Troops Out Now Coalition

July 23 : Impeach Bush & Cheney

2007-07-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

Monday - July 23

Impeach Bush and Cheney for War Crimes!

in New York
Protest outside the offices of Rep. Jerry Nadler

201 Varick St.
(Varick & King St.)
4:30 - 6:30 pm

Join us in front of Jerry Nadler's office to demand the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against peace and humanity and war crimes . Nadler is Chair of the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, which has jurisdiction over impeachment.

This action, called in New York by the Troops Out Now Coalition, is part of a national day of action, called by After Downing Street.

In Washington, activists will be marching from Arlington Cemetery to the Capitol to demand the initiation of impeachment proceedings. for details, see AfterDowningStreet.org

Antiwar Unity Call

2007-07-19T07:24:00.000-07:00

Take the fight to stop the war back into the streets -- this time our number can be bigger and more powerful than ever!

It's not too late to unite around a major antiwar mobilization in Washington this fall!

A Proposal for a September 29
Unity Coalition for an Antiwar March on Washington, D.C.

Endorse the S29 Call for Unity

Read the call online

Mass anger over the criminal war is at an all time high. People are not only steaming mad at Bush and Cheney, they are also outraged with Congress for betraying the antiwar mandate of the November 2006 elections and caving into Bush on war funding. It’s hard to find anyone who supports the war, and if antiwar pressure is big now, it will be even bigger in September. Yet, instead of a unified massive demonstration this fall, the time when it will have the most impact, the various antiwar coalitions have scheduled at least 4 or 5 separate dates in the fall for separate protest.

Under other circumstances, separate protests in the fall would not constitute a problem, and there are probably good reasons why the different protests should happen. However, it is imperative that everyone unite around one major date because it’s the only way that we can liberate the antiwar struggle from the halls of congress and help it to re-emerge as independent mass pressure from below instead of empty rhetoric from above.

If there’s ever been anything close to a critical tipping point in public outrage over the war, we have entered that period now. However, without the kind of powerful protest in Washington DC to give life and expression to this popular anger, antiwar rage will be reduced to opinion poll statistics used by politicians who are far more interested in using opposition to the war to win election than to end the war.

The central crises confronting all who want to end the war is that after the elections last November, the leadership of the antiwar movement was effectively taken over by politicians in Congress and mainstream presidential candidates. The politicians who have anointed themselves the substitute for all of us who have been working hard to get the people out into the streets, support most of Bush’s war but are weary of the war in Iraq because it has turned into a disaster. What’s more these politicians will continue to pass resolutions and give speeches, but not really stop the war or bring the troops home because the prize that their eye’s are really focused on is the 2008 elections. (This is not an argument against anyone who believes or hopes that the 2008 elections will be important. That's another issue. The issue right now is that we must not let an event that is 16 months away be a factor in taking the fight against the war out of the streets precisely when the people may be ready to get in to the streets right now, in marches bigger than the marches we’ve been to since the beginning of the war.)

The high jacking of the antiwar movement is not the fault of most grass roots activists who have been doing a lot of great things like occupying recruitment stations, or the offices of members of Congress, and organizing student strikes, and supporting the growing GI resistance movement. The mainstream media has played its role in the coup by deliberately suppressing coverage of much of the action in the streets and focusing their camera’s instead on the “war of words between Congress and the White House”.

The fragmentation within the antiwar movement has helped the politicians take over. More specifically, there are influential and well financed forces in the antiwar movement that are more invested in the Democratic party and the outcome of the 2008 presidential elections, than they are in keeping the antiwar heat in the streets. This fact has enabled the takeover.
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This fall, we need a united antiwar human tidal wave in the streets of Washington. We need it to send the message to the war makers in both the Republican and Democratic parties that the war is not an issue to exploit for electoral reasons; it’s a crime that must end completely and immediately! (At the moment that the movement is potentially at its greatest strength, let's make sure that the movement isn’t sidelined and diss-empowered, until after 2008. Unity this fall may be the key to keeping the movement alive.)

THE SOLUTION: A SEPTEMBER 29 UNITY COALTION The protest dates that have been announced (besides September 29) include and a national protest called by the ANSWER on Sept. 15, regional antiwar protests in late October called by United for Peace and Justice, and an antiwar moratorium scheduled for Sept. 21. There are also many other important local and national events planned in the fall, including a major anti war march in Newark N.J. called by POP, Peoples Organization for Progress .There is nothing magic about a particular date, however of all the dates that groups are organizing around in the fall, September 29 is the best date. It’s late enough in the fall to give every one, particularly students, time to organize mass participation (the huge D.C. protest on Sept.24, 2005 proved this), and it’s not so late in fall that it diminishes the sense of urgency for action that will be overwhelming by September. In addition, Sept. 29 has got a lot of momentum already, thousands of endorsers, and activists across the country have been organizing for S29 since it was announced 2 months ago (the September 29 mobilization will be preceded by a week long antiwar encampment in Washington DC starting on Sept.22).

Agreeing on the best date in the fall for a truly united and massive turnout solves one problem. The next problem is pulling the major antiwar coalitions together in support of it. When Unity is paramount, no one coalition should seek domination over a serious or decisive mass mobilization. Groups have critical political differences, but there are occasions when it necessary to reduce barriers to collaboration. Ultimately, the various antiwar coalitions should serve the needs of the movement and not merely their own organization. In order to facilitate the participation of other major coalitions on an equal basis in all aspects of mobilization, TONC proposes the formation of a September 29 Unity coalition for a national antiwar march on Wash. D.C. Through a coalition, all forces should be able to work out the basis for everyone making a serious commitment to the mobilization. No one or even two coalitions will "own" the march, the whole movement, from the grassroots up will have collective ownership of the mobilization. With respect to demands, the best policy is an understanding that all groups whether they are part of the coalition or not shall be free to bring there own signs and banners reflecting the demands and issues that they want. The demands for the lead banner and perhaps a certain number of additional signs will be determined by the coalition.

BROADEN THE MOVEMENT AND BE INCLUSIVE Unity between coalitions is a short term practical necessity, but it is not a substitute for the deeper, more fundamental, and decisive unity that will change the composition of the antiwar movement. Part of making the antiwar movement more inclusive with respect to class and race, necessitates connecting the struggle against the war, to the struggle against the war at home, the war against Black and Latino youth, immigrants, Hurricane Katrina survivors, women and LGBT people. We need to connect the billions spent on war to the needs of working people for health care, education, secure pensions and union jobs. Raising different demands is one way of achieving this. Moreover those of us who want to help transform a movement against the war into a movement that comes to understand that war is a symptom, and imperialism is the root cause, antiwar events are one of the main forums for expanding knowledge through demands, and rallies. It is only through expanding instead of limiting the messages, that mass opposition to the Pentagon's occupation of Iraq develops into opposition to the occupation of Afghanistan and Palestine, the Pentagon plans to attack Iran, the war against Latin America embodied in Plan Colombia and threats against Venezuela and Cuba; and includes calls to impeach Bush and Cheney for war crimes. Antiwar events must be a forum for sharing the information, ideas and analysis that are censored by the mainstream media.

It is not necessary for everyone to agree on all demands. But we do need to agree not to censure those raising progressive social demands and demands opposing war and occupation.

Within all of this lies the basis for uniting this fall, lets grab hold of it now so that no more time is wasted.

Endorse the S29 Call for Unity

Endorse
Endorse the call to unite for September 29

Volunteer
Help build a massive grassroots movement to shut down the war!

Donate
Help with organizing expenses for September 29

The war is SiCKO too!

2007-07-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

Another reason to March on September 29th...

HEALTHCARE & THE WAR ARE “SICKO”

Did you know?

One fourth of the Iraq war budget alone could fund healthcare for every uninsured person in this country.

Think what the trillions of dollars wasted on war,
occupation and destruction could do for the people:

• Provide free medicine for all of our seniors and chronically ill.

• Change the dismal statistics of infant mortality in major cities like Detroit, Baltimore and Washington D.C. where the mortality rates for African American and poor children rival impoverished countries abroad;

• Stop the epidemic of hospital closings;

• It could provide healthcare and treatment for the physical and psychological trauma that the survivors of Katrina and Rita are still suffering from;

• Make healthcare for low wage workers and immigrant families a priority.

While the war is bleeding us at home it is miniscule in comparison to the bloodshed, misery and pain that is being inflicted on the Iraqi people. The Lancet medical journal documented that 655,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed during the war (Oct, 2006). The health of the Iraqi people and the entire region has been destroyed. Solidarity demands that we act now to stop the war, end the occupation and bring the troops home now!

GET INVOLVED:

1) Endorse: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/healthnotwarendorse.shtml

2) Become a volunteer organizer:
http://www.troopsoutnow.org/sept2207volunteer.shtml

3) Donate:
http://troopsoutnow.org/donate.shtml

4) Download "Healthcare and the War are Sicko" leaflets at: http://troopsoutnow.org/HWN.pdf

Or call or write us at:
Campaign for Healthcare, Not Warfare,
c/o TONC,
55 W. 17th St. 5C,
New York, NY 10011
212-633-6646

Unite to Shut Down the War!

2007-07-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

UNITE!

Take the Antiwar Struggle Back to the Streets in September

SEPT 29: Mass March on the White House

SEPT 22- 29: Encampment in front of Congress. Cut off the War funds

Stop the War at Home and Abroad!

All Troops Out Now!

Impeach Bush & Cheney for War Crimes!

Read the call | Endorse | Volunteer

Encampment to Stop the War blog

Encampment to Stop the War MySpace

Donate to help with organizing expenses

September: The next big confrontation over the war

According to the Washington calendar, September will see the next big political confrontation on the war. This is when the House and Senate debate war funding for 2008. And it is when General David Petraeus reports to Congress on the status of Bush's troop "surge."

We must make sure that the antiwar movement is in Washington to make our voice heard and demand an end to the criminal war and occupation of Iraq.

This is a time of great opportunity for the antiwar movement. The Bush plans to colonize Iraq have clearly failed and the overwhelming majority of the people are against the war. Now is a time when the people can have a real impact, if we act decisively and in a spirit of unity.

In April of this year, the Troops Out Now Coalition proposed that September 22-29 be a week of resistance, with an Encampment to Stop the War and a mass March on the White House on Saturday, March 29.

We believe that this is the necessary next step to take the struggle against the war to a new level of resistance. The encampment has the potential to ensure that another war vote does not go unchallenged. The proposal opens an opportunity for an independent intervention representing the people, who are overwhelmingly against the war.

The call for a National March and Encampment in Washington DC has already received wide support. In the past few weeks, activists and organizers from across the U.S. have contacted TONC, demonstrating a groundswell of enthusiasm for the call to go from protest to resistance. Some of the proposals we have heard in the past few days include:

* Student organizations in several cities are discussing plans for a student strike that would include protests and direct action on their campuses, before joining the Encampment and March in DC.

* Organizers are already planning car caravans and "peace trains" to Washington DC for the Encampment.

