Twenty-Seventh Tuesday Topic

Did you participate in the widespread protests of the war on Saturday, October 27th?

Whether you went or not, what did you think of this effort?

How do you think the peace movement can be more effective in conveying its message?

Twenty-Sixth Tuesday Topic

Rather than steering clear of the conflict in Iraq, Turkey is now getting involved in the conflict by making incursions in northern Iraq against the Kurds.

Do you think this can be prevented? If so, how?

Do you think this could have been avoided earlier? If so, how?

Twenty-Fifth Tuesday Topic

What do you think of the decision to award Al Gore the Nobel Peace Prize?

Twenty-Fourth Tuesday Topic

Much has been made lately of the United States' reliance on private security firms, such as Blackwater, to prosecute the war in Iraq.

What do you think of this practice?

Does a privatized military force accountable to corporate (rather than government) leadership concern you?

Twenty-Third Tuesday Topic

At a recent U.S. Democratic debate, the top three contenders for that party's nomination (Hillary Clinton, Barrack Obama, and John Edwards) all said that their administration might leave American troops in Iraq until at least January 20, 2013.

For a second straight election, it seems almost certain that the United States will be prosecuting a war that the majority of the country opposes while having no major-party candidates who are against the war.

How can the two-party system be circumvented to prevent war without end?

The YouTube Challenge and Recent Dormancy

Hello Peace Bloggers!

I must apologize for the recent dormancy of the OMBFP project. I admit that I have been a little disheartened by the turnout for the YouTube Challenge. In the first 34 days of the challenge, I received 3 submissions, none of which met the criteria laid out for the competition. Two were music videos from early summer and one was a Panasonic commercial.

With less than 2 weeks to go, I did receive this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG9dnaKzAWs
Which I guess wins by default, though I'm still not entirely sure of the message that it sends. I can gather from the context of the people submitting it that it's supposed to be anti-war, but the line "there's a war and we're in it and I know we can win it" backdropping images of troops fighting in Iraq sends a somewhat dubious message.

While I initially took the low turnout as a sign of disinterest in the project and OMBFP generally, I think it's more my fault. This challenge just doesn't seem to resonate with the OMBFP community... some people wrote to object to having challenges set up as competitions at all. So I find myself at a bit of a crossroads in having to re-evaluate the types of events, virtual rallies, or "competitions" that we are going to have here at all.

Finally, I think I've experienced some of the fatigue that can easily plague the peace movement at a time where nearly everyone in the United States who could be considered a "leader" is either defending the war or giving lip-service to being anti-war while planning to maintain the war for years to come. Where is our Eugene McCarthy? During Vietnam in 1968, Eugene McCarthy (running almost exclusively on an anti-war platform) took 42% of the New Hampshire primary vote against incumbent LBJ, leading directly to both RFK entering the race and LBJ withdrawing. Today, we have candidates who claim to be looking for a way out of Iraq, but say troops will likely stay there till 2013. It's hard to get excited when Dennis Kucinich, a third-party candidate, or a non-violent coup look like the only legitimate hopes we have.

For now, I will continue to try to come up with projects that match up to what you, the OMBFP community, are looking for. And of course continue to register new blogs and fill up our numbers. As always, I am open to suggestions!