Abstract

THE NEW FACE OF PROTEST?

This article focuses on the alliance between activists against the Iraq war and Iraq veterans who are against the war. On a Sunday afternoon in February Michael Hoffman made a plea to a room full of 400 United for Peace and Justice antiwar activists who had gathered in St. Louis for three days of strategizing on how to end the war in Iraq. "When there are massive protests, we will be out front. We will say that you are doing everything you can to support the troops," Michael Hoffman said. Until the summer of 2003, Michael Hoffman was a US Marine with the Tenth Regiment. Today, Hoffman is a co-founder of the fledgling organization Iraq Veterans Against the War. Antiwar activists are determined to make the military a major pillar of the movement, both by homing in on one of the war effort's weak spots--the military's faltering campaign to recruit new soldiers--and by embracing antiwar troops. It is an alliance rich with promise. Part of the challenge for this peace movement is persuading Americans that attacking the war is not the same thing as attacking the troops.