Here is\u00a0a very frank appraisal of this international conference that I recently attended.\u00a0 Wonderful people, some very good times, some very frustrating times.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Perhaps I spoke too much, but for me, there\u00a0was very little in the way of direct action from this conference group.\u00a0\u00a0This seems surprising when I consider\u00a0what I know\u00a0of the\u00a0wonderful examples of direct action that have been taken\u00a0by many of those who were present.\u00a0There was a lost opportunity here. I\u00a0felt I should stand up and cheer\u00a0when,\u00a0during the perennial discussion of why there were essentially\u00a0no young people at this conference (thank you, Kristen and a few others,\u00a0for being\u00a0the exception), someone stated out loud that no young person could stand to attend\u00a0something (often dull– my addition<\/em>) as this was.\u00a0\u00a0Exactly one\u00a0solution was offered….let’s\u00a0set up\u00a0niffty interactive websites\u00a0at\u00a0sites\u00a0where young people are active.\u00a0 Since this is an older group whose members tend to\u00a0be ignorant of technology,\u00a0 this\u00a0idea\u00a0can take the form of “the answer” when nothing else seems possible.\u00a0 Peacepays is a\u00a0fine website, but it is not “the answer.”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My question — what do we offer after the website?\u00a0 And just how great\u00a0is that\u00a0medium for us?\u00a0 I am dubious about how well\u00a0our peace message\u00a0can ever compete on youth websites —\u00a0it is not inherently\u00a0well suited to the\u00a0medium in the way that the U.S. Army has perhaps the world’s best hi-tech video games on their websites. How far can this approach take us — then what?<\/p>\n Our action needs to be “on the ground” and we offered\u00a0not one stitch of that at this conference.\u00a0\u00a0Well, I walked around Fallowfield with my “WAR, No Way, Don’t Pay” shirt on, and a number of young folks clearly looked at it and got the message.\u00a0 As far as I know, that\u00a0was\u00a0the only hint that we gave to the many young people\u00a0all around\u00a0us in the town, that an international peace conference with some amazing people was being held right in their midst.\u00a0 Nearby Platt Fields Park is one of the best and busiest parks in Manchester. We had two beautiful banners at the BACK of our main assembly room, and I never witnessed them being used.\u00a0 Well, I\u00a0 do have\u00a0a picture of me standing beside the principal banner.\u00a0It will be\u00a0included in\u00a0my report to the many people and groups that sponsored my presence at the conference.\u00a0 Anyhow, why didn’t we simply take the two banners and our group of fifty or so, and walk along the street of Fallowfield and into Platt Fields\u00a0Park, passing many young people and families who desperately need to hear our message?\u00a0 And we would create dialogue.\u00a0 Where was the real dialogue at the conference?\u00a0 It was preaching to a small group of the already converted.\u00a0 A group that will grow progressively smaller if we don’t take this to the streets and do some direct peaceful action.\u00a0 It is also what young people, in my experience, find most satisfying and appealing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pardon me for saying,\u00a0yet again, that I am surrounded by 10,000 young people in my work.\u00a0 As moderator for Villanovans for Peace, I agree that no Villanova student would have been caught dead at that conference.\u00a0 They DO like trips to Washington, DC.\u00a0 They\u00a0DO like to talk with\u00a0veterans (not us) who have actually been on the ground in Iraq.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Iraq and Vietnam veterans, if properly publicized, can draw a\u00a0group\u00a0of students and receive a\u00a0respectful hearing.\u00a0 Movies (“On the Ground” video did well for us) do quite well, and better if combined with a veteran.\u00a0 Petitions do quite well; try to make them not too radical for the group that you are engaging.\u00a0\u00a0 You get\u00a0people feeling that they have\u00a0participated in\u00a0some action, and\u00a0the petition\u00a0can\u00a0then lead to\u00a0the next step — the formal presentation of the petition, after\u00a0having made\u00a0a personal\u00a0appointment with\u00a0the appropriately-placed\u00a0human to receive it.\u00a0 Don’t just put it in the mail.\u00a0 Our annual Iraq Boots\u00a0display does very well, and many hundreds of young people walk through the display and\u00a0see banners that are too large to ignore.\u00a0 Speak, then listen, then dialogue.\u00a0And of course, all this is also an opportunity to speak about how our taxes are\u00a0the key to enabling this war.<\/p>\n You might\u00a0reply that much of what I say here is not directly relevant to\u00a0our conference\u00a0topic of War Tax Resistance and Peace Tax Campaigns.\u00a0 I think we all realize that it is highly unlikely that war tax resistance\/campaigns\u00a0will ever \u00a0be the “gateway” for young people to enter the peace movement.\u00a0 We need to start with a more direct and less intelectual focus.\u00a0 OUT OF IRAQ – NOW!\u00a0This is not a\u00a0radical statement at this point in the Iraq war.\u00a0Or be gentler (while making\u00a0the same point, very visibly) if you are with a more conservative group. How can we get out of the war?\u00a0 Present various options,\u00a0and one of these\u00a0is always taxes for peace not war.\u00a0 But don’t expect any active response from people hearing\u00a0about WTR\u00a0for the first time, or even for quite a while.\u00a0 Civil disobedience\u00a0appears scary and difficult for\u00a0most people.\u00a0 Personally, I believe that\u00a0WTR is generally inappropriate for anyone new to the peace movement.\u00a0 I have on one or two occassions gently discouraged individuals whom I believed did not understand\u00a0its full implications and were not prepared for what is required of war tax resisters.\u00a0On the other hand,\u00a0Mimi is a young Menonite\u00a0whom I\u00a0have spoken with considerably about this topic, and she\u00a0became a war tax resister this year.\u00a0 Her commitment\u00a0to pacifism\u00a0was already well developed, and thus\u00a0WTR was a new and additional\u00a0avenue for her to\u00a0express and witness to her beliefs. \u00a0As a practical matter, in the United States peace tax campaigns are much more user-friendly to the vast majority of\u00a0people\u00a0and represent an easier place to start a discussion.\u00a0<\/p>\n I am a person who believes in street speaking.\u00a0Be a public Friend or whatever you are.\u00a0 Let our beliefs be known directly\u00a0to the public.\u00a0 Not to be in someone’s face, not as a weirdo, but let it be known (gently) to whomever you meet.\u00a0 If, between now and the time of our next Conference two years hence, each of us enlisted ONE new person to\u00a0our common cause,\u00a0our members (well, we don’t have members really, do we?) would be dancing in the streets. We should not expect to ever be a large group, or even a young group.\u00a0 What we are stuggling with now is simply to replace the old people with a new crop of experienced middle-aged people. I know that as individuals we are “activist” and willing to take risks.\u00a0 What wonderful people I met at the conference. \u00a0But our work does tend to be of the legalistic and formal variety, which does not engage young people.\u00a0\u00a0And to the extent that the conference itself represented how we\u00a0present ourselves to the world, it\u00a0was not an enticing model.<\/p>\n