{"id":108419,"date":"2018-04-02T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2018-04-02T11:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=108419"},"modified":"2018-03-28T19:42:20","modified_gmt":"2018-03-28T18:42:20","slug":"reflections-on-the-march-for-our-lives-movement-by-an-aging-anti-war-activist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/04\/reflections-on-the-march-for-our-lives-movement-by-an-aging-anti-war-activist\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on the \u201cMarch for our Lives\u201d Movement by an Aging Anti-War Activist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exactly 15 Years Ago Duluth Had Mass Rallies and Marches against Organized Gun Violence Similar to the One on Sat 24 Mar 2018<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Anti-War Rally at the Duluth Courthouse (March 8, 2003)<\/p><\/div>\n

26 Mar 2018 – <\/em>15 years ago, on January 25, 2003, 1,500 Duluth-area, anti-war activists participated in a downtown march and rally at the Civic Center, protesting what the George W. Bush administration and his allies in the right-wing, pro-war Project for the New American Century (google it) promised to be the start of an endless series of senseless, illegal, unaffordable and perpetual wars for empire and resource acquisition in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Six weeks later, on March 8, 2003, sensing an increased urgency that was well-understood by the entire peace-loving world, 1,400 Duluth-area altruistic activists participated in another Civic Center rally against the promised war.<\/p>\n

Despite what the vast majority of Americans and the world were protesting against, the small minority of mostly unelected, pro-war ruling elites ordered the \u201cShock and Awe\u201d invasion to proceed on March 19, 2003. Simultaneously, a cunningly well-orchestrated, 24\/7 pro-war media blitz began that totally excluded any rational or anti-war voices. Many pro-war retired generals made a lot of money doing their part trying to justify what was unjustifiable and glorifying what was distinctly inglorious.<\/p>\n

The pro-war propaganda worked as predicted and the voices trying to point out the horrors of organized, mass homicidal violence that is inherent in war were silenced. And the easily-manipulatable \u201cvillage idiot\u201d in the White House soon had his favorability rating jump from a partisan 35+% to an astonishing 80+%!<\/p>\n

Disregarding the intra-war, blindered, \u201cMy Country Right or Wrong\u201d pseudo-patriotic flag-waving, Duluth\u2019s peacemakers nevertheless persisted and bravely staged a third protest on April 5, 2003. 350 Duluthians attended the solemn Canal Park event. To my knowledge, none of the TV stations, nor the Duluth News-Tribune covered the last one. That last gathering had been organized not just to protest the start of the war, but also to mourn the victims of war and the illegality of yet another child-killing American Expeditionary Force invasion against yet another third-rate military in yet another sovereign, relatively defenseless third world nation that was full of innocent children and babies who were about to be terrorized, mutilated and\/or killed by America\u2019s high tech weaponry There was a palpable sense of shame among many of us for being citizens of a nation whose military was proudly committing war crimes in a senseless war.<\/p>\n

I proudly attended all three protests that winter and even played a minor role in the planning and promotion of the events. I recall getting choked up with emotion at times because I was a part of a large, world-wide group of peace-loving humanitarians who were expressing their ethical opposition to homicidal violence of all kinds.<\/p>\n

The Red Lake, Minnesota school shooting wasn\u2019t going to happen for another 2 years (March 21, 2005), so school shootings were not yet on Duluth\u2019s radar. We anti-war protestors were only thinking about what could be done about the mass slaughter of innocent foreigners in a faraway war zone. Domestic gun violence was far from our minds. (Read my column about the Red Lake school shooting at: http:\/\/www.globalnewscentre.com\/duty-to-warn-the-red-lake-school-shootings-10th-anniversary\/#sthash.TB6ZespH.dpbs<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

<<<The \u201cMarch for our Lives\u201d Anti-Gun Violence Movement>>><\/strong><\/p>\n

