US Election Blues
By William T. Hathaway
14 September, 2010
Countercurrents.org
Judging from the polls, the majority of Americans are viewing the current elections with apathy and futility. Many have lost hope in the electoral process. Despair is particularly deep in the peace movement, as Obama shifts the fighting in Iraq onto private mercenaries and local soldiers in order to transfer US troops to Afghanistan. Some activists have given up on legal methods for change and become domestic insurgents.
My just-published book, several chapters of which are reprinted on CounterCurrents, portrays this radicalization that arises from betrayals of democracy. In the 2006 and 2008 elections voters believed the Democrats' promises to end the war, only to see those same politicians vote more money for it and send more troops to kill and die. These swindles have led to a public rejection of both parties and to an upsurge in radical activity aimed at bringing the US political and economic system down.
RADICAL PEACE examines this new trend, telling the first-person experiences of militant activists in the USA, Europe, Iraq, and Afghanistan. They have moved beyond demonstrations and petitions into subversion and direct action to stop the war. Being peaceful doesn't mean obeying a violent government, they say. They are helping soldiers to desert, destroying computer systems, trashing recruiting offices, burning military equipment, and sabotaging defense contractors. These criminals for peace are defying the Patriot Act and working underground in secret cells to undermine the US military empire.
Among the persons profiled in RADICAL PEACE:
A wounded soldier who escaped from military detention and deserted rather than being sent back to combat. Reprinted on CounterCurrents, http://www.countercurrents.org/hathaway030610.htm
Trucker, the code name of a man who is committed to aggressive forms of resistance such as destroying government property. He classifies his sabotage as nonviolent because it doesn't harm human beings, only things. His specialty is burning military vehicles.
An Iraqi student whose family was brutalized by American soldiers. She tells how this turned her into a pacifist and her brother into a resistance fighter. Reprinted on CounterCurrents, http://www.countercurrents.org/hathaway260510.htm
A woman soldier who was raped by a fellow GI in Iraq. Her commanding officer refused to prosecute the rapist and threatened her with disciplinary action if she "made trouble." She deserted and is now living with a female partner in the Netherlands.
A high school teacher who was fired and blacklisted for teaching her students how US foreign policy has provoked terrorism. The experience changed her from a Republican into a radical activist.
A gay Afghan refugee who describes the similarities between the Taliban and the US Army.
A Granny for Peace who found young allies in her struggle against military recruiting.
A janitor who destroys computers at defense contractors with electrical surges.
A traumatized veteran who has healing love affair with his mother.
A young woman whose friend returned home from Iraq crippled. She hurled a rock through the window of the local recruiting office ... and discovered she likes the music of shattering glass.
A woman soldier who deserted after being sexually harassed by both male and female colleagues.
A sailor who went on weekend pass to a Buddhist retreat and came back a pacifist.
A seminary student who was assaulted by soldiers at a peace demonstration. She decided to learn to love her enemies by becoming a military chaplain and subverting from within.
Direct actions like these can overcome the apathy and futility engendered by the current elections, and they can give new momentum to the movement for change in the USA. Now that Obama has morfed into a war president, bringing the system down seems the only way to bring peace.
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William T. Hathaway's other books include A WORLD OF HURT (Rinehart Foundation Award), CD-RING, and SUMMER SNOW. He teaches American studies at the University of Oldenburg in Germany. A selection of his work is available at www.peacewriter.org.
