OAKLAND, BERKELEY
Thousands greet Congress member who voted against war
By Bill Hackwell
Oakland, Calif.
At least 3,000 supporters of Barbara Lee, the congressional
representative of this African American city, packed into Frank
Ogawa Plaza in front of Oakland City Hall on Oct. 22. They
showed in a rousing display that, like Lee, they are opposed to
the war being waged against the people of Afghanistan.
They stood shoulder to shoulder--African American, Native,
Latino, Asian and white--to show their support for Lee. She has
been under attack since she cast the only "no" vote in Congress
on the resolution that gave Bush a green light to use any and
all force necessary to conduct a war in Afghanistan and
elsewhere.
This total capitulation of the so-called elected body of
representatives has allowed Bush to rein terror on one of the
poorest countries in the world.
Radio personality Davey D told the crowd that Barbara Lee
has been subjected to death threats and vicious slander in the
pro-war, big-business media simply because she has a different
opinion about the war. Many of the signs in the crowd thanked
her for her courage. Some raised the idea that perhaps she
should be president.
Among the speakers who showed their support were Alameda
County Supervisor Keith Carson, Oakland City Council member
Nancy Nadel, actor Danny Glover and author Alice Walker. Walker
said how proud she was of Lee's stand and urged the crowd to
take care of themselves to stay strong for the long haul for
peace and justice.
Berkeley City Council calls for end of bombing
In a related development, the Berkeley City Council became
the first elected body in the U.S. to pass a resolution calling
for a cessation of the bombing of Afghanistan. The vote was 5-0
with four abstentions.
There had been nine speakers--seven for and two against.
When it was passed a huge cheer went up in the crowd that
filled City Hall chambers. One part of the resolution condemned
the attacks of Sept. 11; another section urged all elected
representatives to address the issues of "overcoming poverty,
malnutrition, disease and oppression that drive people to
commit terrorist acts."
Another part of the resolution pushed for "lessening the
dependency on oil and committing to renewable energy
sources."
Before the vote was even cast, Rachel Rupert from the
Berkeley Chamber of Commerce, in a thinly veiled threat, went
on national television and said that a national boycott of
Berkeley would develop if the resolution passed.
The struggle to keep the resolution will continue when the
council meets again on Oct. 30. Progressive Berkeley City
Council member Kriss Worthington has urged all anti-war
activists in the Bay Area to keep that date on their calendar
and come out once again to say no to the U.S. war in
Afghanistan.
Reprinted from the Nov. 1, 2001, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page