Piper's Pit:
Robin Hood versus the Lord of War

Saab Lofton - August 2008

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever does." --Margaret Mead

Mead's quote is why I'm putting my faith in groups like the Seattle Divest From War and Occupation Campaign. Its proposed ballot initiative, I-97, would divest city employees' retirement funds from corporations profiting from America's imperialism in the Middle East (log onto www.divestfromwar.org fo' mo' info). This is the conclusion of my interview with Tommy Brooks from www.divestfromwar.org.

All too often, it's claimed by the cynical and apathetic that the peace movement is "dead", that marching in the streets supposedly went out of style with tie-dye and bell bottom pants. As an activist, how do you feel about this?

Well, I think those are two contradictory points. If the peace movement is dead, I don't know who those hundreds of thousands of people were marching BEFORE the United States and Great Britain invaded Iraq in 2003. Unless the undead have risen, the peace movement is not dead. It has never been dead and it will never die. The problem that we face is that we are disjointed as a movement. Unfortunately, the peace movement is not nearly the efficient, productive and streamlined operation that the war machine is. We have a lot of work to do... we must fight for positive change. Nobody is going to do it for us.

What do you say to those who're under the assumption that our last and only hope for a better, more peaceful world is if Barack Obama wins the White House this fall?

Change always comes from the bottom up. That's why I feel this initiative campaign is so important. The system we have in this country is the problem, not the politicians. That is why we have to break through bit by bit with local efforts such as this campaign.

Military contractors live in mansions and want for nothing as a result of their war profiteering. So how do you deal with flag-waving uber-patriots who're going to swear we'll be defenseless if we the people don't continue to give those contractors a blank check?

Our security is not a matter of how much or how little money these "defense" contractors get. It's a matter of our international policies. It's pretty simple. If a country invades a nation without provocation and in doing so murder hundreds of thousands of civilians, one of sound mind would come to the logical conclusion that some of those folks may (legitimately) fight back. In fact, it is their right to do so under international law. I'm not only talking about Iraq and Palestine, but also numerous countries in Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe. To clarify, attacking a civilian population in response to the policies or actions of their government is known as collective punishment and is not legal or justifiable no matter what side you are on. The bottom line is that these contractors are in the business of war. Their profits depend on continuous war, whether legitimate or not. Without war, they don't exist. So you can imagine where their interests lay.

According to Seattle's own Eat the State (5/29/08), "[I-97] mandates that if the government of Israel were to launch a military attack on Iran, the city of Seattle would divest its funds from Israeli government bonds." Has I-97 ever been falsely accused of being anti-Semitic because of this provision? How do you deal with those who won't differentiate Israel's human rights track record from Judaism itself?

This question addresses the can of worms that is being opened with this campaign. Media coverage of Israel in the United States is more biased than virtually anywhere in the world, including Israel itself. There is much more criticism of the government of Israel in the Israeli press than in the U.S. The fact of the matter is that the government of Israel is in violation of numerous international agreements... These human rights violations threaten the security of Israeli civilians. Again, when a civilian population is being oppressed and beaten down time and time again, it will eventually respond with violence if no other methods work. And for numerous decades, other methods have been exhausted by the Palestinian people to no avail. So this initiative is actually a pro-Israel initiative. One of our sponsors is the Seattle chapter of Jewish Voices for Peace and one of our prominent endorsers and steering committee members is Judith Kolokoff, a Jewish woman. The initiative is also pro Palestine, Iraq and United States. In short, this initiative is pro-peace. It uses international law established in large part by the United States after World War Two to guide us to more peaceful and just policies in the Middle East. This will in turn increase the safety and well being of citizens in the Middle East and the United States.

Besides volunteers, what else does the I-97 campaign need to succeed?

Besides volunteers, like any initiative campaign we need money.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Those who're rappers and in rock bands need to start regularly holding fundraisers for causes such as this one.