Oct.17 antiwar protests take place in over 50 U.S. cities

Scan page 4

On Saturday, Oct. 17, protesters gathered in over 50 towns and cities around the United States to oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The date was chosen to mark eight years of war in Afghanistan and to oppose the continual escalation of that war, as well as to mark the 40th anniversary of the Vietnam Moratorium, in which millions marched to protest U.S. aggression in Southeast Asia.

The call for action came out of a summer national conference of the National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations.

The two biggest marches, of about 1000 each, were in San Francisco and Boston. While none of the events around the country came near in size to marches around the start of the Iraq war, they played an essential role in maintaining the continuity of the movement at a time when illusions in Obama still run rampant. And because the events were planned by broad, democratic coalitions, they set the stage for the widest possible participation of all antiwar forces and other social movements when those illusions dissipate.

In San Francisco, for instance, the October 17 Antiwar Coalition included all five national antiwar coalitions, plus Code Pink. While only 600 gathered at the kickoff rally, numbers doubled as the march proceeded through the city, picking up bystanders along the way.

Its demands were: Bring the Troops Home Now from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan! Money for Jobs, Pensions, Education, Healthcare and Housing, Not Wars and Corporate Bailouts! End US support for the occupation of Palestine! End the siege of Gaza!

The march itself was extremely spirited and colorful. It included many youth as well as experienced activists. Until the day before the march, the police tried to deny the coalition a permit, an unprecedented event in the Bay Area. But serious pressure from local groups and politicians caused the police to relent.

Quotes in the San Francisco Chronicle from marchers showed signs of a beginning awareness of Obama’s Troy Labor Council calls for march The Wednesday after the nationwide Oct.17 protests, the Troy Labor Council of Rensselaer County, N.Y., unanimously passed a “Resolution for a National March on Washington for Peace, Jobs and Health Care Justice.”

It states in part: “The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, attacks on Pakistan, military aid to Colombia, Israel and many of the countries that use US aid for repression of indigenous and popular movements, are making the people of the US and the world less safe. These wars and military aid are bankrupting the people of the US, who are already suffering from staggering job losses, foreclosures and a broken health care system.

“The Troy Area Labor Council AFL-CIO calls upon the AFL-CIO to organize a national march on Washington for Peace, Jobs and Health Care Justice, to stop the wars and to use the resources freed up to end the jobs and health care crisis here at home.”

Union activists are discussing sponsoring similar resolutions in other labor bodies. This effort, and the launching of similar ones in other social movements, could be a key next step.

4 Socialist Action novemBER 2009 Ez / indybay.org (Above) San Francisco protesters take to the streets as part of nationwide Oct. 17 protests.

duplicity. Said the paper: “One thing most protesters seemed to share was disillusionment since President Obama took office. One woman carried a sign saying, ‘You won the Nobel Peace Prize, we’re here to help you earn it.’ Many protesters said they’d expected more significant policy change from Obama by now.

The march in Boston was part of a regional effort involving over 100 peace and justice organizations from all six New England states. One organizer estimated that about half the participants in the march were brand new to the movement.

A letter from one of the organizers, Cole Harrison of UFPJ affiliate United for Justice with Peace, summed up well the way it was organized and the challenges facing the movement: “Together, we made a loud and proud statement that the peace and justice movement is alive and well! … The Afghanistan war was in the forefront of everyone’s minds. By calling for ‘Troops Out Now’ we registered beyond question that there is organized opposition to this war, a movement determined to dig in for the long haul.

In Boston, voices of beginning disillusionment with Obama were also heard. Suzette Abbott told a local paper she campaigned for Obama in New Hampshire and now expects results, especially since he got the Nobel Peace Prize. The retired kindergarten teacher held a poster reading: “Yes we can get out of Afghanistan!”

The broad character of the New England event, and signs that the coalition is becoming a pole of attraction, was shown in discussions held on buses from Connecticut to and from the march. On one bus were students who’ve been organizing support for the workers and students who launched a general strike in Puerto Rico against mass layoffs. These students want to work with antiwar groups to create a big solidarity event. Appeals for joint activity also came from Palestine activists..

In Albany, about 250 participated in a march and rally. Speakers included representatives of Iraq Veterans Against the War; Military Families Speak Out; a Presbyterian minister from Troy; Shamshad Ahmad, president of the Masjid AsSalam Mosque (the mosque from which two Muslim men were framed up and imprisoned, and around which an ongoing defense committee has formed); a leader of striking workers at a local Holiday Inn; and the vice president of the Albany Labor Council. Endorsers included a broad array of local antiwar, veterans’, labor and religious groups.

