people’s cynicism, as well as the atmosphere of
inevitability that the neo-cons wish to create.
Without a moral and unifying strategy that spells out specific
non-violent tactics to achieve our goal, the power elite and the
corporate media will ignore or marginalize our efforts. Remember
the moral claims for justice and the appeals to America’s
founding ideals during the civil rights movement, and you’ll
understand the type of strategy we need today. Think of the
Montgomery bus boycott, the Freedom Rides, and Gandhi’s march to
the sea for salt, and you will have inspiration for the actions
necessary to stop the march to war.
The leaders of every organization that opposed the Iraq war must
reconnect today and formulate a sustained campaign of militant
non-violent action that everyone can follow tomorrow. Peace,
justice, religious, and human rights leaders must gather and
articulate a path to preventing war that people believe is
effective – not because that path is safe, but because that path
is righteous and they are inspired to overcome their fears.
This path must be part of a moral vision that appeals to the
emotions and values of every citizen. Using communication
techniques put forth by thinkers such as George Lakoff, we must
revive the “revolution of values” that Dr. King called for in
his 1967 speech at Riverside Church. In the words of King: “When
machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are
considered more important than people, the giant triplets of
racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of
being conquered.” Simply debating facts will not prevent war.
People for peace must speak with their mouths, pens, keyboards,
and bodies against another war for empire. We must push our
peace and justice leaders to act. We must work around the
corporate media to spread our message. We must tell our elected
officials that they will not receive money or votes if they sell
their souls for the neo-conservative agenda. We must take risks,
and we must welcome the metaphorical stones and arrows of the
warmongers, knowing in our hearts that we were right about the
last war and that we act today with our consciences clear.
Innocent Iranians, our children, our military, and all the world
waits for us to wrest America’s destiny from the hands of the
warlords. There is no time to waste. Gradualism is a luxury we
cannot afford. The architects of the war against Iran have a
head start – but we can prevail if we put our demands for peace
into action.
Mike Kress is a Persian Gulf veteran who left the Air Force as a
conscientious objector. He served as vice-chair of the Spokane
Human Rights Commission and is a member of the Peace and Justice
Action League of Spokane (www.pjals.org). He also produces and
hosts “Take The Power Back” for KYRS FM
www.kyrs.org Comments
welcome at
takethepowerback@kyrs.org
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