Resident Scholars of the A.P.I.
SIR! No SIR!
NOW SHOWING IN SAN DIEGO!
"In the 1960's, thousands of American GIs rebelled against the Vietnam War, changing the course of history and society. No film has ever told their story ... until now."
The documentary film, SIR! No SIR!, by filmmaker/director David Zeiger, opened yesterday at San Diego's Ken Cinema for a limited one week engagement. If you are currently serving in the military, a veteran, a parent, a grandparent, are appalled at the rise of militarism in the United States and the cost in blood and dollars of the war of agression in Iraq - this film is a MUST SEE!
Zeiger's powerful film chronicles the GI anti-war movement within the American military during the Vietnam War. The GI Movement started small in 1968 and swelled to include a majority of the US forces within two short years This historic and patriotic resistance combined with the civilian anti-war movement forced Richard Nixon to end America's illegal war on Vietnam in 1975.
My husband, daughter, and I attended the 7:15 p.m. showing of this remarkable film last evening and were blown away both by the content of the film and quality of its presentation. David Zeiger, who made an appearance and spoke to audience, impressed all of us with his dedication to the truth and concern for the troops who are presently trapped in yet another illegal American war.
I remember the underground GI Movement because I took part in it when I was stationed at Ft. Sam Houston in 1968 and later on when my ex-husband and I were stationed at Ft. Bragg in Fayetteville, NC. I passed out leaflets and made dozens of pots of soup, stew, and spaghetti sauce to fortify our fellow GIs during the discussions that took place in our off base home. I am an anti-war activist to this day because of my experience with those anti-war heros of long ago.
Given that the GI Movement encompassed a MAJORITY of the American troops serving during that explosive period, it is interesting to note the FEW who supported the quagmire in Vietnam. Chickenhawk service members George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld voiced solid support of the Vietnam War but never served in combat. And Dick Cheney, whose multiple deferments kept him from serving in Vietnam, never wavered in his obsessive support for the war in Southeast Asia.
Please go see this most important and timely film (thru Thursday) if you live in San Diego County. The Ken Cinema is located just off I-15 in Kensington at 4061 Adams Avenue. Call 619-283-5905 for showtimes.
Check out the SIR! No SIR! website here for the location of current and upcomming screenings near you. The website includes film trailers, reviews, a bulletin board and forum for discussion, and extensive archives of the GI Movement. SIR! No SIR! will be released to the public on DVD in July followed by an expanded version (extras) in October. Free copies of the DVD are currently available to active and deployed military personnel.
I came home from the theatre last night proud of the men and women of my generation who had the moral clarity and the courage to do what was right - STOP the Vietnam War. FTA! Bravo Boomers!
If you want to know what the Peace Sign really means see this film!
.......................Kitchen Window Woman...........................
posted by Kitchen Window Woman at 3:46 PM
16 Comments:
PERI...
I saw a documentary on TV a year or two ago about American war widows and Vietnam veterans who journey to Vietnam to reach out to Vietnamese war widows and veterans. It was thought-provoking. The Vietnamese on the program didn't call our Vietnam War the Vietnam WAR - they called it the American War.
The information about GI Anti-War Movement has been suppressed for many years. It was over shadowed by the urban myth oft repeated by American militarists "that soldiers returning form combat were called "baby killers" and were "spat upon". Maybe there was one or two incidents of such horrible behavior but I know many other veterans and none of them was spit at. This issue is addressed in the film "SIR! No SIR!.
I hope that you enjoy San Diego and are able to see this film while you are in town.
So what do you think of the anti-war movement today? In general, I mean? Are we on track - or a bit behind? I wasn't really old enough to participate until 1972 - the bitter end. Oh - I had a front row seat as a kid. I grew up in the Bay area, surrounded by dedicated peace activists. But I was too young to really go out and do much myself until I reached High School age. So - you were directly involved much earlier than me - does now even compare? Or are the American people complacent when compared to the citizen activists of the late 1960's?
FAT LADY SINGS...