About 400 marched in Minneapolis. Speakers came from groups representing labor, military families anti-foreclosure activists, as well as activists who work in solidarity with Honduras, Iraq, and Pakistan. A member of the organizing coalition told the crowd they should be prepared to respond to any escalation of the war in Afghanistan by coming back into the streets in the weeks ahead. Since then the National Assembly has encouraged all its affiliates to consider protests around the time of Obama’s announcement of an escalation. In Philadelphia, a broad coalition brought out 135 people in extremely nasty weather for a march through downtown to a park near Independence Hall. Around 100 marched in Duluth around the theme, Fund Human Needs, Make Jobs Not War! Rockland County Peace and Justice, of upstate New York, has been holding peace vigils once a week for almost seven years, and sponsored a special vigil at which, despite chilly weather and threat of rain, more than 50 showed up.

A local newspaper reported that in Indianapolis 70 people “rallied against the escalating war in Afghanistan.” While most protesters there and around the country demanded full and immediate withdrawal of all troops from Afghanistan, Lori Perdue of Code Pink, speaking at the Indiana event, reflected the new and unfortunate stance of national leaders of her group. She demanded a negotiated solution to the war in Afghanistan and said she thinks that an “all-parties conference,” with the participation of the United States, could help women’s rights and peace. The question left unaddressed in this proposal is what right the U.S. or any other imperial power has negotiating anything involving the fate of the Afghan people.

Over 100 rallied and marched in McClellan, Texas. The surrounding Rio Grande Valley has had twice as many residents die per capita in Iraq and Afghanistan than the national average. About 50 members of antiwar and vets groups from around Florida gathered at the University of Central Florida, and passing drivers honked in support. Organizers chose UCF as the site because of its affiliation with the biggest military contractors.

In New York City, activists leafleted on Oct. 16 at three military recruiting stations, and encouraged New Yorkers to go to the regional demonstration in Boston on the 17th. The leafleting at the Harlem station turned into a picket, with participation from the Raging Grannies, the New Black Panther Party, and the Harlem Antiwar Coalition.

Many other towns held events, such as the 100 each in Fresno and New York’s Hudson Valley, while 14 area peace groups came together for in Eau Claire, Wisc., for an event with a special focus on the billions going to war despite the health-care crisis.

The Oct. 17 actions followed Afghanistan-themed demonstrations and events on Oct. 5 in Washington and on Oct. 7 throughout the nation. About 50 activists from Vets for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, and other groups gathered in New York’s Times Square to kick off a week of nationwide events in mid-October to educate the public about the epidemic of rapes and sexual abuse of women in the military. Said Ann Wright, “It is a responsibility of us as veterans to warn women that one in three women are sexually assaulted or raped while in the military.”

Staff Sgt. Sandra Lee of the Army Reserves spoke about being raped twice while in Iraq by members of her own unit. In a survey, nearly one-third of women veterans said they had experienced rape or attempted rape during their service. n Economic recovery?

Wishful thinking usually dominates the financial pages, especially after an economic crash. So goes the coverage of the current ‘recovery’. Yes, in September, Canadian house sales jumped 17 per cent from a year ago. The Conference Board of Canada predicts the economy will grow 2.9 per cent next year, and up to 3.6 per cent in 2011. There’s just one catch. The gains, as in the U.S., are largely the result of government stimulus programmes— which governments are now rushing to reel in.

Auto sales in the United States plunged 10.4 per cent in September. Overall retails sales were down 1.5 per cent, the worst decline since retail sales fell 3.2 per cent last December. A record number of U.S. homeowners were forced into foreclosure in the third quarter. More than 930,000 homes received a default notice or were repossessed, a jump of 23 per cent from the year before. Job losses rose another 263,000 in September, pushing America’s official unemployment rate to 9.8 per cent, and that’s not counting the 571,000 workers who simply gave up and stopped looking for work.

The number of Canadians filing for bankruptcy in August was up 17 per cent compared to the same period last year. Factory sales in Canada dropped 2.1 per cent in August, due largely to declining automobile shipments. Canadian exports and imports fell in August, and the trade deficit rose (for the fifth consecutive month), now at $2 billion. New housing starts dropped 4.6 per cent in September.

So, while investors and brokers are cheering recent market gains, some observers are wondering out loud: Is it too good to be true, given the fragile state of the economy? Indeed, is this another wake up call ... for socialist measures?

— BARRY WEISLEDER

Scan page 5

E ight years ago during the run-up to