Jonathan Krall is a member of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America.

"WE CAN BE ANTI-WAR TOGETHER." 

So began my weirdest conversation of 2017. In April of that year, four months into Grassroots Alexandria’s twice-monthly anti-fascism rallies in the Old Town neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia, the focus of those rallies — white nationalist Richard Spencer — was seeking our support for an “anti-war” initiative. The famously punchable Spencer wanted to "join forces" with us.  

Happily, I had a better response to Spencer than "f**k you." After politely declining to shake his hand, I provided a brief explanation of the international anti-war movement and its rejection of isolationism. The conversation was brief. Nationalists don't like internationalism. Spencer’s Left-Right, anti-war unity fantasy was kaput.

White nationalists like Spencer (who is now attempting to rebrand as a kind of moderate) promote an “America first” foreign policy that seeks to remove us from any kind of world order based on peaceful interdependence. But around the world, peace-seeking people actively support international institutions that will, some day, replace war with rule of law. Opposing war, that dangerously broken system of international relations, is only a step. We must also build something better. 

(Of course, the implication that nationalists are anti-war is misleading. Historically, nationalists support wars of expansion. Hitler called this Lebensraum, or “living space.” Mussolini called it Spazio Vitale. This is why President Donald Trump’s military adventurism and references to the US-Canada border as an "artificially drawn line" are so very disturbing.) 

This particular isolationist iteration of the “anti-war” Right dates back to Trump’s first presidential term. After the 2016 election prompted an outpouring of white nationalists, Spencer, suddenly visible, could be seen “sieg heiling” on YouTube. He set up offices in Old Town for his innocently named National Policy Institute. In response, my organization, Grassroots Alexandria, joined up with nearby Christ Church and protested twice a month. Spencer’s allies countered by posting offensive propaganda in our neighborhoods (something that still happens) and otherwise publicizing their weird Nazi fantasies of a “white ethno-state.”

In April 2017, Spencer exposed one of his fantasies to the public in the form of an “anti-war” rally in Lafayette Square, across the street from the White House. Unsurprisingly, sensible counter-protesters shouted over him until he ran from the stage. According to contemporaneous news reports and videos, he fled to the safety of a taxicab. However, noticing that the driver was not white enough to meet his standards, he exited the taxi. A counter-protester caught up with and glitter-bombed him. 

Shortly after reading about Spencer and his rally, I helped lead our protest in Old Town. Afterwards, as I and another Grassroots Alexandria organizer packed up signs and flyers, Spencer — still flecked with glitter from the day before — came down the street, initiating the above-mentioned conversation.

My interaction with Spencer was surreal. But it was also illustrative of the difference between Left and Right; between those who value equality and those who value authority; between us and them. 

My local advocacy group, Grassroots Alexandria, encourages people to turn values into action. My local Democratic Socialists of America branch does the same. We gain experience. We build protest skills. We get out there and, as they say, push the arc of history towards justice. We also educate ourselves, reading about positive freedom: the freedom to learn, grow, and act, enabled by a functioning democracy, and the freedom to gather in community and build something. When we act to build that "something,” we make the abstract concrete. Concrete plans reveal the realism of our ideas. They expose the myth that the (so-called) far Left curves around to meet the far Right.

The myth that the anti-war Left is the functional equivalent of the isolationist Right is uncovered when the Left and Right act. International networks built by the Left are demanding that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be turned over to the International Criminal Court, strengthening support for this international institution and seeking justice for the genocide in Gaza. Trump, on the other hand, seemingly disinterested in the soft power of interdependency, tears up international agreements. His attempts to reorder the world around military power instead of diplomacy threaten us all. Expanding war zones and reduced international climate action are the result. 

The myth that the anti-globalist Left equates to the anti-globalist Right similarly falls apart in action. On the Left, anti-globalists work to bring manufacturers back under the regulatory umbrella of the community where their goods are sold; for example, labor law that protects workers' rights to collectively bargain. While the anti-globalist Right also seeks to bring factories home, they won't be forcing manufacturers to be good neighbors or employers anytime soon.

The international anti-war movement that I describe in this article is big, active, and based on the creation, support, and utilization of institutions, such as the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The successes of the ICJ — ending France's atmospheric nuclear tests in 1974, finding in favor of Nicaragua over the United States in 1984 (influencing US policy), ending the Chad versus Libya border dispute in 1994 — point the way towards developing legal alternatives to war. These institutions support international legal responses to war crimes in Gaza and Ukraine. The success, however limited, of international law shows that the international anti-war movement isn't a silly hippy fantasy. These international institutions are very much the opposite of the far-Right isolationist fantasy that war can be avoided by dismantling international mutual aid obligations.

There are, of course, many ways to be "anti-war." I personally have only studied two of them. And I only felt compelled to read up on right-wing isolationists when one of them walked up to me and tried to shake my hand. The anti-war internationalists that I've studied alongside generally support defensive war, such as Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion, but also say there is no such thing as a “good war." Their ideal response to the war in Ukraine might be to somehow arrest Vladimir Putin, put him on trial in The Hague, and initiate negotiations between Ukraine and post-Putin Russia. However, our international institutions are not yet strong enough.

These institutions need our support. If we don't speak up, they might develop in ways that center commerce over justice or retribution over restoration. The phrase above, "somehow arrest Vladimir Putin," might be twisted to legalize assassination instead of outlawing it.

It is up to us, the Left, to present positive alternatives to systems we oppose. When the Northern Virginia DSA branch worked with Grassroots Alexandria to cajole the Alexandria City Council into passing a Medicare For All resolution, we spoke for Medicare and against the market failure that is for-profit healthcare. When a DSA chapter supports ranked-choice voting and encourages socialist candidates in an RCV election to cross-endorse, we speak up for the franchise and against the democracy failure that I call the two-party trap. By pairing a call to justice with a call for internationalism ("Jail Putin — Support the International Criminal Court"), we elevate a very real alternative to Trump’s violent, zero-sum world order. We encourage ourselves and our neighbors towards education and action to attain a world where international warfare is a thing of the past.

By building healthful institutions in our community (more care, less punishment), we more fully include our neighbors in our shared prosperity. We collectively enable ourselves to learn, grow, and act. By supporting international institutions, we can support due process among nations even as we fight for due process here at home. When extremists push society inward, restricting access to democracy and due process, we must push outward to expand these humanitarian pillars, at home and worldwide. 

War is a dangerously broken system of international relations. We can do better.