Toronto: Stonewall is reborn

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4 Socialist Action july 2011 TORONTO—At least 1000 people gathered in Queen’s Park June 26 to participate in the first Stonewall march to commemorate the 42nd anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots in New York City, which were a jump-off point for the gay liberation movement. This date had been opportunistically vacated by Pride Toronto, which moved Pride Day to the first weekend in July in search of greater numbers and (you guessed it)

more money. The mood was festive and celebratory.

There was lots of glitter, no corporate sponsorship, no permit, and no cops were requested although there were a few around. And, since everybody knew why we were there, there were no speeches.

At the beginning of the march to the 519 Church St.

Community Centre, Van Bon Bon led with the chant, ... Antiwar (continued from page 1: “Obama prepares re-election bid by posing as antiwar candidate”) trade-off for the use of ground troops, news reporters revealed on July 3 that the U.S. had asked China for aid in the establishment of new and alternative supply routes to Afghanistan.

In response to this buildup in U.S. military attacks on the sovereignty and self-determination of the peoples of this broad area of the globe, U.S. antiwar organizations have begun to create an audacious calendar of education and protest.

On June 18, activists gathered in New York City for a Coordinating Committee meeting of the United National Antiwar Committee. The 69 participants represented 46 organizations, including Veterans for Peace, Voices for Creative Nonviolence, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, WESPAC, Students for Justice in Palestine, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the Thomas Merton Center, the Bail Out the People Movement, the Muslim Peace Coalition, the Islamic Leadership Council of NY, Project SALAM, New England United, the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, Code Pink, Desis Rising Up and Moving, Black Agenda Report, Pakistan Solidarity Network, and others, One of the first acts of the Coordinating Committee was the approval of a call for emergency actions in as many cities as possible on June 27, a date marking the beginning of the second 90-day round of U.S./NATO airstrikes on Libya. The resolution said, in part, “There have now been over 10,000 air sorties carried out by NATO in this campaign. In one day last week the NATO forces carried out 157 bombing attacks, more than three times the previous national average, on Tripoli in one day. It is clear that the U.S./NATO goal in Libya has nothing to do with protecting civilians and is, in fact, the greatest danger to Libyan civilians today.”

Attendees approved a motivation for the emergency actions that characterized the attacks on Libya as part of the effort of Western governments to contain and roll back the Arab Spring, perceiving it as being of a package with the over $20 billion dollar infusion of “aid” being rushed to Tunisia and Egypt to retard the development of the mass movements.

The UNAC CC meeting also called for activists to attend the Thursday, Oct. 6, “Stop the Machine” kickoff of nonviolent civil resistance scheduled for Washington, D.C., and urged all UNAC affiliates and grassroots antiwar committees to mark the 10th anniversary of the war on Afghanistan with nationally coordinated local demonstrations and rallies on Sat., Oct. 15. On that day, activists will demand: Withdraw all U.S./NATO military forces, contractors, and bases from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya now! End drone attacks on defenseless populations in Pakistan and Yemen! End U.S. aid to Israel! Hands off Iran! Bring our war dollars home now! Money for jobs and education, not for war and incarceration!

The Oct. 15 actions, it was noted, can be the occasion for antiwar groups to reach out to the unionists who are protesting cutbacks and job loss, to the Muslim American communities suffering increased harassment, to the Palestinian youth organizations energized by the re“An Army of Lovers Will Never be Defeated.” There were many hand-made signs echoing this.

Well-known singer Faith Nolan performed from a truck at the front of the march. She commented: “This is how Pride started. This is the real Pride. The parade is so corporate. We don’t own it. Now if the profits went to the community, that would be different, but it doesn’t.” Adriana Alarcon, another organizer, declared, “This is my Pride. This is all I need. What an amazing day.”