I was in the Bay Area in the mid 60's until I graduated in '68 I went to high school in Concord and Walnut Creek. We were active against the war in high school. The news coverage back then was important because Americans could not hide from the destruction that was done to the Vietnamese people or the mounting deaths of our own troops (who were our classmates). We read, we researched, we asked questions, and we held discussions. We informed ourselves!
The boys were all worried about the draft. No one wanted to fight in Nam. No one had a reason to kill the Vietnamese...not even Mohammad Ali! The Domino Theory threat was not believed - it was propagandized paranoia advanced by the militaristic right wing.
I ended up in the service because like many other female enlistees, I signed the papers to escape my sexually abusive home. I went in but did not support the war. If anything, being in and seeing the military's screwed up value system and the returning soldiers who were horribly wounded mentally and physically, cemented my anti-war convictions. There was no reason for all of the destruction and pain but justification by the govt. was readily available.
The war situation is the same now but with a few are differences. The media is now controlled by the people who who manufactured this war and are profiting from it BIG TIME! Most journalists have betrayed their professions by doing "Pollyanna reporting for the White House". Back then, military members and the general public were better educated and took things like "lying" pretty seriously. It is glaring evidence of American ignorance that when Bush lied about the IRAQIS being responsible for the 9/11 attack a majority of civilians and military believed him without question and many troops still buy Bush's out and out lie.
Not only do I think that many Americans today are undereducated, I also think that they are complacent and some Americans actually believe they are SUPERIOR and therefore ENTITLED to force people in other countries to live by American civil and religious rules (with American oversight). They believe that they are being HELPFUL but it is nothing but the indifference and disrespect that is embedded in imperialism. Many Americans also think that it is their right (god given?) to highjack (control) natural resources the world over for their own selfish use profit$$$ !
The best - when millions of peace loving people all over the globe took to the streets to demonstrate against George W. Bush's intentions against Iraq. The worst - when the ignorant, arrogant, aristocratic leader of the United States plugged his ears, turned his back, and BOMBED BAGHDAD!
The citizens activists of today are good hearted people who have no reason to kill Iraqis, Syrians, Iranians, or anyone for that matter. Intelligent determined people, they are dedicated and working hard. The current fight is more difficult with the media controlled by propaganda central and the declining economic situation of the middle class and the poor.
Everything didn't happen all at once back then and it won't now. We just all have to keep working at it and exposing these radical neoconservative bastards to the light of day every chance we get! Then it's simple indict, impeach, or vote them off the island!...tee hee!
That is why I write this blog and donate small sums (we're not rich) to help organizations like MoveOn.org and Veteran's for Peace.
Where did you grow up in the Bay Area?
P.S. - I liked the pictures of your garden on your blog.
You know, no one can fault your good intentions and peace is certainly a worthwhile goal. What bothers conservatives like myself is the double-standard those on the left live by.
For example, you began this article by discussing the movie "Sir, No Sir!" Fair enough. Then somehow seguewaying to condemnation for those who "profit" from the war, as if that were the ultimate goal of the hostilities. But you failed to discuss the $250-a-ticket gala showing of "Sir, No Sir!" in which Jane Fonda starred. How quickly you forget her picture astride the North Korean artilery piece. I recommend you read Henry Mark Holzer's book "Aid and Comfort: Jane Fonda in North Vietnam" for a scholarly and well-researched treatment of her actions.
But moreover, look closely at "your sides" actions:
-- the wake of Sen. Wellstone which you turned into a political pep rally (talk about sick!)
-- the hypocrisy of Dem. senators convicted of crimes (Pelosi, Jefferson, etc.) yet refusing to step down (but Republicans hold to a higher standard and step down willingly!)
-- Michael Moore, your big hero, who owns Halliburton, GE, Boeing, and Schlumberger stocks while bad-mouthing "big, evil, corporate America!"
