***** Published on Friday, April 11, 2003 by the Associated Press Anti-War Groups Scout Out New Role by Jeff Donn
...United for Peace and Justice, another big newcomer to the peace movement, may start focusing more heavily on smaller regional events than on mass protests, said spokesman Jason Kafoury.
"We're trying to make sure we're doing the right thing at the right time," said Mary Ellen McNish, head of the Americans Friends Service Committee, a branch of the pacifist Quaker church....
If peace appears at hand in Iraq, the anti-war movement's new message will be that "occupation isn't liberation," said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, on the steering committee of International Answer.
"We believe that the U.S. must withdraw from the Middle East. We're not trying to create a kinder and gentler occupation," she added.
Other anti-war leaders say they will refocus on supporting a dominant U.N. role in rebuilding Iraq and greater American cooperation with that body. Many groups say they must stay active to guard against what they fear could be Bush administration plans to attack Syria or Iran next.
Edgar suggested that perhaps his group should rename itself Win Without Wars.
"It's easier to organize people to stop a war than it is once ... the war is winding down. The good thing is you have a base," he said. "Even if the base shrinks a bit, we believe there's a good opportunity to use the leverage we have."
Some groups are retooling their messages to denounce what they view as excessive American militarism and to push for U.S. nuclear disarmament, promote domestic issues like better schools and health care, and organize to expel Bush and war-backing congressmen in next year's elections.
Peace Action expects to place newspaper ads this month with two other groups encouraging sympathizers to vote their convictions next year.
"It may not be 100,000 people in the streets, but it's necessary to make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen again," said Peace Action spokesman Scott Lynch.
The wider sweep of future agendas could make it harder to forge common action in a movement that has until now embraced pacifists and veterans, radicals and middle Americans, with only occasional bickering....
<http://commondreams.org/headlines03/0411-01.htm> ***** -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>