Anti-war video on DU reaches wider audience

A multinational audience of anti-war, community and union activists gathered April 19 at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Sunnyside for the Queens, N.Y., screening of “Poison DUst,” a new documentary about U.S. radioactive weapons made with depleted uranium (DU).

Ray Ramos, an Iraq War veteran exposted to DU, speaks to Queens, N.Y., audience.

The standing-room-only event was sponsored by Sunnyside Woodside Peace, the DU Education Project of the Interna tional Action Center, the West Queens Greens and the New York Area Million Worker March Movement

“Poison DUst” combines interviews with veterans, their families and nuclear experts with historical footage to paint a horrific picture of the U.S. military’s nuclear legacy and its devastating impact on GIs, civilians and their children—a legacy that continues today through the Pentagon’s use of toxic, radioactive DU weapons in Iraq.

Discussion after the screening featured People’s Video Network videographer Sue Harris, editor of “Poison DUst,” and Ray Ramos, an Iraq War veteran from Spring field Gardens in Queens who was exposed to DU and was interviewed in the film.

Ramos spoke eloquently about the toll DU has taken on his health and the brick wall he and other Iraq vets ran up against trying to get testing and treatment from the U.S. military for their DU-related health problems.

The audience was clearly moved and motivated by the event and its anti-war message. Many viewers lined up afterward to purchase copies of “Poison DUst” on DVD to show at schools, churches, house meetings and other community gatherings in Queens—New York City’s largest borough geographically and the most ethnically diverse county in the U.S.

Media coverage of the event on WBAI-Pacifica radio and in the Queens Chronicle and Queens Tribune newspapers, which both reach tens of thousands of readers boroughwide, helped spread the film’s message to a larger audience.

Also on the program was Chris Silvera, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 808 in Long Island City, president of the Teamsters National Black Caucus and a leader of the New York Area Million Worker March Movement.

Silvera announced plans for a May Day Rally at Union Square in Manhattan on May 1 at 1 pm. “We want to reclaim May Day as a workers’ day,” Silvera said. The rally will demand “Jobs, Not War—Bring the Troops Home NOW.” It is co-sponsored by the New York Area Million Worker March Movement and the Troops Out Now Coalition.

For information on the May Day Rally or to order a copy of “Poison DUst,” call (212) 633-6646.