Anti-war movement faces repression but continues to go strong

All throughout the United States, the anti-war movement has been stepping up its activities against the bloody occupation of Iraq. In many places, those resisting have faced repression at the hand of the state and other authorities, but this has not silenced them. They continue to resist with heroism and militancy.

Anti-war voices at Veterans Day parades

On Nov. 10, members of the groups Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, and Veterans for Peace were excluded from the Veterans Day Parade in Long Beach, Calif. The reason given by the Parade Committee, according to the Long Beach Press Telegram, was that the IVAW, MFSO and VFP had a “political agenda.” (Nov. 9)

This despite the fact that the marches are in themselves highly political, tending to

glorify U.S. wars and present them as heroic.

After much outcry, the Iraq Veterans Against War contingent was allowed to stand, wearing their T-shirts, in a designated area along the parade route.

In Atlanta, anti-war veterans as well as veterans in the lesbian, gay, bi and trans community were initially excluded from a parade in that area, then told that anti-war messages and “public displays of affection” would be prohibited. (Atlanta Progressive News, Nov. 10)

Expulsion threatened after high school protest

At Morton West High School in Berwyn, Ill., a group of about 60 students began a protest in the school cafeteria on Nov. 1. When the school administration responded with threats of discipline, half of the students left. The remaining 30, according to the Chicago Tribune (Nov. 9), were told they could avoid being expelled if they moved to a new location. They agreed.

When they arrived at this new location, they were barricaded in with cafeteria tables and surrounded with caution tape. The police who normally patrol the halls of the school were on the scene. All these efforts were made by the administration in an attempt to keep more students from joining the protest.

School officials have threatened a number of the students who protested with expulsion, citing “gross disobedience and mob activity” as the reason.

The punishment given to the students for their dissent was not handed out equally. Students with high grade point averages were given much lighter discipline than others, and not threatened with expulsion. Students who play varsity athletics were also shown favoritism.

At a school board meeting packed with community members and parents, people demanded that the students be allowed to return to school. “These kids should receive extra credit for speaking up, not expulsion,” Cesar Ruvalcaba, a disabled veteran, told the board. Many parents spoke in their children’s defense, saying they were proud that their children acted in opposition to the current state of affairs.

The school board postponed its decision about the explusions, drawing massive booing from people at the meeting, who wanted to see the students back in school and free of punishment for their protest activities as soon as possible.

A petition in defense of the students can be found at petitiononline.com.

School of the Americas

Many members of the anti-war movement plan to participate in the annual protest against the School of the Americas Nov. 16-18. The SOA is the training site for repression in South America, including counter-revolutionary rape, slaughter and torture.

Organizers are expecting a crowd much larger than the 20,000 who came last year to the protest in Fort Benning, Ga., where the school is located. Folk singer Pete Seeger will perform.

Youths, students, veterans, workers and oppressed people continue to take militant actions against war. Combined with the heroic Iraqi resistance, actions like these will help end the bloody repression of the Iraqi people.