‘Stop the war from Harlem to Iraq!’

A July 31 Harlem community speak-out and rally held at Marcus Garvey Park under the banner of “Housing, not war’ showed the depth and breadth of antiwar support and solidarity there, as well as the connection between wars at home and abroad.

Nellie Bailey of the Harlem Tenants Council, left, with members of Picture the Homeless.

The rally, sponsored by the Harlem Tenants Council (HTC) and the Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC), was also a mobilizing event for the Sept. 24 march on Washington. A number of the speakers were representatives of groups that are TONC members.

Nellie Bailey, HTC spokesperson, chaired the event, saying, “The remedies to the problems we face always come from the people.’

Charles Barron, Brenda Stokely, Larry Holmes, and Elombe Brath at Harlem, N.Y., rally July 31.

Brenda Stokely, a Million Worker March Movement national leader, spoke about “building a movement like the kind that said no to slavery. What [rights] we have exist because the people organized in their own name.’

Larry Holmes, International Action Center co-director, connected the struggle against occupation everywhere with the racist searches and occupation of police in the New York City subway system, saying, “The war has no geographical boundaries. We're gonna either let them declare martial law over here, or we're gonna get to the root of this and stop this war!’

Samia Halaby of the Defend Palestine Coalition said, “They kill our children, hunt us like animals, starve us, steal our land and children, imprison and torture us, destroy and steal our art. Doesn't this sound like Palestine, Haiti, Iraq and Harlem? Our solidarity is crucial.’

Charles Jenkins of Transit Workers Union Local 100 and the MWMM, said, “Our children get sent off to war, and if they come back, they can't even find a job. We need to defend our communities.’

Peter Anderson, a Harlem activist since the 1980s, said the definition of terrorism should include the miseducation of Black and Brown children, and their subsequent incarceration.

Charlotte Kates of New Jersey Solidarity-Activists for the Liberation of Palestine and Al-Awda New York.

Stuart Edwards of the All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party and Elombe Brath of the Patrice Lumumba Coalition stressed that the struggle for Africa's liberation must be incorporated into the antiwar movement.

Malik, a cultural performer, received cheers when he said, “Malcolm X was a strong supporter of the Cuban revolution; were he alive today he would be a strong supporter of Venezuela.’

New York City Councilperson Charles Barron said, “They design our communities to keep us economically repressed, then tell us our only option is joining the military. If you're going to die, die fighting your oppressor.’ Barron has authored local resolutions to halt military recruiting on campuses, to normalize relations with Cuba, and in support of Assata Shakur.

Jonah Birch, a representative of the Campus Antiwar Network, announced a counter-recuitment contingent at the Sept. 24 march on the White House.

Tiokesen Ghost Horse, co-host and co-producer of First Voices Indigenous Radio on WBAI, told the crowd that the history of the United States is one of occupation. He stressed that “Capitalism is not the model to be followed. It is a war against the earth.’

Fatima Prioleau from Women with HIV/AIDS Advocating and Mobilizing announced that a group of people with HIV/AIDS and their allies would be marching from New York to Washington, D.C., from August until October with their demands.

Larry Hamm of the Newark, N.J.-based People's Organization for Progress closed the community speak-out, saying, “We can't get tired now, we have to do everything to mobilize and turn out thousands in our neighborhoods. We must make it impossible for them to conduct war without feeling the fire from our communities. But let's not stop at war. Let's end a system that needs war and imperialist conquest to survive. Let's take the legacy that Malcolm X and Martin Luther King left us and build a people's movement’

Other speakers included Dustin Langley, No Draft No Way; Kadouri Al-Kaysi, Committee in Support of the Iraqi People; Charlotte Kates, New Jersey Solidarity Activists for the Liberation of Palestine; Brian Barraza, Association of Mexican-American Workers; Gwen Dobrow, New York Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition; Shep McDaniels, Hands Off Assata Coalition; Omowale Clay, December 12th Movement; Bernard White, general manager, WBAI radio; Ibrahim Ramey, Fellowship of Reconciliation; Carlos Rovira, September 24th National Coalition; Saul McKantz and Sam Anderson, Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence; Chuck Mohan, Guyanese Workers United; Sara Flounders, International Action Center, and Jim McMillan, a Vietnam veteran who was exposed to Agent Orange and is now about to be evicted.