Antiwar conference urges fall protests

Scan page 4

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.—A proposal for fall actions against the escalating U.S. war drive against Nicaragua won overwhelming support from participants at the Second Emergency National Conference (ENC) Against Military Intervention in Central America/the Caribbean held here on June 2123.

The three-day conference brought together hundreds of antiwar activists from across the country to debate the increasingly critical question of what direction the anti-intervention movement should take in the coming months.

• Coming on the heels of the successful April 20 demonstrations which mobilized over 125,000 people nationwide, the 2nd ENC was organized to provide a forum for antiwar activists to discuss the need for unity in the anti-intervention movement and for continuing to build ever-more powerful mass mobilizations.

Jerry Gordon, coordinator of the 2nd ENC, told Socialist Action: "The conference was significant in that it established an organizational framework for pursuing a mass-action perspective."

Pointing to the hesitations of the 4 SOCIALIST ACTION national steering committee of the April Actions Coalition to issue a call for fall demonstrations, Gordon said that "it is essential that the anti-intervention movement go on without any intervals and gaps."

The adoption of the conference action proposals calling for local demonstrations to be held nationwide on Oct. 26 underscored the concern by participants that the anti-intervention movement not dissipate the mass antiwar sentiment tapped by the April 20 mobilizations.

Another major theme of the conference was the need to unify the anti-intervention movement.

Conference participants overwhelmingly approved a statement recognizing the "pressing need...to strengthen ties and working relations within the movement so that trade unionists, solidarity activists, religious groups, racially and culturally oppressed communities, and all other movement constituencies can move as one to counter the U.S. government's war moves.

Conference participants endorsed a proposal that the call for fall protests should include demands to end U.S. intervention in Central America/the JULY 1985 the racist apartheid government in South Africa.

Cause of the oppressed The 2nd ENC kicked off with a rally Friday night. One of the two keynote speakers, Roberto Vargas, ministercouncilor, labor and cultural affairs of the Nicaraguan Embassy, was forced to cancel his appearance due to an arson attack on the Nicaraguan Embassy.

On Saturday morning, keynote speakers addressed four major themes: U.S. military intervention in Central America/the Caribbean; the anti-apartheid fight in South Africa and the United States; winning the labor movement to the anti-intervention struggle; and the challenges for solidarity work.

Emphasizing the importance of solidarity and the need to draw trade unionists into the anti-intervention movement, Ignacio de la Fuente, business manager of International Molders and Allied Workers Local 164, explained that the labor movement must "understand that our biggest responsibility is to allow workers in other countries to organize and to demand just wages. We are not in confrontation with workers around the world."

In its closing session, the conference adopted an organizational program forming the "Emergency National Council Against U.S. Intervention in Central America/the Caribbean."

A coordinating committee of 45 members was elected to ensure that the council's decisions and policies would be implemented. Participants also voted to create a steering committee to include any organization that expresses agreement with the council's program.

PUTS ART TO WORK Political cartoons and graphics for your publication For a free sample contactEstelle Carol and Bob Simpson 2501 N. St. Louis St.

Chicago, IL 60647 (312) 227-5826