Our Goals and Vision
- We believe that organizing resistance within the military is a strategy that can directly end war and occupation. Military support is one of the major pillars holding up war: when service members withdraw their labor from a war that depends on their consent, they become a powerful force for change.
- We use a transformational organizing model which includes winning short-term gains through issue based campaigns. However, the long-term focus is on the transformation of individuals and society through empowerment and an understanding of our common humanity and human rights based values.
- We aim to support the leadership of people most affected by war and occupation and build movements where healing and personal growth are central components of organizing.
- We believe that networks of ally support are important components of organizing within the military and veteran communities, and we hope that by building strong civilian networks, we can ensure that war resisters and veterans do not have to go it alone.
Developing as many leaders as possible:
Inspired by Ella Baker, the Civil Rights movement, and today's human rights and economic justice organizations, our organizing model is focused on leadership development, which means supporting veterans, service members, and allies in building the skills and confidence to become social justice leaders. We believe that by helping each other reach our highest potential, we can build sustainable, effective, and accessible movements with the power to win concrete victories and affect long-term social change. We embrace an understanding of "leadership" that recognizes that we are all potential leaders, and the playing field is more fair and even when we all have the tools and skills we need to participate in a meaningful and fulfilling way.
To that end, our members have for the past two years continued their work with anti-war veterans, notably members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, to build a national leadership development program that is currently being implemented by IVAW chapters throughout the country.
In conjunction with this program, each of our chapters is equally focused on developing our civilian members into full-fledged community organizers committed to supporting military resistance by contributing their own critical analysis and passion towards developing a stronger resistance movement.
