[Mb-civic] MoveOn.org: Making Peace With the War in Iraq

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

After reading this I went to the MoveON website and left a strongly 
worded comment (by going to the lower right corner of home page, 
clicking the "speak out" link, then clicking the orange "submit your own 
comment" box).

Published on Thursday, March 10, 2005 by CommonDreams.org
MoveOn.org: Making Peace With the War in Iraq
by Norman Solomon
 

Sadly, it has come to this. Two years after the invasion of Iraq, the 
online powerhouse MoveOn.org -- which built most of its member base 
with a strong antiwar message -- is not pushing for withdrawal of U.S. 
troops from Iraq.

With a network of more than 3 million "online activists," the MoveOn 
leadership has decided against opposing the American occupation of 
Iraq. During the recent bloody months, none of MoveOn's action alerts 
have addressed what Americans can do to help get the U.S. military 
out of that country. Likewise, the MoveOn.org website has continued to 
bypass the issue -- even after Rep. Lynn Woolsey and two dozen 
cosponsors in the House of Representatives introduced a resolution in 
late January calling for swift removal of all U.S. troops from Iraq.

That resolution would seem to be a natural peg for the kind of kinetic 
activism that established MoveOn's reputation. A movement serious 
about ending U.S. military activities in Iraq could use the resolution as 
a way to cut through political tap dances and pressure members of 
Congress to take a stand. Down the road, generating grassroots 
support for a get-out-of-Iraq resolution has potential to clear a 
congressional pathway for measures cutting off funds for the war.

But, tragically, MoveOn's leadership is having none of it. Over a period 
of recent weeks, the word "Iraq" appeared on the MoveOn.org home 
page only in a plug for a documentary released last year. Inches away, 
a blurb has been telling the website's visitors: "Support Our Troops: 
Contribute your frequent-flyer miles so that American troops can get 
home." (But not stay home.) Many soldiers are returning to the killing 
grounds of Iraq, while a growing number are vocally opposed to this 
war.

Why won't MoveOn "support our troops" by supporting a pullout of our 
troops from Iraq? "We believe that there are no good options in Iraq," 
MoveOn.org's executive director, Eli Pariser, told me. "We're seeing a 
broad difference of opinion among our members on how quickly the 
U.S. should get out of Iraq. As a grassroots-directed organization, we 
won't be taking any position which a large portion of our members 
disagree with."

In sharp contrast, early in the 2004 primary campaign, MoveOn 
committed itself to endorsing any Democratic presidential candidate 
receiving more than 50 percent of the Internet ballots cast by its 
activists. (Howard Dean fell shy of a majority, so there was no MoveOn 
endorsement.) But now, evidently, a majority of MoveOn members in 
favor of swift withdrawal from Iraq would be insufficient if a "large 
portion" disagreed.

When I asked Eli for clarification, he replied: "We've been talking with 
our members continuously on this issue. We've surveyed slices of our 
membership in January and in December, and surveyed our whole 
membership last spring. That's how we know there's a breadth of 
opinion out there."

But last spring was a year ago. And any surveying of "slices of our 
membership in January and in December" came before the Woolsey 
resolution offered an opportunity to find out how the MoveOn base 
views the measure. In any event, there will always be "a breadth of 
opinion" about this war -- a fact that does not trump the crucial need 
for clarity of purpose.

If MoveOn leaders were willing to submit the House get-out-of-Iraq 
resolution to MoveOn's rank-and-file in an up-or-down vote, the 
chances of a substantial majority would be excellent. Too bad the 
leadership of MoveOn.org is currently unwilling to find out.

The 29 members of the House now sponsoring the resolution are 
hardly radicals. They recognize the kind of grisly consequences of 
equivocation that occurred during the Vietnam War: Refusal to speak 
forthrightly about the urgent need to end military involvement only fuels 
the war's deadly momentum.

It's all well and good for MoveOn.org to do superb work in the current 
battle over the future of Social Security. And it's very helpful to 
excoriate President Bush for his many big lies in the lead-up to the 
invasion of Iraq. But such activities don't make up for going along with 
the basics of the present-day Iraq war.

When a large progressive organization takes the easy way and makes 
peace with war, the abdication of responsibility creates a vacuum. 
Ironically, a group that became an Internet phenom by recognizing and 
filling a void is now creating one. And other groups are bound to 
emerge to fill it.

Among the emerging organizations is Progressive Democrats of 
America (www.pdamerica.org), a fledgling national group with an 
activist focus on the Iraq war that is laudably straightforward. "We're 
organizing a new campaign in every Congressional District we can to 
call for the end of funding for war and occupation, and for the transfer 
of reconstruction assistance to Iraqis themselves," says Tim Carpenter 
of PDA. He contends that "public pressure can awaken Congress to an 
opposition role."

War in Iraq requires continual funding, of course, so President Bush's 
new supplemental boost of $80 billion in war appropriations has been 
moving through Congress in recent days. Tacitly accepting the war's 
continuation, MoveOn declined to take a stand against the essence of 
congressional backing for the war -- the money that keeps paying for it. 
Meanwhile, PDA launched an effort against the $80 billion; the 
organizing included a National Call-In Day aimed at members of 
Congress on March 10.

MoveOn.org pioneered the use of email and web technologies as 
creative tools to further its political agenda. Now that the MoveOn 
agenda on the Iraq war has tumbled into the shallow depths of the 
Potomac, some similar online activism will be needed if MoveOn's dive 
is going to be merely temporary. So, to help get the cyber-ball rolling, 
please forward this article around the Internet and post it where 
appropriate.

Friends don't let friends drive drunk, and peace advocates do a lot 
more than shrug when a previously great antiwar organization starts to 
get lost.

If MoveOn continues to abandon its antiwar base, that base will get the 
picture -- and move on.

Norman Solomon's latest book, "War Made Easy: How Presidents and 
Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death," will be published in early 
summer. His columns and other writings can be found at: 
www.normansolomon.com

###


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