My last one raised nearly $6,000 – thanks! But it still isn’t enough. At this rate, we’ll be closing up shop right around the time the bombs start falling on Iraq – the Ides of March.
Look, we don’t need much to survive – my goal is $20,000 this quarter. Unlike the War Party, which lavishes its minions with millions, we don’t have access to big donors: our average contribution is around fifty bucks. Lots of people dig deep in their pockets, and come up with the spare change necessary to keep us afloat, and we’re asking you once again, at this crucial time, to come through for us. As we approach the outbreak of war in the Middle East, Antiwar.com is preparing to expand its operations, out of necessity, in several ways.
For one, the day war breaks out, this column will come out every day – a prospect I find almost as appalling as the likelihood of war itself. But the horror of the idea that my life will become one continuous column is counter-balanced by the other exciting stuff that’s going on with Antiwar.com – especially our Campus Outreach Program.
Hey, honestly, I really don’t mind trekking thousands of miles, being minutely searched at every airport, suffering all the while from a permanent case of jet-lag – because today’s college students are brighter, more serious, and more aware than we ever were. The future, if there is to be one, is in their hands, and that’s why we’re making a special effort to reach them with the Antiwar.com Campus Tour – because it’s going to pay off, in the end.
We face not just the prospect of war in Iraq, but a whole series of wars – if the grandiose dreams of the neoconservatives in power are allowed to come to their awful fruition. The peace movement is going to be fighting these guys for a whole generation, and longer: now is the time to make the kind of long-term investment that can help stave off an even darker future.
This summer, the first Antiwar.com summer school is hopefully going to be in session, in beautiful Atherton, on the grounds of the Randolph Bourne Institute. College and high school students who qualify will get a chance to go on an intellectual adventure, a week-long hike through the world of ideas accompanied by a faculty that spans the ideological spectrum, from Left to Right – and beyond.
It’s going to be fun – and instructive. Because our students will get not only an overview of the main currents of thought running through the peace movement, but sessions in practical organizing techniques and "street" smarts from those who have been there, done that.
I’d like nothing better than to be able to announce the exact dates of this exciting event right here and now, but first I have to raise the money – and that’s where you come in.
Soon you’ll be forking over a lot of bucks to Uncle Sam, as U.S. troops converge menacingly on Iraq: wouldn’t you rather that money went to the cause of a sane foreign policy?
Your donation to Antiwar.com is 100 percent tax-deductible, so go here to secure the future for peace – now, before it’s too late.
THE ANTIWAR MOVEMENT: UP FROM LEFTISM?
Okay, back to my piece in TAC. In re-reading it, I think that the ending may give the reader a false impression of fatalism, that I would like to dispel in advance. I do not believe it is too late for the antiwar movement to get its act together, but, in raising the issue of the lateness of the hour, I was merely underscoring the urgent necessity of a radical transformation. Anyway, read it and let me know what you think.
MEDIA NOTES
Today I’m being interviewed on Chicago’s WRMN AM, 1410, by Ken Prasic – at 9:15 CST. Go here to hear it on streaming audio (click on "Listen Now" on the left side). This is part of the promotion for the Libertarian Party of Illinois convention, to be held February 28 – March 2, at the Four Points Sheraton – Oak Brook, 17 West 350 22nd Street, in Oakbrook Terrace. I am the keynote speaker, and my talk, "Libertarianism in the Age of Empire," is scheduled for noon, on Saturday, the 29th: reserve your seat now, as space is limited. Gee, I haven’t been to a Libertarian Party event since … the early 1980’s! Thanks for the invite, Illinois Libertarians: I’m really looking forward to it.
This Thursday, Feb 13, at 6:30pm CST, I’m going to be interviewed on 91.7 KOOP FM, Austin, Texas, by Angela Keaton, of "The Liberated Space."
Daniel Ellsberg plugs Antiwar.com in an interview with Editor & Publisher: check it out. I have always been a big fan of Ellsberg’s, and it’s nice to know it’s mutual.
– Justin Raimondo
