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Nationwide protests against endless wars
Los Angeles--On the sixth anniversary of George W. Bush's U.S. war on Iraq, up to 4,000 demonstrated in Hollywood against that war as well as the war in Afghanistan and Israel's war on Gaza (see "Israel's war on Gaza", Feb.-Mar. News & Letters). The protesters were of diverse race and age and in high spirits. Protesters included Veterans for Peace, Bus Riders Union, News and Letters Committees, Socialist Workers, Screen Actors Guild members, Latino Immigrants, and many other groups and individuals. A few of the many signs read: "Bring the Troops Home Now," "Close the School of the Americas," "Occupation Is a Crime," "We Demand Jobs," "Bail Out People, Not the Banks," and "Big Oil, Record Profits. Iraq, Afghanistan, Record Deaths." A flyer by the "L.A. Nuclear Disarmament Coalition" stated that "one bomb can destroy Los Angeles, Mexico City, or Washington, D.C.," and that "ten nuclear bombs is enough to wipe out all of civilization as we know it." Some listed web sites include globalassembly.net, International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War (ippnw.org), and nuclearweaponsfree.org. One demonstrator expressed grave concern about President Barack Obama's reliance on the Pentagon to formulate policies on Afghanistan/Pakistan. The initial request for 17,000 additional troops was followed by a request weeks later for 4,000 "advisors," and during the G20 Summit in London, an additional request by the military for 10,000 more troops. The War Resisters League stated that U.S. military expenditure for 2009 will be 54% of federal expenditure, or $1.449 trillion. It will take a mass movement of workers, women, youth, Blacks and minorities globally to alter war production, as well as the practice of bailing out banks and the super-rich while more and more workers become unemployed and homeless. Capitalism must be abolished and replaced with a non-value-producing society, eliminating the drive to constantly expand production of ever more high-tech weapons and its resulting massive deaths, suffering and destruction with the threat of nuclear annihilation of all life. • Memphis--On March 21, the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center (MSPJ) sponsored its annual anti-war rally and march in front of the Civil Rights Museum. About 80 people marched, which is fewer than in previous years, but the low turnout seemed to be due to the rain earlier in the day. This year, the protest was titled "Keeping the Promise: March to End the War on the Poor," to remember the march planned by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which aimed to make the connection between the violence of war and that of social oppression. At the rally, speakers from several local organizations spoke on these issues. Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War spoke on ending the war. The Executive Director of WIN spoke on economic justice, and its Workers Center Organizer spoke on immigration. A speaker from the Tennessee Health Care Campaign spoke on healthcare reform, and a speaker from the MSPJ spoke on progressive criminal justice reform. Marchers carried signs through downtown Memphis reminding President Obama to keep his campaign promises of ending the war and supporting social justice. During the march, demonstrators chanted, "Bail out the people, not the rich" and chanted demands for jobs and healthcare. •
Chicago--Demonstrators marched two miles through the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago on March 14, protesting the continuation of the six-year-long war in Iraq, even more endless military campaigns in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and U.S. support for Israel's bloodletting in Gaza. The 600 or more marchers included not just veterans of past anti-war marches, but youth and a significant number of Latinos. Still, the number of protesters this year was but a fraction of those who took to the streets when Bush first invaded Iraq in 2003, even as popular support for pursuing the war has continued to evaporate. Obama may be getting credit simply for not being Bush, but his promise to pull out of Iraq eventually recalls Nixon's secret plan to end the war in Vietnam. The Obama administration will no longer prohibit coverage of funerals of military personnel returning home in coffins from Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush's blackout rule was rooted in the fear that supporters of the war could become opponents of war policy as casualties mounted--after all, heavy Soviet losses in Afghanistan contributed to the fall of Communist Party rule. Bush's fears might become Obama's as he aggressively extends the military reach of the U.S. |
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