* Local organizations are planning to set up their own tents at the Encampment, with displays, teach-ins, literature, and protests to highlight various issues, including: immigrant rights, counter-recruiting, Katrina, Palestine, and more.

* A Peoples' Peace Congress to challenge to corporate war Congress in Washington. At such a gathering, different groups could put forth concrete proposals for desperately needed social, environmental and health programs that are gutted to pay for endless war. The Peoples Peace Congress can become a challenge to and an expose' of the present corporate-ruled war congress.

Only the people will stop the war: The Democratic Party bait & switch

Despite being elected to bring the troops home and end the criminal occupation, the Democrats in Congress have completely capitulated to Bush on the issue of continuing to fund the war. Even a determined congressional minority of Democrats could have blocked the funding for the war—if they had really decided to end the occupation. Instead, while posing as the “anti-war” majority party, the Democrats have completely capitulated to Bush and the Pentagon.

Building an independent movement is more important than ever, as pressure grows to abandon struggle on the streets and surrender the antiwar movement to the Democratic Party, a party that now completely shares in complicity for the criminal war and occupation in Iraq. Wall Street and their mouthpieces always want to divert the mass movement into safe channels—into lobbying and voting and trusting in the bought-and-paid-for politicians. Our challenge is to develop clear demands that move the struggle into the streets.

Back to the streets:
Unite to shut down the war

As we move forward in a period of great opportunities and challenges, we are compelled to frankly address the lack of unity in the antiwar movement.

During the last struggle over the issue of war funding in March, the movement had a real opportunity to intervene if it acted decisively. Instead, organizations and coalitions called competing events in different venues, deliberately timed to undermine participation in other actions. This sort of cynical maneuvering for organizational advantage weakens the movement, demoralizes activists, and only plays into the hands of Bush and the warmongers in Washington.

In conversations with activists across the country, we find that everyone wants unity in the movement to stop the war. It is clear that the division doesn't come from the grassroots activists who are actually building the movement, but from those who have other goals and agendas.

More than 600,000 Iraqi people and 3,500 U.S. soldiers have died in this brutal war -- petty divisiveness and sectarianism can no longer be tolerated. Activists want unity. The times demand unity. Progressives in the U.S. have a special responsibility to stop this war -- Now is the time for all coalitions and organizations, national and local, to find ways to work together in principled unity around the demand to stop the war immediately.

Building unity also means working to unite the struggle against the war abroad with the struggle against the war at home. Linking the fight against the war with the struggles against racism, LGBT oppresssion, immigrant bashing, and the struggles of working people will only strengthen our movement. Our movement becomes stronger as we widen the struggle against the war at home and abroad.

Together we can and must change the political agenda

The struggle to stop the war has made tremendous gains. The vast majority of the people are now opposed to the occupation. G.I. opposition is growing as soldiers increasingly oppose being sent to fight and die in this horrific war, in which they have no interest. The politicians in Washington are clearly on the defensive, as their dreams of Empire in the Middle East crumble, their lies about the war are exposed, and as the vast majority of people here and worldwide oppose their heinous war.

But we must do more. The war in Iraq is not a “failed policy;” it is a horrendous crime against the Iraqi people. It must be stopped. Every day the occupation brings more death and destruction to the Iraqi people. It brings more deaths and serious injuries to U.S. youth who are trapped in this war, and return home to find inadequate medical care and benefits.

It will take an independent movement to stop the war, a movement that takes an independent road geared to mobilizing people in this country to challenge all of the warmakers in Washington, that strongly demands the withdrawal of all U.S. troops NOW and calls for ending ALL war funding immediately.

This is a crucial time. What is needed now is an unprecedented outpouring of resistance. We must demonstrate to the politicians in Washington that we will not allow business as usual to continue.

The Troops Out Now Coalition encourages all of the antiwar coalitions on the local and national level to engage each other and where communication has broken down, to open new lines of communication so that our combined efforts will make us stronger.

Let us strengthen the anti-war movement and build unity by reaching out to and joining forces with movements struggling for:

- Stop the raids against immigrant workers -- Full rights for undocumented workers
- No War against Iran
- End all occupations now - from Iraq to Palestine, the Philippines, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and Afghanistan
- Impeach Bush & Cheney for War Crimes
- No to U.S. intervention – Hands off Cuba, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and the Sudan
- Justice for Katrina survivors
- End racist police terror
- Free Mumia Abu-Jamal and all political prisoners
- Money for health care, jobs and education, not endless war

We have less than 3 months until the Encampment, and we still have lots of work to do. Here are some ways you can help:

1) Help spread the word.

You can download a single page leaflet or the 4-page leaflet from the TONC website, and distribute them in your school, workplace, church or mosque, community center, union hall, and neighborhood.

2) Form a local organizing center.

Sign on at http://www.troopsoutnow.org/sept2207volunteer.shtml. We can help you organize buses or vans from your area - contact us for more information.

3) Donate to help with organizing expenses.

We urgently need your help - please consider making a financial contribution to help us cover all of the vast expenses involved in this massive mobilization. Your donation will help organize buses

You can donate online at http://troopsoutnow.org/donate.shtml

4) Organize your campus to participate in the Student Strike during the week of the Encampment.

Student organizations are already planning for actions during the week of Sept 2-29. If you would like to become a student organizer, contact us at http://www.troopsoutnow.org/sept2207volunteer.shtml.

5) Organize a tent for the Encampment.

If your organization would like to organize a tent during the Encampment to highlight an issue(s) that you are working on, contact us: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/sept2207volunteer.shtml

Endorsers include:* * Rep. Cynthia McKinney; Medea Benjamin, CoFounder of CODEPINK: Women for Peace; Fernando Suarez del Solar, founder of Proyecto Guerrero Azteca por la Paz; Bishop Filipe C Teixeira, OFSJC; Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General; Brenda Stokely of the NYC Solidarity Committee For Katrina / Rita Evacuees; Sarah "echo" Steiner, Green Party of the U.S. National Co-Chair; Ron Kovic, Vietnam veteran, author; Liz Arnone, Co-Chair, NJ Green Party; Abayomi Azikiwe, Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice; Jack Balkwill, Chair, Liberty Underground of Virginia; Teresa Dawson, Coordinator, MFSO Central Ohio; Joan Gibbs, Jericho Movement; Efia Nwangaza, Founder/director, Afrikan Amerikan Institute for Policy Studies & Planning; Jose Luis Diaz, President, Casas las Americas; Leslie Feinberg, author and activist; Teresa Gutierrez, NY May 1 Coalition for Immigrant Rights; LeiLani Dowell, FIST (Fight Imperialism - Stand Together); Berna Ellorin, BAYAN USA; Ben Carroll, UNC SDS; and hundreds more. for an updated list, see TroopsOutNow.org
*organizations listed for ID purposes only

Bring your medical bills to Washington

2007-06-23T07:33:00.000-07:00

SEPT 29 - Massive National March on Washington
Buses from around the country!
SEPT 22 - 29 - A week long Encampment in front of Congress to Stop the War

Bring Your Medical Bills to Washington!

Stop the War at Home and Abroad!
Troops Out Now!
Impeach Bush & Cheney for War Crimes!
Fund People's Needs, Not War!

During the week of September 22-29, antiwar activists from across the U.S. will mass in front of Congress in Washington, DC to demand the complete cut off of war funding. On September 29, there will be a mass march from the Capitol to the White House.

Healthcare, Not Warfare will be at the Encampment all week. Please join us at the Healthcare, Not Warfare tent and bring your medical bills. During the week, health care workers, nurses, doctors, patients and patient advocates will be holding teach-ins, speakouts, and protests to demand: "Fund Healthcare, Not War!"

Join us and let's bring your medical bills to the floors of Congress to demand that they fund human needs, not war!

HOW TO GET INVOLVED:

1) Endorse: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/healthnotwarendorse.shtml

2) Become a volunteer organizer:
http://www.troopsoutnow.org/sept2207volunteer.shtml

3) Donate:
http://troopsoutnow.org/donate.shtml

4) Download "Healthcare and the War are SiCKO" leaflets at: http://troopsoutnow.org/HWN.pdf

Or call or write us at:
Campaign for Healthcare, Not Warfare,
c/o TONC,
55 W. 17th St. 5C,
New York, NY 10011
212-633-6646

Hundreds of Thousands March in Support of Chavez

2007-06-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

Credit: Prensa Presidencial


Hundreds of Thousands March in Support of Chavez
Chavez Dismisses International Disapproval
of Venezuela's Media Policy Monday, 

By: Gregory Wilpert – Venezuelanalysis.com

Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Chavez demonstrate in favor of
the government's decision to not renew RCTV's broadcast license .

As several hundred thousand Chavez supporters rallied in Venezuela's
largest avenue on Saturday, President Chavez rejected all international
interference with his decision not to renew a television station's
broadcast license. Referring to the Marxist theorist Antonio Gramsci,
Chavez also spoke at length about how private media maintains a
cultural hegemony that must be broken.

"Go to hell, representatives of the global oligarchy, we are a free
country!" said Chavez to wild applause, once marchers reached the
Avenida Bolivar in the center of Caracas. >> LINK

The truth behind the RCTV campaign

2007-06-05T08:31:00.001-07:00

The International Action Center stands with the people of Venezuela and their democratically-elected President Hugo Chavez and we condemn Washington's propaganda campaign against the Venezuelan government, carried out with the complicity of the U.S. corporate media.

We have included below a letter from Venezuelan Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez Herrera to Nancy Pelosi (in English and Spanish) responding to her attack on President Hugo Chavez.

Over the next few days, the International Action Center will be launching an campaign to challenge and expose Washington's campaign of lies and disinformation against the people of Venezuela.

Also see: Myths and Facts About the Radio Caracas Television Case at http://www.embavenez-us.org/RCTVFactSheetFinal_2007.pdf

May 30, 2007

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.

Madam Speaker Pelosi,

I am writing in the opportunity to respond to your May 30 statement on Venezuela’s decision not to renew the broadcast license of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV). In it, you accused President Hugo Chávez of engaging in efforts to “suppress the media.” I would like to assure you that the decision was made in full accordance with Venezuela’s laws and does not represent a threat to the country’s vibrant media or the ability of the Venezuelan people to receive information and opinion that is critical of the government. Equally, and as many observers have pointed out, since President Chavez came to power the government has tried to democratize the media to foster a diversity of voices to combat the historical monopoly on the broadcasting of information that causes so much harm to any democracy.

The decision not to renew RCTV’s broadcast license was a simple regulatory matter that was made according to the country’s constitution, laws and public interest standards. It was not made based on RCTV’s critical editorial stance against the government, nor was it directed at silencing criticism of the government. The Venezuelan media has enjoyed, and will continue to enjoy the right to report and offer opinions, whether or not they agree with President Chávez. This has also been recognized by numerous observers. As Bart Jones, a longtime correspondent for the Associated Press wrote in an op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times on May 30, “Radio, TV and newspapers remain uncensored, unfettered and unthreatened by the government. Most Venezuelan media are still controlled by the old oligarchy and are staunchly anti-Chávez.”

