Source: Mondoweiss.net
In recent weeks the U.S. has seen the biggest anti-war protests since the Iraq War, but you wouldn’t know this from watching mainstream media.
From 2004 to 2010 scholars Fabio Rojas and Michael Heaney interviewed thousands of anti-war activists in order to study the interaction between political parties and social movements in the United States. In 2015 they published their findings in a book, Party in the Street: The Antiwar Movement and the Democratic Party after 9/11.
Their main argument is that the U.S. anti-war activism largely ended up overlapping with the Democratic party. While the Bush years saw a reinvigorated peace movement in response to the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, public protests dwindled under his successor.
Barack Obama’s opposition to the Iraq War was a central component of his campaign and the most striking difference between him and Hilary Clinton during the Democratic primary. “I was opposed to Iraq from the start,” said the future president during his campaign. “and I say that not just to look backwards, but also to look forwards, because I think what the next president has to show is the kind of judgment that will ensure that we are using our military power wisely.”
“I think I will be the Democrat who will be most effective in going up against a John McCain, or any other Republican,” he continued. “because they all want basically a continuation of George Bush’s policies, [and] because I will offer a clear contrast as somebody who never supported this war, thought it was a bad idea.”
Obama was right about his ability to beat McCain, but he certainly continued some of Bush’s policies. In fact, he expanded a number of them—dramatically stepping up the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, stretching the “War on Terror” into more of Africa, and launching a global assassination campaign in the form of a drone program. Despite these policies, very few people took to the street.
“People have to make the choice, maybe unconsciously, where they could say, ‘You know, I could keep protesting the war, but does that make Obama look bad? Is that an issue we want to avoid?’ And in the case of the antiwar movement, partisan motivations and partisan identities won the day,” Rojas told Jacobin in 2018.
Palestine protests
Since Israel began its siege on Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7th attack, there have been massive protests across the world in solidarity with Palestine. This includes the United States, where the country has seen the largest anti-war, anti-imperialist protests since the Iraq War in 2003.
Thousands have hit the streets in NYC, Los Angeles, Washington DC, and dozens of other cities. A DC protest organized by Jewish activist groups drew thousands, and hundreds were later arrested, including two dozen Rabbis. An estimated 25,000 people showed up to a rally in Chicago. These events show no signs of stopping, with many more planned across the coming days.
These actions have gone beyond marches, with protesters showing up at the offices and homes of politicians demanding a ceasefire. Six activists were arrested at a pro-Palestine rally outside the Boston office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). A large crowd demonstrated outside the Brooklyn home of Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Jewish protesters showed up outside the Brentwood house of VP Kamala Harris. IfNotNow members have held sit-ins at the DC offices of Schumer, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA).
Former staffers for Warren, Sanders, and Senator John Fetterman have publicly urged the lawmakers to back a ceasefire.
American campuses united in a walkout to demand an immediate ceasefire, an end to unconditional support for Israel, and university divestment from the corporations funding the occupation of Palestine.
On the night of October 27 Jewish activists shut down Grand Central Station, leading to the arrest of over 300 people.
“This is bigger than we’ve ever seen,” US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) Executive Director Ahmad Abuznaid told Mondoweiss. “This is the result of decades of work that we’ve put into this movement, and I think some of it is connected to the [George Floyd protests of 2020]. There was so much racial, social justice, anti-war building in that moment.
“What I am witnessing today is folks asking the right questions, he continued. “Why am I supporting this? ‘We am I complicit in this?’ Average Americans are seeing this carnage and wondering why they are subsidizing this genocide.”…