Hard Truth

Posted on October 20, 2002 in Peace

I consider that one of the most important encounters I had in the development of my principles was a talk I heard given by Paul Seaver, a Quaker pacifist who told us about the time he went to jail for refusing to register for the Korean War draft. Paul taught me that you can’t commit acts of civil disobedience lightly.

I don’t know that most who are going to the upcoming demonstrations have ever really spoken to or known someone like Paul. They see the older pacifists marching and think it cute, something to photograph. But have they talked to those who made genuine sacrifices for the cause? Have they considered what their showing up may mean?

Gandhi once thinned out a crowd that was following him by repeatedly stopping and explaining just what they were going to do. He had a clear objective, which was to show the absurdity and the cruelty of British rule in India. Each time he stopped, he warned people that they were going to face the colonial police, that they would be beaten and thrown into prison for what they were about to do. The crowd, which had begun with tens of thousands, ended with only hundreds. Those hundreds went forward and did the thing. Because they knew what was going to happen and because they were ready to accept the costs, their witness mattered.

Here’s my latest bit in a discussion about what to do now that we’re at war:

Well, dru and skits, I went to the protests in 1991 against the Gulf War, marched down Market Street in silence with everyone else, sat down, listened to the bands and the speakers, and went home on the train to hear to a friend of the engineer get on the PA system and give us “peace activists” a piece of his mind for blocking traffic on the Bay Bridge. Bombing commenced in the Gulf War and the momentary flicker of euphoria that “I had done something” vanished. No one wanted/dared to do anything after that. They’d “done something”. The flags came out and it was all “support our boys”. This war was, I think, made possible by the sudden drop in support for the peace movement after the vote and after the successful war in Iraq. Not many of our boys died, so who cared? Congress and Bush figures that we’ll just go along like we did the last time.

So I have reason to be suspicious of the way that some see demonstrations as “doing something” when what they really seem to be is a big party whose main purpose is to make people feel good for a couple of days. The war will start and you won’t feel very good if you pay the slightest bit of attention to the news.

I honestly don’t know your positions, so I will couch my advice neutrally: if you plan to throw your spirit behind “our boys” while they are invading Iraq or North Korea or wherever Bush sends them, don’t insult those of us who remain committed pacifists by going for the party. If you’re more committed, put the party idea out of your mind. Ask yourself: are you ready to be clubbed in the head by police who might appear in riot gear to provoke an incident, as has happened recently in Portland and elsewhere? If the idea concerns you, don’t go to the demonstration because it might happen. It is OK not to go, too, as long as you vote and keep speaking up.

This demonstration could have the opposite effect of a party. If you go expecting one, there’s a good chance that you might be disappointed. And we’d lose you. The next time you’d find a different party. If you go with no expectations of feeling better afterwards, I dare say that you will be better prepared for heading off disappointment.

I will probably not go to the demonstration because it doesn’t seem to have a clear, lasting objective. This demonstration is not civil disobedience. The latter entails risks, the risks of bodily harm and/or imprisonment. (I wouldn’t engage in that, either, if the objective was fuzzy.) I will however continue to write about this, to express my feelings so that others might read it, hoping that they will not avert their eyes from the hard things that I say.

Again the key question: what about October 27th and thereafter? Well, for a start, in addition to the fine work of MoveOn, there’s People for the American Way who are soliciting contributions for an ad that will play in certain key states: http://inv9.com/.l/3ZXJ306J97 . Voting, as kd and others have pointed out is important. Reconsidering your lifestyle and your personal addiction to luxury should be a high priority. And, of course, do not stay silent about the war.

Last requests for today: don’t burn flags. A better idea that I saw is to stain them with simulated blood and then perform a ritual washing. When you burn a flag, many people see themselves going up in smoke. When you wash it, it is an act of love that still demonstrates the point that the nation has blood on its hands. But we can come clean again.

Second, if you see anyone beginning to commit acts of vandalism and violence, take a cue from St. Hugh of Lincoln and Atticus Fitch: dare to put yourself in the path of the lynch mob. We’re for peace, dammit. If you want to punish a business, do it by not going there. Let them go slowly broke. It will give them time to think over their position, instead of being forever turned off to the idea of an anti-war movement.

Third, consider not taking part in patriotic demonstrations. There’s a risk to this: it is possible that some around you may attack. I’ve done it a couple of times and nothing has happened, but there is no guarantee that you will be spared. Consider, however, what you are supporting when you stand up these days. Love of your country may at this time entail refusing to be used by those who merely want to cover their business improprieties through jingoistic demonstrations. Perhaps you will be attacked. Perhaps your quiet example may inspire others to sit down, too. Again, there is no guarantee.

Finally, dress as you always dress. Show them that you are a citizen, just another person like the people who will watch from the sidewalks. Fancy face paint attracts photographers, but it scares a lot of people who will latch on to this as evidence that you’re some kind of a freak.

I speak from experience, from having been in the thick of things.

If you want a quick review of what I have said recently, check these posts:

• Cassandro 2
  
• Profiles in Courage
  
• Cassandro
  
• Pity
  
• Home of the Brave
  
• I do not support this adventure, period.
  
• Fighting for America
  
• America the Seralgio