The Flaws in the Convention as I See Them

I just got back from attending the Iraq Veterans Against the War National Convention and there are some things that I need to work through and to share or else I am going to lose my mind.

It will be easiest to address what we did not do during this convention, but I will also take some time to address what we did do.

Allow me first, though, to paint a picture of where our organization now stands: We have no chapters. We are losing our Executive Director and the person responsible for organizing our current contested model of activism, the Field Team Organizer, or leader. We are at the apparent end of a flawed campaign with nothing to move on to. Despite all of this we still failed to complete the following.

Firstly, we, for the first convention in our history, did not vote for new members in our Board of Directors. Our new candidates were not given time to elaborate on the positions that they will represent in the coming years of change. This error has left us with no idea of who will represent the direction of our decision making process in a time where we face nothing but hard decisions.

Secondly, we never made it around to discussing our budget. We have gotten used to assuming that we don’t have any money in our coffers for years but still transparency about how the little money we do have is used has always been a priority, and should be a priority, for a realistic understanding of what we are capable of doing. This year, however, we do have a good deal of money to discuss. More than 600,000 dollars. It is all gone now, of course. But all we were given was a sheet of paper to explain where all that money has gone. Between Operation Recovery, the Field Organizing Team, paid position and facilitator fees we spent nearly 450,000 dollars. Almost a half of a million dollars. What has that money gotten us? How could it have been spent to better serve our goals? Who is in charge of allocating this money? All of these are questions that remain unanswered at this point in time.

Lastly, for the first time in my memory, we abandoned a set understanding of process in order to expediate the agenda of the Field Organizing Team. It was agreed that if 3 people were to block any item or agreement then that issue would not pass. On the issue of our values statement three individuals, myself included, did block passing the document we were presented. Two of us blocked because we did not agree with the model of organizing that was nested inside of the language. Another disagreed for a number of reasons including how the document was created and changed outside of the parameters of process that were set to create it in the first place. The conversation we were promised to have to resolve this issue never occurred. Instead, we were formally told that we did not have the power to block, but that our concerns would be taken seriously by the powers that be.

All of this furthered to illustrate a leadership that doesn’t give a fuck about how we want our organization to be. They are more interested in keeping us silent as they make decisions and collect the paychecks that come out of the 600,000 dollars that I mentioned previously. It showed us that we are controlled.

In the past we would gather at these conventions and tell “our leadership” the concerns that presented themselves to our different local areas, to ourselves as individuals. To our community. I think these are critical roles for our convention to fulfill. None of this happened this time around. This convention was merely a means of dispersing this years party line and ensuring that the current propaganda and agenda are drilled into the heads of the membership. In short, instead of listening to us, they were there to tell us how its going to be. This is a critical flaw in an organizing model. And it is clear that any capacity to alter this or to critique it has been  taken from us.

There was also a nearly unanimous outpouring of agreement that our name needs to change, sponsored by a very touching and well constructed plea from our Afghanistan veterans. Instead of honoring their request and outright voting to put this conversation into action, the motion was shit-canned with a “straw poll”. We voted merely to appease the AVAW, but we all know that by next year nothing will have changed. We will be having another straw poll or something equally useless about the same subject. I have suspicions that the powers that be prefer it that way, much like the government prefers that people remain racist so that we will wear ourselves out fighting each other.

In fact, we didn’t actually vote on anything. No hard decisions were made. The only thing that was still clear at the end of this was that for another year we are the property of the FOT and the even shadier movers and shakers that decide how the FOT will behave, but that was not something that was voted on. It was something that was implied.

In conclusion I think it is time that we out organize these mother fuckers. They think that we gave up and that without them we are useless. I think it is time that we pull our chapters back together. Focus on the small battles and make the big wins that we’ve become acquainted with in our tighter networks. Don’t let them come to your town and tell you how it is going to be. Put your foot down. You ARE the IVAW and wherever you are, and whatever you’re doing, only you have the power to decide how we should move on.

Your foot soldier in defiance forever,

Otis