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Unite against wars at home, abroad
The present national upsurge against racist police violence needs the support of every progressive political movement in the U.S.
Every gathering, whatever else is on the agenda, needs to refocus attention on the millions of youth who have heroically taken to the streets again and again in shutdowns and standoffs against police killings of Black and Brown youth. Protesters have consistently gone up against massive police offensives. This is a challenge that cannot be ignored or postponed.
The approach of the United National Antiwar Coalition’s conference, titled “Stop the War at Home and Abroad,” is an example of the kind of solidarity that is needed. The national conference, to be held in Secaucus N.J., just 20 minutes from New York City’s Times Square, is seen as an opportunity to put the anti-war movement on a different footing.
Every panel in the weekend conference is designed to link struggles and connect international movements to resistance in the U.S. fighting racist repression and mass incarceration. The overwhelming police presence in full-body armor, equipped with tanks, drones, stun guns and sound cannons, is the clearest example that the many U.S. wars abroad do come home to U.S. cities.
Over 500 activists are expected to participate at the national weekend conference, which begins on May 8 at 6 p.m. and closes on May 10 at 3 p.m. The national gathering will be live streamed and panels will be available on YouTube, with assistance from GoProRadio and CPRmetro radio, along with numerous alternative news, social media and video activists.
A youth flyer designed for the conference makes the connection between the U.S. ranking 57th on a world scale in government expenditures for education and first in military spending.
Two formerly imprisoned members of the Cuban 5 plan to Skype in from Havana. Pam Africa will give an update on Mumia Abu-Jamal’s grave health crisis. Lamis Deek of Al-Awda NY and Susan Abulhawa, Palestinian author of “Mornings in Jenin,” are scheduled to speak.
Ajamu Baraka, Joe Iosbaker, Cynthia McKinney, Ramsey Clark, Medea Benjamin, Glen Ford, Ray McGovern, Imam Malik Mujahid, Anne Wright, Kathy Kelly and three guests from Ukraine (coming with a display showing the burning of the House of Labor in Odessa one year ago) will also participate.
BAYAN Philippine activists, Syrian-American activists and Latin American activists are working on shaping workshops and panels.
A Saturday afternoon panel focusing on the cost of endless war and deepening austerity will include Shafeah M’Balia, Black Workers for Justice in North Carolina; Lawrence Hamm, chair of Peoples Organization for Progress; and Clarence Thomas from the Oakland International Longshore Workers Union local that has scheduled a port shutdown and mass union meeting on May Day against police violence.
Source: www.workers.org