It is also important to note that while RCTV enjoyed access to the public spectrum, it far exceeded its prescribed role as a media outlet in a democracy. In April 2002, RCTV promoted a coup against the democratically elected government of President Chávez. After that, it participated and encouraged the sabotage of the oil industry of Venezuela, causing tremendous suffering on the Venezuelan people.

In both instances, RCTV went beyond taking a critical editorial stance against the government. It used its privileged position as a media outlet to help subvert Venezuela’s constitutional order. In no other country would a media outlet be allowed to play such an overtly undemocratic role, much less using a public broadcast spectrum. Again, in so doing, RCTV single-handedly subverted Venezuela’s democracy. I wonder how the FCC would have responded had such events taken place in the United States.

The decision to not renew RCTV’s license will not affect Venezuela’s longstanding commitment to freedom of expression, freedom of the press and freedom of information as your statement suggests. In fact, the majority of Venezuela’s media outlets remain in private hands – of the 81 television stations, 709 radio broadcasters and 118 newspapers throughout Venezuela, 79, 706 and 118, respectively, are privately owned and operated. More importantly, they all exercise their rights freely, often criticizing the government in strident terms reflecting the vitality of Venezuela’s democracy. Since the non renewal took effect, the great majority of media outlets in Venezuela have openly reported on and offered their opinions on the decision.

If you have any questions or concerns about Venezuela or the Venezuelan media, please do not hesitate to contact me. I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you at your earliest convenience to discuss this matter. Most importantly, I invite you to visit Venezuela and judge for yourself the vibrant state of the media and freedom of thought and expression enjoyed by all Venezuelans.

Respectfully,

Bernardo Alvarez Herrera
Ambassador

30 de mayo de 2007

Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Presidenta
Cámara de Representantes de Estados Unidos
Washington, D.C.

Sra. Presidenta Pelosi,

Le escribo en la oportunidad de responder a su comunicado del 30 de mayo sobre la decisión de Venezuela de no renovar la licencia de transmisión de Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV). En ella, usted acusa al Presidente Hugo Chávez de participar en esfuerzos por “suprimir a los medios de comunicación”. Quiero asegurarle que la decisión fue tomada en plena concordancia con las leyes venezolanas y no representa una amenaza a los medios de comunicación vibrantes del país o la habilidad del pueblo venezolano de recibir información y opiniones que son críticas del gobierno. De la misma forma, y como muchos observadores han indicado, desde que el presidente Chávez llegó al poder ha tratado de democratizar los medios de comunicación para promover la diversidad de las voces para combatir el monopolio histórico sobre la transmisión de la información que causa tanto daño a cualquier democracia.

La decisión de no renovar la licencia de transmisión de RCTV, fue una simple medida regulatoria que fue hecha de acuerdo a la constitución del país, las leyes y los estándares del interés público. No fue tomada basándose en la línea editorial crítica de RCTV en contra del gobierno, y no fue dirigida a silenciar el criticismo del gobierno. Los medios de comunicación venezolanos han gozado, y continuarán gozando del derecho de reportar y ofrecer opiniones, así estén de acuerdo o no con el Presidente Chávez. Esto también ha sido reconocido por numerosos observadores. Como Bart Jones, un corresponsal de larga trayectoria en Associated Press, quien escribió en un editorial, publicado en “Los Angeles Times” el 30 de mayo, que “la radio, la televisión y los periódicos continúan trabajando sin censura, constricciones o amenazas por parte del gobierno. La mayoría de los medios de comunicación venezolanos todavía son controlados por una vieja oligarquía y siguen siendo incondicionalmente opositores a Chávez.”

Es también importante señalar, que mientras RCTV ha gozado del acceso al espectro público, excedió sobremanera su rol preescrito como un medio de comunicación dentro de una democracia. En abril de 2002, RCTV promovió un golpe de estado en contra del gobierno democráticamente elegido del Presidente Chávez. Luego de eso, participó y promovió el sabotaje de la industria petrolera en Venezuela, causando un tremendo sufrimiento al pueblo venezolano.

En ambas instancias, RCTV fue más allá de tomar una línea editorial crítica en contra del gobierno. Utilizó su posición privilegiada como un medio de comunicación, para ayudar a subvertir el orden constitucional venezolano. En ningún otro país se hubiera permitido que un medio de comunicación juegue un rol tan antidemocrático, ni mucho menos que utilice el espectro de transmisión público. Una vez más, al hacerlo, RCTV trastornó unilateralmente la democracia venezolana. Me pregunto cómo el FCC hubiese respondido si tales eventos se hubieran llevado a cabo en Estados Unidos.

La decisión de no renovar la licencia de RCTV, no afectará el largo compromiso de Venezuela con la libertad de expresión, la libertad de prensa y la libertad de información como su comunicado sugiere. De hecho la mayoría de los medios de comunicación venezolanos permanecen en manos privadas—de las 81 estaciones de televisión, 709 estaciones de radio y 118 diarios a lo largo de Venezuela, 79, 706 y 118, respectivamente, son controlados y operados por el sector privado. Lo que es más importante es que todos ejercen sus derechos libremente, a menudo criticando al gobierno en términos estridentes reflejando la vitalidad de la democracia de Venezuela. Desde que la no renovación entró en efecto, la gran mayoría de los medios de comunicación en Venezuela han ofrecido abiertamente sus opiniones sobre la decisión.

Si tuviera preguntas o preocupaciones sobre Venezuela, o los medios de comunicación venezolanos, por favor no dude en contactarme. Le daría la bienvenida a la oportunidad de reunirme con usted cuanto antes para discutir este asunto. Mejor aun, la invito a que visite Venezuela y juzgue por usted el vibrante estado de los medios de comunicación y la libertad de expresión disfrutada por todos los venezolanos.

Respetuosamente,

Bernardo Álvarez Herrera
Embajador

Rainbow Solidarity for the Cuban Five

2007-06-05T08:23:00.001-07:00

Please sign on and circulate the call for Rainbow Solidarity for the Cuban Five: http://www.freethefiveny.org/rainbow4the5.shtml

Please contact five to Free the Five!

The call for Rainbow Solidarity for the Cuban Five has not received one word of big-business media coverage--print or electronic.

The call first went out in January, from a multi-national and multi-lingual group of U.S.-based lesbian, gay, bi and trans activists, to build solidarity with these five political prisoners—Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González. They are serving long sentences in U.S. penitentiaries for the “crime” of infiltrating CIA-backed fascist commando groups in order to halt terror attacks against Cuba from U.S. soil.

The Rainbow Solidarity for the Cuban Five call demands a new trial and freedom for these political prisoners, defense of Cuban sovereignty and self-determination and a halt to the illegal U.S. acts of war against Cuba—including the economic blockade and CIA-trained, funded and armed attacks by mercenary “contra” armies operating from this country.
Without any help from the monopoly media, the call has circled the globe. Individuals and organizations from more than 32 countries and 43 states in the U.S. have signed on. To see a list of signers or to sign on yourself, please visit www.freethefiveny.org. Look for the Rainbow!

Volunteers have translated the introduction to the initiative and the call itself, so that it is now available in Spanish, English, simplified and traditional Chinese, Farsi, Turkish, Greek, Portuguese, Japanese, Italian, French and German. ASWAT—the Palestinian lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersexual organization—is translating the introduction and call into Arabic. LGBT and feminist activists in Croatia are translating and circulating the call.
But the arc of this Rainbow of Solidarity must widen.

You can make a great contribution. Take a moment now to send this email to at least five of your loved ones and friends, co-workers and neighbors, and ask them to help free the Five.

Contact five to Free the Five! Your help is decisive.

For more information about the Cuban Five visit www.freethefiveny.org or www.freethefive.org.

Free the Five!
Leslie Feinberg

The Legacy of Agent Orange in Viet Nam

2007-06-05T08:22:00.001-07:00

The Legacy of Agent Orange in Viet Nam

On Monday, June 11, 2007, - Join Ramsey Clark, Vinie Burrows,
the film producers, lawyers and veterans

See the new film
The Last Ghost of War
A compelling NEW 57 minute documentary film, narrated by Kevin Kline, shot in Viet Nam, France and the U.S. on the legacy of the largest chemical warfare operation in history and the continuing law suit seeking justice.

Meet the Producers - Pham Quoc Thai and Janet Gardner

Monday, JUNE 11 6:30 pm
Cantor Film Center.
36 East 8th Street, NY, NY 10003

Today 3 million Vietnamese suffer the effects of chemical defoliants used by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. Tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers are also affected, along with hundreds of thousands of children of those exposed decades ago on both sides. The thousands of veterans and civilians disabled from depleted uranium weapons in present wars face similar long term consequences

Donate or purchase tickets at http://www.iacenter.org/agentorangetickets.html

A benefit for:
VAVA - Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin
$5 to $15 Film Donation suggested
Advance Ticket purchase is highly recommended
Even if you are not able to attend, please send a DONATION for:
VAVA - Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin

Hear from Constantine Kokkoris, part of the legal team representing the Vietnamese plaintiffs on the appeal of the civil suit in U.S. courts against the 37 U.S. chemical companies which produced the toxic chemicals during the war.

Hear update from: Viet Nam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign

June 11 Host Committee:
International Action Center,
National Lawyers Guild
Int?l Association of Democratic Lawyers
Women's Int?l Democratic Federation
Women's Fightback Network
National Writers Union ? NY Chapter,
Peoples Video Network,
Depleted Uranium DU Education Project,
Harlem Tenants Council
Jersey City Peace Movement,
WILPF - Women's Int?l League for Peace & Freedom ? NY
BAYAN - USA
Asia Pacific Action
Pakistan/USA Freedom Forum
Stop War On Iran Campaign
December 12th Movement
Workers World Party
Grannies Peace Brigade
Artists and Activists United for Peace
WESPAC Foundation

For more information: International Action Center,
55 West 17th St, #5C, NY, NY 10011
Call 212-633-6646, www.IACenter.org

Donate or purchase tickets at http://www.iacenter.org/agentorangetickets.html

Harlem Conference on Race, Glass & Gentrification in Harlem

2007-05-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

Harlem Conference on Race, Glass & Gentrification in Harlem

June 1 – 2, 2007 at St. Ambrose Church
9 West 130th St. (Between Fifth and Lenox Avenues)
June 1st: 4 PM – 8 PM June 2nd 9 AM to 6 PM

On June 1st and June 2nd at St. Ambrose Church located at 9 West 130th Street hundreds of tenants and activists from Harlem and throughout New York City convened for two days of plenary sessions and workshops at the 1st annual Harlem Ant-Gentrification Conference sponsored by the Harlem Tenants Council and the Delano Village Tenants Association.

