Now More Than Ever, Our Activism Is Needed

Dear Members and Friends of VFP Chapter 21

Now that the crazy season is over and Barack Obama is the new President Elect, the question of "Where do we go from here?" has come up many times. I have also heard many voices of discontent by Obama supporters who are now upset over the people Obama has either appointed or may appoint to his new administration like Rahn Emanuel, Hilary Clinton or Joel Klein. There is also a feeling that Obama may be backing off his commitment to end the Iraq occupation due to the amount of hawks that are being brought into this new administration in order to placate neocons and republicans.

Well, this past Saturday, November 22, which was my 57th. birthday, I treated myself to a conference at William Paterson University sponsored by the Young Democratic Socialist of W.P.U. There were several fine speakers on the three panels in this program including Greg Palast, author of "Armed Madhouse" and John Perkins, author of "Confessions of an Economic Hitman". The main message all the speakers on the panels I attended was that the changes we're all hoping for won't come from Obama or the Democrats in Congress. Those changes will have to come from us!

I'm sure many of you remember me saying time and time again that we should not depend on or put too much faith in the Democrats. Once again, I'll repeat that message. Barack Obama will not end the Iraq occupation or find a resolution to the situation in Afghanistan. That is unless, we keep the heat on him, just like we did with Bush and the Republicans.

So if any of you thought our job was done by getting Obama elected President or by getting a sizable Democrat majority in Congress, you better think it over again. If you thought that you could forget about the anti war vigils, marches or demonstrations, you got another thing coming. NOW, MORE THAN EVER, OUR ACTIVISM IS NEEDED! NOW ISN'T THE TIME TO PUT AWAY OUR BANNERS AND SIGNS BUT INSTEAD, IT'S TIME TO KEEP THE HEAT ON! In fact, we'll probably need to turn it up a few notches. So don't get too comfortable, get more active! Change will only happen if all of us make it happen!

Peace and Solidarity,

Ken Dalton,
President Alan Reilly-Gene Glazer Chapter 021
Veterans For Peace, New Jersey
Life Member, Vietnam Veterans Against the War