October 17 Minneapolis Anti-War March
As U.S. Administration discusses Afghanistan escalation:
400 join Saturday Minneapolis anti-war protest as part of national day of peace actions
Saturday, October 17 saw 400 people join a Minneapolis anti-war protest as part of a national day of peace actions that saw anti-war events in 50 cities across the U.S. on the weekend of October 17.
The protest in Minneapolis called for an end to the U.S. war in Afghanistan and an end to the occupation of Iraq. The protest came at a time when the Obama Administration is considering a plan to escalate the war in Afghanistan by sending up to 40,000 additional U.S. troops.
“The U.S. anti-war movement is back in the streets to make a clear statement against any escalation of the war in Afghanistan, to demand an end to that war, and an end to the occupation of Iraq,” said Meredith Aby, a member of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee, one of the groups in the coalition that planned the Minneapolis event.
A statement issued by organizers says in part, “President Obama is reported to be listening to the generals about the next steps in Afghanistan, he should be listening to the people, who want an end to the war.”
The statement goes on to say, “There is growing sentiment among people in the U.S. against the war in Afghanistan. They want an end to the eight-year long war, not an escalation.
“During the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the U.S. government is spending billions for wars and occupations, while millions lose their jobs and housing and go without health insurance.”
Twin Cities-area organizations that are participating in the local Saturday protest include Anti-War Committee; Iraq Peace Action Coalition; Iraq Veterans Against the War; Military Families Speak Out; Women Against Military Madness; Twin Cities Peace Campaign; St. Paul Regional Labor Federation and many others.
Speakers at the rally included representatives of a wide range of organizations and communities who used the protest to explain their opposition to the wars and occupations being carried out by the U.S. government.
A member of the coalition explained that participants should be prepared to respond to any escalation of the war in Afghanistan by coming back into the streets with the anti-war message in the weeks ahead.
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"A member of the coalition
"A member of the coalition explained that participants should be prepared to respond to any escalation of the war in Afghanistan by coming back into the streets with the anti-war message in the weeks ahead."
Coming back to the streets and doing what? Marching again? Whats it going to take for people to realize that asking permission to have a march and then holding signs for a few hours doesn't have an effect on the State's ability to wage war.
Are you kidding me????
ARe you sure they asked permission??? I have never known IPAC to ask permission. No one asked the cops to police the march as we have our own marshals.
How do you know it doesn't get a response? How do you know that "holding a sign for a couple hours" doesn't give solidarity to those who show up? How do you know that it doesn't give someone courage to speak out at work, to sign a petition, to confront their Representative face to face, to participate in direct action????
How do you know it doesn't show the rest of the world that Americans are speaking out? How do you know that someone driving by might wake up and realize that they to need to speak out?
it's true that IPAC requests
it's true that IPAC requests permits for its marches.
re: 'how do you know it doesn't get a response?'--we know because the wars are not stopping.
Are you kidding
Are you kidding me????? doesn't even address the point of the first post, just reinforces it.
Permits?
The issue of requesting permits is political. It was useful in the build-up to the RNC to show that the "right" to free speech did not exist when the city of St. Paul kept denying permits to protest. There was never any doubt that protest would occur.
The powers that be cannot tolerate first amendment rights and it is important to show that hypocrisy. Simply making the request is not inherently evil if it leads the general population to understand that even this basic right is intolerable to those who wish to rule over us.
Requesting a permit to march in the past 10 years or so has resulted in the imposition of fines to pay for extra police support and the construction of barricades. As a result, IPAC and many other organizations have refrained from requesting permits.
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