American troops have remained in Afghanistan since Oct. 7, 2001. (Photo: army.mil)

As Afghanistan’s profile rises in America’s foreign-war portfolio, political progressives — both nationally and closer to home — are putting increasing emphasis on questions of troop escalation and United States policy there. In Minnesota, progressive activity on Afghanistan is taking the form of discussion, demonstrations and the formation of a new coalition focused on pressuring the state’s congressional delegation.

One leading national effort is a new Web site called Get Afghanistan Right, which went online only a week or so ago. But the site’s got star power behind it, including Alex Thurston and Jason Rosenbaum of the liberal blog The Seminal; filmmaker Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films; and Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation magazine.

As Spencer Ackerman writes in the Minnesota Independent’s sister site the Washington Independent, “The effort so far focuses on fostering a debate within progressive circles before talking to a broader and more ideologically diverse audience.”

That’s akin to Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer’s approach at the moment. He’s the University of St. Thomas professor of justice and peace studies who last year ran to Al Franken’s left in the race to carry the DFL Party banner against then-U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman.

“The conversation’s really just beginning,” Nelson-Pallmeyer tells MnIndy. He wrote an op-ed in the Jan. 18 Duluth News-Tribune linking America’s militarism to the “crumbling economic mess” the country finds itself in. ”We’re not talking about street protests [over Afghanistan] yet,” he says, “but people are really ready for this conversation, about the U.S. taking a different role in the world.”

 

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer says new presidents are pressured to be "appropriately militaristic."

“We’re always at the street protest phase,” Beaudoin says. “We do whatever we can.” That includes holding educational events, sending action alerts to a large e-mail list and helping coalitions form quickly as particular issues, such as Gaza, arise.

Meanwhile, a new coalition is now forming under the working title Minnesota Peace Lobby, readying what co-organizer Roxanne Abbas promises will be a concerted effort to persuade Minnesota’s representatives in Congress to focus on peace issues. The organization includes members in each congressional district to combine the resources of 74 peace groups so they can speak with one voice to elected officials in Washington, Abbas says.

The idea arose from a suggestion by former U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad’s staff, who found it frustrating to deal with the plethora of peace advocates separately.

“We’re focused only on lobbying,” Abbas says. “No protest, education, trying to convince mass media to pay attention.”

One of the group’s main issues will be Afghanistan, though Iraq, Guantanamo, and nuclear non-proliferation are also on the agenda.

But with President Obama moving quickly on promises he made during a campaign in which he spoke frequently about increasing troop levels in Afghanistan, and his defense secretary talking up the war there, are Minnesota’s progressives already too late?

“I’m very, very concerned about that,” says Nelson-Pallmeyer. “There are enormous pressures on a new president to demonstrate that he is willing to use [the military], that he’s appropriately militaristic.”

Many on the left have gotten used to framing Iraq as “a bad war that took our eyes off a good one [in Afghanistan],” he said.

And people relieved to see the new president in office may be loathe to pressure him so soon in his administration.

“Maybe there’s more of a reluctance among progressives who embraced Obama to want to give him time.”

Members of a committee of Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) brought a striking yet silent protest to the plaza outside St. Paul’s Ecolab on Wednesday.

Group members stood vigilantly on the steps, wearing bright orange bodysuits with black bags draped solemnly over their heads. Some of the demonstrators held banners and displayed posters that identified torture victims. Each of their heads was bowed. A blood red sign read, “Torture destroys us all.”

For those who paused at the scene, Sonja Johnson of WAMM, (pictured below) provided a little more information: “We’ve done a lot of research on torture,” she said as she handed out fliers that presented facts about crimes against humanity, while also touching on a few arresting cases. “We want people to be treated humanely … we want to stop torture at the top and we want to educate people about it.”