On Saturday, August 12th, thousands of people marched through the streets of San Francisco chanting “One-Two-Three-Four, We don’t want your racist war! Five-Six-Seven-Eight, Israel is a terrorist state!” to protest the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Thousands of Arab Americans, waving flags of Lebanon and Palestine, brought both a militant and mass character to the march.
Jackson Heights, NY- The Queens office of U.S. Representative Joseph Crowley (D-NY) was the site of a picket May 4 as constituents called for the congressman to introduce legislation to cut off funding for the war in Iraq and to impeach Bush and Cheney for war crimes. Picketers chanted, “Hey Joe Crowley, what are you waiting for? Impeach Bush and stop the war!” and other chants while circling and beating drums. A coffin standing on the sidewalk represented the growing number of U.S. troops and Iraqis killed in the war in Iraq.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following call for demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. We urge all anti-war and progressive organizations to endorse the protest.
St. Paul, MN – Anti-war activists confronted police officials here, April 20, resubmitting permit applications for demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. In addition to resubmitting the permit applications, Jess Sundin of the Twin Cites-based Anti-War Committee delivered officials a letter challenging their contention that no permits will be considered until six months before to the RNC.
In the face of recent moves by Democrats in Congress, the anti-war movement needs to reject both fuzzy timelines and continued funding for the war in Iraq. We need to insist on the demand, “U.S. out now!” Nothing less will do.
Saint Paul, MN – The city council here passed a resolution April 4 directing city personnel to ensure the right to political speech and civic debate during the Republican National Convention. The convention is scheduled to take place over Labor Day weekend, 2008.
“Stop the war, yes we can! SDS is back again!” This was a popular chant heard around the country as students in high schools and colleges walked out of classes, held rallies, marches, teach-ins and other creative actions in response to the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) call for national coordinated student actions on March 20, the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War. The call was put out by SDS groups that met at the School of the Americas protest last November, where 100 students from 20 campuses voted unanimously to make March 20 a national day of student action against the war. Those 20 schools quickly became 83, as colleges and high schools from the Northeast to the Midwest, from West Coast to the South, signed on to the call.
At colleges and high schools across the country, students are building for a day of protests on March 20 against the U.S. war in Iraq. Students at more than 60 schools have protests planned on that day, in the largest coordinated day of student anti-war protests in years. A press release for the March 20 actions says, “In the space of just three weeks, over sixty campuses have signed onto the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) call to action—from Tuscaloosa, Alabama to Grand Rapids, Michigan; from high schools in central North Carolina to the west coast campus of UC Santa Barbara; from urban centers of Chicago, Boston, New York, and Los Angeles to rural campuses of Tennessee and Iowa—and in dozens of places in between.”
Chianciano, Italy – An historic conference with leaders of the Iraqi national resistance was held here last week. It was the first time that representatives of the Iraqi resistance have been able to speak in the West. Organizers had previously attempted to hold the conference in the fall of 2005, only to have the Italian government withhold visas from the Iraqi participants after intense pressure from the United States government. The scope of the conference extended beyond Iraq to include the resistance movements in Palestine and Lebanon, as well as representatives from the antiwar and liberation movements in countries from around the world.
St. Paul, MN – Since the announcement that the 2008 Republican Convention would take place in Saint Paul, Twin Cities anti-war organizations and others have been making plans to hold protests against the U.S. war on Iraq. Progressive activists from around the country are coming to the convention to speak out against the war. Permit applications and payments were submitted in October 2006. After holding the applications for five months, St. Paul officials are now saying they don’t want do deal with the issue until next year. This does not work.
Washington D.C. – On March 17, tens of thousands of people braved unseasonably cold weather and strong winds to march against the U.S. occupation and war in Iraq. This national protest marked the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and also commemorated the 40th anniversary of the historic 1967 march on the Pentagon against the Vietnam War. The 1967 Pentagon march is widely seen as representing the shift 'from protest to resistance' against the Vietnam War. The March on the Pentagon this year also aimed to express the need for an escalation from protest to resistance in order to stop the U.S. war in Iraq.
Tuscaloosa, AL – Over a dozen students from the Tuscaloosa chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), wearing ‘bloody’ t-shirts, staged a die-in March 6, lying sprawled on concrete in the hot sun for over half an hour to draw attention to the massive number of casualties in the Iraq war. Students gave speeches over a megaphone, calling on their fellow students to stand up and speak out against the war.
Atlanta, GA – Georgians will mark the fourth anniversary of the American invasion of Iraq by demanding, “Not one more death, not one more dollar.” Activities in various parts of the state will include delivery of petitions to congresspersons, a ‘constituent teach-in’ for Georgia’s U.S. senators and numerous street demonstrations, faith vigils and campus actions.
(This article is based on observations and conversations with Korean movement activists during a one-month trip back to the homeland this past November.)
The Bush administration is still threatening Iran, and a wider war in the Middle East. The U.S. government has made much of Iran’s nuclear energy program. Iran says it is developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and now U.S. intelligence agencies agree with that characterization. But this makes little difference to Bush and Cheney. They are still talking about turning up the heat on Iran and looking to impose more sanctions – which are in and of themselves a form of war, and as we saw with Yugoslavia and Iraq, a buildup to open military action.
The Bush administration is bringing the Korean peninsula to the brink of war. U.S. threats against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (the DPRK, or North Korea) and Washington’s withdrawal from the 1994 nuclear accords have led to a dramatic escalation of tensions. A growing tide of demonstrations against the presence of U.S. troops has rocked South Korea.
Sun Hyung Lee traveled to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (north Korea) as part of a peace delegation of eight Korean Americans from Oakland, Los Angeles and New York in June of 2004. At a time when the Bush administration is carrying out war preparations against north Korea, the interview provides some important insights into developments on the Korean peninsula.
What began as a student strike to protest the war in Iraq quickly escalated on Feb. 15, as over a thousand students at the University of California-Santa Barbara took to the streets and completely shut down California Highway 217 for over two hours. After a standoff with law enforcement and the arrest of two protesters, the crowd marched back to campus and demonstrated in front of the chancellor’s office to confront university officials about the school’s involvement with the war effort.
Jess Sundin is a leading member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. She traveled to Iraq in 1998 and has played a important role in the Twin Cities anti-war movement since then. We interviewed her after the State of the Union address, where President Bush attempted to bolster support for his plans to expand the war in Iraq.
![A photograph of students "die-ing in" on University of Alabama's campus.](https://i.snap.as/owmie17h.jpg "A photograph of students \\"die-ing in\\" on University of Alabama's campus. Students die-in at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa campus. \(Fight Back! News/Staff\)")
