I’ve occasionally been posting pictures of the anti-war demonstrations here
in downtown Kalamazoo, MI. These folks with the Kalamazoo
Non-Violent Opponents to War have been protesting every Tuesday and Sunday
for months. Yesterday I figured I’d drive downtown on my way home from work
and see how the Tuesday protests are going.
There were 9 people there around 5:15 p.m. One of the things I’m curious about
is how long they plan to keep protesting. Given that American soldiers are likely
to be in Iraq for two-three years at a bare minimum, do they plan to keep protesting
for another 24 to 36 months? Anyway.
This man on the left couldn’t be more wrong. Consider Afghanistan — while
no paradise-on-earth by any measure, the fact is there are no longer any public
executions of prostitutes in stadiums, and women there are finally able to receive
an education. Violence, in some cases, is the only solution.
Next to him is someone holding a sign saying “Nonviolence can win.”
Yes, but only in places that already have liberal democracies where they care
about public opinion. Nonviolence can win? Then why is Myanmar still ruled by
a brutal military junta?
On the left we have a “no war” symbol with the Edwin Star quote,
“War, what is it good for?” Answer: Bringing down dictators.
Nonviolence gives hope? Not as much as seeing Uday and Qusay finally getting
what they deserve. It’s too bad those two didn’t get the Il Duce treatment.
The guy on the left is “mourning the tragic deaths of US & Iraqi solders
& civilians.” Was the death of an Iraqi soldier, during a military
campaign, “tragic”? Roll
the tape,
From February to September 1988, the Iraqi government launched the official
“Anfal” campaign, during which Iraqi troops swept through the highlands of
Iraqi Kurdistan rounding up everyone who remained in government-declared “prohibited
zones.” More than 100,000 Kurds, mostly men and boys, were trucked to remote
sites and executed.
But, you know, what’s 100,000 deaths when coming up with a suitable slogan?
“Permanent resistance to permanent war!” nicely captures what I was
trying to explain to a woman I talked to at a protest a few weeks ago. Most
of the anti-war stuff is simply the latest cookie cutter argument the Left has
been making since the conclusion of World War II. There was a time when the
Left would have supported military action against a right wing dictator. During
the Spanish Civil War many American Leftists signed up and fought against Franco.
Today they’d probably just hold lame signs about the magical power of nonviolence.
Another Biblically-inspired pacifist.