The New York Review of Books is the premier intellectual journal in the US. (That is my way of saying I enjoy reading it, but I am not alone. It has a circulation of 125,000 .) The lead story on the web version, out today, is an anti-war resolution.
How and why, and what you can do, below:
Here is the front page story . It is about a resolution of the American Historical Association (AHA). And the key line is:
Resolved, that the American Historical Association urges its members through publication of this resolution in Perspectives and other appropriate outlets:
...
* to do whatever they can to bring the Iraq war to a speedy conclusion.
Here is how it happened. Historians Against the War proposed an anti-war resolution at the last convention of the AHA. It passed at the business meeting, with about 80% of the vote. Then it went to the AHA Executive Council which approved it, but decided to send it to the membership for approval. So HAW found 150 prominent historians (you probably studied history with one of them) to endorse the resolution and submitted it to the New York Review of Books. That journal found it important enough to publish, and gave it the top spot on its table of contents (electronic version). It will be on newstands soon.
And what can we do with this?
- Take it when you visit your congressperson. Explain that historians oppose the war and so should he or she.
- Tell anyone you know who is a member of the AHA about the resolution, and urge them to vote for it.
- Take the issue to your professional association and encourage it to adopt a similar position.