Boston teach-in condemns U.S. war threats in Gulf

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BOSTON—More than 200 people filled the Arlington Street Church here on Sept. 7 to participate in the first local teach-in on the situation in the Middle East. The teach-in was organized by the Ad Hoc Committee Against a Vietnam War in the Middle East.

Roger Sheppard, a trade unionist who chaired the meeting and spoke for the committee, told the crowd, "We would like to show this country that the Vietnam Syndrome is alive and well."

Introducing the first speaker, Vietnam veteran Paul Atwood, Sheppard said, "When I started protesting that war back in 1962, we had no vets to explain what war was like, or what they had to go through. Today there are many organizations of veterans throughout this country who are organizing to teach the truth that this war for oil, this war for profit, this obscene war that can cost hundreds of thousands of lives, should be opposed."

Largest build-up since D-Day Atwood began his talk pointing out that in its first month in the Persian Gulf, the United States had deployed "more men and materiel to new bases in the Middle East than it did in the first six months of the Korean War.... The United States has not deployed troops on such a scale since D-Day in World War II."

Atwood made clear that the impending war not in the interests of the masses of U.S. Jean-Claude Martineau citizens. "When George Bush said that troops were in Saudi Arabia to defend 'our way of life,' he really meant the way of life of the owning class of America ... the "security' of Exxon, Amoco, Hughes Aircraft, and Northrop."

Atwood read a statement to the teach-in from Howard Zinn, noted historian and author of "A People's History of the United States." Zinn's statement read, in part: "I join you in protesting U.S. policy in the Middle East.... It is simply greed for oil - profits, for power."

Sheppard then introduced representatives of Minister Don Muhammad of the Nation of Islam, who had planned to speak but was unexpectedly called out of town. They had come to show support for the teach-in from Mosque 11 in Boston.

Kuwait carved out of Iraq Ralph Schoenman, who organized the Vietnam War Crimes Tribunals in Europe during the 1960s while working for Bertrand Russell, was the next speaker.

Noting the long history of imperialist intervention in the Middle East, Schoenman explained how Kuwait was carved out of Iraq go by the British War Office in 1922, depriving Iraq of access to the sea.

Schoenman also pointed out how demagogic posturing by the United States against Arab leaders is nothing new. "When Nasser [of Egypt] nationalized the Suez Canal, electrifying the Arab nation, the British, French, Israeli, and American press were full of alarm about the man they called 'the Hitler of the Nile."' Schoenman told the meeting that "U.S. preparations for the military occupation of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait itself have been on the drawing boards since 1973." He cited a 1974 Business Week article outlining how U.S. military and political strategists were planning a parachute assault to seize the major Arab oil fields in the aftermath of the Arab oil embargo.

The final speaker was Jean-Claude Martineau, an outspoken champion of Haitian East.

"No war for Big Oil!" — "Bring Our Troops Home Now!" said Marine resister Eric Larsen, in one of the best-received speeches of the evening. Earlier the crowd had been read a statement against U.s. policy in the Middle East by Ron Kovic, whose life story was told in the movie, "Born on the Fourth of July."

"This expedition is a classical form of colonialism," said former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, one of the most prominent figures in the new coalition. "There is only one reason why we're there and we know it—oil. We intend to have our way with that oil."

"This is a war for oil, but not just for oil," said Coalition coordinator Gavriella Gemma. "The real issue is who will wind up controlling the oil profits." Gemma pointed to the $100 billion in oil profits Kuwait has deposited in U.S. banks.

"If you're an absolute monarch and you butcher workers but keep profits flowing, you're OK," Gemma said, referring to the Kuwaiti monarch whom the United States now hails as a "freedom fighter."

Esmeralda Brown, from the Commission on the U.S. Invasion of Panama, placed the U.S. intervention in the Persian Gulf in the context of the U.S. invasion and continuing occupation of Panama. That invasion by the United States, she said, left 3000 dead and 10,000 homeless.

Ella Horne, a New York City caseworker whose daughter is in the Army reserves, linked the fight against U.S. intervention in the Middle East to the fight for social justice here at home. We in the United States, she said, should "renew a drive for civil rights ... affordable housing, and good teachers in schools ... [rather than] fighting a war against other poor people."

Organizations that have endorsed the Coalition to Stop U.S. Intervention in the Middle East include Vietnam Veterans Against the War, National Conference of Black Lawyers, Women Strike for Peace, National Lawyers Guild, Nicaraguan Network of Greater New York, and the General Union of Palestinian Students.

Money for Jobs, Not War!

The Coalition has been formed on the basis of a four-part program: withdrawal of all military forces, no establishment of U.S. bases; legislation prohibiting the president from usurping the war powers relegated to Congress; support for peaceful diplomatic efforts to end the crisis; and money for human needs, not war. rights and a noted playwright.

Martineau blasted the complicity of the U.S. capitalist press in whipping up war hysteria: "Have you noticed that each night they [the media] choose exactly the same news items to present to the American people, and most of the time in the same order and the same language? It is about time that we denounce the American press as being a propaganda press."

Martineau pointed out that the U.S. government is willing to defend the sovereignty of Kuwait, but not that of Panama or Grenada. "And what about the sovereignty of my country?" he continued. "We have struggled a long time to kick out the bloodiest dictatorship in our history-and whenever we kick one out, another one springs up with the help of the United States."

Martineau also blasted the U.S. government's hypocrisy in defending Kuwait. "It's a big deal when Saddam Hussein arrives in Kuwait and seizes their gold and hard currency reserves. But it so happens that in 1915 a [U.S.] Marine detachment landed in the capital of my country, walked straight to the National Bank, and seized our gold reserves.... This highway robbery came one year before our country was invaded and occupied by the Marines-for 19 years."

Martineau concluded by warning of a U.S. military presence in the Gulf region for years to come. "In 1898, they invaded Puerto Rico in order to 'help' them gain independence from Spain. They're still there. Now, when are they going to leave Saudi Arabia?"

The teach-in was covered by many campus newspapers and other media. Close to 100 participants signed up to help build a Boston demonstration on Oct. 20 and another citywide teach-in on Oct. 21. Other teach-ins are scheduled for U. Mass., Boston University, Brandeis, and Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School.

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Alexei Folger/Socialist Action alist