User Submitted Blog Post: Protesting the War: Hope

"Hope is not like a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. I say this because hope is an ax you break down doors with in an emergency; because hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you havee to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth’s treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal. Hope just means another world might be possible, not promised, not guaranteed. Hope calls for action; action is impossible without hope. Anything could happen, and whether we act or not has everything to do with it." - Rebecca Solnit, author of "Hope in the Dark," from a Words Against War Read-out yesterday on the street in downtown San Francisco

Yesterday, I joined thousands of individuals in San Francisco in visibily protesting the fifth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, as part of a collation called Direct Action to Stop the War and my affinity group, Bay Rising.

While two thirds of individuals polled in the United States believe that the U.S. never should have entered Iraq, attendance at protests and actions has been low, and some people think that protesting is "futile." Dick Cheney himself responded "So?" when asked what he thought about the lack of support for the war.

Why did I spend money, potentially risk arrest, and give months of my time and energy when things are so dismal? Because I don't feel I have a choice. As an American, I believe I must actively oppose the destructive policies of my government. Why protest? Why direct action?

- Protesting the war visibily lets people know that they are not alone in their opposition to the war. Protesting gives us hope.

- Many, if not most, significant gains in social justice here in the U.S. and around the world have been gained by protest and direct actions, from sit-ins at segregated lunch counters, to the Boston Tea Party, to protests by Stop Aids Now or Else! and Act UP bringing AIDS onto the national stage.

- Politicians are not going to stop the war on their own. Individuals who oppose the war need to assert their own power to raise the social costs of this war for the government and for corporations who profit from the war. Neither Obama or Clinton is going to be the answer, we need to make it more expensive for the government and corporations to continue the war than it is for them to stop it. This is part of a strategy called "People Power."

Those are just a few of the reasons that protesting is an important part of my life. I am often asked about the future of the anti-war movement, with declining attendance at demonstrations and rallies. I believe that the movement is growing stronger, and will continue to do so until the war is over. I believe this for several reasons. For one, the affinity group model works, and across the U.S., organizations, including affinity groups, are doing a great job of bringing activists of several generations together. Yesterday, the 150 arrestees in San Francisco included individuals in their 20's and many over 70. My affinity group, Bay Rising, includes an age range of over 20 years.

Unprecendented levels of young people are being engaged in activism through the formation of the new Students for a Democratic Society, as well as the climate change movement. As these individuals grow and deepen their analysis, they will come to understand the role of imperalism and war for profit in their own struggles. At the same time, groups like Code Pink are organizing and engaging other segments of society.

The growing GI Resistance movement, and groups like Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace, Courage to Resist and Military Families Speak Out, are helping our soldiers speak out about the atrocities they are witnessing, providing the evidence that many Americans need to turn against the Bush Administration.

Along with the growing sophistication of the movement, these things give me hope.