The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY)

Why Am I A Peace Activist? Why Aren't You?

Written for the collection, "Why Peace?"

More than any other description, except for perhaps husband and father, I have been for the past six years a peace activist. Yet, I hesitate on the question of how to tell my personal story of experience with war. I recently visited Afghanistan briefly, in order to speak with people who have experienced war. I've spoken with many U.S. soldiers and non-U.S. victims of war. But I have no experience of war. Being in Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001, doesn't change that; by the time a crime had been transformed into a war, the war had been moved elsewhere.

I know a Vietnam veteran who opposed that war but grew so tired of being told he wasn't qualified to do so that he joined up. When he got back, and for decades since, he's been opposing wars with the benefit of the aura of someone who knows war. I don't have that, and I certainly do not want it. I value war opposition by those who have known war, but I value other war opposition as well. And I imagine we can all spot the fatal flaw in any proposal that would have people experience wars before they could oppose them. In 2006 a congressional candidate and Iraq veteran in Ohio who was speaking on a panel with me urged military "service" on all politicians so that they could oppose militarism with greater knowledge of the military. Raise your hand if you think that would work.

So, the obvious question is probably how I became a peace activist. To my mind, however, the question has always been why anybody is not. I understand there are not a lot of job openings for professional peace activists, but there are unlimited part-time volunteer positions.

When I was a kid growing up in Northern Virginia in a family that had no one in the military and no one opposing the military, we had a guest visit. He very much wanted to see the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. So we drove him over there and showed him around. He was quite impressed. But I became physically ill. Here was a beautiful sunny town full of people enjoying life and people being trained to murder other people in large numbers. To this day I cannot imagine why I need a particular explanation for finding that unbearably revolting. I want to hear an explanation from someone who doesn't find it so.

Oh, they'll tell us, we all find war to be troubling, but being a grown up means having the stomach to do what's needed to prevent something worse.

The thing is, I never much trusted grown ups. I wasn't revolted by the idea of war for myself, while willing to let others engage in it. I refused to take it on faith that such a horror as war could be justified -- for anyone. After all, like all kids, I had been taught to work out problems with words rather than fists. I had been told that it was wrong to kill. And, like almost all people, I was viscerally inclined to resist the idea of killing anyone. If I was going to accept that in some cases it was right to kill lots and lots of people, and that it was right to always be training and building a huge war machine just in case such a situation arose, then someone was going to have to prove that claim to me.

In my experience, common wisdom was often wildly wrong. A huge industry of churches was maintained on Sundays to promote ideas that my parents took seriously, and most people took seriously, but which struck me as utter nonsense. The idea that war was peace came to seem to me so nonsensical on its face, that I'd only believe it if offered proof. Yet, all such thinking was in the back of my head. I never thought I'd work as a peace activist until the moment I found myself doing so at age 35. It took me years of traveling, studying, dropping out of architecture school, teaching English in Italy, picking up a Master's in Philosophy at the University of Virginia, and working as a reporter and a press person before I found my way.

I became an activist in my late 20s on domestic issues of criminal justice, social justice, and labor rights. I became a professional activist at age 30 when I went to work for ACORN, the association of community groups that scared so many powerful people that it was slandered in the media, defunded, and destroyed several years later, after I had moved on. I protested the first Gulf War and the build up to a 2003 war on Iraq. But I became something of a spokesperson and writer against war when I worked as press-secretary for Dennis Kucinich's presidential campaign in 2004. He made peace the number one issue in his platform. We talked about peace, trade, and healthcare -- and not much on trade or healthcare.

In 2005 I found myself working on a campaign to impeach and prosecute President George W. Bush for lying the nation into war. This meant working closely with and becoming a part of the peace movement, even while engaged in something less than peaceful: seeking to put someone on trial and imprison him. I immersed myself in online and real-world activism, organizing, educating, and protesting. I strategized, lobbied, planned, wrote, protested, went to jail, did interviews, and pressed for peace.

There are downsides and seeming hypocrisy to the peace movement. We don't always behave peacefully toward each other. We don't always share the same vision. Some groups favor peace when doing so helps a particular political party and are otherwise very accepting of war. Some honestly think particular wars are crimes but others justified. Some try to work with corrupted insiders. Some try to bring pressure from outside the halls of power. Some try, with great difficulty, to bridge some of those gaps.

