Two steps to end the US armed presence in Afghanistan:- educate Americans about this issue
- elect the new Congress, which stops all funding for Afghanistan, ending the occupation
This is doable. Each step is possible with enough unity and focus.
Education
If peace activists committed to writing two letters to the editor per week--hardly a big job, only requiring discipline--that would start the education process.
Call in to one talk radio program or contact one radio show host or producer each week. Contact one television program, station, host or producer each week. Blog on some aspect of this once per week. Talk to some leadership in some organization to which you belong--community, work, religious--and discuss dialog opportunities at least once each week. Leaflet on a public sidewalk just one hour per week--an actual leaflet produced by a peace group or your own talking points or a reprint of some article. The message is always a variant of This is a bad policy; we can vote in a new Congress.
Call in to one talk radio program or contact one radio show host or producer each week. Contact one television program, station, host or producer each week. Blog on some aspect of this once per week. Talk to some leadership in some organization to which you belong--community, work, religious--and discuss dialog opportunities at least once each week. Leaflet on a public sidewalk just one hour per week--an actual leaflet produced by a peace group or your own talking points or a reprint of some article. The message is always a variant of This is a bad policy; we can vote in a new Congress. Elect
There are infinite strands in this braid, but the most important is to get one viable candidate to commit to voting against further funding for war in Afghanistan.
At the beginning of your education campaign, if no viable candidate has made that pledge, note that in your educational materials and urge people to pressure the candidates. In your letters to the editor and all other outreach efforts, make some mention of the crucial nature of this election. Urge people to live as though they are in a democratic society with choices. Help them understand their choices. Notify your candidates--incumbents and challengers--that this means a great deal and that their commitment is key to their success. Assure them you are serious and that you will keep in contact with them after you help them win. Get your candidate in office and stay on the job until this war is defunded and done.
At the beginning of your education campaign, if no viable candidate has made that pledge, note that in your educational materials and urge people to pressure the candidates. In your letters to the editor and all other outreach efforts, make some mention of the crucial nature of this election. Urge people to live as though they are in a democratic society with choices. Help them understand their choices. Notify your candidates--incumbents and challengers--that this means a great deal and that their commitment is key to their success. Assure them you are serious and that you will keep in contact with them after you help them win. Get your candidate in office and stay on the job until this war is defunded and done.Why would we think this is impossible? People fight with violence and nonviolence alike for the simple right to participate in electing the people they want to execute the policy they prefer. Yes, there are elite interests arrayed in favor of more war. Stop them. Yes, they have purchased the temporary loyalty of some workers, including the military and the private contractors who make and wield weapons and other profitable components of running a war. Teach them that they can stay employed in a robust peace system. Teach all the underemployed and unemployed that this war and the DoD budget in general is exactly why they cannot find work.
Get unity. Get that peace movement moving. Grow it with a commitment to change and not merely as a function of emotional venting for a tiny group who currently hijack that movement and act out. Develop a peace movement that has clout with average Americans, one that is the reasonable alternative to this insane war system.
This is a question of individual and collective commitment, not capability. The capacity exists if we decide it does and then act on it. We will get the war or the peace we earn. This is not complex and it's not easy; it's democracy, if we want it.
