Cindy Sheehan breaks with war party

We salute Cindy Sheehan for the work she has done and the sacrifices she has made in the past three years to stop the Iraq War and bring the troops home. Sheehan sent out a letter to the movement on May 28 about why she’s decided at this time to pull back from activism.

Sheehan was courageous and determined from the beginning. She was willing to meet President George Bush head on and demand he answer whether her son Casey Sheehan “died for a noble cause” in Iraq in April 2004. When the corporate media publicized her confrontation with Bush in Crawford, Texas, this immediately catapulted her into the position of spokesperson for the U.S. anti-war movement.

Speaking constantly to millions here and worldwide is an enormous responsibility, doubly hard when connected so closely with a painful grief. Probably to the surprise of the same media that publicized her Crawford struggle, Sheehan managed to answer the hardest questions, face up to vicious insults, attacks and threats from the right-wing, and stay on message: bring the U.S. troops home.

She also never lost sight of the suffering of the Iraqis, as well as the pain of U.S. youth sent to kill and die for what was obviously not a noble cause. And she wouldn’t let baiting stop her from making allies anywhere in the world if it would aid the anti-war effort.

Sheehan has done in three years more to stop a U.S. war of aggression than most people have the opportunity to do in a lifetime. Today 70 percent of the U.S. population rejects the war.

Sheehan writes of her need to pull back from her public role, to mend herself and relations with her loved ones. Those who appreciate her contributions will support her, and of course, she would be welcomed back.

Political lessons

But Cindy Sheehan is not only an individual anti-war activist. Her “resignation” is itself international news. War supporters try to interpret it as their victory. We think this is a false reading of the events. Her letters are a sign of impending political change.

A few days before she wrote about the need to step back from her role in the movement, Sheehan sent another message: her resignation from the Democratic Party. It pulled no punches in attacking the deal that the Democrats made to pass the Iraq funding bill.

“There is absolutely no sane or defensible reason,” wrote Sheehan, “for you to hand Bloody King George more money to condemn more of our brave, tired, and damaged soldiers and the people of Iraq to more death and carnage. You think giving him more money is politically expedient, but it is a moral abomination and every second the occupation of Iraq endures, you all have more blood on your hands.”

This is the kind of statement that marks Sheehan’s contribution. Over the last three years, Sheehan has reflected the feelings of people in the U.S. whose political positions have changed under the impact of the war, the Iraqi resistance, the intransigence of the Bush administration and the failure of the Democratic Party to offer a real alternative. She has translated these feelings into determined action and a readiness to put her body on the line to stop the war.

What is most hopeful about these latest events is not her resignation, but the righteous anger she expresses at the capitalist politicians of both parties who refuse to end the war. The positive messages from hundreds of people who have responded to her letters on Web sites and blogs add to that hopefulness. Some “leaders” of the anti-war movement who refuse to break with the Democrats may have abandoned Sheehan, but there is a broad rank-and-file who offer her support.

The lesson then is that it is beyond time to break with the capitalist parties and move to a more determined resistance to the war and occupation. Those who claim to lead the anti-war struggle, but fail to do this, will be left by the wayside.

Practical steps

One of the anti-war coalitions, the Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC), has issued a proposal for an encampment around Congress starting Sept. 22 and a mass demonstration Sept. 29—the dates when war funding is again expected to come up in Congress. According to its call, “TONC welcomes and encourages discussion and suggestions for modifying and improving this proposal.” Its goal is to “demonstrate independence from both political parties” and “continue the shift from dissent to resistance.”

TONC is holding a conference June 16 in New York City (full details at www.TroopsOutNow.org) to discuss how to proceed with the proposal. It is an opportunity to move forward with the discussion of the next steps for the anti-war movement, taking into account the serious questions raised by Cindy Sheehan’s two letters.

They are a sign of more intense struggle to come.