Gov’t takes from poor to feed war

As the winter holiday “season of giving” approaches, many in the United States are reacting strongly to the U.S. government’s continued thievery against poor people across the world and at home.

The bloody occupation of Iraq continues, and has unleashed a bitter battle in Congress.

The Bush administration is enmeshed in a growing dispute regarding the war’s legitimacy. The cost of the war in Iraq is $221,341,504,817 as of 2 p.m. on Nov. 21, according to the National Priorities Project; this cost exacts a toll on social services for the most needy in the United States.

Hurricane Katrina showed how racism is openly fomented and perpetuated by the U.S. government. Police brutality, unemployment and discrimination ravage communities of color. The war has brought to light U.S. atrocities from white phosphorus use on civilians to torture of prisoners.

What is clear to many is that 50 years after the opening of the civil rights movement, 50 years after the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott, the struggle must continue.

The question remaining is whether the workers and the poor here will take part in this ongoing battle and raise their own demands.

Part of the answer will be given Dec. 1. Across the whole country, anti-war and civil rights coalitions have scheduled events to honor the life of Rosa Parks on Dec. 1, the day she refused to yield her seat to a white man on a bus 50 years ago and sparked the civil rights movement.

City councils or subcommittees in Boston, New York, Oak land, Baltimore, Detroit and Cleveland have passed resolutions honoring Rosa Parks and calling for a day of struggle. Ohio and Michigan have declared Dec. 1 as Rosa Parks Day statewide.

Organizers of these national events have said that the best way to honor Rosa Parks is to continue on in her legacy of struggle. These Dec. 1 events will also mark, for many, a further attempt to link the struggles against the war at home and the wars abroad, following on the heels of the Millions More March held Oct. 15 in Washington D.C.

A prime example of this linkage will be the rally on Dec. 1 in New York City, of protesters who will march to Wall Street - the heart of U.S. finance capital. The rally will feature speakers from both the civil rights and antiwar movements.

These Dec. 1 events will demand for Katrina survivors the right of return to the Gulf Coast, as well as just punishment for all the officials of government who are continuing to commit crimes against the evacuees.