Assignment 1

Assignment 1

 

 

 

In the United States’ involvement in the Iraq, the chronology is split into three periods.  The first period is the time prior to invasion in Iraq. The second is the actual invasion up until the fall of Baghdad.  The third period is after the fall of Baghdad. These 3 periods along with other aspects were and still are huge factors in the social movement in the protest in the United States’ involvement in Iraq.

           

            Protests all over the world from September 2002 to March 2003 in the first period that we will call “prior to invasion”, were occurring. It was said to be one of the largest protest before a war truly broke out. It was also immensely compared to the Vietnam War. At the start, these protests were politically aimed by a diminutive amount of organizations, some in which joined together. In October 2002, Barrack Obama, as senator of Illinois made a statement, which would later be used, in his 2008 presidential campaign to show good judgment, “I am not opposed to all wars. I am opposed to dumb wars”. The Guinness World Book of Records recorded on February 15, 2003, the largest anti-war protest (which occurred all around the world). In attendance were Reverend Jesse Jackson, London mayor Ken Livingstone, as well as the Liberal Democrats leader Charles Kennedy. Overall during this period, there were peaceful protests. However as the war raged on, and the fall of Baghdad came to pass, protests slowly became further violent.

 

            In the period that will be named “invasion to the fall of Bagdad”, protests were becoming more involved as well as violent (although in a slight sense). An example is that of in March 2003, in which worldwide many people attempted to shut down their cities in protest. They started to take different measures from which we saw in the first period. In the United States this included parts of closed cities due to traffic. Another event that took place was in March 2003 where the media reported students in Hamburg, Germany throwing rocks at police, who then replied with water cannons. As a result of the United States still within Iraq, there was more involvement from people who were ever more disagreeing on this war. Therefore since there were more people in attendance to these protests, law enforcers and protestors were increasingly coming into conflict. During this time, many comments were being openly made, such as Susan Sarandon’s giving the peace sign and Michael Moore’s public denouncement of George W. Bush when receiving an award.  Also seen was the gradual increase of aversion to the United States. Further proving this was the protest conducted on March 28, 2003 in Tehran, Iran where some 10,000 people (who were supported by their government) chanting “Death to Saddam” as well as “Death to America”. This period appears to be the most intense of all the three.

 

            Following the period of combat is “after the fall of Baghdad” in where in there was a decline in intensity. Protests continued, however they were and still are becoming more detailed. Some instances include the opposition to torture and abuse, calls for withdrawal, support for military resistors such as Lt. Ehren Watada, as well as opposition to military and corporate contractors.  However there were still many protests that were initiated by organizations (just as we have seen from the beginning) as well as an increase in people openly and publicly speaking out against the Bush administration. However, arrests were progressively occurring. Most of these arrests were due to civil disobedience. 23 were arrested in Tacoma Washington due to protestors who strived to prevent the U.S military from shipping 300 Stryker armored vehicles to Iraq. All the more, the amount of protest within the United States was increasing.  Beforehand it was more of a global protest.

 

            In the view of the Mass Society Theory, one can say that there was not a lost between “intermediary” organizations. There never was one. There is not a federal or international organization/institution that mediates between the individual and government.  Therefore there is a “lost of agreement” between the two that could have been the factor of this social movement.

 

As for the view of Resource Mobilization, formal organizations were very much involved throughout the second period as well as the first. Due to this being a global protest (not just a nation-state one), resources were more readily available and open to nourish it. Discontented people were and still are all around this world, not just in the United States. This makes it a larger protest.

 

            Taking a look at the “Political Process” the economic downturn of last year played greatly onto the problem of the involvement of the U.S in Iraq. There is less repression of protestors also due to the concentration of the government on not the lost of the war, but of the next steps to take thus making it effortless for this movement to be stronger.

 

            In this social movement it should not be believed that one is stronger than the other. They can all be seen as interconnected, each one crucial factor in this social movement in the protest against U.S involvement in Iraq.