by Leslie Cagan

On April 29th hundreds of thousands of people marched through the streets of New York City in an impressive demonstration of the massive opposition to the war in Iraq that exists throughout this country. The turn out and energy of the day passed the expectation of organizers. By all accounts, the day was a much-needed boost for the antiwar movement. And it was much more.

Since the fall of 2002, when the Bush administration was announcing to the world that they were planning to go to war in Iraq, this movement has understood that U.S. policy toward Iraq is not an isolated phenomenon or a solitary adventure. At the very first meeting of United for Peace and Justice in October 2002, there was discussion of the need to focus on the impending war while at the same time work in ways which would help more people see how this particular foreign policy nightmare is connected to other pressing issues, both international and domestic. And since then, that has been one of the major challenges the antiwar has faced: how do we keep energy and attention focused on the war in Iraq while making connections to and addressing other important struggles.

While other mobilizations have sought to do so, the April 29th demonstration was perhaps the first major national march to mobilize people on an explicit multi-issue agenda - and to do so in a way that was neither rhetorical sloganeering nor a laundry list of demands. Weeks of frank discussion amongst the representatives of the nine organizations working on April 29th produced an agenda that had our demand to end the war in Iraq and bring all the troops home now as the centerpiece of the day, as well as several other critically important issues. The massive turn out showed that not only are people still determined to end the war in Iraq, but they are prepared to march on a broader agenda as well.

Expanding the Agenda

The question - or certainly one of the major questions - coming out of April 29th is this: How does a movement that has been focused on a specific issue, in this case the war in Iraq, and indeed needs to still be focused on that issue...how does this movement grow politically, programmatically and organizationally to expand its agenda? And just as importantly, how can that be done without alienating or losing people?

People's lives, to say nothing of the world we live in, are complex, multi-layered, nuanced realities. Shouldn't our movements be able to work in ways that reflect those realities? Shouldn't we start from an assumption that people can understand that issues are connected, and not assume that folks can only focus on one specific item at a time?

When laid out this way, my hunch is that most organizers would agree that we must be making connections, and we have to articulate a multi-issue agenda. So why has it been so hard to put this into practice?

I see at least two major obstacles, and I'm sure there are others. One barrier is the difficulty in developing concrete program work that makes connections between issues. How do we, for instance, do work in our own communities (or schools, or workplaces, or religious institutions) that allows us to address more than one issue at a time? Part of the difficulty in answering this question is, without meaning to be too harsh, a failure of imagination. All too often organizers assume people will only be able to deal with just one issue...not even giving folks a chance to deal with a more complex agenda.

Racism and Race Dynamics

The other major obstacle is racism and the dynamics of race in this country. What does this have to do with the challenges of building a multi-issue agenda and program of work? Well, just about everything. If we agree that issues are related, then we must consider the ways in which different constituencies and communities should be connected...which leads us very quickly to the ways we are not connected, the ways we are divided, kept apart and alienated from one another. Many forces keep us separated, and racism is among the most pernicious. But let me be more specific: the history, legacy and ongoing reality of both institutional and individual racism keeps white people from understanding how our interests and future are tied to people of color.

This comes up when we think about how the antiwar movement should have, might have, still needs to connect to the struggles of the people of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Yes, some very good and strong connections have been made. But if we are honest we have to admit that the predominantly white antiwar movement has not made a consistent connection to this life and death struggle right here at home. Similarly, it has been quite difficult to move large sections of the antiwar movement into activism in defense of the rights of new immigrants.

I don't say all of this to suggest that we are stuck in an impossible situation. Far from it! The good news is that people in every corner of this country are struggling with these issues. I am optimistic that we are moving in the right direction...moving toward a process of re-creating our movement. I see new possibilities for building alliances amongst historically separated communities and constituencies, possibilities for building a movement that is able to focus creative energies on one or a series of issues of immediate concern without ignoring or denying how those are connected to other issues.

Let me go back to the April 29th mobilization. As I said at the beginning of this piece, that demonstration was a much-needed, well-timed, important statement of the broad opposition to the ongoing war in Iraq. It was also one of the most solid examples of linking issues, connecting constituencies and taking steps to build a new movement in this country. Whether we look back on that day as one terrific demonstration or as a moment when our movement began to take on a new approach...well, that depends upon what we do from here on out.

Leslie Cagan is the National Coordinator of United for Peace and Justice, the nation's largest antiwar coalition with upwards of 1,500 member groups. www.unitedforpeace.org