The Peace Movement Needs to Support Peace candidates like Hawkins
Syracuse Post-Standard
Letter to the Editor
October 4th, 2008
Dear Post-Standard:
In a recent article in the Post (Peace Council: Address the war), the writer says that the Syracuse Peace Council is irked that the Congressional candidates are not addressing how to end the war, despite Green Populist candidate Howie Hawkins' repeated call for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
Many of us who are peace activists are disturbed that much of the Peace Movement continues to ignore strong peace candidates like Hawkins, Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney while de facto promoting the pro-war Democratic candidates like Barrack Obama as the lesser of two evils. What the peace movement fails to understand is that as long as it continue to support / tolerate the pro-war positions of the Democratic Party on election day, the Democrats will continue to support massive military spending in an effort to impose the needs of corporate America on other countries in pursuit of oil and higher profits. We will never have peace if the peace movement isn't willing to vote for peace candidates, regardless of where they stand in the polls.
What has the Syracuse Peace Council done to provide opportunities for Peace candidates like Hawkins to be heard? Have they gone out of their way to make clear to their supporters the positions of peace candidates like Hawkins? Have they organized rallies, forums, etc. where the candidates who support their positions are given an opportunity to be heard? Have they included information about the peace positions of the Greens, Hawkins, Nader, Liberatarians in their newsletter and the war positions of the Democrats and Republicans? Have they protested at the events of the pro-war Democratic candidates? The answers are generally no.
Sen. Obama performance in the first Presidential debate should have been chilling to anyone who supports peace and justice. Obama did not argue that the Democratic Party was committed to peace; he argued instead, just as Senator Kerry did four years ago, that the Democrats could wage war more effectively than the Republicans. He supported the war on "terrorism" rather than acknowledging that the murder of 3,000 people on 9/11 was a criminal act that should be treated as such. He argued to bog down America in another war without end by increasing troop deployment in Afghanistan, a previous graveyard for British and Soviet invading troops. He says he will send American troops into Pakistan in violation of international law and he attacked China, Russia, Cuba, and Iran with often misleading statements. Certainly not positions of a peace candidate. Did the Syracuse Peace Council put out a statement denouncing Sen. Obama's debate performance and calling for peace candidates like Nader and McKinney to be included in the future?
Obama never points out that terrorists who found haven in Aghanistan before 9/11 were the direct result of the decision of President Carter and then Reagan to promote terrorism there in order to drag the Soviet Union into its own Vietnam style quagmire. He never points out the CIA supported bin Laden and other Saudi Arabian terrorists in Afghanistan and that it worked with the Pakistani secret service to install the Taliban in power to facilitate the construction of a gas pipeline there (otherwise it would have to go through Iran). He does not support holding Bush and Cheney accountable for their numerous illegal activities starting with lying about the reasons to invade Iraq. He doesn't point out the the 9/11 Commission concluded that the Saudi ruling family, which we prop up for access to its oil, was the main funder of Al Qaeda and other terrorists. He does not explain to the American people that our "conflict" with Iran stems from the decision of the American government in 1953 to overthrow its democratically elected government to install a king (i.e., Shah) that would allow the US and Britain to continue to control its oil supplies.
Sen. Obama doesn't explain to the American people the brutal day to day realities behind the occupation of Palestine or offer a new path to peace there, one that protects both Israelis and Palestinians. Obama fails to support the end to the oppressive blockade on Cuba, a critical step to help to build a more open society there.
Those who support peace must have the courage to vote for peace and oppose those candidates and parties who support war.
Sincerely,
Mark A. Dunlea
Poestenkill NY
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