You also complain that many Americans are undereducated... yet you continually show a total disregard for all aspects of any argument. You paint your spurious allegations with pigments of half-truths and irrational emotions, on a canvas of false-logic, using broad strokes of unsubstatiated generalizations.
If you can face the truth, and I truly challenge you to do so, examine the facts and figures on both sides... not just those which support your ideology.
Sounds like an interesting movie; I'll have to check out the DVD. Did you ever see "Hearts and Minds"? It came out right after the Vietnam war. Very moving, an emotional roller coaster.
I think you're right that American soldiers being called names and spat on, was just an urban legend. Nothing like that ever happened to me or anyone I knew. Those stories were always sensationalized, and they always took place at an airport.
TOM HARPER...
I haven't seen Hearts and Minds. I will check it out. Thanks
I suppose it's too much to hope someone will craft a current anti-war movie (instead of revisiting Vietnam) about those dissenting voices trying to oppose the growing Hegemony. Oh well - we live in hope.
COYOTE...There are a couple of movies about the war now. "Hijacking Catastrophy: 9/11, Fear & the selling of American Empire" is a documentary that chronicles the Bush regimes's advancement of the adgenda that lead up to the bombing of Baghdad.I have the DVD which was well worth the price. The array of spokespersons includes author Chalmers Johnson, political scientist and author Shadia Drury, Stan Goff-U.S.Army Specical Forces (Ret)., Lt. Col. Karen Kiatkowski-U.S. Air Force (Ret), Scott Ritter, Daniel Ellsberg and many more.
And then there is "Why We Fight" (I just ordered the DVD from Amazon)which came out several months ago. It was playing at an Art theatre so my husband and I had to drive quite a distance to see it. We got lost and missed the first third, so you see, I was forced to buy it!
"Why We Fight" begins with Eisenhower's famous parting words warning against the rise, in America, of the military industrial complex. It then follows the military industrial complex from Eisenhower's message to the present, very profitable, Bush War against Iraq.
"Dem. senators convicted of crimes (Pelosi, Jefferson, etc.)"
If those are the "facts and figures" from your side, I think it's perfectly logical to avoid them because you are just flat out wrong. Do you need me to explain what "convicted" means? Or "senator"?
And great post, KWW. Hopefully it will come out soon in my neck of the woods. Just saw "Inconvenient Truth" by the way. Pretty incredible.
KWW - I grew up in San Jose. I remember all the protesting - and I agreed with it. I just wasn't old enough to participate (though I did sneak away with a friend once and tool around Haight-Ashbury. Funny how safe everything was back then; for the most part, anyway. Suddenly, at age 12, my parents packed up and moved to Ireland. I wasn't back stateside till well after Kent State and other watershed moments - but I kept myself apprised of everything - as best I could. Ireland didn't support America's involvement in Vietnam - and they hated Nixon. Most Irish still had portraits of Kennedy up in their shops.
KWW, reporter Helen Thomas was on the Daily Show yesterday. She hearkened back with fondness for her beginnings with President Kennedy. I, too, hearken back to those days. Now HT is still there, bugging the powers that be. Thank god for women who refuse to be too polite. You go, girl.
KWW,
People would be stunned to realize the number of GIs that are refusing patrol orders in Iraq-or fleeing across the Turkish and Iranian borders on the first leg of a trip that ends in Russia.
I know the Bush-neutered MSM isn't reporting it, but I assure you, it's happening, and the instances are no longer rare occurrences.
Paladin's "facts," as usual, are piped to him directly from Hannity and are too debunked (and stupid) to warrant serious discussion.
He seems to have gotten even further off kilter since my last lambasting. Sad.
Business as usual, eh Jolly? You have no logical comeback or evidence to backup your claim so you resort to name calling. Even sadder.
So we are supposed to just blindly believe you when you assert that more and more GIs are refusing their orders in Iraq!? You offer no evidence, no news coverage, no statistics... but you "assure" us it is happening?!
KWW goes on and on about "not drinking the Kool-aid" and refusing to blindly accept what we are told. I guess that doesn't apply when the assertions support your position...
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