Boston rally knocks U.S. war policy
1985Jim Henle 1985-10Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 3 →
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BOSTON-Breaking through the official silence, 1500 protesters marched on Boston Common on Sept. 21 chanting, "Stop the bombing, stop the war, U.S. out of El Salvador!"
Sponsored by the Stop the Bombing Coalition, an ad-hoc formation, the rally was called to focus attention on the increasing aerial bombardment of the Salvadoran countryside.
Hundreds of Salvadorans have suffered casualties, and tens of thousands have been displaced in the regime's efforts to isolate the FMLN/FDR opposition forces from the population which supports them. Without money, equipment, and training from the United States, the air war could not continue.
The range of concern over the effects of U.S. policy was evident in many speeches. Nancy Finkelstein, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, spoke of the repression of unions in El Salvador, the kidnapping of union leaders, and the abysmal state of education there.
Arnoldo Ramos of the Revolutionary Democratic Front (FDR) spoke of the widening war and the scotching of peace talks by the United States. If no agreement is reached, he said, "then we will have a situation like Vietnam because the people of El Salvador will continue to fight."
A number of speakers pointed to the parallel between U.S. support for South African apartheid and its support to Central American dictatorships and called for the funding of human needs—not war, racism, and oppression.
The rally was highlighted by a funeral procession commemorating the national staff representative of the United Mine Workers and a co-founder of the National Union of Mineworkers of South Africa; Shuping Coapoge, a member of the African National Congress delegation to the United Nations; Charles Pinzone, Executive Secretary and Business Manager, Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council; and Warren Davis, Director, UAW Region 2.