To the Counter-Protesters at today's Die-In
author: Observer
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Today's die-in, while smaller than organizers had hoped, was attended by many and was quite successful. Many people wandering through the square stopped to watch and even joined in, and corporate media filmed and interviewed people. However, there was a counter-protest at the end that I wanted to address here.
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After the die-in, after about half the crowd had dispersed and the remaining people were milling about, making new friends and connecting with old ones, about 8 people showed up with a large sign proclaiming, "Fuck the troops". They immediatly recruited people from the crowd to hold the sign, and several in their group choose not to stand with the sign when it was moved around the square and instead stood in a central spot, watching it.
As you can imagine, they were not greeted with warm and welcoming arms by the die-in participants. People shouted at them, people stood in front of their sign, people argued with them, called them bastards and told them they had no balls. At one point it looked like it might turn physical, but due to the young counter-protesters refusal to engage with the drunken man, things remained at the word level and did not escalate. For that, I give cudos to those who came in support of the sign.
But I have some questions for you counter-protesters.
What did you think you were going to accomplish?
You came to an event that was made up of people wishing to recognize the 3,000+ soldier deaths and 600,000+ Iraqi deaths, and spread your vulgar message of anti-troop. I heard several of you say repeatedly, "what about the Iraqi deaths?" Well, we didn't amass 3,000 people for the die in and I don't think aiming for 600,000 would have been a reasonable goal. If you had been paying attention, you would have seen that both the indymedia postings and the large sign held at the protest listed those 600,000 Iraqi's right next to the 3,000. Besides, we've all learned that two wrongs don't make a right- if an organization were to choose to ignore the Iraqi deaths, that isn't cause to turn against the troops- the issues are seperate.
Did you think that there may be families of fallen soldiers at this event? How do you think your message is taken in by them? It's all well and good to label yourselves as anarachists and radicals and activists, but I think all those types of people can also be called people who care- about the world, about the system, and about other people (you did show that you care about the 600,000 Iraqis). So, where was your caring for the families of the fallen troops who had to look upon your sign today? I heard you expressing the choice they make to join the military, but even if that's true, even if the troops deserve to be fucked by us now because they made this choice, why do their families deserve it? Their families didn't make that choice and many may have opposed it, but they are the ones who were forced to endure your sign.
Do you support Lt Ehren Watada? www.thankyoult.org. He is a commissioned officer of the US Army who refused deployment to Iraq. Will you be at Ft Lewis on Feb 5 with us to stand behind him as he is court-martialed? By your theory he should be your hero. Yes, he made what was in your eyes the mistake of joining in the first place, but when they tried to make him go overseas and become a murderer, as you kept saying today, he refused to go and now faces 7 years in jail.
Do you support anti-recruitment efforts?
Do you know that a huge, huge reason people join the military is because they want to go to college? I don't know what any of your backgrounds are (and unlike the drunken man yelling at you today, I won't make assumptions), but anyone who grows up poor grows up with the knowledge that college is probably out of reach. And then, lo and behold, they hit high school and an army recruiter explains to them that if they serve 4 years, they get to go to school on the GI bill. And these lower-class youngsters without much other hope think, 'it's only four years, and it'll get me through college!' And the next thing you know, bush lesser has stolen an election, our country has been attacked and these kids who were fooled into joined during peacetime are sent into Iraq.
And if you're not supporting Lt Watada, don't tell me these kids should stand up and say No, we won't go- where are their resources? Who will help them if they refuse? Again, they are faced with a bad situation and not many viable options. If they see people like Lt Watada refusing to deploy and being supported (money toward his defense team, actions at his base and around the country, etc), then they may be brave enough to trust that we, the anti-system, will take care of them if they refuse, and that may give them the strength to do so.
Do you go around to high schools and inform kids that low-interest loans and grants are avalible to low-income students for college? Do you tell today's youth about Peace Corp, Job Corp, and other options they have to get into an organization that will feed, clothe, house and train them, and does NOT involve murder?
Do you work to change the system? Do you really believe that the individual should be blamed for living in and following the only system they know? Perhaps a sign, "Fuck the system" would have been better suited. We didn't go to war because we had X number of troops. We went to war because the people who run the system are corrupt and are running a corrupt system. Instead of working to degrade the thousands upon thousands of troops we have, maybe efforts should be aimed at overhauling the system and the few hundred people who got us into this mess.
Do you think any troops or potential troops who saw or heard about your sign will think, "gee, what I'm doing is really dumb, I think I'll refuse to deploy"? Or do you think they just see a bunch of loud-mouthed young rabble-rousers trying to get a rise out of a peaceful protest?
What do you think the corporate media and the public made of your sign?
Don't you think a sign reading, "Fuck the troops" just confirms the myth that protesters are off their rockers, that every activist just hates whatever is avaliable for them to hate, that protest is meaningless by way of being over-aggressive? The general public is NOT going to be converted to action by a sign reading fuck the troops. They may, however, have their eyes opened by a sign reading, "Over 3,000 soldiers and 600,000 Iraqi's dead." If your goal is something like success of the movement, ending the war, impeaching bush lesser, you should realize that the 8 of you WILL NOT GET THERE ALONE. You MUST enlist the support of not only the activist community (many of whom I believe you offened and ostracized today) but also the public, the people who haven't put a thought to this situation yet. And your slogan today was not a way to bring people in.
In short, WHAT DO YOU DO, besides showing up at a supportive event with a vulgar message of anger on your sign?
If you want to have an anti-troop protest, go right ahead. If you advertise it as such, I will not bash you for it and I will stand against any other radicals/activists who try to deny you your right to do so. I hope that action will include positive messages of action and not just statements of hate or anger. Remember that education is one of the most important anti-recruitment methods- inform people of what their other options are.
But, do it apart from a setting where friends and families of fallen and current soldiers are gathered to show respect and support. There is a time and a place for everything, and you people missed it today.
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>> We didn't go to war because we had X number of troops
I'm not sure that is accurate. First, "we" didn't go to war (neither you nor I nor most people reading this have "gone to war"). The Bush administration ordered the invasion and occupation because they had plenty of troops that would follow orders despite their illegality. Without those troops there would be no war. How did the US occupation of Vietnam end, the occupying soldiers by and large stopped fighting it. I suspect that may be the way the US occupation of Iraq ends.
And the US soldiers (not to mention private contractors and war profiteers) do need to be told that what they are doing is wrong. Remember that 2 defenses used by the defendants at Nuremberg were 1) they were just following orders; 2) they didn't know what they were doing was wrong.
So yes, let's look at the common ground, supporting those troops who refuse to fight, either by taking public stands or by going AWOL and escaping the US. And counter-recruitment efforts could definitely be enhanced and improved in Portland.
And remember, no one speaks for you but you. Don't be afraid of how the media or anyone else will portray you based on the statements of others. I also wouldn't be so quick to presume what message people want to hear. There are plenty of people who are anti-occupation who do not support the soldiers carrying out this occupation any more than they would have supported the German, Italian, and Japanese soldiers during WW2. That doesn't mean that those soldiers should be all summarily tried, imprisoned, or executed. But it does mean that perhaps their actions in participating in an aggressive war and occupation shouldn't be supported.