Obama’s wars N of the fact that Obama’s large Democratic Party
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National Assembly organizers have taken note majority turned a blind eye to even a pretense of winding down the Afghanistan war when the House of Representatives in late June overwhelming rejected the recent McGovern amendment that posed so-called timelines for a U.S. withdrawal.
The Assembly demands the unconditional and immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops, mercenaries, contractors and the dismantling of all U.S. bases, and has always rejected such “timelines” and other schemes to defuse antiwar sentiment and channel the movement into the framework of the two-party corporate system.
Obama’s pre-election promise that Afghanistan was the real place to fight a war to “end terrorism” has become a bitter reality. It is a signal that more, not less, wars are to be expected from his administration.
Similarly, the promise of a serious health-care reform has been replaced with yet another bill to tax working people to the hilt while gifting the healthcare industrialists with proposals for mandatory coverage at working people’s expense. Torture under another name remains government policy while the previous administration’s torturers, from government officials to the executioners themselves, have been granted immunity from prosecution.
Trillions have been allotted to the banks and related ruling-class institutions, additional trillions to the military while working people increasingly suffer the effects of the capitalist crisis to a greater extent than at any time in the modern era.
The illusion that the Obama administration has signaled a significant shift away from Bush-era brutalities is slowly but steadily fading. That Obama has no choice but to represent the same corporate interests as his predecessor is a reality that is increasingly penetrating the consciousness of antiwar and social movement activists.
It is only a matter of time until the great expectations that millions had for the Obama White House, now steadily diminishing, will give way to a resumption of powerful mass movements that have the capacity to effectively challenge the U.S. corporate warmakers.
— J.M. crossroads of Afghanistan, 26,800 Canadians have been deployed and 120 tinian, Iraqi, and Iranian groups and individuals organizing against Washington’s wars and threats of war.
Eighteen workshops covering a broad range of issues have been confirmed. In light of ongoing U.S. threats against Iran and developments in that country, the Iran workshop is expected to attract a large audience with a diverse range of opinions. The National Assembly has adopted a position of unconditional support to the fight of self-determination for the Iranian people and for “U.S. Hands Off Iran!”
Conference participants include leading labor and social activists, from the president of the South Carolina AFL-CIO, two leaders of the recent successful general strike in Guadeloupe, and leading social activists from Canada.
The July 10-12 conference is another important effort organized by the National Assembly aimed at re-building a national antiwar movement capable of uniting around clear “Out Now!” political demands in coordinated and massive national antiwar protests. These are a pre-condition for the organization of the kind of struggle necessary to halt present and future U.S. wars and re-order the nation’s priorities in the interests of working people and their allies.
All Out for Pittsburgh, July 10-12! For further information, e-mail: [email protected] or check the National Assembly’s website at natassembly.org. n