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Behind the scenes: Six years of anti-war organizing
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After more than six years of protesting against wars in the Middle East, there's a high level of predictability to the proceedings — sometimes depressingly so. But on the organizing front, there have also been some interesting changes in terms of strategy and ideology.
The loose coalition that's been coming together in the early months of every year to plan a response to yet another anniversary of the invasion of Iraq is non-hierarchical, operating on the basis of consensus. And in the first four years of this saga, the road to consensus was a continuous tug-of-war between two camps, with constant disagreement over issues such as how to address the Israel-Palestine conflict or whether to welcome Democratic politicians at rallies.
In this increasingly divisive process, people used terms like "liberal," "Democrat," "radical" and "anarchist" as veiled insults directed at those with whom they didn't see eye to eye, so let's avoid these loaded terms by characterizing what happened as a struggle between groups close to the political center and those further to the left.
4th anniversary flyer
These tensions came to a head two years ago, when some activists decided that the coalition had moved too far to the left and was too beholden to certain personalities, particularly organizers Andy Thayer and Chris Geovanis.
Thayer takes a fall for civil liberties on the second anniversary of the war: What's not to like about the guy?
The centrist groups responding by forming a short-lived splinter coalition and organizing a controversial demonstration on their own terms in the fall of 2007. Shortly thereafter, Carl Davidson, the unofficial leader of the center faction, packed his things and moved to Pennsylvania.
Davidson was the brave soul who would go to organizing meetings to advocate centrist positions, and when he left no one was willing or able to fill his shoes. So for the past year and a half — a timeline that, coincidentally or not, parallels the rise of the Obama juggernaut — the moderate wing of the Chicago peace movement has turned its back on street protests.
So the left now has full control of the annual anniversary observance, and if nothing else, this eliminates old arguments. The question of whether or not to have Democrats speaks at the rallies never comes up — this coalition has no use for elected officials. There's also no debate about playing nice with the Israel supporters; demands for an end to the occupation of Palestine are now front and center. And Afghanistan, which many moderates see as a justified war and is now the Obama administration's priority, is also on the agenda.
5th anniversary flyer
So with these pesky issues out of the way, Thayer's main job when the coalition met for the first time this year was to convince everyone to march In Pilsen rather than on Michigan Avenue; the permit application was already filed. But why would Thayer advocate this move after spending three years fighting for the right to march on the Mag Mile — a struggle that started with a mass arrest and ended when he finally devised a legal strategy to force the city to allow a protest on its favorite thoroughfare?
"I honestly felt that the Michigan Avenue thing had become stale," he said. The figures seem to bear him out; back in 2006, the first demo at that location was a huge success, drawing more than 10,000 marchers and national media coverage. But in 2007 and 2008 attendance dropped to an estimated 4,000 and 2,500, and in both years there was much discussion within the coalition about what went wrong (although it must be noted that the anti-war movement was losing steam at the national level).
So Thayer and Pilsen-based groups like Comité Anti-Militarización and La Voz de los de Abajo made the case for marching on the neighborhood, pointing out that this would be an opportunity to connect the war with immigration issues — Latino youth are heavily targeted by military recruiters, and citizenship is often used as an enticement. The coalition quickly reached a consensus that for the first it would work to organize a march against the war and for immigration rights.
6th anniversary flyer
Alas, the event was scheduled for the same day as the St. Patrick's Day Parade, so another permit battle ensued; the city lost the first round, filed an emergency motion, and was embarrassingly rebuffed. A judge finally quashed the city's last appeal three weeks ago, but the permit was never issued, so there were remained a possibility that the city might pull off an 11th-hour maneuver, either by appealing in a state court or by directing police commanders to block the march.
Thayer, who has felony charges pending against him in connection with a January 2008 protest against then-President George Bush and can't afford another showdown with the police, claimed he wasn't worried. "If they ask if we have a permit, I'll say 'here it is," he said, holding up Associate Judge Joseph M. Sconza's final ruling against the city.
The protest: Blow-by-blow account with photos and videos
