Do something on Friday to end the war

Friday is Iraq Moratorium #6, a loosely-knit national grassroots effort to end the war and occupation of Iraq.

Nearly 90 events already are listed on the national website, from sea to shining sea. They range from street corner vigils to die-ins, with a dash of street theater thrown in. There have been 600-plus events since the Moratorium began in September.

California remains the epicenter of Iraq Moratorium activity, with at least 25 events listed on the site. (There are many more events that take place across the nation every Moratorium day, but no way to quantify them unless the organizers voluntarily list them on the website.)

If California is the hotbed, Wisconsin is the coldbed of activity, with 13 events listed and at least a few more planned. Twenty-five states have events on the list. You can easily check at IraqMoratorium.org to see if there’s one near you.But you don’t need to participate in an action to be part of the Iraq Moratorium. All it requires is that you do something — anything — on the Third Friday of the month to show that you want to end this war and bring the troops home.

While you’re on the website, you can take the simple pledge, which will also get you on the email list for updates:

I hereby make a commitment that on the Third Friday of each and every month, I will break my daily routine and take some action, by myself or with others, to end the War in Iraq.

Or not. That’s the beauty of the Iraq Moratorium. You can participate at whatever level you’re comfortable with.

If that means just wearing a button or a black armband to work or school, fine. If it means writing or calling your member of Congress, writing a letter to the editor, putting a sign in your yard, or any of dozens of other things, that’s fine, too.

Just do something.

Will wearing a button, or putting up a sign, or standing at a vigil, stop the war? Not likely.

But is doing something better than doing nothing? Infinitely better.

Two-thirds of the people in this country want this bloody, pointless war to end. But they don’t do much about it except tell the pollsters. That’s obviously not enough.

Many seem to be waiting for a new Democratic president to end the war, and have decided to put all of their energy and resources into electoral politics.

But we shouldn’t take anything for granted, even if we get a Democratic president and bigger Congressional majorities.

We’ve got to keep the heat on, all during this campaign, to keep the war issue on the front burner. John McCain’s going to try to make this election a referendum on national security. We need to make it a referendum on the war, and in the process to make it obvious, even to the most cautious, fence-sitting politician that support for this war is unacceptable.

How do we do that? There are a variety of ways. But for starters, how about doing something on Friday?