November/December 2005

Editorial

The Peace Movement's Tipping Point

By Ethan Vesely-Flad

“We’re not radicals, by any means,” George told me.

George and I were seated next to one another on a bus headed to Washington, DC, on September 24th. We were both headed to the national anti-war march, and George was explaining to me how he—a quiet community college professor who lives in Mount Kisco, New York, a middle-class suburban town—had been inspired to leave his home before 5:00 am that morning, drive forty-five minutes to the Bronx, and spend nine hours traveling by bus to and from the nation’s capital.

“I haven’t been involved in any issues since the Vietnam war,” continued George. But, together with some neighbors in his housing development, he started a discussion group. “We are very concerned about this war.”

George may share a name with his nation’s president, but this unassuming math teacher may represent the greatest threat to Mr. Bush: a symbol of how the peace movement is growing to include the “not radical” American public. George, and many others who are now speaking out, appear to be the people who would rather not be bothered, but have decided they no longer believe what their government says.

It has already been a very bad autumn for the president. His political strategist, Karl Rove, is under threat of indictment in the Valerie (Plame) Wilson case. His head of FEMA, Michael Brown, resigned under fire. His director of the Food & Drug Administration, Lester Crawford, “retired” after only two months as official head of the office. William Bennett, secretary of education in the much-beloved Reagan administration, shocked the nation by saying that limiting the number of black babies would decrease crime. Bush’s former secretary of state, Colin Powell, said that the Abu Ghraib scandal has irreparably harmed US foreign relations, and joined ninety senators in calling for a new interrogation policy. And his Supreme Court nominee, Harriet Miers, has been derided as the latest example of cronyism in the White House.

But perhaps worst of all, Cindy Sheehan, a woman who has been described as a “Midwestern housewife,” just won’t leave him alone. Sheehan, who is actually from southern California, has the “mom and apple pie” look that has made her the new face of the antiwar movement. She sat outside the Bush ranch in Texas for most of August, during his eleventh month of vacation since taking office. She was arrested outside the White House for protesting the war in late September. She is crisscrossing the country, speaking to peace rallies in unusual places.

Peace activists take heart: it is these “unusual” places that are going to make the difference. In allegedly conservative states like Alabama, hundreds of people rallied against the war in Birmingham on September 24th, and coalitions like the Montgomery Peace Project, which I visited in early August, have emerged to bring people of faith and conscience together. As the evidence grows of the Bush administration’s reliance on half-truths, as thousands of injured soldiers begin to return home, and as the peace movement gains courage, slowly but surely the tide is turning.

Julio, a New York City cab driver, may speak for a surprising percentage of the disaffected working class. Addressing the rising cost of oil, he told me, “Last year, gas cost me $18 a day. Now it’s $42 a day—more than double!” But despite the fact that Julio has to work twelve-hour shifts, he thinks the hole in his wallet will be worth it if it helps end this war and get the Bush administration out of office. “I’m sick to death of these phony Christians—and I’m a Christian! I don’t care, let gas go up to $50 a gallon!”

A lesson from the Vietnam era, my generation has been told, is that when the people no longer think the government is telling the truth, change will come. “Trust me,” said the president, referring to his choice of a Supreme Court justice—but seemingly a reflection of his whole approach to governing. Progressives didn’t. Conservatives are now skeptical. And the moderate middle is slipping from his view. Let us seize the moment.

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This issue represents my first as editor. I am deeply grateful for all the congratulatory messages I’ve received, and will strive to serve our readers faithfully. We won’t be making radical changes to Fellowship, but you can look forward to new columns, writers, artists, and topics in the coming months and we invite your feedback. In this issue, we launch a new column, “Heartbeat,” by our associate editor and chaplain, Rabia Terri Harris. Also, we bid an incredibly fond farewell to Walter Wink and Jo Clare Hartsig, who have faithfully edited “Nonviolence in the Arena” for the past decade. What a gift you two have offered us through the years!