Anti-War Movement

This video features many great speakers, giving a bunch of reasons that you should be in St. Paul, MN on September 1, 2008 to protest against the Republican National Convention. See ya in the streets!

Reprinted from http://frso.org/about/statements/2008/isocolombia.htm

Revolution in Colombia: ISO stands on the wrong side

By Freedom Road Socialist Organization

A call was made by progressives in Colombia, including organizations of campesinos and trade unionists to stand up to “state sponsored violence” by demonstrating on March 6.

This interview about the student anti-war movement is reprinted from Dissident Voice.

Building for the Future - SDS Calls for Antiwar Actions in March

by Ron Jacobs / February 19th, 2008

The 19th of March, 2008 marks the beginning of the sixth year of the US war and occupation in Iraq. Hundreds of actions against the war and occupation are planned throughout the United States, including civil disobedience in DC and protests around the country. The primary group organizing antiwar actions on campus is Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Recently, Kati Ketz of UNC-Asheville SDS and the March 20th SDS Working Group and I exchanged emails regarding the SDS plans and the war.

Ron Jacobs: Hi Kati. How are you doing? Let’s get right to the chase. Can you tell me what the plan is to mark the beginning of the sixth year of war and occupation in Iraq in March?

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HISTORICAL COSTS OF U.S. WARS (In 2007 Dollars)

(source link)

After a bit of a break from blogging, Comrade Zero over at The Marxist-Leninist blog is back and has published a nice collection of articles, statements and interviews that argue that it is important to raise political understanding of and political support for the Iraqi resistance within the anti-war movement. It is quite a good collection of materials brought together in one place. Check out the collection here: Victory to the Iraqi Resistance!

In the four years of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, public debate within the U.S. antiwar movement on whether to support the Iraqi resistance has rarely taken place. Consequently the recent polemic between Alexander Cockburn and Phyllis Bennis (a leader in the United for Peace and Justice Coalition) is an extremely positive development and should be welcomed. It is an important debate that needs to take place at all levels within the U.S. antiwar movement.

Some weeks ago Alexander Cockburn wrote of the need for the U.S. antiwar movement to openly support the resistance ("Support their troops?", CounterPunch). In her reply, "Why the Anti-War Movement Doesn't Embrace the Iraqi Resistance", Bennis correctly argues that the basis of unity in the movement should not be "Victory to the resistance", but the demand "Troops out now". But Bennis goes further and argues that anti-imperialists have no responsibility to raise support for the Iraqi resistance. Bennis says that the Iraqi resistance is illegitimate (with some arrogance, she refers to the Iraqi resistance in quotation marks) and is therefore undeserving of support. This conclusions rests on a number of erroneous arguments, concentrated here in one paragraph of her article:

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This report on the USSF is reprinted from Twin Cities Daily Planet. It mainly focuses on the meetings at the USSF to prepare for the protests against the 2008 Republican National Convention (see ProtestRNC2008.org for more info).

link to original article on TC Daily Planet

Protest RNC 2008 workshop at USSF

At Atlanta's U.S. Social Forum, Progressives Plan for Peace and Protests

By Katrina Plotz, Special to the TC Daily Planet

From June 27 to July 1, more than 10,000 grassroots organizers gathered in Atlanta under the banner 'Another World is Possible, Another U.S. is Necessary.'

By noon, Atlanta’s downtown Civic Center is already packed. Weary from the blistering heat, yet sparked by boundless enthusiasm, thousands of people from across the country mingle. They smile, shake hands, exchange flyers, political buttons, and e-mail addresses as they move through an endless array of tables and booths, each showcasing a different movement or cause. read more...

This statement is from the International Action Center:

Why Virginia Tech shootings happened

Yet another rampage has occurred at a school, this time leaving 33 people dead at Virginia Tech­the worst such incident ever at a U.S. college campus.

The news media seem stunned and surprised, yet their coverage sounds so similar to the stories about Columbine eight years ago. They dwell on the personality of the young man the police say did the shooting, before killing himself. They talk about him being a “loner,” depressed, perhaps angry at women.

