A Call to Conscience: The Anti-Contra War Campaign

Conclusion

[ 245 ] Conclusion The path to a humanistic socialist society was indeed difficult for Nicaragua. The Sandinista experiment might have fallen on its own, due to intransigent poverty, poorly managed programs, business opposition , or other internal causes, but the Reagan and Bush administrations were not willing to take the chance. They sought to foreclose the possibility of a viable socialist-oriented economy in Latin America by beating Nicaragua into submission through terrorism and sabotage. In the end, this proved nothing about socialism, but only that a powerful nation can bully a smaller one. To the Latin Americanist historian Thomas Walker, the Contra War was “one of the greatest human tragedies of the second half of the twentieth century.”1 Those who opposed the Contra War did not believe that the tragedy of American foreign policy was inevitable. They raised objections to both the hegemonic purpose of U.S. intervention in Nicaragua and its brutal means. They challenged the Reagan administration’s nationalistic conception of morality in foreign affairs and offered alternative frameworks for understanding the revolutionary turmoil in Central America. They joined with the international community in asserting Nicaragua’s right under international law to conduct its own economic, political, and international affairs. Working with great heart, Contra War opponents developed an unprecedented level of transnational connections in Nicaragua, undermining administration stereotypes of the “enemy” and providing tangible assistance to the Nicaraguan people. Those who served in [ 246 ] Conclusion Nicaragua as Witness for Peace volunteers, brigadistas, or individual cooperantes showed the Nicaraguan people the better part of the United States. The anti–Contra War campaign’s call to conscience was energized by a sense of democratic responsibility for the nation’s foreign policies, a sense of closeness to the Nicaraguan people, and a belief in the possibilities of social change organizing . Motivated citizens joined activist groups and committees of various philosophical and religious hues. They became practiced in the arts of conversing on substantive foreign policy issues, organizing events and activities, thinking strategically , and working cooperatively. They created organizations, networks of groups, ad hoc coalitions, and cooperative venues to unite their efforts so as to influence the public discourse and congressional legislation. They found ways to involve more people through a range of activities calibrated to suit different levels of time, talent, and motivation, ranging from the simple act of signing a petition to high risk “accompaniment” in Nicaragua. The various groups involved in the anti–Contra War campaign recognized their common interests and found ways to overcome differences in political philosophy, outreach strategies, and organizational styles, enabling the campaign to endure for eight years. Although unsuccessful in actually stopping the Contra War, the anti–Contra War campaign strengthened public and congressional opposition to contra aid, which in turn limited the Reagan administration’s options with respect to both contra operations and a direct U.S. invasion of Nicaragua. The ACWC extended the debate in Washington to communities across the nation, refusing to let the “imperial presidency” and its propaganda agencies dominate the domestic discourse . The campaign was part of a larger and longer struggle to cultivate a compassionate and progressive peace consciousness in the body politic. Other campaigns and movements have similarly fought on the moral frontier of foreign policymaking, often losing political battles but nonetheless influencing another generation of citizens and preparing them for future campaigns. If, as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” then history books should properly identify the protagonists of the late twentieth century as those nonviolent activists who gathered in the capitals of Eastern Europe to protest Soviet domination, those who organized opposition to the apartheid regime in South Africa, and those who challenged the U.S.-directed terrorist war against Nicaragua.2 ...