The conference entitled “Race, Class and Gentrification in Harlem” addressed a number of issues that included rising evictions, luxury developments adversely impacting Harlem’s already inflated rental market and Columbia University’ expansion. According to Nellie Hester Bailey, Director of the Harlem Tenants, the conference critically examined public policies that facilitated an escalating housing crisis throughout New York City, and in particular Harlem. Bailey said, “The affordable crisis has moved us beyond shallow rhetoric of how bad landlords are when in fact what we need is a pro-active independent tenant movement addressing eminent domain abuse for private profit, legal representation for indigent tenants, vigorous state/city investigation of landlord abuse and accountability of elected officials starting with mayor Bloomberg.”

Valerie Orridge, President of the Delano Village Tenants Association, a seven building complex of 1,800 units stretching from 139th to 142nd from Fifth to Lenox Avenue said, “our new owners purchase the complex a year ago for $175 million only to refinance several months ago for $350 million! Some tenants upon lease renewal had increases upward to a thousand dollars! We are working people, where are we to go?”

On June 1st the conference kicks off at 6 PM with speakers, including renowned scholar on gentrification Professor Neil Smith, activist Daniel Goldstein of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn and Dr. Mindy Fullilove, author of “Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America, and What We Can Do About It.” There were eight workshop on Saturday, June 2nd from 9 AM to 6 PM: Senior Citizen Protection, Know Your Housing Rights, Building Alliances that featured tenants activists from across the city sharing experiences fighting gentrification, and authors Deborah and Rod Wallace presented their carefully researched book, “A Plague on Your Houses” that looked at the City’s devastated policy of “planned shrinkage” that uprooted 2 million working poor people of color. Robert Fitch, author of “The Assassination of New York” traced the City’s ruling elite destruction of its manufacturing base replaced with finance, insurance and real estate as the growth engine of the city aimed at the depopulating of blue collar workers.

DEFEND CINDY SHEEHAN

2007-05-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

DEFEND CINDY SHEEHAN

5/30/2007--Cindy Sheehan made public two letters this weekend. The first letter announced her resignation from the Democratic Party over the agreement by the Democratically-controlled Congress to unconditionally fund the criminal and colonial war in Iraq that killed her son Casey and hundreds of thousands of others, mostly Iraqis.

In the second letter, coming a day after the first, Sheehan announced that she would no longer be active in the peace movement. The reason for her first letter is self-evident. Why did she feel compelled to write the second one?

It should come as no surprise to anyone that Sheehan has been the target of endless threats and attacks by pro-war groups, right-wing talk radio, and the corporate media. But they haven’t been the only attackers. As Sheehan has stepped up her criticism of the Congressional Democrats' complicity in the war, she has come under attack, some as venomous and personal as any right-wing Republican attack, by some who insist that the antiwar movement must be limited to protesting against Bush and the Republicans. Some of the same forces, who are closely tied to the Democrats, were happy to use Sheehan as long as she limited her criticism to Bush, but then viciously turned on her after she announced her resignation from the Democratic Party over the war.

Cindy Sheehan has come to the conclusion that she has been pushed out of the antiwar movement and it’s not hard to understand why she feels this way. She feels pushed out by the betrayal of the Democrats on the war funding. She feels pushed out by the isolation and hostility not only from the “right,” but also from many in the orbit of the Democratic Party that Sheehan had once considered allies. She feels pushed out be the failure of the various coalitions in the antiwar movement to put aside egos and narrow agendas in the interest of forging an independent and militant mass movement powerful enough to shut the war down.

Some good can come from this, if the antiwar movement takes this as a turning point. Many of us made a struggle to demand that Congress cut off all war funding and end the war a priority this spring. Some of us did this, not based on any expectation that Congress would actually end Bush’s war, but to clearly expose the Democratic Party and to demonstrate that they are as much of a pro-war party as the Republicans. If the antiwar movement can absorb this reality, as painful as it is, than it will be all the much harder for the movement to be pulled off the streets and made an appendage of the Democratic Party.

The movement owes a debt to Cindy Sheehan for striking a blow against those who plan to mislead the antiwar movement and tie it to the pro-war Democratic Party.

The rank and file of the antiwar movement stands in solidarity with Cindy Sheehan, not with those who are beholden to the Democratic Party. It takes courage for a mother, catapulted into the world spotlight after camping out in Crawford Texas two summers ago to protest the death of her son in Iraq, to stand up to and openly break with powerful politicians who would be all too willing to provide her a platform with all the perks if she simply toed the line.

It is our hope that after Cindy Sheehan had taken the time to re-unite with her family, and do whatever she feels necessary to repair the toll that all of this has taken on her family and herself, that she will once again be a leading voice against war, against empire, and for justice at home and abroad.

The Troops Out Now Coalition

PRESS CONFERENCE AFTER THE FIRST DAY OF THE TRIAL

2007-05-22T09:23:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRESS CONFERENCE AFTER THE FIRST DAY OF THE TRIAL

4:00pm, on the steps of Bronx Supreme Court. Press release follows.

The Justice Committee, P.O. Box 1885, New York, New York 10159

Contacts: Gina Arias (Justice Committee): 646-321-5425

Kathie Cheng (October 22 Coalition): 917-414-4612

Esther Wang (Peoples' Justice): 512-769-1585

BRONX MOTHER OF POLICE SHOOTING VICTIM CALLS FOR HIGHER POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY. BRONX SUPREME COURT JURY TO DECIDE CIVIL CASE

May 23rd, 2007 – Seven years after the death of her 23-year-oldson, Malcolm Ferguson, Juanita Young says too many questions remain unanswered. On Tuesday, May 29th at 4:30PM, The Justice Committee, Peoples' Justice and The October 22nd Coalition will join Ms. Young and attorney Seth Harris on the steps of Bronx Supreme Court (851 Grand Concourse, off of 161st St) in a press conference calling for stepped-up police accountability.

"When they killed Malcolm, they killed five people that month,” Young told journalists after the 2000 shooting, referring to the four other young black men who were killed by NYPD in the month following the verdict that exonerated the police who killed Amadou Diallo. "When they kill your child, there's a kind of pain you can never get relief from. You take that with you to the day you die.”

To deal with that pain, Juanita Young joined with other parents and organizations fighting police brutality. Still seeking justice in her son's case, Young says she understands that the culture and practices of community policing must change – an approach long held by The Justice Committee, which led the fight against the controversial 48-hour rule (allowing police officers to wait two full business days before having to have to answer questions from the Police Department about possible misconduct).

"We have to question how police are trained and what their mandate is," says Justice Committee Co-Coordinator Gina Arias. "It seems the more technology they get the more deaths we get in communities of color ... if anything, their position should demand a higher standard of accountability than ordinary citizens. They are supposed to serve the interests of the community – not cause suffering and death with impunity."

Malcolm Ferguson was killed on March 1, 2000, when plainclothes officer Louis Rivera – assigned to an Area Impact Team (AIT) – chased the unarmed man up the stairs of a Bronx building. Police say a struggle ensued, ending in the accidental discharge of Rivera's16-shot, 9mm Smith & Wesson automatic. The 23-year old died at the scene from a "single contact gunshot wound of the head with perforations of skull and brain." An examination of Rivera's firearm revealed "blood and/or tissue residue on the barrel of the weapon."

Ironically, this incident occurred only three blocks from the police killing of unarmed African immigrant, Amadou Diallo and five days after Ferguson had been singled out and detained during a community protest of the Diallo verdict exonerating all cops involved in that shooting. And, while the official police version of Ferguson's shooting claims the young man was a drug dealer, others say Malcolm ran because he was scared of the police. Juanita Young says her son had "had problems," but was "moving forward with his life." He was one month shy of completing parole for a drug-selling conviction and was filing a 5 million dollar brutality suit against the city charging police broke his hand during the 1999 arrest. "What they say about him is a barefaced lie, they abused him,” Young said, "and then they killed him."

-30-

2007-05-22T08:27:00.000-07:00

It's time to go
from Protest to RESISTANCE!

Endorse the call for Sept 22 - 29 : http://www.troopsoutnow.org/sept2207encampmentmarchonwashendorse.shtml

Volunteer : http://www.troopsoutnow.org/sept2207volunteer.shtml

Become an Organizing Center : http://www.troopsoutnow.org/sept2207volunteer.shtml

Donate : http://troopsoutnow.org/donate.shtml

NYC: June 16 -- Antiwar Strategy Meeting - Planning for the next "Surge" of Antiwar mass action - Summer and Fall

Mumia Abu Jamal Press Conference

2007-05-17T08:20:00.000-07:00

COMMUNITY GROUPS TO PICKET AT CON ED’S STOCKHOLDER MEETING TO PROTEST CON ED RATE HIKE

2007-05-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release: May 18, 2007

COMMUNITY GROUPS TO PICKET AT
CON ED’S STOCKHOLDER MEETING TO
PROTEST CON ED RATE HIKE

Picketers will also demand full reimbursement of
unpaid losses and damages from July 2006 Queens power outage

WHEN: Monday, May 21, 2007
5:30 P.M. to 6:30 P.M.

WHERE: Con Ed’s Stockholder Meeting
4 Irving Place at 14th Street in Manhattan

WHAT: Picket Line to protest Con Ed’s rate hike

WHO: Women’s Fightback Network
Million Worker March (East coast)
Western Queens Power for the People Campaign

Sharon Black, an organizer with the Women’s Fightback Network, a national grassroots group that advocates for people’s rights, stated, “We will be picketing Con Ed’s stockholder’s meeting to say ‘no’ to Con Ed’s request for a 17% rate hike. Con Edison made over $12 billion dollars last year. Let them use that money to upgrade the infrastructure. Their top managers make big bucks off of our electric bills, while workers in this city and small businesses are suffering. We refuse to pay for their mismanagement and greed.”

Alice Tufel, a member of the Western Queens Power for the People Campaign, said, "The proposed rate hike is an insult to the immigrant and working class communities of Western Queens. Our communities endured a nine-day power outage last summer, and we could face another outage again this summer. Con Ed still hasn’t fully reimbursed us for losses and damages from last year's outage. We should not have to pay more to Con Ed given its negligence, especially since the PSC is still investigating the July 2006 Queens outage and whether the company prudently spent money it already had.”

Labor union activists from the Million Worker March will also participate in the protest.

-30-

Women’s International meets in Latin America

2007-05-15T08:14:00.000-07:00

Women’s International meets in Latin America

By Berta Joubert-Ceci
Caracas, Venezuela

May 15, 2007--Under the theme “Women of the World: a vital force against neoliberal globalization, terrorism and imperialist wars; for equality, social and economic justice and for peace,” more than 1,000 women representing organizations from five continents met in Caracas, Venezuela, from April 9 through 14. They were joined by thousands of Venezuelan women who hosted the 14th Congress of the Women’s International Democratic Federation.

This congress, the WIDF’s first in Latin America, was of crucial importance in coalescing the political line and actions of anti-imperialist and revolutionary women who comprise the membership of the federation.

The congress was preceded by a two-day Encounter of Young Women—an attempt to involve younger women more actively in the federation.

