The Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Marc, at American Future, has found some comic relief, and it's funny and sad all at once. His prop is a "Nation" article by Karen Houppert, titled "Peace Activists in the War Room." It seems even the "Nation's" headline writers have an eye for irony.

At an antiwar summit called by United for Peace and Justice, 400 leaders from progressive organizations across the country gathered to hash out a plan to end the war in Iraq. UFPJ is a two-year-old coalition made up of more than 1,000 organizations across the country. The umbrella group organized the February 2003 march against the war in New York City, which drew more than 500,000 people, and spearheaded the battle for the Central Park lawn during the Republican National Convention last year.

Still glorified from that immortal battle, the article says, "UFPJ's 1,000 membership organizations were determined not to let the momentum die." Ah, yes, surely you remember that battle, that hallowed ground, those honored dead? The pith and grit of the human spirit, exhilarating on the plains of Mars. Going over the top, riding into the mouth of hell, singing in the sun, sword unsheathing, and then that glorious flag-raising at the summit, and then the warriors' joy as the whole world cheered a new birth of freedom. No? Well, at least they stopped George W. Bush from being elected. No? Well, let's move on. Can't let that kind of momentum languish.

The assembly drew leaders from organizations ranging from the American Friends Service Committee to Black Voices for Peace to Code Pink, and there was a promising mix of personalities. More than a third of activists came out of the 1960s antiwar/civil rights/feminist movements-including a few big names like Danny Glover, Tom Hayden and Angela Davis, who addressed the group at one point. A quarter of those attending were young, mostly students with a few young veterans of the Iraq War. And while people of color were slightly underrepresented among the attendees, they constituted more than 50 percent of the group's leadership body, a steering committee of forty elected representatives. Queers made up 12 percent of this same body.

At this point Marc rightly points out that the whole affair seems to be more concerned with process than progress, with appearances than results. It's possible that Houppert and the UFPJ believe there is a direct correlation between diversity and efficient operation. But I do not know what evidence they have for that. Marc also points out that this obsession with procedure and appearances, almost to the exclusion of function, is something the anti-war left in the U.S. shares with the U.N. and many of the governments of Europe.

But it strikes me as odd behavior for a group of activists who claim to be "focused on an achievable progression of goals." By the end of the article they've presented no such progression. Their disjointed wish list doesn't even make sense.

Second, they need to work with other countries, especially peace movements in Britain, Italy and Germany, to chip away at Bush's "coalition of the willing."

Germany? Oh, no, how will we ever build a democratic Iraq without the invaluable support that's flowed freely from Germany! Maybe she meant "America," not "Germany." It's easy to mix them up because, you know BUSH=HITLER.

Anyway, I'll just play the highlights real for you, but to relieve the dead weight of so much left rhetoric (like eating a whole box of grocery store doughnuts), I'll play it as a mash-up with another track, from another source.

Here, the sizable presence of fiftysomethings in the contemporary peace movement might prove fortuitous. As veterans of earlier movements, they are both a reminder of the possibilities and a walking compendium of lessons learned. Vietnam War protest leader Tom Hayden pushed the peace delegates to adopt the same multipronged attack that ended that conflict.

There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head.

"Very uncomfortable for the Dormouse," thought Alice; "only, as it's asleep, I suppose it doesn't mind."

While many in attendance thought a combination of direct action, street heat and legislative pressure was required, many of the young people bristled at what they considered the mainstreaming of UFPJ's grassroots base by playing with legislative politics.

The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it: "No room! No room!" they cried out when they saw Alice coming.

"There's plenty of room!" said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table.

"The US lost that war because it couldn't defeat the Vietnamese resistance. It couldn't handle it economically, and it couldn't handle the peace movement--which grew quickly, but not as quickly as this peace movement," Hayden told the UFPJ assembly delegates, speculating that today's antiwar activists will have similar success if they keep the pressure on over the next five years."

"Have some wine," the March Hare said in an encouraging tone. Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea.

"I don't see any wine," she remarked.

"There isn't any," said the March Hare.

First, they need to work with the troops to project a realistic picture of the war and to support the soldiers and families that are already dissenting and questioning the US occupation.

"You should learn not to make personal remarks," Alice said with some severity; "it's very rude."

The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was, "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?"

Third, they need to keep up direct action against and Congressional pressure on the Halliburtons and ChevronTexaco's of the world, which are getting rich off the occupation. And finally, they need to force Congress to defund the war.

The Hatter was the first to break the silence. "What day of the month is it?" he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, and holding it to his ear.

Alice considered a little, and then said "The fourth."

"Two days wrong!" sighed the Hatter. "I told you butter wouldn't suit the works!" he added looking angrily at the March Hare.

That's where UFPJ's educational agenda comes to the fore. Detailed plans for teach-ins, documentaries, visits to college campuses and even the visible presence of groups like Historians Against the War are seen as potentially powerful antidotes to this. "Our job is to affirm that yes, standing on a street corner alone speaking against the war probably will not make a difference. But we can counter with history, citing examples of social movements making an impact, of people working in groups to force change."

The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then he dipped it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again: but he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, "It was the best butter, you know."

"One of our jobs is to provide some answers and ways to think about this," says Cagan. "We can say, 'Yes, we have made a mess. Yes, we have a responsibility to help Iraq now. But part of the biggest problem is the continued presence of US troops there. We need to get the troops out because that is what is making the situation there so volatile.'"

Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter's remark seemed to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English.

All agreed that one of the biggest challenges facing the peace movement was drawing in those who may kvetch about Bush's war agenda in the supermarket line but never make it to a protest march.

"Have you guessed the riddle yet?" the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.

"No, I give it up," Alice replied: "what's the answer?"

"I haven't the slightest idea," said the Hatter.

"Nor I," said the March Hare.

Alice sighed wearily. "I think you might do something better with the time," she said, "than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers."

Given the diversity of the groups in the coalition, from unions to gay rights organizations, there were remarkably few battles over direction or strategy. By deftly and repeatedly linking the war in Iraq to the economic, social and political forces that create wars like this, the coalition was able to create a sense that everyone present was pulling in the same direction.

"Then you keep moving round, I suppose?" said Alice.

"Exactly so," said the Hatter: "as the things get used up."

"But what happens when you come to the beginning again?" Alice ventured to ask.

"Suppose we change the subject," the March Hare interrupted, yawning.

Still, there was something almost comforting about the fact that the greatest schism at the conference turned out to be between the young and the old-compared with, say, the deeper schisms of race, gender and sexual orientation that have haunted so many of this movement's predecessors.

Alice tried to fancy to herself what such an extraordinary ways of living would be like, but it puzzled her too much, so she went on: "But why did they live at the bottom of a well?"

After all, most of the older generation looked upon the younger one's angry demands for speedy action fondly: That was them some forty years ago. And the college students were doing what young people do best-providing an energetic and contrapuntal radical voice.

"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.

"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more."

"You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter: "it's very easy to take more than nothing."

"Nobody asked your opinion," said Alice.

"Who's making personal remarks now?" the Hatter asked triumphantly.



"At any rate I'll never go there again!" said Alice as she picked her way through the wood. "It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all my life!"