From A Vietnam-era Dad To His Son

Dear Mark:

First, I want to say how proud I am of your -- and much of your generation's -- commitment to the values weboth hold dear: fair play, civility, social justice, peaceful resolution of conflict. It's not easy being ayoung adult in this current crazy world, and I admire the way you're going about learning how to cope with itsvagaries, hypocrisies and criminalities.

As you know well, Mom and I are always nervous about your safety; you and I may not always agree on tacticsand strategy in that regard in the growing anti-war/pro-democracy movement, but I'm glad you're willing tohear me out. So, here goes:

One thing we anti-Vietnam War protesters learned in those '60s and '70s days was that if we talked only toourselves, we gave the government the perfect opportunity to dismiss and ignore us as just a tiny minority of"scruffy hippies" or "longhaired radicals."

But when we broadened our ranks to include more and more ordinary middle-class, middle-age citizens -- thatis, when we toned down our rhetoric against the "bourgeois System" and focused on the actual enemy,the administration's war policy -- we suddenly found that the government had to take our growing movement moreseriously.

These "respectable citizens" had clout, better connections to opinion-shapers, more access tofunding, and so on; many of them belonged to the same churches and organizations and clubs as those whopossessed some power. Once those defections started to happen, the Movement began to achieve critical mass.(Example: Lyndon Johnson said that when Walter Cronkite, the beloved and trusted CBS News anchor, began tospeak out about Vietnam, LBJ realized he had lost the battle for domestic support of that war.)

So what I'm suggesting, obviously, is that today's anti-war/pro-democracy movement begin to think alongsimilar lines. If we're just engaging in actions that express our anger or that enhance our group's particularagenda, Bush&Co. will win the battle for American public opinion -- and thus find it easier to move ontheir imperial agenda abroad and their police-state repression at home.

But if we are able to involve more and more ordinary citizens -- many of whom have never before marched oreven contacted their elected representatives or written a letter to the editor of their local newspaper -- itwill be difficult for the Bushistas to marginalize and demonize the protesters as little more than"violent crazies" or "young punks" or whatever label much of the corporate-ownedmass-media assigns in order to denigrate the serious political issues being raised.

The rage expressed in the streets on The Day(s) After the war on Iraq began is understandable; even thoughI disagree with some of the tactics used by you and your friends, I can appreciate where it came from. You saythat you all were very angry, and very frustrated, and some of that energy just had to explode out, kind ofscattershot. (Note: There always are, in any movement, a few agents provocateurs -- police or governmentplants embedded to steer the actions in a more violent, dangerous direction. The aim is to divert attentionfrom the issues raised but also in the hope that the use of violence will scare away the more mainstream folksfrom joining the next demonstration. So be on the lookout.)

In order to build a more effective, cohesive, broad-based Resistance, we have to be more creative, morefocused on being politically effective rather than being emotionally cathartic, more dedicated to the longterm fight in front of us rather than the short-term action at the next intersection.

Make no mistake about it. This battle we are in is not just about Iraq or this particular war. It is abouta desire on the part of those that have hijacked the American government to create a permanent war machineabroad, and a proto-fascist state at home. The outcome of this political battle will shape America's, and theworld's, future for the next several decades. The stakes are that high.

The Europeans are well aware of the true nature of the battle. They see America moving aggressively tobecome the Colossus astride the globe, dictating to everyone else what must be done, and keeping potentialeconomic/political/military competitors in a subservient state. Already, new alliances are beginning to formto combat Bush&Co.'s imperial ambitions.

Did you ever think you'd see the day when France, Germany and Russia would unite on anything? Well, theyand a good many other European Union members are in the early stages of developing a kind of alliance thatcould rival, or at least put up some stiff resistance to, the Americans -- and, if China and Japan were tojoin in, a mighty force indeed would be amassed.

Let's talk now about an even mightier force: non-violent resistance. Once that "Soul Force" (touse Mahatma Gandhi's term) gets rolling and honed to a fine point, nothing can stop it.