Plenaries and workshops alternated with cultural presentations. Each day ended with an Anti-Imperialist Tribune in an outside tent. Some topics of the working sessions provide an idea of the discussions held: the impact of neoliberal globalization on women; women’s struggle and the impact of state terrorism, occupation and imperialist wars, and the struggle for national liberation; exploitation of women and children, with a special emphasis on immigrant and displaced women; building international solidarity against political repression and all forms of violence against women; defense of Indigenous and African-descendant women and their culture and for equality.

A detailed listing and information about the congress and the WIDF can be found at www.fdim-widf.com.br.

A special session for women holding government office was held in the National Assembly, hosted by Venezuelan socialist parliamentarians under the theme “International Meeting of Parliamentarians against Imperialism and for Solidarity and Peace in the World.”

History of the WIDF

It is not accidental that very little is known in the U.S. about this federation, which was born to fight against the same imperialism that the U.S. leads. On Dec. 1, 1945, right after World War II, women from 41 countries met in France to create the WIDF (FDIM in Spanish). Many of these women had suffered directly from the bloody effects of the war and many had struggled against fascism.

Yolanda Ferrer Gómez, general secretary of the Cuban Women’s Federation, gave a moving statement on the organization’s history: “They were widows, mothers who had lost their children, former prisoners from Nazi concentration camps, combatants who fought alongside men in the battlefields, members of the resistance and clandestine movements, guerrillas, workers who secured the rearguard and supplied the front, fighters all of them in uniform or civilian clothes.”

She continued: “With them, women who had fought in other latitudes against fascism also united, Spanish exiles, members from national organizations from the Americas and Asia, African women, from Arab countries, from Indigenous communities, all in solidarity.”

They pledged “To defend the economic, political, legal and social rights of women; to fight so that the indispensable conditions for the harmonic and happy development of our children and future generation are built; struggle tirelessly so that all forms of fascism are forever annihilated and establish worldwide a true democracy; fight without rest to assure a lasting peace in the world.”

The WIDF was also enriched by the membership of socialist women from the revolutions that later developed in Cuba and Vietnam. The federation has played a key role in support of national liberation, such as in Angola, and against apartheid in South Africa. It has worked in international forums trying to give a more militant direction and has given voice to those under the yoke of imperialism, from Palestinians to Iraqis.

The WIDF was especially hard-hit during the 1990s, when the disintegration of the USSR and the Eastern and Central European socialist countries meant that material support and great theoretical and practical contributions so instrumental for the functioning of the federation suddenly stopped.

Crucial role of Cuba

Vilma Espín—one of four WIDF vice presidents, a combatant in the Cuban Revolution, a member of the Central Committee and the Political Bureau of the Cuban Communist Party and president of the Cuban Women’s Federation—played a decisive role in the enormous task of assuring the survival and development of the WIDF. Thanks to Cuban action, the federation not only survived but thrived as a space of struggle and promotion of women.

During the WDIF’s 13th Congress held in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2002, Marcia Campos from Brazil was elected president. This was the first time a woman from Latin America held that post. She had founded the Confederation of Brazilian Women and is a member of the Central Committee and the National Secretariat of the October 8th Revolutionary Movement in Brazil.

The 14th Congress was held in Venezuela to show solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution. But a new phenomenon occurred. The fighting revolutionary masses who are transforming this region also came to the congress. Many of the organizations present were not yet affiliates of the WDIF, but infused the congress with their combative energy. Wanting to affiliate and move forward the federation, many representatives spoke at the regional work session of the Americas.

There were Indigenous women from the Bolivian Bartolina Sisa Peasant Union, Peruvian Indigenous parliamentarians, young women from Puerto Rico and Colombian women urging a humanitarian exchange of prisoners. Prominent was the participation of Venezuelan women who, as the hosts, worked tirelessly to assure the smooth development of the congress and in their presentations highlighted the important role and advances of women under the Bolivarian Revolution.

The overall experience was tremendous: meeting and sharing with revolutionary women from all over the world, listening to their countries’ struggles, and most important, experiencing the overwhelming solidarity among all the attendees and their great respect, admiration and gratitude for Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

Where else could you hear women from the Sahara thanking Chávez for his support of their cause in international forums? The congress gave the opportunity to interview many women from different struggles who offered their progressive views on crucial current events: women’s role in Angola’s MPLA, South Africa after apartheid, Zimbabwe’s land distribution, the political view of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the struggle against Plan Colombia and so much more.

Delegation from the U.S.

Many women went from the U.S. The largest delegation was organized by African-American artist Vinie Burrows, who is also the WDIF representative to the U.N., and the National Women’s Fightback Network (NWFN) of the International Action Center. The NWFN is now an affiliate of the WIDF.

The Burrows delegation included representatives of the Granny Peace Brigade and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. The NWFN delegation included Susan Abulhawa, Palestinian writer and director of Playgrounds for Palestine; Brenda Stokely and Anna Wilson from the labor sector; Patricia Dahl, who works in solidarity with Colombia; Nellie Hester Bailey, co-founder and director of the Harlem Tenants Council; Sara Ann Mokuria, LeiLani Dowell, Liza Green, Jill Hill, Kris Hamel, Minnie Bruce Pratt and this writer, all from the NWFN.

The WIDF congress is not simply a “women’s issue.” As one participant said, “Everything and every struggle is of concern to women; we are half the world and give birth to the other half.” It was a Congress of Women in Struggle.

-- Women's FightBack Network

Soldier & Father Attacked by NYPD

2007-05-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

The Justice Committee
P.O. Box 1885, New York, New York 10159

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 10, 2007

Contact: David Galarza 917-573-9250

DAYBOOK ITEM/PHOTO DESK

U.S. Army Soldier, Father to Express Outrage Demand Justice After Brutal NYPD Arrests

A U.S. Army soldier and his 56-year-old father, who were brutally assaulted and arrested by NYPD officers in front of scores of people in Washington Heights on Wednesday, May 9th, will today express their outrage and demand justice at a press conference in front of the 34th Precinct at 4295 Broadway (183rd St.) on Thursday, May 10, 2007 at 4:30 pm.

###

A Draft Proposal from the Troops Out Now Coalition--

2007-05-05T08:24:00.000-07:00

A Draft Proposal from the Troops Out Now Coalition--
From Protest to Resistance

Troops Out Now!
Put the Antiwar Movement
Back on the Streets

September 29 -- March on Washington D.C.
Assemble at the Capitol -- March on the White House

September 22 – 29 --Encampment in Washington D.C.

Stop the War Abroad and at Home

In the spirit of unity, and for the purposes of taking the movement away from politicians and putting it back into the streets, the Troops Out Now Coalition submits this proposal to all antiwar forces:

Our proposal is for an Encampment to Stop the War at Home & Abroad, starting on Saturday, September 22 in Washington D.C., culminating in a mass march in Washington on Saturday, September 29.

This proposal is open to change. TONC welcomes and encourages discussion and suggestions for modifying and improving this proposal. Please endorse the proposal if you are in agreement. All are invited to an Antiwar Strategy meeting in New York City on Saturday, June 16 where there will be more discussion of this proposal, as well as others.

In the fall, (and summer) we must all be focused on jump-starting the mass movement against the war again. Our movement will not be a factor unless we:

* demonstrate our independence from the major political parties;
* make every effort to connect the fight against the wars abroad with the war on the people here in the U.S.; and
* continue to shift from protest to resistance.

Can we not only have a march on Washington, but also occupy the occupiers for a week? The time has come to try it, and that is why our proposal is not only for a march but also for an encampment prior to the march.

It was always clear to some of us, and it’s becoming more and more clear to all of us that Congress is not going to stop the criminal war and occupation in Iraq. Congressional calls for phased withdrawals have done little more than provide a cover for Congress to continue funding the war.

The greater problem is that the political posturing between Bush and Congress has reduced the demand for immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all troops from Iraq to arguing about establishing “benchmarks”. The phony antiwar politicking in Congress has to a large degree diverted and usurped the mass movement on the streets.

It’s absolutely critical that we take the struggle against the war out of the halls of Congress and put it where it needs to be -- back on the streets.

Congress is giving Bush and his generals until September to succeed in Iraq. The Pentagon should not be given another hour to wage their criminal, colonial war and occupation. The only significance that time should have for the movement is the time that it will take to organize so that the next phase of the antiwar struggle will be massive, militant and decisive.

It is essential that we acknowledge and fight Bush’s plans to expand the war into Iran. It’s also critical that we call for an end to the occupation of Afghanistan and an end to the Pentagon’s plans for endless war against the peoples of Asia, Africa, Caribbean and Latin America. We must demand an end to the occupation of Palestine, and support the Palestinian people -- including their right to return.

However, it is just as critical that our movement against the war fully embrace the struggle against racism right here in the U.S. Where undocumented immigrant workers are under attack, we must be with them fighting back. Whether fighting for the freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal, or marching in New York City against the murder of Sean Bell, we must fight racist police and judicial terror.

The Troops Out Now Coalition encourages all of the antiwar coalitions on the local and national level to engage each other and where communication has broken down, to open new lines of communication so that our combined efforts will make us stronger.

Let us join forces with the movements struggling for:

* No War against Iran
* End all occupations now - from Iraq to Palestine, the Philippines, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and Afghanistan
* No to U.S. intervention – Hands off Cuba, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and the Sudan
* Stop the raids against immigrant workers -- Full rights for undocumented workers
* Justice for Katrina survivors – End racist police terror
* Free Mumia Abu-Jamal and all political prisoners
* Money for health care, jobs and education, not endless war

Together let’s unite to demand:

* Immediate withdrawal of all troops
* Cut off ALL war funding'

Endorse the call for Sept 22 - 29 : http://www.troopsoutnow.org/sept2207encampmentmarchonwashendorse.shtml

Volunteer : http://www.troopsoutnow.org/sept2207volunteer.shtml

Become an Organizing Center : http://www.troopsoutnow.org/sept2207volunteer.shtml

Donate : http://troopsoutnow.org/donate.shtml

Mumia Abu-Jamal interview on prisons

2007-05-05T08:17:00.000-07:00

Oil and social gains: WHY U.S. IS TARGETING IRAN

2007-05-05T08:15:00.000-07:00

Oil and social gains
WHY U.S. IS TARGETING IRAN

By Sara Flounders
StopWarOnIran.org

“The forces opposing Washington’s policy of endless war--whether waged through sanctions, coups, invasions, bombings or sabotage--should stand with Iran, recognize its accomplishments, defend its gains and oppose imperialism’s efforts to re-colonize the country.”

Why is Iran increasingly a target of U.S. threats? Who in Iran will be affected if the Pentagon implements plans, already drawn up, to strike more than 10,000 targets in the first hours of a U.S. air barrage on Iran?

What changes in policy is Washington demanding of the Iranian government?

In the face of the debacle U.S. imperialism is facing in Iraq, U.S. threats against Iran are discussed daily. This is not a secret operation. They can't be considered idle threats.

Two aircraft carriers--USS Eisenhower and USS Stennis--are still off the coast of Iran, each one accompanied by a carrier strike group containing Hornet and Superhornet fighter-bombers, electronic warfare aircraft, anti-submarine and refueler planes, and airborne command-and-control planes. Six guided-missile destroyers are also part of the armada.

