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EditorialPeace Movement at a CrossroadsThis is no time for the peace movement to go out of business. On the day the statue of Saddam Hussein toppled in Baghdad, former CIA director James Woolsey commented that the Iraq war was merely the first episode in a new World War. Bush surely wishes to make good on his promise of "permanent war at home and abroad." The period of massive demonstrations has temporarily waned. So it is time to prepare for the long haul, to do patient outreach to new constituencies and to take advantage of the continuing "educational moment." As we do so, our movement will grow stronger. Bush appears to have massive support. How, then, to build opposition against the permanent war and the imperial strategy it represents? The answer starts with identifying weak links in Bush's strategy. The rise of popular internationalism--what the New York Times called "the world's second superpower"--is a major weak link in the empire builders' strategy. Remember, on Feb. 15, 30 million people in more than 600 cities around the world hit the streets to oppose the U.S. war drive. In the U.S., millions of people in more than 2,400 cities rose to fight Bush's war drive. Now we can take the opportunity to deepen the antiwar movement's analysis and its vision. Given the U.S.-centric culture that prevails here, it will be a challenge to popularize our understanding that the war on Iraq (and Afghanistan) is part of a global empire-building process. But with that consciousness, we can build a historic anti-imperial, anti-empire movement for peace and justice. LINKING PEACE AND JUSTICEAnother big weakness of the Bush administration is that the wars abroad are starting to injure more and more people at home. Immigrants, especially Arabs, South Asians and Muslims, were the first and hardest hit--by detentions, loss of rights and deportations. Congress deprived all of us of critical constitutional rights by passing the USA PATRIOT Act. Now the administration has fashioned an even more draconian Patriot Act 2. The people in this country are also being crunched by Bush's bloated military budget and tax cuts for the wealthy. Combined with the economic slowdown, these have caused the deepest budgetary crisis of U.S. states and cities in 50 years. Cutbacks, from public education to Medicaid, are ravaging seniors, children and the poor. Bush is pressing anti-abortion, anti-environmental and anti-union policies, even as he provides new tax breaks and huge government contracts to his corporate cronies.
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