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Antiwar
mobilizations in some 30 cities across the country are set for Oct. 17.
The October actions were initiated by the National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and
Occupations at a broad national conference last July.
The
demonstrations will mark the date of the onset of the U.S. wars against Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the 40th
anniversary of the historic 1969 Moratorium, which saw millions across
the country engage in massive actions and work
stoppages to oppose the U.S. war against the Vietnamese
people.
According
to the National Assembly’s secretary, Jerry Gordon, more than 200 U.S. organizations and prominent
individuals have endorsed the call for united Oct. 17 antiwar protests.
National Assembly Oct. 17 Coordinator Alan Dale reports that the
planned protests in several cities show promise of becoming sizable
mobilizations—based on the renewed vigor and unity stemming from the
now majority opposition to both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
A
Sept. 25 Op/Ed piece in the New York Times by Bob Herbert
captures the ruling-class dilemma following the grim assessment of U.S. prospects in Afghanistan. A combination of the
exposure of massive election fraud orchestrated by the U.S.-installed Hamid Karzai regime, the
deepening of Afghan resistance to the U.S. occupation, and the
resultant increase in U.S. troop fatalities has given
the word “quagmire” new meaning.
Herbert
writes: “The public has not been prepared for a renewed big-time,
long-haul effort in Afghanistan. And if American casualties
increase substantially, support for the war will diminish that much
more. There is very little tolerance in the U.S. for the reality of war,
which is why the images in the media are so sanitized....
“This disconnect between what the public is
expecting, or willing to accept, regarding the war in Afghanistan, and what the White House
and the Pentagon are in fact planning is vast. Americans want their
politicians to concentrate on the economy here at home. After the long,
sad experience in Iraq, and the worst economic
shock since the Depression, they are not up for extended combat and
endless nation-building in Afghanistan.”
Similarly,
“More Troops or ‘Mission Failure’” is the headline of a Sept. 21 Washington
Post article by staff writer Bob Woodward, who comments, “The top
U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan [General Stanley McChrystal] warns in an urgent, confidential
assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year
and bluntly states that without them, the eight-year conflict ‘will likely
result in failure,’ according to a copy of the 66-page document
obtained by The Washington Post.”
General
McChrystal’s proposal to send an additional
45,000 troops to Afghanistan appears to an important
section of the U.S. class to be throwing good money
after bad. Even Obama has publicly queried,
while the debate is in progress, whether there might be other reports
out there with different conclusions. The momentary fissure among the warmakers has opened new opportunities to reach a
layer of working people who have been long opposed to the U.S. wars but who believed that Obama’s election would bring them to a reasonably
rapid close.
In
the San Francisco Bay Area, the newly formed October 17 Antiwar
Coalition now includes local chapters of all five of the nation’s
national antiwar coalitions and several other groups. The coalition is
planning a major march and rally beginning at the city’s United Nations Plaza in the heart of the city.
Organizations
joining in the Bay Area effort include the National Assembly to End the
Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and
Occupations, the ANSWER Coalition, United for Peace and Justice, World
Can’t Wait, and the International Action Center. The American Friends
Service Committee, the San Francisco Labor Council, Labor for Peace and
Justice, Peace and Freedom Party, the Iraq Moratorium, and a number of
socialist organizations are also active participants.
Marilyn
Levin, a leader of New England United (NEU), reports that the Boston mobilization on Oct. 17
will include participation from antiwar organizations from six New England states. The Boston action
is sponsored by a broad range of organizations that have previously
been at odds. National Assembly and United for Justice for Peace
activists are playing leading roles in this effort.
In Philadelphia, over two dozen antiwar and
social justice organizations from the city and the surrounding region
have endorsed an Oct. 17 march through the downtown shopping district
to Independence Mall. Similar united efforts are underway for Oct. 17
in Albany, N.Y., Minneapolis, and New York City.
The
National Assembly-initiated call recommends that the Oct. 17 actions
focus on the following demands: U.S. out of Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan now! End U.S. support to
the Israeli occupation of Palestine! End the siege of Gaza! No to U.S.
wars and threats of war against Iran and North Korea! Money for human
needs, not war! Self-determination for all oppressed nations and
peoples! End war crimes, including torture! Prosecute the war
criminals!
Several
of the organizing coalitions have adopted all of the above demands and
expanded the call to include and focus on, “Money for jobs, pensions,
education, health care and housing—not wars and corporate bailouts!
The
National Assembly also mobilized support for an Out Now! contingent in the Sept. 25 Pittsburgh protest
against the meeting of the G-20 Global Summit nations. As many as
10,000 activists joined this effort, sponsored by the Pittsburgh-based Thomas Merton Center.
In
addition to Oct. 17, several groups are focusing on other October dates
aimed at deepening antiwar consciousness. The ANSWER Coalition has
initiated a number of weekday actions on Oct. 7 to mark the eighth year
of the Afghanistan War.
What
has appeared in recent years as a marked retreat in the fight against
imperialist intervention may be heading for a period of new
opportunities to return the movement to the kind of united and massive
mobilizations that are so sorely needed.
A
case in point was the Sept. 24 one-day strike and student walkout on
the University of California campuses statewide. At the University of California at Berkeley, 5000 students, faculty,
and campus workers mobilized to protest drastic cuts in the state’s
education budget.
More
than a few speakers at the rally on campus related the funds cut from
public education to the massive increase in funds for the Afghanistan war budget. Oct. 17
activists distributed 2000 antiwar leaflets to the very receptive
crowd.
Similarly,
trade-union leaders from the Oakland Education Association and the San
Francisco-based Here-Unite SEIU affiliate will be represented on the
Oct. 17 speakers’ platform, linking the antiwar struggle to the fight
for jobs and against a broad range of cutbacks.
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