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Resisting Reagan: The U.S. Central America Peace Movement
A comprehensive analysis of the U.S. Central America peace movement, Resisting Reagan explains why more than one hundred thousand U.S. citizens marched in the streets, illegally housed refugees, traveled to Central American war zones, committed civil disobedience, and hounded their political representatives to contest the Reagan administration's policy of sponsoring wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador.
Focusing on the movement's three most important national campaigns—Witness for Peace, Sanctuary, and the Pledge of Resistance—this book demonstrates the centrality of morality as a political motivator, highlights the importance of political opportunities in movement outcomes, and examines the social structuring of insurgent consciousness. Based on extensive surveys, interviews, and research, Resisting Reagan makes significant contributions to our understanding of the formation of individual activist identities, of national movement dynamics, and of religious resources for political activism.
Focusing on the movement's three most important national campaigns—Witness for Peace, Sanctuary, and the Pledge of Resistance—this book demonstrates the centrality of morality as a political motivator, highlights the importance of political opportunities in movement outcomes, and examines the social structuring of insurgent consciousness. Based on extensive surveys, interviews, and research, Resisting Reagan makes significant contributions to our understanding of the formation of individual activist identities, of national movement dynamics, and of religious resources for political activism.
- GenresHistory
484 pages, Paperback
First published June 15, 1996
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About the author
Christian Smith
103 books69 followersChristian Smith is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame. Smith's research focuses primarily on religion in modernity, adolescents, American evangelicalism, and culture.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 1, 2016
The sociologist Christian Smith is well known for coining the term "moralistic therapeutic deism" to describe the beliefs of American teenagers. Initially, though, he focused his research on social movements in Latin America. In this book he examines three loosely related movements – Sanctuary, Witness for Peace, and the Pledge of Resistance – all active in the 1980s, each working towards peace in Central America. What motivated a bunch of U.S. Christians to "resist Reagan"? What were they actually trying to achieve? And did they ultimately succeed? The answers in these pages are illuminating.
August 1, 2024
AN EXCELLENT ACCOUNT OF AN IMPORTANT PEACE MOVEMENT OF THE 1990s
Christian Smith wrote in the Introduction to this 1996 book, "One of the most interesting and significant of these foreign policy-oriented grassroots movements in the U.S. was the Central America peace movement of the 1980s. In this movement, more than one hundred thousand U.S. citizens mobilized to contest the chief foreign policy initiative of the most popular U.S. president in decades. Ordinary citizens marched in the streets, illegally housed refugees fleeing persecution... all on the assumption ... that common people can and should shape national foreign policy. Amazingly, however, the U.S. Central America peace movement of the 1980s has received scant attention in both the popular and academic literature... Indeed, many scholars appear unaware that it ever existed... no work has been published to date that attempts to analyze the movement broadly by examining together a variety of primary movement organizations at a national, movement-wide level." (Pg. xvi-xviii)
He adds, "This book investigates the macro-level forces that generated the Central America peace movement, but also the people at the grass roots who actually made the movement happen on a daily basis... I attempt in this book to weave together narrative, analysis, and theory... I seek to draw from this story general observations about the nature of human social life and action." (Pg. xix)
He notes, "the Central America peace movement actually ended up absorbing much of the faltering anti-nuclear movement." (Pg. xvii) He observes, "The U.S. Central America peace movement was not a unified, monolithic entity. Few social movements are. It was, instead, a broad assembly of individual and collective actions and organizations, all of which challenged U.S. Central American policy in some way." (Pg. 59) He suggests, "the conflict in Central America became THE issue which in the 1980s dominated the agendas of these religious human rights lobbies... 'Over time, there developed an increasing religious hostility to the Reagan policy. This was gradually picked up more and more by peace movement activists.'" (Pg. 128) Later, he adds, "the religious community, WAS in a position to have access to alternative, credible, detailed information about what was going on in Central America. It was among church people exactly that insurgent consciousness was first ignited." (Pg. 166)
He states, "President Reagan steadfastly disregarded the majority of Americans' consistent opposition to his Central American policy... the President pressed on year after year with covert military campaigns, requests for massive aid packages, trade embargoes, repeated military maneuvers, secret CIA operations, and thinly veiled threats of invasion." (Pg. 161-162)
He says, "Central America peace movement organizations experienced an epidemic of political break-ins between 1984 and 1990... In some cases, the trespassers left threatening messages behind." (Pg. 301) He explains, "while most of the reported death threats against and abductions of Central America peace activists appear to have been executed by private Salvadoran death squads, not by federal government agents, it is nonetheless probable that those death squads received intelligence support...from the FBI, INS, or CIA." (Pg. 319)
He also admits, "It would be wrong to exaggerate the discord and difficulties that arose within the Central America peace movement... At the same time, however, it would also be misleading to overlook these significant internal problems and dysfunctions that threatened to undermine the strength and effectiveness of the movement." (Pg. 347)
This is a fascinating, quite detailed, account of this now-almost forgotten peace movement, and will be of great interest to modern activists and progressives.