But my peace movement experience overall has been incredibly positive. I've made good friends that I see a handful of times a year, on stages or in streets, and as often as not in police vans. The fulltime peace activists, most of whom have other fulltime paid employment, those who serve no particular organization, but who hold the movement together with their spirit and reliability: these are people with more great stories than any writer will ever get onto paper or computer screens. These are the people for whom, outside of my family, I am most grateful. If any of them had ever been visible in the way that military recruiters and toy soldiers are visible, perhaps I would have found my way to the peace movement sooner.

My focus or approach may evolve, but I cannot imagine ever leaving. In 2009 and 2010, I wrote two books, the second one on the question of whether any war had ever been justified. The title is a giveaway of the conclusion I reached: "War Is A Lie." And it isn't just any lie. It is the justification of the worst thing anyone has ever devised. Ending it now is no longer just a question of making the world more pleasant, but a question of survival. Weapons proliferation, blowback, economic collapse, environmental collapse, political collapse: choose your poison; war will destroy us in one or more of these manners unless we put an end to it. Why in the world would anyone not want to?

Source: David Swanson - War is a Crime

Here are some recommended links available to better inform you about careers in Peacemaking and Social Change. This is a work in progress and NNOMY will be adding new documents as they are prepared and as policies change that effect enlistment. Check back periodically.

Links:

• The Militarization of U.S. Culture
• Info for Students
• Cultural & Art Activism / NYC

Curricula:

• Making Effective Change: Social Movement Organizing and Activism - Evergreen College - Oregon - Spring 2012
• TEACHING peace - A Guide for the Classroom & Everyday Life - Nuclear Age Peace Foundation -  (PDF)
• Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies (PAWSS) - New Hampshire
• Peacemaker Training Institute - Fellowship of Reconciliation (USA)
• Christian Peacemaker Teams - English | Español
• Manchester College Peace Studies Institute and Program in Conflict Resolution -  Indiana
• Psychology for Peace Activists - by David Adams - Copyright 1987, 1995 - Advocate Press, New Haven CT
• Sparticus Educational | Education on the Internet - United Kingdom
• Peacemaker Guidelines - adapted from Rocky Flats Action Group nonviolence manual
• Notes On Being A Peace Monitor - Peace Resource Center of San Diego (PDF)
• Handbook for Nonviolent Campaigns - War Resisters' International
• The Woolman Semester School: Progressive, Experiential Education - Nevada City, California

Training:

• Activist School - The Alliance for Global Justice online training school offers activists and organizers of all ages online courses by expert instructors on the subject of US militarism and activist skills training. Our five week courses, taken in the comfort of your own home, will cover the history, philosophy, economics and politics of US militarism and anti-war strategies and tactics to build peace. Other courses will cover the range of skills activists need to become effective organizers. Beginning in the Fall of 2011, activists will be offered courses on the popular Moodle education platform used in many schools and universities. Course material will include readings, videos, lectures and discussions, all online, which can be completed at the student’s own pace during the time allotted.
• Careers in Peacemaking Programs (CIPPs) - We are a coalition of Volunteers Educators for Peace (VEPs) advocating for Careers in Peacemaking, working through Maui Peace Action.  We are interested in collaborating with student and teacher organizations that are dedicated to peace, environmental and social justice issues.
  
  
• DC Students for a Democratic Society - DC-SDS is a local group of students and youth agitating and educating toward a better world. Get in touch with them if you want to schedule a training at your school or in your community.
  
  
• Training for Change - Since 1992, Training for Change has been committed to increasing capacity around the world for activist training. When they say activist training, they mean training that helps groups stand up more effectively for justice, peace and the environment. They deliver skills directly that people working for social change can use in their daily work. Their website also has a lot of great resources for leading your own trainings on a variety of topics
  
  
• The Ruckus Society - Ruckus offers several different action camps focusing on nonviolent direct-action theory, tactics, and popular education methods. They can also send experienced direct action trainers to your group for whatever you need.
  