Besides this vast array of firepower, the Pentagon has bases throughout the Middle East able to attack Iran with cruise missiles and hundreds of warplanes.

In fact, the U.S. is already engaged in a war on Iran. Ever-tightening sanctions, from both the U.S. and U.N., restrict trade and the ordering of equipment, spare parts and supplies.

Seymour Hersh reported in the New Yorker magazine a year ago that U.S. special operations forces were already operating inside Iran in preparation for a possible attack. U.S.-backed covert operatives had entered Iran to organize sabotage, car bombings, kidnappings and attacks on civilians, to collect targeting data and to foment anti-government ethnic-minority groups.

News articles have reported in recent months that the Pentagon has drawn up plans for a military blitz that would strike 10,000 targets in the first day of attacks. The aim is to destroy not just military targets but also airports, rail lines, highways, bridges, ports, communication centers, power grids, industrial centers, hospitals and public buildings.

It is important to understand internal developments in Iran today in order to understand why this country is the focus of such continued hatred by U.S. corporate power.

Every leading U.S. political figure has weighed in on the issue, from George W. Bush, who has the power to order strikes, to Hillary Clinton, who has made her support for an attack on Iran clear, to John McCain, who answered a reporter's question on policy toward Iran by chanting "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" to the tune of the Beach Boys' song, "Barbara Ann." The media--from the New York Times to the Washington Post to banner headlines in the tabloid press to right-wing radio talk shows--are playing a role in preparing the public for an attack.

The significance of oil production and oil reserves in Iran is well known. Every news article, analysis or politician's threat makes mention of Iran’s oil. But the impact of Iran’s nationalization of its oil resources is not well known.

The corporate owners in the U.S. want to keep it a secret from the people here. They use all the power of their media to demonize the Iranian leadership and caricature and ridicule the entire population, their culture and religion.

What’s been achieved?

The focus of media coverage here is to describe Iran as medieval, backward and feudal while somehow becoming a nuclear power.

It is never mentioned that more than half the university students in Iran are women, or that more than a third of the doctors, 60 percent of civil servants and 80 percent of all teachers in Iran are women. At the time of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, 90 percent of rural women were illiterate; in towns the figure was over 45 percent.

Also ignored is the stunning achievement of full literacy for Iranian youth.

Even the World Bank, now headed by Bush's neocon appointee Paul Wolfowitz, in its development report on countries admits that Iran has exceeded the social gains of other countries in the Middle East.

According to that report, Iran has made the most progress in eliminating gender disparities in education. Large numbers of increasingly well-educated women have entered the work force.

Iran’s comprehensive social protection system includes the highest level of pensions, disability insurance, job training programs, unemployment insurance and disaster-relief programs. National subsidies make basic food, housing and energy affordable to all.

An extensive national network going from primary health and preventive care to sophisticated hospital care covers the entire population, both urban and rural. More than 16,000 "health houses" are the cornerstone of the health care system. Using simple technology, they provide vaccines, preventive care, care for respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, family planning and contraceptive information, and pre-natal care. And they monitor children’s nutrition and general health.

Since 1990, Iran nearly halved the infant mortality rate and increased life expectancy by 10 years.

Iran sets record in family planning

A national family planning program, delivered through the primary health care facilities and accompanied by a dramatic increase in contraceptive use, which is approved by Islamic law, has led to a world record demographic change in family size and maternal and child health. All forms of contraception are now available for free.

In addition promoting women’s education and employment, while extending social security and retirement benefits, has alleviated the pressure to have many children to protect security as parents grow older. The fertility rate between 1976 and 2000 declined from 8.1 births per woman to 2.4 births in rural areas and 1.8 births in urban areas.

These social programs, which cover the entire population of almost 70 million people, should be compared to conditions in countries in the region that remain under U.S. military and economic domination.

In Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, only a tiny part of the population has benefited from the vast profits generated by oil and gas resources. In each of these countries the bulk of the people are not even considered citizens. Millions are immigrant workers, usually the overwhelming majority of the population, who have no rights to any representation, participation or any social, health or educational programs or union protection.

Women in these countries face much more than religious restrictions on clothing. They are barred from jobs, equal education and the right to control their own bodies or their own funds. They cannot vote or even drive a car.

In Iraq, which before U.S. attacks began in 1991 had some of the best conditions in the region for women, plus a high level of education, health, nutrition and social services, the conditions of life have now deteriorated to the level of the very poorest countries in the world. Legislation passed by the U.S.-installed puppet government has stripped women of rights that were guaranteed earlier.

Revolution made it all possible

The social gains of millions of Iranians are based on the upsurge of the Iranian masses in the 1979 revolution. The overthrow of the U.S.-backed Shah and the Pahlavi dynasty broke the hold of U.S. corporate power in Iran.

The Iranian Revolution was not a socialist revolution. Bourgeois rights to own businesses, land, wealth and inheritance are still protected by law and by the state apparatus.

But the greatest source of wealth--Iran's oil and gas--was nationalized. Nationalization means the transfer of privately owned assets and operations into public ownership. The exploration, drilling, maintenance, transport, refining and shipping of oil and gas became the national property of the Iranian people. Formerly this entire process was controlled at every step by Western imperialists, particularly U.S. and British corporations.

Most of the administrators, executives, technicians and engineers who controlled the process used to be from the West. Through hundreds of thousands of contracts and sub-contracts, U.S. and British firms extracted a profit not just through the sale of oil on the world markets but at every step of its extraction and refining. The small portion of profit the Shah's government received, as in the Gulf States today, was spent on luxury items imported from Western corporations for the small ruling elite and on infrastructure and weapons systems purchased from U.S. military corporations, again at an enormous profit.

The 1979 Iranian revolution, even though it brought a religious group to power, was a profoundly radical and anti-imperialist revolution. Demonstrations of millions openly confronted the brutally repressive police apparatus called the Savak, who protected the small handful of corrupt U.S. collaborators. Religious fervor, demands for social justice and militant anti-imperialism were bound together in opposition to the U.S.-imposed Shah and the Pahlavi royal family, which was hated for its program of a glitzy modernization of the urban infrastructure alongside the growing impoverishment of both urban and rural workers, farmers and much of the middle class.

All classes of society were profoundly shaken as millions of revolutionary workers took to the streets. This was reflected not only in laws passed in Parliament but in the Iranian constitution itself. The constitution states that the government is required to provide every citizen with access to social security for retirement, unemployment, old age, disability, accidents, health and medical treatment--out of public revenue.

Prior to the revolution Iran had a shortage of medical staff and of trained personnel of every kind. During the upheaval of the revolution and the years of the Iran-Iraq war, many physicians, scientific and skilled personnel emigrated.

Having broken free of U.S. corporate domination and control of its resources, Iran was able to develop education, industry and infrastructure with unprecedented speed. By 2004 the number of university students had increased by six times over 1979. There are currently 2.2 million college students. The largest and most prestigious programs encompass 54 state universities and 42 state medical schools where tuition, room and board are totally free. In addition, 289 major private universities also receive substantial funding.

Millions of scientists, engineers, technicians, administrators, military officers, teachers, civil servants and doctors have been trained.

Today Iran boasts modern cities, a large auto industry, and miles of new roads, railroads and subways. Currently 55 Iranian pharmaceutical companies produce 96 percent of the medicines on the market in Iran. This allows a national insurance system to reimburse drug expenses.

Soon to become operational is the largest pharmaceutical complex in southwest Asia, which will produce compound drugs, making Iran a pioneer in biotechnology.

Years of U.S. sanctions and pressure on international financial institutions have had an unexpected result: Iran is free of the crippling debt that has strangled so many developing countries. According to World Bank figures, Iran’s external debt is one of the lowest for its size: $11.9 billion, or 8.8 percent of the GDP. From the point of view of the imperialist world bankers, this means the loss of many billions each year in interest payments to them.

Different approaches

Since 1979 there have been deep struggles inside Iran over how to deal with the unrelenting pressure of the imperialist powers. There are differing approaches on developments plans and who is favored or benefits most from these plans. But all of the present forces are committed to maintaining Iran's control of its resources.

Iran is not a monolithic state. No state is or could be. There are contending groups even within the Muslim clergy that reflect different economic interests and class forces. This is true also in the Iranian Parliament and among various political parties and leaders.

Under President Mohammed Khatami, from 1997 to 2005, a "Reform Movement" eased religious and social restrictions. But it also allowed the introduction of neo-liberal economic policies, structural reforms and the de-nationalizing or privatizing of some social programs along with the cutting of subsidies. More joint ventures were initiated with European and Japanese capital. Programs that benefited the "private sector" or the wealthy and the middle class grew. This was the core of Khatami’s base.

The current leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's first non-cleric president in 24 years, was elected in 2005 in a landslide victory after promising to extend social security and pensions, improve the subsidies for food and housing, deal with rising unemployment and guarantee a monthly stipend.

The Iranian people are determined to protect the substantial gains they have made since the revolution. They are not interested in any effort that turns the clock back.

A Wall Street Journal Commentary by Francis Fukuyama on Feb. 1 was unusually frank in explaining the growing problem faced by U.S. corporate power on a global scale:

“What is it that leaders like Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez have in common that vastly increases their local appeal? A foreign policy built around anti-Americanism is, of course, a core component. But what has allowed them to win elections and build support in their societies is less their foreign-policy stances than their ability to promise, and to a certain extent deliver on, social policy--things like education, health and other social services, particularly for the poor….

“The U.S. and the political groups that it tends to support around the world, by contrast, have relatively little to offer in this regard.”

Past and new threats

Iran's program for nuclear power was actually initiated by the U.S. when the Shah held dictatorial power. Nuclear energy is an important part of modern industrial development. It is important in science, medicine and research. Only after the overthrow of the Shah was Iran’s continued development of the same program branded a threat by Washington.

The U.S. government has made every effort to sabotage all Iranian infrastructure and industrial development, not only nuclear energy. Modern technology--from elevators to cars, ships, jet aircraft and oil refineries--needs constant upkeep. Parts for the re-supply and maintenance of equipment the Iranians had purchased over decades from U.S. corporations were halted.

The most onerous sanctions were imposed in 1995 during the Clinton administration.

The Iranian people, despite many different political currents, are united in their determination not to lose their national sovereignty again. Washington's past use of sanctions, economic sabotage, political destabilization and regime change is well remembered in Iran today.

Sanctions, the freezing of assets and an embargo on the export of Iranian oil and all trade with Iran were first imposed in March 1951, after Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. Iran was the first country in the Middle East to take the bold step of reclaiming its national wealth in the post-colonial era.

In 1953 using internal destabilization and massive external pressure, the CIA orchestrated the overthrow of Mossadegh's popularly elected government and placed the Shah on the Peacock Throne. Oil was back under the control of the U.S. and Britain, and 26 years of brutal repression followed.

Ever since the 1979 revolution and the decisive overthrow of the U.S.-supported military dictatorship, Iran has had not a moment of peace from the Pentagon or Wall Street.