Last Saturday, March 24, 2018, I am proud to say that I was in the huge crowd at the Duluth \u201cMarch for our Lives\u201d march and rally. It looked to me that the crowd was as large or larger than the 1,500 or so that had attended our first two rallies in 2003. I found myself experiencing some of the same emotions I had felt back then. I often teared up from time to time out of a sense of pride and gratitude for the altruistic young leaders who had worked so hard at organizing the march and rally.<\/p>\n

I knew that they had felt as outraged as I had felt when we all had witnessed the gross injustice of sociopathic corporate entities blatantly and unapologetically promoting an agenda that resulted in human suffering, homelessness, starvation, mutilation and death. These students were justifiably as \u201cmad as hell\u201d about the injustice that they had seen happening over and over again and they decided that they \u201cweren\u2019t going to take it anymore\u201d. That combination of justified anger and compassionate altruism was enough to induce these courageous students to organize and plan the series of events that could \u2013 if there is any justice in this world – result in long-lasting resistance movements that should eventually change the uniquely American epidemic of domestic homicidal violence.<\/p>\n

Of course there are powerful entities that are natural opponents of any peace movement. These natural enemies of peace and justice movements are very powerful, very wealthy, very well-connected, very secretive and very corporate. The beneficiaries of foreign wars and domestic mass shootings wouldn\u2019t be happy if world peace broke out. The war profiteers and violence profiteers wouldn\u2019t be happy if they were forced to take losses on the weapons sector company stocks that they had purchased years ago for their retirement stock portfolios, Domestic tranquility, with full employment, abundant, well-paying union jobs, safe living conditions, good schools, good access to nourishing food, no racism and no poverty would cause the weapons sector of America\u2019s economy to be bad investments. I suppose most competent financial advisors in America recommend well- diversified portfolios of stocks that includes a healthy percentage of weapons sector stocks.<\/p>\n

The guilty corporate or investor types responsible for America being awash in lethal weapons live and thrive on Wall Street. Of course, they aren\u2019t the ones with actual blood on their hands. They aren\u2019t the ones who actually pull the triggers of the weapons that they sell, but they do know that violence of both foreign and domestic varieties represents steady streams of profits for the companies they own, work for or receive dividends from.<\/p>\n

Orchestrating the failures of the anti-war movements of the past was just a slight bump in the road for these corporate plotters; and, despite perhaps being a bit sobered by the high energy and success of the \u201cMarch for our Lives\u201d movement, they are, as we speak, mobilizing secret meetings in their think tank board rooms deciding on what tools they might bring out of their arsenal of weapons in order to defend and then strengthen the highly profitable agendas of the NRA. These conscienceless corporate entities have gotten used to profiting handsomely from the unrestricted manufacturing and marketing to civilians of unlimited numbers of military-style assault weapons, and they don\u2019t want to change. These ruling elites are used to getting what they want, and they aren\u2019t about to change their expectations.<\/p>\n

Corporations will do whatever is necessary to keep all their gravy trains on track and going full-steam ahead. They are, however, not above derailing any and all competing peace, nonviolence and justice movements that might negatively impact their profits. I\u2019m sure that the current crop of pro-war plotters look back in fondness at what they did to neutralize the anti-war movements of 2003.<\/p>\n

Many of us in the anti-war and nonviolence movements thought that we had failed, and therefore we tended to feel guilty about our lack of achievement. Actually, the peace movements were hi-jacked and \u201cmade to fail\u201d thanks to the large variety of cunning propagandistic operations orchestrated by corporations, government secret service-infiltrators and their complicit media. Those entities subtly deceived and disinformed the public, demonized and discredited the activists and diverted attention from the truth. (For more information about many of the commonly used pro-corporate propaganda techniques go to https:\/\/www.ucsusa.org\/sites\/default\/files\/legacy\/assets\/documents\/scientific_integrity\/how-corporations-corrupt-science.pdf<\/strong><\/a>)<\/p>\n

