ojai news at The Ojai Post :: blog, newspaper, events in Ojai, California

It is proving therapeutic to me to become involved with these local veterans, all of whom are younger than me by a few years. As any regular reader on this forum knows, my relationship with veterans has been complex at best (memorial day 2006, veterans day 2007, Soldiers Are Made To Die, memorial day 2008, etc), and closer to home since my brother's recruitment. my beliefs are not exactly the same as theirs, but our points of unity are far greater than any differences, and i find myself able to engage with them on both serious and casual topics with comfort and ease. In all my peace work and opposition to the war, the veterans who carry out war have always been a distant "other" - connected, related, but absent and unknown. Even among the active local Veterans for Peace, there is a generational gap that doesn't always translate smoothly, so to find common ground among veterans is tremendously relieving and empowering to me, and i hope that it translates to an ability to engage not only with older vets, but with those who support the war.

Peace advocates have long struggled with a public and a media that frames positions on their own terms despite our best efforts at clarity. For example, a group who puts on an action that is explicitly "pro-peace" may often find itself characterized in the media as "anti-war" when, for many, there is a distinct difference between those terms and positions. Similarly, Iraq Veterans Against the War finds itself quickly charged with being anti-military, which is simply not the case, according to Ventura chapter President Cherish Hodge: "IVAW is an outlet for voices and a movement of bodies who wish only to improve the plight of our military as it stands today and provide a place where knowledge, innovation and true patriotism can live outside of the politically corrupted grasp of our current military. It is the continuation of a promise that we made to protect our nation and serve the world for better. We are not an anti-war group. We have not forgotten what it feels like to wear the uniform of service. We simply must soldier in a different way at times, to truly undertake our original mission to 'support and defend the constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.'" Born out of the July 2004 annual convention of Veterans for Peace and open to any active duty, reserve, or national guard members serving anywhere since 9/11/2001, IVAW consistently calls for

• Immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces in Iraq;
• Reparations for the human and structural damages Iraq has suffered, and stopping the corporate pillaging of Iraq so that their people can control their own lives and future; and
• Full benefits, adequate healthcare (including mental health), and other supports for returning servicemen and women.

How else can you support these awake and principled veterans?
• On the national level, you can donate to support their work.
• Visit the IVAW Store to get apparel, music, films, and reading material.
• Honor their voices by listening to their Winter Soldier testimonies from March of this year. If you'd like audio or mp3 discs of the testimony for listening to during your commute, i can make them for you for a nominal fee. Contact me to request disc(s).
• Join the local chapter on facebook, or email them to find other ways to help!

To learn more about IVAW's strategy to end the war and bring the troops home now, you can download their strategy pamphlet in PDF format here.