  
• The Washington Action Group (W.A.G.) W.A.G. is one of the premiere local groups that combines non-violent direct action and the arts to create a truly unique blend of activism. They provide trainings on nonviolent direct action, history, philosophy, strategy and tactics, facilitation, consensus process, media, strategic planning for organizations and campaigns, creative resistance and the arts of protest, construction and use of giant props and, puppets, logistics for actions, mass action platforms, blockades, street theater and more.
  
  
• Washington Peace Center - If you can't find what you're looking for, get in touch with the Peace Center and we'll help you get trained in whatever you need to know.

Source: Washington Peace Center

Actions & Networks

• Occupy Together
• National Occupation of Washington DC
• Rogue Forum 2012: To Know is Not Enough: Activist Scholarship, Social Change and The Corporate University
• Occupy May 1st General Strike
• March on the Republican National Convention 2012
• Protest the DNC 2012
• International Solidarity Movement - Nonviolence. Justice. Peace.

Conferences:

• 2012 United National Antiwar Coalition National Conference
• Labor Notes National Conference 2012
• Retire NATO, Create Jobs and Fund Peace
• Z Media Institute 2012(2013?)

Activist Resources:

• Campus Activism - Tools for Activists
• Action PA - Activism Training Materials & Resources
• Tools for Organizers, Activists, Educators, and Other Hell-Raisers
• The Lifelong Activist - Career and life strategies for activists and progressives
• Resources and Toolkit for the Palestinian Activist
• Cafe Progressive: Online Activism Tools & Community Activism Resources
• International Center on Non-violent Conflict

Research:

• The Housmans World Peace Database

Resources for Children:

• Children's Peace Education project
• Children's Advocate - Teaching the skills of peace
• The Alliance for Childhood - Eight Steps To Teach Kids Peace
• SoundOut - Student Voice in Schools
• Reach & Teach - Peace & Social Justice Learning Products

Websources for Peace Education by Teaching For Peace

• Peace Makers
• Peace Movements
• Peace Keepers
• Peace Organizations
• Peace and Education Resources
• Peace & Indigenous Peoples
• Peace and Women
• Peace and Children

Funders of Peacemaking

• The International Peacemakers Fund (IPF) - Fellowship of Reconciliation, England (FoRE)
• Abe Keller Peace Education Fund - Redman, Washington
• Blue Ribbon Campaign - Electric Frontier Foundation
• RESIST - seeks to fund organizations that are actively part of a movement for social change

Fellowship and Career Opportunities for Social Justice:

• Echoing Green
• GOOD WORKS is a national directory of social change organizations
• The Young Nonprofit Professionals Network

Organizations you should know

• Peace Magazine
• Gold Star Families for Peace
• Veterans Against War
• Canadian Peace Alliance
• The Occupation Project
• Canadian Peacebuilding Coordinating Committee
• Voices for Creative Nonviolence
• Physicians for Global Survival
• Quakers in Britain
• Peace Brigades International
• Mahatma Gandhi Foundation for Peace
• Antiwar
• International Peace Bureau
• MoveOn
• Peace Pledge Union
• Peace is Possible
• Waging Peace
• Amnesty International
• Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers
• Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
• M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence
• Peace Action
• The Compassionate Listening Project
• Stop War
• American Friends Service Committee
• Clean Clothes Campaign
• Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
• 50 Years is Enough
• Independent Media Centre
• Infact
• Institute for Global Communications
• International Rivers Network
• Jobs With Justice
• One World International
• United for a Fair Economy
• Stop the War Machine
• Non Violent Peace Force
• World Peace Prayer Society
• Le Mouvement De La Paix
• Culture of Peace
• Sept.11 Families for a Peaceful Tomorrow
• Conscience and Peace Tax
• Peace Tax Seven
• World Unity Flag Society
• Ploughshares
• Pax Service Civil International
• Friends United Meeting
• New York Quakers
• Philadelphia Quakers
• Peace Brigades International
• International Peace Bureau
• M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence
• Pax Service Civil International
• Salt of the Earth

Source: Teaching For Peace

Articles on the web:

• The Art of Protest: From Vietnam to AIDS
• How to Make War Protest Art
• The Anti-War Movement in the United States
• Students advocate artful, peaceful alternative to war
• National Days of Student Action Against the Iraq War
• The art of making protest art