Christian Smith wrote in the Introduction to this 1996 book, "One of the most interesting and significant of these foreign policy-oriented grassroots movements in the U.S. was the Central America peace movement of the 1980s. In this movement, more than one hundred thousand U.S. citizens mobilized to contest the chief foreign policy initiative of the most popular U.S. president in decades. Ordinary citizens marched in the streets, illegally housed refugees fleeing persecution... all on the assumption ... that common people can and should shape national foreign policy. Amazingly, however, the U.S. Central America peace movement of the 1980s has received scant attention in both the popular and academic literature... Indeed, many scholars appear unaware that it ever existed... no work has been published to date that attempts to analyze the movement broadly by examining together a variety of primary movement organizations at a national, movement-wide level." (Pg. xvi-xviii)
He adds, "This book investigates the macro-level forces that generated the Central America peace movement, but also the people at the grass roots who actually made the movement happen on a daily basis... I attempt in this book to weave together narrative, analysis, and theory... I seek to draw from this story general observations about the nature of human social life and action." (Pg. xix)
He notes, "the Central America peace movement actually ended up absorbing much of the faltering anti-nuclear movement." (Pg. xvii) He observes, "The U.S. Central America peace movement was not a unified, monolithic entity. Few social movements are. It was, instead, a broad assembly of individual and collective actions and organizations, all of which challenged U.S. Central American policy in some way." (Pg. 59) He suggests, "the conflict in Central America became THE issue which in the 1980s dominated the agendas of these religious human rights lobbies... 'Over time, there developed an increasing religious hostility to the Reagan policy. This was gradually picked up more and more by peace movement activists.'" (Pg. 128) Later, he adds, "the religious community, WAS in a position to have access to alternative, credible, detailed information about what was going on in Central America. It was among church people exactly that insurgent consciousness was first ignited." (Pg. 166)
He states, "President Reagan steadfastly disregarded the majority of Americans' consistent opposition to his Central American policy... the President pressed on year after year with covert military campaigns, requests for massive aid packages, trade embargoes, repeated military maneuvers, secret CIA operations, and thinly veiled threats of invasion." (Pg. 161-162)
He says, "Central America peace movement organizations experienced an epidemic of political break-ins between 1984 and 1990... In some cases, the trespassers left threatening messages behind." (Pg. 301) He explains, "while most of the reported death threats against and abductions of Central America peace activists appear to have been executed by private Salvadoran death squads, not by federal government agents, it is nonetheless probable that those death squads received intelligence support...from the FBI, INS, or CIA." (Pg. 319)
He also admits, "It would be wrong to exaggerate the discord and difficulties that arose within the Central America peace movement... At the same time, however, it would also be misleading to overlook these significant internal problems and dysfunctions that threatened to undermine the strength and effectiveness of the movement." (Pg. 347)
This is a fascinating, quite detailed, account of this now-almost forgotten peace movement, and will be of great interest to modern activists and progressives.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews