Where Next for the Peace Movement?
By MIKE FERNER As “teachable moments” go, Baghdad and Basra a month before George Bush ordered those cities bombed was indeed memorable. I saw the resilient human spirit alive and well after two decades of privation, war and repression. I experienced only warmth and graciousness, when my nationality might have elicited only hatred. I relearned the simple truth of universal humanity. Introduced to a budding, radical offshoot of the peace movement, I had a vision of how this, combined with the dawning democracy movement, might allow our species to finally leave behind the mire of war. People have demanded peace for as long as their governments have waged warfare. The popular cry for peace, often stifled and typically left out of history books, echoes down the generations. For 30 years I’ve added my own voice for peace, with little hope we could do more than delay the next war. But last month in Iraq I saw something new and singularly hopeful. While there, I met some 50 people associated
