Anti-war video on DU reaches wider audience
By
Special to Workers World
Queens, N.Y.
Published Apr 27, 2005 4:33 PM
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.
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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.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
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