I can't tell you how pleased I am that you've retired NVA and replaced it with WIN. That you've decided to recycle the name WIN is a nice bonus. The old WIN Magazine, as you've written, was lively. It acknowledged the negative energy in the world, but powerfully generated positive energy. It focused on the serious issues of the day, but also offered space for expressions of joy. May the reborn WIN do the same!
Steve Trimm
Albany, NY
As a long-time member, I notice changes in the Summer 2006 edition of WIN. Not sure if the articles are more positive, current or what, but this is the first time I have read it cover to cover in a long while. Definitely an upbeat spirit. I especially like WIN News and the article about building an intergenerational movement, a very necessary and timely topic as a lot of us oldies are wearing down and need to pass torches! Thanks for your good work.
Mary Ann Brewin
Berkeley, CA
Just got the first issue of the new WIN. Especially interesting to me were Ralph DiGia's remarks on the antiwar movement needing a new impetus or inspiration. Bravo to Ralph for his divine discontent.
1. "Peace" is social justice: its rays include racial, environmental, and economic justice not merely the absence of a hot or cold war.
2. Every peace demo I've gone to clings to the same old rock star format of one speaker after another commanding the energy and attention of the crowd. There is no community-building inherent in the structure of the rallies and that's why everyone always leaves them feeling drained and empty.
3. An enormous opportunity was lost when the Iraqi invasion protests began without bringing the cost on bread-and-butter issues home. The Vietnam protests helped to end the war but nothing changed; the war machine was left intact. This is a predicable outcome for an antiwar movement that has refused to emphasize the domestic costs of the war, doesn't protest racism, police brutality, and the prison system in its cries to end wars.
It saddens me that the Left has become marginal, unable to link the dots together. But it's neither irreversible nor inevitable.
Maris Arnold
Berkeley, CA
Welcome back WIN, and kudos on your commitment to revitalize the force of revolutionary nonviolence. Your editorial suggested that "nonviolence needs to be shaken from [its] philosophical slumber, to breathe fire once more." I would suggest that we need not only to breath fire but to step into the flames and be transformed by them. We need to burn away our own intellectual and philosophical blinders and to open our eyes to a much broader perspective. You also indicated that we need an analysis which includes "war in all its forms" yet failed to mention the war that we-as a human species-have waged against our own environment.
Robert Riversong
Warren, VT
I'm just really so moved at how you are all reclaiming WRL-I went through many years not feeling the affection and affinity for WRL that I initially did. But I always held on to the hope that eventually the internal struggles (over racism, and revolutionary nonviolence) would be won, and space would be created for new folks: young folks, people of color, visionaries and ... here you all are. I read WIN from cover to cover last night and felt so excited-the possibilities for building a multiracial, intergenerational, and truly radical movement are feeling more palpable since last night. Your introductory piece and the articles you included are great. Keep asking those hard questions, and keep forging that space for truly revolutionary voices!
Liz Roberts
Brooklyn, NY