As Iran continues to grow and develop, U.S. imperialism is becoming increasingly desperate to reverse this revolutionary process, whether through sanctions, sabotage or bombing. But today it faces a population that is stronger, more conscious and more skilled. On a world scale U.S. imperialism is more isolated. Its hated occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan has left it overextended.

But the Pentagon is still capable of massive destruction. Its bases surround Iran and it has sent an armada of ships to the Gulf. U.S. government threats against Iran today must be taken as seriously as their devastating occupation of Iraq.

The forces opposing Washington’s policy of endless war--whether waged through sanctions, coups, invasions, bombings or sabotage--should stand with Iran, recognize its accomplishments, defend its gains and oppose imperialism’s efforts to re-colonize the country.

Sources of information about Iran's social development include: "Iran’s Family Planning Program: Responding to a Nation’s Needs," by Farzaneh Roudi-Fahimi, Population Reference Bureau, Washington, D.C., June 2002; "Tehran University Official Describes Iran Health Care System to Harvard School of Public Health," HSPH NOW, Jan. 24, 2003; World Bank.org--Iran--Country Brief; UNICEF--Info by Country; Food & Agriculture Organization of UN--Nutrition--Country Profiles; "Biggest Pharmaceutical Plant to Open Soon," Iran Daily, Feb. 4, 2007.

* Sign the Petition - http://stopwaroniran.org/petition.shtml
* Donate to help with organizing expenses - http://stopwaroniran.org/donate.shtml
* Sign up for updates - http://stopwaroniran.org/contact.shtml

Federal Judge Drops All Charges Against Posada!

2007-05-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

Federal Judge Drops All Charges Against Posada!

Jail Posada!
Free the Cuban Five!

Thursday - MAY 10th from 4:30-6:00pm
Government Center T Stop, Boston

Protests are being held all over the world on May 11^th, the opening day of Luis Posada Carriles’ trial. Posada is an ex-CIA terrorist and the mastermind behind the 1976 bombing of a Cuban commercial airliner killing all 73 people on board. Bail for this murderer and the attempt to try him solely for immigration crimes, is proof of the hypocrisy of the Bush administration. It confirms the double standards in its supposed crusade against terrorism.

Cuban exile Posada Carriles is known to have engineered the bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people in 1976, yet he was allowed to walk out of a New Mexico jail in April, free on bail. Posada was being held on immigration charges, but many were demanding that he be extradited to either Cuba or Venezuela and tried for terrorism.

Posada Carriles is known to have killed people - U.S. government records attest to this - yet he is free, while the Cuban 5 who killed no one are rotting in prison because they tried to protect their country and even the people in the USA from terrorists like Posada.

Posada Carriles was freed from jail where he was being held on charges of violating U.S. immigration laws yet ICE routinely raids workplaces, rounds up undocumented workers and deports them with no regard to the impact on their families, including young children born in the U.S.

Posada Carriles has openly advocated the murder of government officials in Cuba, yet U.S. courts released him on bail, while U.S. political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal still sits on Pennsylvania's death row over five years after his death sentence was lifted by a federal judge.

Just this week, a Cuban military police officer and a soldier were killed by prison escapees during a failed attempt to hijack a plane in Havana and fly to the U.S. Had these would-be hijackers and murderers of a Cuban police officer made it to the U.S. they would have been given safe haven because of the Cuban Adjustment Act.

Posada Carriles is not just a suspect. He was being tried, formally accused over twenty years ago by another Venezuelan government, and Venezuelan courts have been demanding him ever since the CIA helped him escape from a Venezuelan jail.

Free the CUBAN FIVE!

The media has been silent on the case of the Cuban Five. These heroic Cubans infiltrated criminal exile groups in Florida to prevent future terrorist actions that had already killed more than 3,000 innocent Cubans. They have been imprisoned in the U.S. since 1998 on the charge of “conspiracy” to commit espionage. Their Miami trial was plagued with irregularities. In August of 2005, a three judge panel of the Atlanta Circuit Court, calling the trial a "perfect storm" of judicial prejudice, reversed the convictions concluding that the Five did not receive a fair trial in Miami. Rather than ordering a new trial outside of Miami, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales called upon the full Circuit to review the decision. Perhaps succumbing to pressure from Washington, the 11^th Circuit Court in August, 2006 rejected the earlier decision and sent the matter back to the panel where further appeals are now pending. It is time these innocent men were released.

Please join us in this important protest.

Sponsors: July 26 Coalition of Boston and International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five.
Endorsed by: National Lawyers Guild, Massachusetts Chapter; Howard Zinn; Boston City Councilors Felix Arroyo and Chuck Turner; Melida Arredondo, El Pueblo Unido Para la Paz; Noam Chomsky; Michael Avery, Professor Suffolk Law School, past president National Lawyers Guild; International Action Center; Professor James Rowan; The Women's Fightback Network; Bolivarian Circle of Boston

For more information: write info@july26.org or call (617) 522-9478

www.freethefive.org www.antiterroristas.cu www.july26.org

Why Virginia Tech shootings happened

2007-04-18T08:11:00.000-07:00

A Statement from the International Action Center
Why Virginia Tech shootings happened

April 18, 2007--Yet another rampage has occurred at a school, this time leaving 33 people dead at Virginia Tech—the worst such incident ever at a U.S. college campus.

The news media seem stunned and surprised, yet their coverage sounds so similar to the stories about Columbine eight years ago. They dwell on the personality of the young man the police say did the shooting, before killing himself. They talk about him being a “loner,” depressed, perhaps angry at women.

But aren’t there lonely and depressed people all over the world? Many countries have high suicide rates. Why is it that here some become mass murderers?

The U.S. is the world leader in seemingly random acts of violence by individuals. Why?

President George W. Bush rushed to Virginia to speak at a large convocation the day after the killings and tried to set the tone for what could be said about them. “It’s impossible to make sense of such violence and suffering,” he said.

Don’t ask why, don’t try to understand. It makes no sense. “Have faith” instead, was Bush’s message.

But there ARE reasons these things happen here, and they are pretty clear to the rest of the world. It’s just in the United States that no one is supposed to talk about the reasons.

What distinguishes this country from the rest of the world? It is neither the most affluent nor the poorest. It is neither the most secular nor the most religious. It is not the most culturally homogeneous nor is it the most diverse.

But in one area, it stands virtually alone. It has the biggest arsenal of high-tech weaponry in the world, way surpassing every other country. It has military bases spread all over; most countries have no troops outside their borders.

It is conducting two hot wars at the moment, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has sent hundreds of thousands of troops abroad over the last few years. Every day, the public here is supposed to identify with soldiers who burst into homes in Baghdad, round up the people and take them away for “interrogation”—which everyone knows now can mean torture and indefinite detainment.

It also sends heavily armed “special ops” on secret missions to countless other countries, like the ones who just facilitated the invasion and bombing of Somalia, or the ones who have been trying to stir up opposition in Iran. This is documented in the news media.

The immense brutality of these colonial wars, as well as earlier ones, is praised from the White House on down as the best, the ONLY way to achieve what the political leaders and their influential, rich backers decide is necessary to protect their world empire. Do lots of people get killed? “Stuff happens,” said former war secretary Donald Rumsfeld. “Collateral damage,” says the Pentagon.

At home, the U.S. has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Over 2 million people are locked up in the prison system each year, most of them people of color. When commercial armed security guards are also taken into consideration, the U.S. has millions of employees who use guns and other coercive paraphernalia in their jobs.

In the final analysis, the military and the police exist to perpetuate and protect this present unjust system of capitalist inequality, where a few can claim personal ownership over a vast economy built by the sweat and blood of hundreds of millions of workers.

And the more divided, the more polarized the society becomes, the higher the level of coercion and violence. Assault weapons are now everywhere in this society, as are Tasers, handcuffs, clubs and tear gas. They most often start out in the hands of the police, the military and other agents of the state, and can then turn up anywhere.

Violence is a big money maker in the mass culture. Television, films, pulp novels, Internet sites, video games—all dwell on “sociopaths” while glorifying the state’s use of violence, often supplemented by a lone vigilante. By the time children reach their teens, they have already seen thousands of murders and killings on television. And these days even more suspense is added in countless programs that involve stalking and terror against women—and increasingly children.

As the Duke rape case and so many “escort service” ads show, women of color are particularly subject to exploitation and have little recourse to any justice. And as the murders along the border show, immigrants of color are fair game for racist killers.

The social soil of capitalism can alienate and enrage an unstable and miserable person who should be getting help but can’t find it. If, as reports are saying, the young man accused of these killings was on anti-depressant medication, it is all the more evidence that, at a time when hospitals are closing and health care is unavailable for tens of millions, treating mental health problems requires more from society than just prescribing dubious chemicals.

Many liberal commentators are taking this occasion to renew the demand for tougher gun laws. Yes, assault weapons are horrible, but so are bunker buster bombs, helicopters that fire thousands of rounds a minute, and the ultimate—nuclear weapons. Disarming the people is not the answer, especially when the government is armed to the teeth and uses brutality and coercion daily.

The best antidote to these tragedies is to build a movement for profound social change, a movement directed at solving the great problems depressing so much of humanity today, whether they be wars or global climate change or the loneliness of the dog-eat-dog society.

May 1 - Support the Struggle for Immigrant Workers' Rights

2007-04-05T08:50:00.000-07:00

Dear sisters and brothers,

The struggle for immigrant workers’ rights needs your active participation and solidarity. Remember May 1, 2006? Millions of immigrant workers from coast to coast walked off their jobs and rallied in just about every major city to demand full rights for undocumented workers.

The same thing is planned for May 1, or “May Day” 2007. Many of you who are reading this appeal probably have a good idea of why it’s important for you as anti-war activists to be involved in the movement for immigrant workers’ rights. Even so it’s worth reviewing just a little.

To begin with, while we march against the war in Iraq, it’s absolutely critical that we march against the war on the people right here at home. The level of institutional racism on the part of the capitalist system and government that resulted in massive death and continued suffering in New Orleans is part of a “war at home.” So are the police murders of 23-year -old Sean Bell in New York City and 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston in Atlanta several months ago.

When it comes to the government anti-immigrant raids that go on daily, calling it a war is no metaphor. No other word could describe it more accurately. Thousands of immigrant workers have been arrested over the past year alone. On the morning of March 6, an army of hundreds of heavily armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement and FBI agents raided a leather factory in New Bedford, Mass., arresting and terrorizing 350 workers, many of them women whose children were suddenly left stranded. It’s time that we UNITE and show by our actions that we are as angry about these raids as we are about the war in Iraq. When we do that, we are truly connecting the struggles against the war abroad and the war at home.

The main weapon that the government and the capitalist media are using to try to deter more people of all nationalities and races from demanding an end to these raids is anti-immigrant racism. When immigrants rally for their rights, and you look out at many of the big immigrant rights rallies and see a tremendous sea of people—including, however, very few people who are either white, or whom you usually might see at a big anti-war march—that’s a sign that the divide and conquer with racism strategy is being used.

