How are we going to get out of this mess? Bush’s “war on terror” debacle is not only destroying Iraq and its other targets, but is doing tangible damage to this country. As the U.S. dumps more resources into a senseless war, poor and working class neighborhoods are increasingly targeted for cut backs.

Every article in this issue of Critical Moment, implicitly or explicitly, connects back to the war.

The ongoing struggle for affordable water in Detroit (page 5) and the fight to halt the shut down of neighborhood schools in the city (pages 6-7) are directly related to the fact that money is being spent on the war, not on our communities. Our article on the Detroit Action Network for Reproductive Rights (pages 14-15) states the facts plainly:

“In Michigan, over $9.6 billion in federal taxes so far has gone to the Iraq war, over $600 million from the city of Detroit alone. This money could provide full medical benefits for every child in the state for two years.”

Because this country has prioritized war over social spending, our communities are more poor, have less access to healthy food (pages 12-13), and are more dangerous (pages 16-19).

We have no choice but to end this war. We need the courage to implement the ideas to end the war articulated in this issue. We need the courage to believe that we have the power to change things (pages 8-11).

When we act with courage, others will follow us. It will spread throughout our communities: courage to speak out, courage to resist, courage to rethink and reexamine old frameworks. Each courageous word, each courageous act does not stay in isolation, but begins to find echoes and reflections in our neighbors and neighboring communities.

Onward,
The Critical Moment Editorial Collective