Veterans for Peace Convention

Lance Cpl. Alex Arredondo's boots are displayed as part of a memorial created by the fallen soldier's father, Carlos Arredondo.

As the war in Iraq continues in its seventh year and operations in Afghanistan are ramped up, you would think the anti-war movement would be as vibrant and as energetic as ever. But how is it really doing?

“Its definitely lost momentum,” said Mike Ferner, National President of Veterans for Peace, an organization made up of military veterans that speak out against war that held its 2009 convention on campus last week.

Over 300 activists from across the country traveled to College Park to take part in the convention that featured five days of workshops, films, and speakers. In addition to Veterans for Peace members, a number of other activist groups attended the event, including Iraq Veterans Against the War, Code Pink, and Military Families Speak Out.

The theme of this year’s convention was “Moving from Hope to Action,” a reference to President Obama’s 2008 campaign slogan.

As a whole, the movement seems to be struggling to come to grips with the idea of Obama as war president. Feelings of betrayal and disappointment were on full display as activists weighed in on Obama’s military policies.

“Regarding the wars, he gets an F and regarding issues like torture, he’s not looking much better,” said Ferner.

Elaine Johnson, a Military Families Speak Out member from South Carolina, received national media coverage after demanding that President Bush meet with her following her son’s death in Iraq in 2003. She said she’s still waiting on Obama to fix the problems that Bush created.

“I still hold Bush accountable for my son’s death,” said Johnson. “I will hold Obama accountable for anyone who dies after he took office.”

At an event Friday night titled “Veterans Meet the Community,” the Rev. Graylan Hagler delivered a fiery speech at his church in Northeast D.C., urging attendees to continue to “push” Obama.

In a bit of pushing of his own, Hagler yelled, “If you ran as the peace president, we expect you to be the peacemaker while you’re in office!”

But other speakers questioned whether Obama ever really could be considered a peace candidate because throughout his campaign he was perfectly clear about his intentions in Afghanistan.

“It says a lot about the American people that even though Obama told us what he was going to do, they were still excited,” said Michael McPhearson, the Executive Director of Veterans for Peace.

Though they dislike Obama’s foreign policy decisions, most attendees support his progressive domestic agenda. They hate the wars, but they like the man who is now in charge of running them. So how does the anti-war movement regain its former bite and stay relevant in 2009 and beyond?

“Under the Bush administration, it was real easy to work up a good hate and not necessarily focus on the issues,” said Ferner. Moving forward, the activists’ goal must be to “keep people’s focus on the issues” and to continue to condemn the wars as forcefully as they did during the Bush years.

Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and president of an organization called the Hip Hop Caucus that focuses on organizing urban communities, said that getting people organized and desegregating the progressive movement are crucial in order to accomplish real change.

“If we don’t finally come together, and begin to work together, we are never going to see this change,” said Yearwood.

Getting people to come together might be easier said than done. Carlos Arredondo, an activist from Boston whose son Alex was killed in Iraq in 2004, said some people shouted at him and called him a disgrace while he was on campus. Arredondo has turned his pickup truck into a rolling memorial to his son, decked out with pictures, American flags, military gear, and peace signs. Part of his display was his son’s military uniform, to which he attached the Purple Heart that was awarded to his son posthumously. That Purple Heart was snatched from the display in the back of Arredondo’s truck as it was parked in front of the STAMP Student Union on Saturday night, leaving behind only a rip in the camouflage fabric.

Despite its detractors, Veterans for Peace is determined to continue to add its voice and strength to the larger anti-war movement.

During the convention’s closing banquet on Saturday night, Ferner announced that he would be leading an “action” in front of the Democratic National Committee building on Monday morning to demonstrate the organization’s willingness to hold Democratic leaders accountable. Ferner unveiled a protest sign that spelled out DNC with the words, “Defies National Consensus.”

McPhearson shared the same conviction in the closing remarks of his speech.

“Veterans for Peace stands on the frontline of resistance to Obama’s wars,” he said. “In the end, we will win.”