On May Day 2007, it is up to us to make sure that the anti-war movement shows up to stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder, with immigrant workers against these terrorist raids.

Another point is that it’s so important that immigrant workers have chosen May Day as the day to boycott work and rally for their rights across the country. May Day is the day the workers in every part of the world rally and march to show their solidarity with the struggle of all workers everywhere. Even though May Day was born in the working class struggles of the 19th century right here in the U.S., up until recently May Day has not been widely observed in this country. But all of that’s changing, in large part because immigrant workers are bringing May Day back to the U.S., along with its message of worldwide working-class unity and militancy and anti-racist, anti-imperialist and anti-war solidarity.

The anti-war movement must get behind May Day 2007 and build for it with the same passion and energy that we put into anti-war marches. If we do that, we will not only be solidarizing ourselves with immigrant workers, we will be helping to revive worldwide working-class solidarity in the country where it is most needed.

Anti-war movement—all out for May Day ’07!

Signed by,

LeiLani Dowell, Fight Imperialism-Stand Together (FIST)

Teresa Gutierrez, May 1 Coalition, New York City

Larry Holmes, Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC)

John Parker, March 25 Coalition, Los Angeles

U.S. Bases Out Now!

2007-03-05T08:09:00.000-08:00

Join the international campaign to say
U.S. Bases Out Now!

Tell Bush & Congress: NO U.S. Military bases in the Czech Republic and Poland!
We need funds for peoples needs, not for war and occupation.

Sign the Petition!

text of petition included below

Join the international campaign against the construction of new U.S. military bases in the Czech Republic and Poland. In recent polls a clear majority of the population of those countries is opposed to U.S. bases there. By an overwhelming majority, people are demanding the right to decide on this dangerous escalation in a national referendum.

Already, tens of thousands have signed names to petitions and participated in rallies and demonstrations demanding "No to the Bases." More than 40 organizations are part of the No to the Bases Campaign formed last July in the Czech Republic.

Sign the Petition
Donate (indicate "for Bases Out Now Project" in the comments field on the donation form)
BasesOutNow.org for more information
Citizens Initiative - No to Bases

NO! to U.S. Bases
Petition Text :
cc: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, members of the media

President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary Rice, Secretary Gates, and Congressional leaders:

NO U.S. Bases in the Czech Republic and Poland!
We need funds for Human Needs, not War and Occupation!

The Pentagon is planning to build U.S. missile bases and radar stations in the Czech Republic and Poland. A majority of the population in both countries is opposed to this dangerous military escalation. I stand in solidarity with them in opposing this reckless warlike move.

In both countries there is an effort to ram through the decision to allow the U.S. bases despite thousands of petitions, mass calls for a national referendum and wide protests. Millions of people are concerned about the opening of a new cold war and a new arms race.

President Bush has just submitted the largest military budget in history. U.S. military spending surpasses $1 million a minute – every day of the year. Desperately needed social programs for health, education, housing and the environment are being cut, to pay for a brutal war in Iraq, new bases and new threats of endless war.

I support the right of the people of the Czech Republic and Poland to oppose U.S. bases on their soil.

I support their just and democratic demand for a national referendum on this issue.

We need funds for peoples needs, not for war and occupation.

Sincerely,
(Your signature will be appended here based on the contact information you enter in the form above)

Join the campaign - sign the petition -- No to U.S. bases in the Czech Republic and Poland! We need funds for peoples needs, not for war and occupation.

see BasesOutNow.org for more information

Bases Out Now! Campaign
Sponsored by:
BasesOutNow.org
Solidarity Center - 5C
55 West 17th St
New York, NY 10011
For further information call: (212) 633-6646

Stop Bush's "Surge" --No War Against Iran!

2007-01-11T08:06:00.000-08:00

Stop Bush's "Surge" --No War Against Iran!

Stop War On Iran .org

January 14, 2007--Join U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark; Bishop Thomas Gumbleton; Harold Pinter; historian Howard Zinn; George Galloway MP; former UN Assistant Secretary-General Dennis Halliday; Tony Benn, and 20,000 more signers to say No War on Iran!

The growing threat of military action against Iran was made very clear last week as President Bush used his prime time "surge" speech to issue threats against the people of Iran. This speech was immediately followed by a U.S. attack on the Iranian consulate in northern Iraq and the arrest of Iranian consular personnel.

As this time, the U.S. has deployed two full carrier groups to the Persian Gulf. Each carrier carries more than 80 combat aircraft including F/A-18 Hornets, F-14 Tomcats, SH-60 Seahawks, S-3B Vikings, E-2C Hawkeyes and EA-6B Prowlers, capable of flying more than 150 strikes a day. In addition, each carrier group includes guided missile cruisers, fast frigates, guided missile destroyers, and submarines, all equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles.

We know from reports last year that the Pentagon's Central Command and Strategic Command planners are already identifying targets, assessing weapon-loads and working on logistics for an attack and that the planned strikes could kill thousands of Iranian people. We must mobilize now to against the threat of a new war. Over the next few days and weeks, Stop War On Iran will be organizing meetings, rallies, and protests across the country to build a movement to stop another disastrous war.

So far, we've gotten more than 20,000 signatures on the Stop War On Iran petition, and we've sent nearly half a million petitions to Bush, Cheney, Congress, and Halliburton. But we must do more--the threat of an imminent attack is growing. We need your help. We cannot count on politicians (of either major party ) to stop the war--we must build a grassroots movement to stop another brutal war.

Here's how you can help:

- Sign the petition - Send a message to Bush, Cheney, Congress, and Halliburton -

- Tell a Friend - Help get the word out -

- Donate - Help with organizing meetings, teach-ins, protests -

- Put a link to Stop War On Iran on your website -

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Duplicity of the UN Security Council

January 11, 2007

In light of the imposition of new United Nations Security Council sanctions directed against Iran, and in the face of a massive U.S.- led military build-up in the Persian Gulf, StopWarOnIran.org campaign calls on all peace loving and justice-seeking people to endorse SWOI's demand for U.S. withdrawal of its naval forces from the Persian Gulf and for the annulment of U.N. Resolution 1737.

Under the ongoing pressure and probable offer of economic incentives from the United States and Britain, the United Nations Security Council on December 23, 2006 approved Resolution 1737 that:

Requires Iran to suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities and to stop work on the construction of a heavy-water research reactor at Arak.

Prohibits all member states from supplying Iran with items including dual-use equipment and prohibits Iran from exporting any related equipment or technology to other countries.

Requires all states to avoid providing Iran with technical assistance, training or financial services that could contribute to a nuclear program advancement.

Requires all states to freeze the assets of a specified list of individuals and entities identified as having a key role in Iran's nuclear program, and requires all states to notify the sanctions committee of travel by those individuals outside of Iran.

Requires the suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment as a necessary pre-condition for the resumption of Iran-European Union (EU3) negotiation.

U.S. plans to strangle Iran go far beyond the formal UN Security Council decisions. Immediately after the Council vote, U.S. Secretary of State for Political Affairs R. Nicholas Burns said, "We're certainly not going to put all our eggs in the UN basket...We'd like to see countries stop doing business as usual with Iran...We would like countries to stop selling arms to Iran. We would like countries to try to limit export credits to Iran." He boasted that the U.S. already has had "full-scope sanctions on Iran in every conceivable area" in place since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Finally, Mr. Burns clearly stated that the U.S. differences with Iran go far beyond the nuclear issue. "Our beef with the Iranians is threefold," he said. First is their effort to attain a nuclear capability, second is their support for the Palestinian and Lebanese movements and their interference in Iraq, and third is the system of their governance domestically, according to Burns.

Washington recently called for "regime change" in Iran and began working towards that objective. Congress approved a more than $100 million budget to finance covert and overt activities to provoke insecurity and undermine the country's economic, social and political stability.

In each major nuclear issue confronting the United Nations nuclear non-proliferation regime, the United States and Britain have tried to replace the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with the Security Council. In cases of disputes with the other Council members, as with Iraq, they feel free to by-pass the UN and begin a pre-emptive war without the consent of the international community that they are so fond of appealing to rhetorically.

Iran has consistently placed its entire nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards; furthermore, it adopted and fully implemented the Additional Protocol for over 2 years and announced its readiness for extension of its implementation, while permitting over 2,000 person-days of IAEA inspections of all its relevant and even unrelated facilities.

Iran has been singled out and charged unfairly with violations of the UN nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Iran signed onto the NPT and has fulfilled its commitments to the Treaty and has dutifully complied with the NPT governing rules and IAEA regulations. The UN nuclear energy agency (IAEA) has consistently declared that Iran has made no diversion of nuclear materials and equipment for purposes other than the use for civilian nuclear energy. Iran has the right to enjoy its legitimate and inalienable rights to research and development of a nuclear industry for peaceful use, as it is stipulated in Article Four of the Treaty.

To build confidence and eradicate any Western misconceptions regarding Iranian "intentions," the Iranian government had voluntarily suspended its nuclear enrichment and processing operations for a period as along as 15 months while holding marathon negotiations with EU3--Britain, France, and Germany--for nearly three years. Despite this Iranian display of good will and dialogue, the EU3 not only failed to provide a resolution entrusting Iran to produce its own nuclear fuel (in accord with the provisions of the NPT), but collaborated with the U.S. behind the scenes and accused Iran of the "intention" of building nuclear weapons.

To portray Iran as a threat to peace in the Middle East or in the continents of Europe and America is slander. Contrary to the history of the U.S., U.K., Germany, Japan, France, Russia and Italy, Iran has not initiated a single war against any nation on earth in the last 250 years.

StopWarOnIran believes the U.S. has targeted Iran for reasons other than its nuclear energy program. The U.S. anti-Iran foreign policy has its deep roots not in Iran's future plans for proliferation of military nuclear technology, but in Washington's insatiable thirst for controlling Iran's present and tangible flow of gas and oil. By extension, it is the U.S. and EU's craving to control Iraq's oil reserves has attracted hundreds of thousands of Western troops and armaments to the region (not for the non-existent presence of Weapons of Mass Destruction or terrorists ready to invade Europe and the United States)

No government in the Middle East, with the exception of Israel's, considers Iran's civilian nuclear energy program a threat to its national security. The only country in the Middle East that is armed with nuclear weapons---most likely more than 200 of them---is Israel, as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert acknowledged recently. This state has been at war with all its neighbors for the entirety of its existence. Yet the IAEA has made no demand to receive an entry permit to visit Israel's nuclear stockpiles and the UNSC has issued no resolution of sanctions against it.

The menacing presence of the U.S.S. Enterprise, which includes all the warships that compose Carrier Strike Group 12 (CGS12) Destroyer Squadron 2 and Carrier Air Wing1 (CVW1) in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea, is a clear sign of U.S. plans of intimidation and hostility. And now the U.S has sent a second carrier group to the Gulf. It is not Iran, but the U.S. and the UK that are a serious threat to peace, security and progress in Iran and the entire Middle East region.