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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
September 17, 2005
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| July 17, 2005 |
The Iraqi War and the Anti-War Movement in the United States – Erik Leaver |
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| Mr. Erik Leaver, guest educator, from The Institute for Policy Studies. |
The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) was founded in the late 1960s by two members of the Kennedy Administration who objected to the war in Vietnam. Over the last four decades, the organization has been involved in every major movement concerning civil rights, women’s rights, Apartheid in South Africa, opposing wars in Central America, and recently the anti-globalization movement and the movement against the occupation of Iraq. Mr. Erik Leaver of IPS joined the 49th Voyage from Dublin until New York, and amidst lectures from the Israel and Palestine International Students and preparations for the GPPAC conference in New York, he gave a series of lectures and informal talks about United States’ foreign policy. |
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| Mr. Leaver speaking at his first lecture. |
Mr. Leaver works in conjunction with various academic institutions and think-tanks, and he is active in educating policy-makers within the US government on the substance and ramifications of their foreign policy. He is involved in trying to help shape US policy from the inside, focusing on education and awareness, and implements this approach through direct contact with policy-makers as well as through writing in various political journals. On Peace Boat, his lectures dealt with the US anti-war movement, and discussion about which parties are profiting from being at war in Iraq. Since its inception around the time of the Vietnam War, the US anti-war movement, also known as a peace movement, has never lacked followers but is considered a disparate group, with many smaller movements pursuing their own particular cause. According to Mr. Leaver, this has resulted in a lack of cohesion that ultimately negated the power of the anti-war voice. |
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| Q&A session during an informal chat session. |
Why was there so little public outcry about the war in Afghanistan, yet huge opposition to the invasion of Iraq? Was it connected to 9/11 or not? Did the public lose the ability to reason and think logically after such a huge assault on the country? Mr. Leaver wanted participants to consider these questions. In order to unite the disparate peace movements, IPS created “United for Peace and Justice” (UFPJ) which has more than 1,000 member organizations. While these various organizations have differing political angles, they were all united through UFPJ in opposing the invasion of Iraq. As well as this, Mr. Leaver spoke of the many demonstrations around the world that opposed US and UK actions and how public action complemented the momentum caused by groups such as UFPJ. Mr. Leaver’s organization also works in partnership with other organizations both in the US and across the world, and helped found an NGO in Iraq called Iraq Occupation Watch. Although establishing this in Iraq has been complicated, as there are different rules and obstructions to deal with, the NGO has become an important tool for educating policy-makers in the US. |
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| Mr. Leaver working in consultation with his Peace Boat interpreter (CC). |
The anti-war movement has started to gather more momentum with the news of US soldiers dying in Iraq and the growing body of evidence that shows some corporations are profiting from operations in Iraq. Mr. Leaver described how organizations such as CorpWatch and Halliburton Watch have revealed how these companies stand to gain considerably from the Iraq war. Mr. Leaver remained optimistic about the potential of the anti-war movement, and spoke of activities aimed at broadening its scope— including getting rid of the racial gap, and the importance of liberal churches who have become strong advocates in the US in the campaign to abolish global debt. Other innovative steps include finding new messages to reach the broad public by treating “peace” as a commodity to be marketed to the greatest possible amount of people. Perhaps an important venue is the importance of teach-ins, a form of public education where all-day lectures are given. United for Peace and Justice celebrated the 40th anniversary of the very first teach-in in the US, which focused on the Vietnam War. Mr. Leaver left with emphasizing the importance of engaging the media, both mainstream and progressive, in trying to reach people who have not heard the message of the peace movement. |
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