Leanne Iskander and other young members of Catholic Schools for GSAs (gay-straight alliances) were there in numbers and enthusiasm. Many carried homemade florescent signs, including “Catholic Schools Need GSAs.” Other signs included “Stop Ford Cuts” (referring to Toronto’s reactionary mayor), “Support the Poor, Eat a Conservative,” and Queer cent efforts to break the blockade of Gaza, and to all community groups that would benefit if the war dollars were brought home and spent on social needs. Every activist won through this outreach will then be invited to attend a large, open, and democratic conference to Bring the Troops and War Dollars Home Now that is scheduled for Nov. 11, 12, and 13.

In 2010, the United National Antiwar Conference in Albany, N.Y., attracted around 800 activists, hosted over 40 workshops with 70 authoritative speakers, and was capped by a one-person/ one-vote plenary that called fall and spring actions. The UNAC CC is planning Tony Savino / Socialist Action Ontario’s “Our Pride Includes QuAIA (Queers Against Israeli Apartheid) and TNT! Men.” There were other signs in support of QuAIA as well.

Singing, dancing, and chanting included a reference to the G20 police rampage a year ago, “Whose Streets?, Our Streets!”. The march ended at the 519 Community Centre. There, and in surrounding Cawthra Park, a grassroots event took place, “Back To Our Roots, Breaking New Ground,” sponsored by Blackness Yes!, Ontario Rainbow Alliance For The Deaf, Ill Nana, Colour Me Dragg, Fruitloopz, Black CAP, Pride Coalition for Free Speech and Proud of Toronto. Queer Ontario and Blackness Yes! hosted a free buffet lunch, which was more than covered by donations.

For years, in reaction to the bureaucratic and corporatized official Pride, there has been talk of organizing an alternative event that reflects Pride’s real political roots. This event lays a solid basis for future years and the re-emergence of an independent, militant queer liberationist current. (All quotes thanks to XTRA magazine.)

La conference based on the Albany model at which activists from around the country can have direct input into the next year of antiwar campaigning. This year’s conference will have a special responsibility to craft and build a political mobilization in opposition to the combined NATO/G8 summit recently announced by Obama and scheduled for Chicago on May 15-22.

Based on a resolution voted up at the June 18 Coordinating Committee meeting, the United National Antiwar Committee acted immediately when the Chicago location and dates for the summit were set and applied for permits for an opening-day action on Tuesday, May 15, and a massive peaceful, legal march for “Money for Jobs and Education, Not War” on Saturday, May 19.

The representatives of the 46 groups present at the June 18 UNAC CC resolved that UNAC, in conjunction with a broad range of groups and organizations that share general agreement with the major demands adopted at our 2010 Albany, N.Y. national conference, would initiate a mass demonstration at the site of the NATO gathering.

The group also resolved that UNAC would welcome and encourage the participation of all groups interested in mobilizing against war and for social justice in planning a broad range of other NATO meeting protests including teach-ins, alternative conferences, and activities organized on the basis of direct action/civil resistance.

In addition, UNAC began immediately to pave the way for international collaboration on this protest on the occasion of the gathering of the most powerful coalition of war makers on the planet. See www.UNACpeace.org. n

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... Obama re-election (continued from page 1: “Obama prepares re-election bid by posing as antiwar candidate”) putting the previous Bush administration bailouts to shame! The Times couldn’t help but note, however, that some “deep pocket” banker-fundraisers stayed away for appearances—“optics” was the selected word. “Wall Street is not the only one concerned about optics,” the article continued, “The president’s re-election campaign has not been actively courting Wall Street’s biggest C.E.O.’s to appear at such fundraisers, out of fear that their support could offend his most liberal backers…”

The political horse race requires Democrats and Republicans to take whatever opportunities seem open to them to try to fool the electorate. Accordingly, Commander in Chief Obama, mindful that polls show that a majority of Americans do not support U.S. involvement in any of its current wars, has chosen to play the role once again of a “peace candidate.” And thus he told Congress with a straight face that the U.S. is not involved in “hostilities” against Libya!

Obama received some flak over his insistence that the U.S. was not required to seek Congressional approval under the War Powers Act for continued U.S. funding for the Libyan War. The president argued that the definition of war is when the U.S. attacks a nation and they Evn Vucci / AP