(no subject)
Jun. 30th, 2024 12:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kradeelavIn 2013, the International Peace Bureau gave me an award for my “outstanding work for peace.” Colonel Ann Wright accepted on my behalf. She was an antiwar activist who’d been a senior officer in the military and resigned from the State Department over her objections to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. I was flattered to get the award, to get any award, but what she said stood in contrast to my actual beliefs.
When I saw a transcript of her speech, I decided to write a statement, which I released to The Guardian, explaining my point of view: “It’s not terribly clear to me that my actions were explicitly done for ‘peace’ … I feel that the public cannot decide what actions and policies are or are not justified if they don’t even know the most rudimentary details about them and their effects.” At that time, I thought of myself as a transparency advocate above all.
I burned a lot of bridges with that statement, especially with the older antiwar community. But I thought what I had done was better understood as a direct action in the service of transparency than as a symbolic action intended to secure peace. I knew some activists would not be happy with my statement or my approach, but dogmatism and purity don’t convince anyone who’s not already a true believer. If I was going to be imprisoned for the rest of my life, it was important that people understand the nuance of why I did what I did, and the long tradition of direct action that I believed my actions were part of.
- readme.txt (Chelsea Manning)
When I saw a transcript of her speech, I decided to write a statement, which I released to The Guardian, explaining my point of view: “It’s not terribly clear to me that my actions were explicitly done for ‘peace’ … I feel that the public cannot decide what actions and policies are or are not justified if they don’t even know the most rudimentary details about them and their effects.” At that time, I thought of myself as a transparency advocate above all.
I burned a lot of bridges with that statement, especially with the older antiwar community. But I thought what I had done was better understood as a direct action in the service of transparency than as a symbolic action intended to secure peace. I knew some activists would not be happy with my statement or my approach, but dogmatism and purity don’t convince anyone who’s not already a true believer. If I was going to be imprisoned for the rest of my life, it was important that people understand the nuance of why I did what I did, and the long tradition of direct action that I believed my actions were part of.
- readme.txt (Chelsea Manning)
