How Can We End This War?

9/11 derailed the counter-globalization movement. The morning the planes smashed into the World Trade Center, the Financial Times reported that "the protesters are winning." This referred to the international movement against neoliberal economic policy--that of the Zapatistas, the protesters against the WTO in Seattle, the IMF and World Bank, and the G8 in Genoa. When the anti-war movement began to emerge against the wars in Afghanistan and eventually Iraq, conversations about violence verses non-violence that hardly touched the counter-globalization movement began to sorely disrupt large-scale organizing efforts. Years later, the war continues. The public has grown in its disgust with the war; however, its ferocious opposition has slowly subsided. A violent reaction against the war in Iraq has not shaken the country. Capitalism continues strongly, unabated by mass discontent. The non-violent anti-war activists continue to voice opposition without effect. Militants continue to use violent language and do very little. The police continue their campaigns of violence. The military continues its campaign of violence. The capitalists continue their campaigns of violence and people remain largely quite. Is our silence not a form of violence? Is our refusal to disrupt business as usual not a form of violence? Is our absence in the streets not a form of violence? Are we not complicit in the daily slaughter of Iraqis? How can we remind people that the war continues, that children continue to be murdered? How can we stand by as the United States continues to commit grand acts of murder? How can we gain the strength to march in the streets day after day till the atrocities stop? How can we gain the faith that our actions matter? How can we end this war?