But aren’t there lonely and depressed people all over the world? Many countries have high suicide rates. Why is it that here some become mass murderers?

The U.S. is the world leader in seemingly random acts of violence by individuals. Why?

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From Fight Back News Service:

The time is now
Not one more dollar for war on Iraq

By Fight Back! editors

In the face of recent moves by Democrats in Congress, the anti-war movement needs to reject both fuzzy timelines and continued funding for the war in Iraq. We need to insist on the demand, "U.S. out now!" Nothing less will do.

There has been a lot of confusion as of late over war funding bills passed in the House and the Senate which include 'timelines' for U.S. troop withdrawal. Led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrats in Congress are trying to convince the majority of Americans that they are taking steps to end the war. This is a lie.

Pelosi's House bill calls for U.S. troops to leave Iraq by September 2008. However this same bill allows troops to remain in Iraq for "diplomatic protection, counterterrorism operations and training of Iraqi Security Forces...", leaving over 60,000 troops to continue the occupation indefinitely. The Senate passed a similar bill, with a March 2008 date for troop withdrawal. The Democrats are well aware that they were elected in November because the American people voted against the war. People voted for an end to the war on Iraq.

Over 655,000 Iraqis and 3200 Americans have been killed already in this war. And every day the war continues, more Iraqis and more American soldiers die. Not one more death is acceptable. These so-called timelines do not end the war. Instead, these congressional bills extend the war for at least 12 to 18 months, with full funding, into 2009.

Not only does Pelosi's bill allow a large number of troops to stay in Iraq, it also gives $124 billion more to fund the occupation. Any vote to fund the war is not a vote to end the war. On top of that money, the 2008 budget contains another $145 billion for the war, including $50 billion to go towards the war in fiscal year 2009. How can Congress say they are planning to end the war in 2008 when they are already setting money aside to fund it in 2009? They can't. Approving money for war is supporting the war. Everyone who is against the war should demand that Congress end all funding of the occupation. Not one more dollar is acceptable.

We must reject U.S. government lies that, "U.S. troops are necessary to control the violence." The U.S. led occupation is the main cause of killing and destruction. In fact the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq gave rise to a national liberation movement that will not rest until Iraq is in the hands of Iraqis.

Funding the war for months or years longer is no solution. It is a recipe for more death and destruction. Both the House and Senate bills continue an unjust war and provide loopholes for U.S. troops to stay in Iraq long after September 2008. We must stand together in opposing the U.S. government's aims of creating permanent military bases, with U.S. soldiers stationed in a country where they are not wanted.

It is not the place of the Bush administration or the U.S. Congress to decide the future of Iraq. The right to self-determination means that only the Iraqi people should decide the future of their government and their country. Progressives in the U.S. should stand in solidarity with the demands of the Iraqi people - the vast majority of whom want the U.S. out. Therefore timelines that promise away Iraqi land for U.S. bases or allow the troops to stay in Iraq for any longer must be rejected by the anti-war movement.

No one should be deceived by empty promises and twisted words. While it is ultimately the Iraqi resistance that will defeat the occupation, the anti-war movement can hasten this process along if we unite all who can be united around strong and clear demands. Every person against the war on Iraq should support the self-determination of the Iraqi people and demand, "No money for war! U.S. out now!"

Reprinted from Fight Back News Service:

SDS March 20 National Day of Action:
Thousands of students walk out, take to streets

By Josh Sykes

“Stop the war, yes we can! SDS is back again!” This was a popular chant heard around the country as students in high schools and colleges walked out of classes, held rallies, marches, teach-ins and other creative actions in response to the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) call for national coordinated student actions on March 20, the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War. The call was put out by SDS groups that met at the School of the Americas protest last November, where 100 students from 20 campuses voted unanimously to make March 20 a national day of student action against the war. Those 20 schools quickly became 83, as colleges and high schools from the Northeast to the Midwest, from West Coast to the South, signed on to the call.

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