We need to think about how to create a lifestyle that is opposed to war in every way, so that there is no going home at the end of the march to our “normal lives.”
Q: It’s so hard to do that . codepink called for an ongoing vigil in front of the White House in opposition to the pending war in Iraq, and we kept it going for four months, in the dead of winter. We created this critical space right in front of the most important location in this country, and we thought people would give up their lives and join us en masse. They didn’t—especially absent were women your age, women in their thirties and forties. We had younger women and middle-aged women. What accounts for that ?
A: I think it’s a problem of our whole culture, and I’m guilty of it also. Even people who, on an intellectual level, know what’s wrong and what needs to be done feel limited in what they can do. “I can vigil at the White House on my day off or be part of a protest on a Saturday, but I couldn’t commit a week because I have rent to pay, I have student loans to pay off,” and so on. We need to figure out how to create cultures that support more than weekend opposition to war.
My parents and the Jonah House Community created a communal structure that sustained them. They didn’t own a house or anything worth confiscating; they didn’t have salaries or worry about where their next meal was coming from. That freed them to act at any hour on any day, to go to prison for long periods of time, to have their whole lives be about resisting war, whether it was an active war in Vietnam or the preparations for the next war.
Q: So, forgive me, but I have to ask: Given that you grew up learning how to create that amazing kind of activist life, with such intense dedication and personal sacrifice, why aren’t you living like that now ?
A: I guess I wanted to put on the suit of a professional and see what that felt like. Once you do that, it’s hard to move out of that again. I’m still in touch with communities that resist, but I personally live in real tension and contradiction, and that’s very uncomfortable.
Q: It’s not like you became a corporate CEO. You do important research on militarism, building on the connections that you first made as a young child. You and your institute put out critical information about war profiteering and the impact of militarism .
A: A lot of people say that research is very important and we need more people who can provide good information. People are very kind in validating the work I do, but having this conversation about the shortcomings of our movement is uncomfortable, because I know I could be doing so much more.
Q: Me, too. After our four-month vigil in front of the White House, after leaving my kids, my husband, and spending time in cold, lonely jail cells when we got arrested, I couldn’t wait to go back to my comfortable life. And I see so many people who think they are good activists because they respond to an e-mail alert or sign an online petition. Do you think the computer age and eactivism have given people an easy out ?
A: Yes. That stuff is not bad, but it’s not going to change anything all by itself. Every time you press a button on your computer to respond to some action alert, you feel you’ve done something and perhaps it relieves you of the need to do more. The other problem is that everyone is giving money to MoveOn and other groups that run ads in newspapers and on TV, but that money is moving in the wrong direction. The idea that we would spend $800,000 of people’s hard-earned $15 and $20 donations for a thirty-second spot during the Super Bowl—as MoveOn was planning to do—is just nuts. The money should be moving the other way, to community organizers. If large numbers of people started supporting organizers in local communities, people who are actually working full time as peace and justice activists, then we would have a real impact.
Let’s remember, human
Q: It’s so hard to do that . codepink called for an ongoing vigil in front of the White House in opposition to the pending war in Iraq, and we kept it going for four months, in the dead of winter. We created this critical space right in front of the most important location in this country, and we thought people would give up their lives and join us en masse. They didn’t—especially absent were women your age, women in their thirties and forties. We had younger women and middle-aged women. What accounts for that ?
A: I think it’s a problem of our whole culture, and I’m guilty of it also. Even people who, on an intellectual level, know what’s wrong and what needs to be done feel limited in what they can do. “I can vigil at the White House on my day off or be part of a protest on a Saturday, but I couldn’t commit a week because I have rent to pay, I have student loans to pay off,” and so on. We need to figure out how to create cultures that support more than weekend opposition to war.
My parents and the Jonah House Community created a communal structure that sustained them. They didn’t own a house or anything worth confiscating; they didn’t have salaries or worry about where their next meal was coming from. That freed them to act at any hour on any day, to go to prison for long periods of time, to have their whole lives be about resisting war, whether it was an active war in Vietnam or the preparations for the next war.
Q: So, forgive me, but I have to ask: Given that you grew up learning how to create that amazing kind of activist life, with such intense dedication and personal sacrifice, why aren’t you living like that now ?
A: I guess I wanted to put on the suit of a professional and see what that felt like. Once you do that, it’s hard to move out of that again. I’m still in touch with communities that resist, but I personally live in real tension and contradiction, and that’s very uncomfortable.
Q: It’s not like you became a corporate CEO. You do important research on militarism, building on the connections that you first made as a young child. You and your institute put out critical information about war profiteering and the impact of militarism .
A: A lot of people say that research is very important and we need more people who can provide good information. People are very kind in validating the work I do, but having this conversation about the shortcomings of our movement is uncomfortable, because I know I could be doing so much more.
Q: Me, too. After our four-month vigil in front of the White House, after leaving my kids, my husband, and spending time in cold, lonely jail cells when we got arrested, I couldn’t wait to go back to my comfortable life. And I see so many people who think they are good activists because they respond to an e-mail alert or sign an online petition. Do you think the computer age and eactivism have given people an easy out ?
A: Yes. That stuff is not bad, but it’s not going to change anything all by itself. Every time you press a button on your computer to respond to some action alert, you feel you’ve done something and perhaps it relieves you of the need to do more. The other problem is that everyone is giving money to MoveOn and other groups that run ads in newspapers and on TV, but that money is moving in the wrong direction. The idea that we would spend $800,000 of people’s hard-earned $15 and $20 donations for a thirty-second spot during the Super Bowl—as MoveOn was planning to do—is just nuts. The money should be moving the other way, to community organizers. If large numbers of people started supporting organizers in local communities, people who are actually working full time as peace and justice activists, then we would have a real impact.
Let’s remember, human
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