Consider what Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez accomplished without succumbing to thetemptations of picking up arms. Consider the protesters who by sheer (mostly) non-violent "peoplepower" hastened the end of the dictatorial regimes in the Philippines, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Romania,Poland, et al. Not only is non-violence a powerful political tool, but it is, and becomes, a spirituallyuplifting force.

And why? Because it changes the interaction. Instead of you reacting to their violence with your violence-- which then leads to more violence, and then to more and so on -- you've changed the parameters. Suddenly,they have to deal with you differently, as a human who bears them no ill will even as you confront theirpower; they often get flummoxed by these new rules of engagement. (One extremely effective way is to befriendly toward the cops -- addressing them by name when possible, offering them food and drink, telling themin conversational tone why you're protesting, how your concerns may connect to theirs, etc.; the tensions tendto relax, even when arrests are made.)

And, most importantly, the larger public, appreciating the non-violent nature of the protests and raisedwith a belief in morality and fair play, starts to understand the immorality of their government's policiesand brutalities, and begins more and more to support the protesters.

Just one theoretical example: Imagine the social impact, and the attendant news coverage, in two differentscenarios:

1) Two thousand protesters take over the streets in a major American city, break windows, block freeways,trash a corporate lobby, fight with the cops, etc. The news media highlight photos and footage of theviolence, and interview poor people trying to get to work on the buses that were blocked for hours; thepolitical issues behind the protesters' rage is barely mentioned, and often neither is the police violencethat sometimes creates or heightens the confrontational mood.

2) Two thousand protesters surround the symbol of their anathema, the federal building (or a majordefense-contractor), in a major American city. When told to move or face arrest, they willingly allowthemselves to be arrested. Two thousand new protesters surround the federal building (or defense contractor)the next day. And the next. And the next.

The news media is forced to handle the story in a different way, especially because "people ofsubstance" -- doctors and lawyers and teachers and soccer moms and civil rights leaders and grandparentsand clergymen -- are, in the name of conscience, willing to face arrest (partially because everyoneunderstands that this will be a non-violent action), in order to highlight the issue of the government'scrimes. The serious issues raised by the protesters gets more ink and more currency.

This may sound like a dream, but I truly believe the Resistance can move forward to that kind of scenario,if we play our cards right. If we're willing to be more creative in our tactics and strategies. If we'rewilling to think beyond tried-and-true methods of protesting, with humor and determination. (Just one example:In the Vietnam War days, some of the most effective campaigns involved spilling "blood" onto DraftBoard records, getting arrested and, in effect, taking the government to court in highly publicized trials.)If we're willing to spend the many weeks and months organizing, planning, organizing, training, organizing --and organizing.

I'm not trying to pretend that all of this is going to be easy, or without dangers. This Administration isruthless and has already made clear that it's willing to wound, to smear, to kill to get what it wants. Andlocal police forces are often the least well-equipped, most overworked, and least monitored in the way theydeal with dissent.

But if we want to preserve and defend the Constitution of the United Nations, and the best of what we arein the world, and if we want to help advance humanity another couple of feet along the route to civilizedbehavior instead of falling back into the old habits of violence and repression -- if we truly desire thatfuture, we can make it happen. Soul Force.

Remember that there is another Superpower out there able to resist the dangerous adventurism of the BushAdministration: us, the burgeoning, worldwide mass movement of those who are joining together and standing upto leaders who, out of the worst of motives, are trying to take humanity in the wrong direction.

So get on a steep learning curve. Read your Saul Alinsky, read Abbie Hoffman, read Robert Moses (Paris),read Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau and Gandhi and Cesar Chavez and Susan B. Anthony andSojourner Truth and Martin Lee and Frederick Douglas. You don't have to re-invent the wheel totally. Othershave been there and laid the foundations. (How I wish we young New Leftists in the Vietnam era had been moreopen to listening to the wisdom of the many Old Leftists we consciously ignored.)

So that's where I'm coming from, Mark. Let's talk more. And let's work together to turn this countryaround.

Love,
Dad

Bernard Weiner was a writer/editor with the San Francisco Chronicle for nearly 20 years. A Ph.D. ingovernment & international relations, he has taught at various universities, and currently is co-editor ofThe Crisis Papers