The People
CAN
Defeat U.S. Imperialism

It happened in Vietnam, and it can happen again. This legacy of defeat that the government calls the Vietnam Syndrome holds important lessons for the anti-intervention movement today. History taught us that "the spirit of the people is greater than the Man's technology." The movement must find strength in this lesson as we oppose every move the war machine makes. The U.S. is not all-powerful. Our actions make a difference.

The Vietnam War exposed the imperialist nature of the U.S., and the movement that rose to oppose it shook this country to its foundations. The truth that the U.S. had no right to be in Vietnam overwhelmed all the lies, and many of us came to see that the Vietnamese people were fighting a just war against foreign aggression that should be supported. Suddenly the world was bigger: We weren't just Americans. We were Internationalists.

It took 15 years for the U.S. to muster the strength to fight another 'real' war. And when they did, we were told by President Bush that the Vietnam Syndrome was finally over. One of the first of many lies to come throughout the Gulf War. The weaknesses that followed the empire from one war to the next were glaring:

Whatever you do, don't let your forces get caught on the ground. Fight from a cowardly distance. Bomb those gooks, I mean ragheads, from the air. And don't make the mistake of showing our bleeding heart public any pictures. Make the news look like a video game. That incinerated face from the road to Basra will only remind them of that naked, napalmed little girl running toward the camera. In fact, let's start promoting that yellow ribbon thing again. Nothin' like that old 'support the troops' line to weaken an anti-war movement. How're they gonna stop the war if they're supporting our boys fightin' it at the same time?

During the Gulf War, the government and their media pumped out a warning to 'avoid the mistakes of the 60s' that was meant to put anti-war forces on the defensive. In part it worked, as some sections of the movement echoed and supported the power structure by discouraging radical, no-business-as-usual type protest that supposedly alienates people. Unapologetic activists answered a resounding 'What mistakes of the 60s?! Helping stop the war? Changing the thinking of an entire generation?!!' Many of us recognized that the movement to oppose the Gulf War was standing on the shoulders of the Vietnam anti-war movement. That legacy of resistance taught us to hit the streets immediately, don't trust the politicians, and if you're a GI, refuse to fight! We knew that to end a war, you gotta make a War at Home. The anger that propelled our actions came from finding out for the first time, or knowing all along, that the nature of the imperialist beast had not changed-the profit over people system was always in effect, but at times like this it is forced to rear its ugly head in a way no one can ignore.

Now is a time of crises and weakness for the U.S. As they desperately try to fend off the challenges of rival imperialist powers in the world capitalist economy, they're compelled to also suck some blood from their 'own people'--cutting welfare, slashing schools, and shrewdly constructing more prisons for the people who will struggle to survive by rebelling against them. Amerikkkan loyalties to the home front are crumbling. Now the U.S. is forced to maneuver their military invasions in an even more sophisticated way. But these maneuvers are a sign of weakness, not strength. The movement needs to take the openings this creates. Let's hit 'em when they're down! They say, We're saving lives through humanitarian intervention. We're restoring democracy by protecting people from brutal dictators who abuse human rights.

The movement needs to expose these false covers as the wars that they really are. We need to use that word--war--because that's what it is. It's clear to the Haitian woman staring down the barrel of a U.S. gun that war--not intervention--has been declared on her people. Then we need to out-maneuver the government's maneuvers. We've gotta be more scientific than the war mongers in fighting, analyzing our achievements and mistakes, and moving forward. The movement must be prepared to oppose whatever they throw at us. Vietnam, Panama, the Gulf War, Somalia, Haiti--are all examples of the many different ways the U.S. fights, and the variety of guises they use to lie to and confuse the people. So while it's critical to learn from the past, it's a mistake for the anti-war movement to base our strategy solely on how the U.S. fought their last war.

We need to study the lessons of both Vietnam and the Gulf War and apply them to U.S. intervention today and in the future. We need to recognize war not as crimes committed by a fallible government, but as the most devastating concentration of imperialism, a system that is willing to sink to any depths to protect and advance their empire. And we need to imagine a world without imperialism--how we can contribute to lifting that incredible load off the backs of our sisters and brothers everywhere, so we can all get down to the path breaking task of creating a new world that serves the common good.

Certain events in history cause people to step forward. Anti-imperialists need to be poised to welcome and unleash these new energies at every upsurge. We must pass on the lessons of the struggle to the next generation of fighters. When we do this, each war, whether the movement was able to help stop it or not, brings us closer to defeating U.S. imperialism once and for all.