Peace activists seek new idiom
Taking a page from the right, they're wrapping protests in patriotism.
"Hell No, We Won't Go!" has morphed into "Peace is Patriotic" in the modern anti-war lexicon, as peace strategists urge their followers to embrace the flag rather than burn it.
Aware that screaming denunciations of the United States might alienate mainstream Americans, some leaders of the peace movement are borrowing a tool from the right and using patriotism to sell peace.
"It's an epiphany the left has experienced," said Susan C. Strong, an activist and researcher who studies language. "People realized: 'Oh yes -- we're Americans, too.' Our frustration has been the degree to which our government wasn't living up to the values -- the American values -- we hold."
Strong, a former teacher of rhetoric and argumentation in Berkeley, has a Web site she calls the Metaphor Project. On it, she's collected a raft of catch phrases and clichÈs for peace advocates to weave into their conversations with Middle America.
"I began to realize that a key problem we had was that the language we were using was very remote from the mainstream way of talking and understanding things," she said.
Some samples from her metaphor buffet: "the cradle of liberty," "the wild frontier," "rags to riches," "common sense," "justice for all," "the little guy," "Joe Six Pack," "a beacon of freedom" -- even "dance with the one that brung ya."
She cited a sample slogan. "Win without War. It fits another American core value: We like to win!"
Plug in the metaphors, Strong advises peace advocates. Then jettison the heavy rhetoric and make your case in clear language.
"Speak American," she said. "Strip down to the simple, metaphoric Anglo Saxon. Leave out long words, complex explanations, historical analysis or arguments supported by lots of reasons, facts, statistics."
Those twin messages of patriotism and simplicity are reaching the grass roots.
"Let's show your children and our nation what this country really stands for -- democracy and human rights!" exhorts an announcement from the Tahoe Action for Peace, a tiny Truckee group that is planning a 2 p.m. rally Saturday at Kings Beach.
"We are three moms for peace," said Denae Anderson, one of the organizers. "We're very mainstream ourselves. People say: America, love it or leave it. Well, I do love America. I believe in America and I think to take this course in Iraq is not an American way to go."
American labor -- the metaphorical working guy -- has united to urge President Bush to find a diplomatic solution to the Iraq crisis. Forging this consensus was not easy in a group that ranges politically from the far left to the far right, said peace activist Ruth Holbrook, former president of the Sacramento Central Labor Council.
Toning down the anti-government language allowed labor to build that key consensus, said Holbrook, who has been an activist since the Vietnam War era. She said times have changed and the new peace movement is more inclusive.
"People want to love their country," she said. "If we want to build a peace movement that is large and broad-based, we have to take that love of America into consideration. We have to be thoughtful about sending out our message. I have strong feelings myself, but I have to understand the page people are on."
Simplicity, patriotism -- and the power of catchy slogans -- are lessons conservatives mastered long ago. Now, when the political left talks about love of country, the political right is skeptical.
"From our observation of the anti-war movement, I think it's pretty safe to say that there are a lot of people involved that have a deep disdain for America," said Jeff Kwitowski of Americans for Victory over Terrorism, a national group headed by conservative author William Bennett. "That disdain is rooted in a hatred toward this country and its ideals."
If the peace movement wants to be perceived as pro-American, Kwitowski said, it should denounce its anti-American elements: "When you have people in your crowd with placards that say 'Bush equals Hitler,' you need to condemn them from the microphone for the vitriol they are spouting."
His group does not hold rallies or demonstrations.
"We're trying to engage in intellectual discussion about the new threat we face," he said. "We're not afraid to call terrorists and rogue regimes by their proper name: evil."
He's also not afraid to roll out a few of Susan Strong's all-American metaphors.
"Some anti-war activists lead with a knee-jerk reaction that America is the worst evil," Kwitowski said. "They will not be accepted by the majority. Most Americans realize that one of the greatest exports we have is liberty and freedom."
Strong understands the technique. After all, she said, "metaphors work for everyone."
Dorothy Korber -- Sacramento Bee (Published March 11, 2003)
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