On Sunday, U.S. Navy officer John Hutto led a group of social justice activists, both students and elderly community members, in exchanging stories, ideas, and organizing techniques to protest the war in Iraq. Hutton is a co-founder of the Appeal for Redress, a campaign that encourages armed service members to contact their elected officials in favor of withdrawal from Iraq.
“It’s good that he’s going around and spreading the word about this,” said Students for Ending the War in Iraq (SEWI) member Erik Rosenberg ’08. “It makes local activists feel like they’re working with the soldiers. It’s good to let the people know that the soldiers themselves are against what’s going on in the war.”
The group met in the basement of Middletown’s Church of the Holy Trinity, on Main St. Representatives from several participating organizations, including Military Families Speak Out, the Middle East Crisis Committee, and the New Haven branch of the International Socialist Organization, occupied tables around the room’s border, distributing pamphlets and offering subscriptions to listservs, newsletters, and newspapers.
Leader of Connecticut United for Peace Christine Gauvreau, which co-sponsored the event, took the podium first. Coloring her voice, she praised Hutto and the crowd in front of her.
“Greater numbers of us are beginning to understand that ending this war is up to us, and especially up to people like John Hutto, who are asked to sacrifice their lives for it,” Gauvreau said.
Following Gauvreau, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out Peggy Gray derided the recent congressional passage of a nonbinding resolution against President Bush’s planned troop surge. Gray called for concrete action over symbolic gestures. She closed her remarks by reminding the crowd of her organization’s slogan: “Don’t defend the war, de-fund the war.”
Hutto opened his remarks by describing personal experiences in the Navy, where he encountered a culture that he said he found repugnant.
“When you come into the military on day one, the whole goal is really just to break you down,” Hutto said.
He linked the oppressive culture to wider issues of oppression in America.
“Somebody cracking a racist joke, that was nothing,” Hutto said. “People talk[ed] about the Klan, Adolph Hitler. That was just daily conversation.”
As an African-American, Hutto said that he was not surprised to face harassment. He said that it would have driven him to go absent without leave if he had not remained in close contact with a former professor from Howard University, his alma mater. The professor had been active in the GI anti-war movement during the Vietnam War, and he inspired Hutto to try to change military oppression by confronting it directly.
It was from this inspiration, Hutto said, that he launched the Appeal for Redress. The appeal was delivered to Congress on Jan. 16 to coincide with Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It included a petition with of 1,277 signatures, 60 percent of which were from soldiers who have served at least one tour of duty in Iraq.
“I think it’s important that people in the armed services are given an outlet to express their dissent against the war,” Rosenberg said. “People in this country respect their opinions.”
Beyond the war in Iraq, Hutto urged reform of several policies that render armed service members vulnerable to being called back into service even after having finished their duty.
Catering to an enthusiastic audience, Hutto urged the civilians in front of him to make connections with anti-war individuals within the military. He pointed out that a large military population is accessible as close as Groton, CT.
“Get out into the community,” Hutto said. “They’re there. Touch ’em. Tell them about what your organizations are doing.”
Hutto concluded on a markedly different note, turning from today’s struggle against the war in Iraq specifically to reform in general. While sensitive to the large presence of pacifists in the anti-war movement, Hutto asserted that fundamental change would likely require violence.
During the question-and-answer session that followed, audience members took the opportunity to announce their organizations’ upcoming events and to express their own often radical views. Perhaps most movingly, a retired Navy officer rose to thank Hutto for his bravery.
“I was really surprised to see an active-duty serviceman speaking so freely about the resistance of soldiers to the war effort,” said Karl Nagy ’09, a member of SEWI. “I think that it is encouraging that soldiers are starting to openly oppose the war, but it also shows how bad things have gotten.”
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