When Steve Nebel talks about efforts to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Tacoma resident is reminded of Sisyphus. In Greek mythology, the gods punished the king by forcing him to push a boulder up a hill. It rolled back down before Sisyphus could reach the top, forcing him to begin anew the endless task.
Nebel, a founding member of the Tacoma chapter of Veterans for Peace, wants to keep public attention focused on ending two wars where more than 6,200 U.S. service members have died and trillions of dollars spent.
But interest has flagged as the Obama administration has drawn down forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the attention of Americans and their leaders has pivoted to the faltering national economy.
Ten years after the U.S.-led coalition began the war in Afghanistan, Nebel and members of two other Tacoma-based anti-war groups struggle on.
“In spite of the fact that it seems like a futile gesture in many regards, at the same time I think ... of all the different people we’ve reached and the number of ways we’ve reached them through the years,” said Nebel, who fought for 11:59PMa year in Vietnam.
Members of peace groups say their efforts have educated people, caused some to question the government’s actions and prompted some to speak and take action. The fight must continue to end the militarism they see tightening its grip, they say.
“I feel basically the things that Dwight Eisenhower warned us about in 1961 have come to pass in the United States,” said Mark Jensen, a founding member of United for Peace of Pierce County, referring to the president’s warning to the nation about the “military-industrial complex” during his farewell address.
Tacoma-based People for Peace, Justice and Healing was the first group to form in the days after 9/11 when the “drums of war started to beat very quickly,” said Sallie Shawl, a co-founder. It celebrated its 10th birthday on Sunday.
Its weekly meetings birthed Jensen’s group, United for Peace, 13 months later. The local chapter of Veterans for Peace followed three years later.
Over the years, the groups have held marches and vigils, organized lectures and educational events, and lobbied lawmakers. They supported Army Lt. Ehren Watada, the first military officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq in 2006 with his Fort Lewis-based combat brigade. Members of the groups also participated in the most visible anti-war effort locally: six protests at the ports of Grays Harbor, Olympia and Tacoma from May 2006 to May 2009, opposing the shipment of military equipment and vehicles.
Olympia-based Port Militarization Resistance led those efforts. There were about 160 arrests in addition to incidents of property damage and claims of police brutality. At least three lawsuits are pending.
There hasn’t been a military shipment to any of the ports since 2009.
“I think it was successful in a certain degree in terms of affecting the military, but I didn’t think it was very succesful in the way it affected public opinion,” Jensen said.
Scott Ross, a spokesman for the Army command responsible for moving equipment around the globe, said the protests didn’t drive the military away from local ports. Since 2009, private contractors have decided which ports to use, and they may choose places where they have a better working relationship, cost less or ship the equipment faster, Ross said.
Nebel and his wife, Kristi, another founding member of the Veterans For Peace chapter, said they weren’t politically active until joining the local anti-war movement. The same is true of Jensen, and of others who joined the cause, they said.
“I think there’s a renaissance that hasn’t died in the 10 years of people who have become engaged and aware as activists,” Kristi Nebel said.
Not died, but certainly thinned.
On the one-year anniversary of the Afghanistan war in October 2002, people crowded in front of Union Station to protest. The ranks dwindled to between 25 and 30 for Wednesday evening vigils, and now just two or three might show up, said Shawl, who continues to attend.
Kristi Nebel said Tacoma has become more supportive of their message; the opponents’ name-calling and spitting at vigils in the earlier years have disappeared, she said.
Dr. Michael Heaney, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan who has studied the contemporary anti-war movement, said it has essentially demobilized; he said nothing short of the possibility of another war will re-energize it.
“It’s not a mass movement anymore,” he said. “All we’re seeing right now is the hardcore anti-war folks.”
Heaney said there are key differences between the current wars and Vietnam, the nation’s last extended conflict, that illustrate why the present-day anti-war movement has diminished: the draft is gone, the U.S. death toll is smaller, and national leaders aren’t fearful of social movements as they were in the 1960s.
And while the pace of withdrawal may not suit everyone, he added, the Obama is drawing down forces in both countries.
Jensen said the movement is feeling a renewed determination. Activists are propelled by the open-ended presence of U.S service members and contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq, and that Obama hasn’t stood up to the military-industrial complex, Jensen said.
“What are these wars all about? Why is it so hard to stop them?” Steve Nebel asked. “One of the reasons is, of course, that they are a huge source of income for corporate entities.”
Christian Hill: 253-274-7390
christian.hill@thenewstribune.com
Twitter: @TNTchill
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