#VeteransDay Social Media Dialogue: Broadening the conversation on the War at Home and Abroad
Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and Civilian Soldier Alliance are launching a social media campaign to shift the dialogue around this upcoming Veteran's day, Monday, November 11th this year from one that implicitly supports war by avoiding any conversations of its costs towards a frank conversation on how U.S. militarism tears at the fabric that bonds our communities and has real impacts on peoples lives. As we step into 10 years as an organization next year these conversations become increasingly important for us.
Conversation around Veterans Day are usually centered on sacrifice. This silences a deeper reflection on why, or whether those sacrifices are necessary in the first place. These wars that our country has engaged in have meant destruction for too many communities at home and abroad. Undoubtedly the veterans community does bear very real costs that need to be highlighted but others sacrifice too. That sacrifice is borne by people in occupied countries who have lost so much, it is borne by those who have witnessed the terror of drone strikes in their homelands, and those that remain in Guantanamo Prison for years without charges and no end in sight to their imprisonment.
Our communities at home bear these sacrifices too. A system that consistently resorts to military solutions at home criminalizes poor people, and people of color. It militarizes our borders, makes our police forces look and act more and more like soldiers . And it spies on each and every citizen with impunity. For all of these reasons and more we wanted to open up a dialogue around how US militarism affects our communities at home and communities all over the world.
Who Can Participate?
Do you believe that our police forces are looking and acting more and more like soldiers? Do you think that the war in Afghanistan should have ended years ago (or better yet never happened) and that we should pull troops out now? Are you against a militarized border with Mexico? Do you believe that the impacted communities of wars deserve the right to heal and United States accountability to ensure it happens? Anyone who is interested in discussing, learning more about, or influencing the national discussion on the effects of U.S. militarism overseas and at home is invited to join us!
What can you do?
Tweet and Facebook post your own experience or your community’s experiences with US militarism. How have you been impacted by the wars abroad or the war at home? Feel free to talk about your vision for a better future free of militarized “solutions”.
Alternatively post compelling statistics and reports that highlight the destructive effects of US militarism. Make sure to hashtag your tweet or post with one of the following so that others can track and engage in this conversation:
· #warathome - Because these conversations and experiences are both different and interconnected we wanted to use this as a means of linking narratives around the destructive affects of militarism on our communities and reappropriating language used against us (war on drugs, crime, terror, etc.)
· #righttoheal - We want to include our allies overseas affected by militarism also and will use this as a means of highlighting the need to heal from militarism related trauma and the work that we are currently doing with grassroots Iraqi organizations to hold the US accountable.
· #beyondsupportourtroops – Support our troops has become a slogan without meaning. It silences a debate around the war by painting anyone that dare question it as anti-troop. It’s time to move past empty slogans and truly honor our service members and veterans by pulling them out of destructive conflicts without end or purpose.
· #veteransday – Use this hashtag to help highlight the costs of war and to help envision a better future where sacrifice isn't necessary.
Sample tweets:
Please feel free to use the sample tweets below or use them as a template for your own struggles or experiences. Aiming your tweets at a decisionmaker that you want to bring pressure to or a news outlet that you want to cover your issues is one good way of crafting these messages.
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Move past empty slogans & truly honor our troops on #VeteransDay. Its time 4 a full withdrawal from #Afghanistan #BeyondSupportOurTroops
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Servicemembers consistently denied the #RightToHeal when commanders override doctors recommendations 2 not deploy @nytimesatwar #VeteransDay
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W/ 1 million injured Iraq & Afghanistan veterans its time to bring them home from wars w/out end @PentagonPresSec #RightToHeal #VeteransDay
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Every day 22 veterans take their own lives. We need the VA to stop overmedicating & treat root causes of trauma. #warathome #VeteransDay
Thanks for your help ahead of time!
