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About
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McPhearson Report
Aithiops |
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When I woke up to the news of President Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, I was shocked and a bit disappointed. It seems the President was taken off guard himself. My reaction is typical of a peace activist who has been in struggle with the U.S. government under the Bush Administration and now with the Obama Administration to end many of the same policies. I have seen numerous statements from the anti-war/peace activist community condemning the Nobel Peace Prize Committee. I have seen few that step back and try to understand other perspectives and more important, discussing ways to use the fact that the President has won the prize as a tool to organize and pressure the Administration.
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It is Time for Us to Leave Both Afghanistan and Iraq
President Obama, |
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G-20: Some Thoughts on the Non-Violent
Activist's Relationship
to those Who Use Property Damage as a Tactic I do not think it is a good idea to try to distance ourselves from the anarchist as such. Most of the people who participate in protests as anarchists are young people who nearly by definition are rebels. While I certainly do not think peace organizations and activist should condone or participate in property damage tactics, I also do not think we should feed into the idea that these actions are unreasonable and terroristic. Most of us understand why there is a violent resistance in occupied lands. We seem to be able to explain that violence easily. Certainly we can understand and explain youthful exuberance and how youth sometime choose to express themselves. These are not excuses for property damage, but let us put it in perspective and look at how these incidents are used to divide us and diminish our message.
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In a conversation I had with Bob Wing, founding co-chair of UFPJ, he pointed out to me that there is no longer a center of power to the left of President Obama. At least, that is the way I heard his comments. I think he is right, and that it helps explain the current political challenge facing the peace/anti-war movements in mobilizing allies in the wider social and economic justice struggles to resist the current wars and occupations. The economy has pushed the average person into discomfort about their economic position, at best. Millions have lost their jobs, are underemployed or are awaiting the possibility of being evicted from their foreclosed homes. People are looking to government/the new Administration to solve these problems. Additionally, after eight years of struggle merely to defend the status quo, many organizations and people in economic and social justice struggles, are now engaging with Congress and the Administration, in order to move forward their individual issues, pushing the war to a second or third tier concern on their agendas. Make no mistake, the wars/occupations are still of great distress to people, but home comes first.
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 February 23, 2009To The Pentagon and Wall Street; We Must March
Michael
T. McPhearson
To All the Activist of the Anti-War and Peace and Justice Movements: Soon our nation will have a new President. The last page of the Bush era will be turned and a new era will begin. Having no idea who will be elected there are a few thoughts I would like to share with you. I would like
to thank you for all you have done during these dark and dangerous
times in our nation’s history. We have faced a tremendous assault on
our civil liberties, huge amounts of propaganda to push us towards
military solutions, and
heavy public pressure to be silent and follow the crowd.
By Stan Goff I knew the number would come up, because we've been
counting these numbers as part of the Bring Them Home Now! campaign
since we launched it when the number was around 200. It doesn't
shock me, but I find myself blindsided by my own reaction to it. The
foreknowledge is nothing more nor less than knowing that human
beings are being fed into this senseless killing with such
regularity now that it doesn't even show up in the news until we hit
these sick, decimalized milestones.
And I am feeling such rage right now that I can hardly hold back the
tears.
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I joined the tour Tuesday. Everyone is great and has such moving
stories. I love being with courageous people standing up for what they
believe. However, sometimes it is hard to listen to the stories. |
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Paul Rieckhoff, a former first-looey in the Reserves who went to Iraq,
has now found his political niche as a plant for the Democratic Party,
using his outfit's non-profit status to give him plausible deniability.
The NGO in question is Operation Truth, which has somehow managed to
pass itself off as an
antiwar group every since its inception while explicitly not taking a
position against the war.
First, because I believe a discussion of why the United States attacked Iraq is central to our understanding of how to move forward, I will share my thoughts on why the U.S. invaded Iraq. Second, I will give a brief outline of my ideas on how to move forward the cause of peace and justice. There is no single reason why the U.S. invaded Iraq. We invaded Iraq because a number of interests in the U.S. exploited the fear caused by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. I wrote this nearly six months ago and we have more of the same, death. Our soldiers are dying. They are killing Iraqi civilians. More Iraqis are becoming insurgents who kill more soldiers and other civilians. How many more must die before the nation understands?
It Is Surely
Time For Us To Leave March 2003, days before our invasion of Iraq I woke up from a disturbing dream where it appeared that I was watching a newscast of Palestinians clashing with Israeli Defense Forces that some how transformed to pictures of Iraqis clashing with U.S. forces. Today it is our reality.
My
American
Privilege
The road to peace is not paved with good deeds and intentions. Nor is it to be traveled by the weak of stomach and mind. One must make tough choices and rely on faith to follow the road to peace. Faith in the Divine or humanity, either is sufficient. But if one’s faith lies in a tribal, ethnic, national or religious identity and not in humanity, peace is impossible. The lens used to see the road to peace is justice. Simply stated, no justice no peace. The Israelis and Palestinians are people in search of justice but blinded by their ideas of identity. Ethnic and national interests are more important than their shared humanity. The conflict seems beyond answers. |
2,000
-- WHO WILL BE THE LAST TO DIE IN THIS ILLEGAL,
IMMORAL WAR?
Operation
(Un)Truth: A Trojan Jackass for the Anti-War Movement
From December 1 – 7,
2003 I traveled with a peace delegation to Iraq. We met with Iraqis in and
around Baghdad to bring a message of peace and to listen to their stories
and feelings about the occupation. The delegation members included parents
of children serving in Iraq, veterans of the Vietnam War and myself a
veteran of the first Persian Gulf War. The trip was both exhilarating and
sad as we listened to Iraqis to tell us about the terror of Saddam’s rule
and the current 
An Answer
Oct/ Nov /Dec
2009