<<<Some Similarities Between the Anti-War Movement of 2003 and the March for our Lives Movement of 2018>>><\/strong><\/p>\n

Duluth\u2019s anti-foreign war violence resistance efforts of 2003 resembled the current anti-domestic gun violence rallies of 2018 in that each of them had been initially envisioned by a group of morally-outraged, pro-peace, anti-violence student groups. Both student groups were sick and tired of watching their nation\u2019s criminally-inclined corporate, political and military leaders\u2019 unwillingness to do what was necessary to prevent the on-going physical and psychological traumatization of innocent children by high-tech weaponry, against which there is no defense.<\/p>\n

In the case of the 2003 resistance movement in Duluth, compassionate University of Minnesota-Duluth (UMD) college students were motivated to do something to protect the children of Iraq who were at high risk of being killed or mutilated by America\u2019s soldiers using high-tech weapons. In the case of today\u2019s movement, compassionate high school students from all over America were motivated to protect their school mates from being killed or mutilated by high-tech weapons. Both groups of students also understood the complexities of starting and sustaining a broad anti-violence movement and therefore welcomed help from more experienced adult groups that had a history of confronting powerful entities that were mainly motivated by money and so-called \u201cnational security\u201d, even if their profit-making or foreign policies resulted in massive human suffering.<\/p>\n

In the case of Duluth\u2019s anti-war rallies back in 2003, the initiating group was UMD Students Against the War. That small student group welcomed collaborating with adult planners and sponsors that included the Northland Anti-War Coalition, Loaves and Fishes, Grandmothers for Peace, Veterans for Peace Chapter 80, the Green Party of Duluth, Pax Christi Duluth, Community Action Duluth and UMD Faculty Against the War.<\/p>\n

The promoters of the invasion of Iraq consisted of all the components of the NeoConservative Bush administration, which included the Project for the New American Century (google PNAC), the entire NeoConservative Republican Party, most of the NeoLiberal Democratic Party, all of the war-profiteers in the Military\/Industrial Complex, the Pentagon, the CIA, almost all American military veterans, most Christian conservatives and assorted pro-war \u201cMy Country Right or Wrong\u201d pseudo-patriots\u201d. These groups prevailed in 2003, but perhaps – if there is any justice in this world – their victory will turn out to be temporary.<\/p>\n

I am proud to say that I attended all three of Duluth\u2019s 2003 anti-war marches and rallies. I even had some input into some of the planning and promotion. I must also say that I was extremely disillusioned with my spineless political leaders who were so easily propagandized into supporting the invasion by the war hawks and their bloated Pentagon budgets.<\/p>\n

Below are more photo images from the two rallies:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Photo from Duluth, Minnesota\u2019s Anti-War Rally protesting President Bush\u2019s intent to go to war against Iraq. (The sign says: Huskies for Peace: I PEEace on BUSHES) (March 8, 2003)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Effigies of two prime examples of unindicted War Criminals, both of whom were draft-dodgers during the Vietnam War. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were typical of many other Bush administration \u201cChicken Hawk\u201d politicians who were behind the disastrous and illegal invasion of Iraq (Photographed at Duluth, Minnesota\u2019s Anti-War Rally \u2013 March 8, 2003)<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u201cThe Several Hundred\u201d protestors (according to most local media reports) rallying prior to the march to the Civic Center (March 24, 2018). My estimate was closer to 1,500.<\/p><\/div>\n

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300 of the \u201cSeveral Hundred\u201d protest marchers, in a photo that only pictured about 1\/5 of the total length of the march that was easily two city blocks long<\/p><\/div>\n

<<<Some Lessons for Youthful \u201cMarch for our Lives\u201d Activists from an Aging Anti-War Activist>>><\/strong><\/p>\n

So what might be some of the lessons for the \u201cMarch for our Lives\u201d students – whom I hope will remain as \u201cmad as hell\u201d until their demands are met and they have had a chance to vote their obstructionist, corporate-controlled legislators out of office.<\/p>\n