Summit maps out strategy opposing U.S. wars at home, abroad
By
Monica Moorehead
Harlem, N.Y.
Published Dec 3, 2006 8:14 PM
A significant anti-war summit meeting took place Nov. 18 in the
heart of “Little Senegal” in Harlem. The Troops Out
Now Coalition (TONC) sponsored the event at the spacious Africa
Kine Restaurant located on 116th Street near Frederick Douglass
Blvd.
Anti-war, community, labor activists meet in
‘Little Senegal’ in Harlem, New York Nov.18.
WW photo: G. Dunkel
|
The turnout was standing room only. An estimated 150 organizers
and activists—representing more than 50 different antiwar,
community, immigrant and labor organizations from around the
region—were in attendance.
Some of the key activists at the summit included Comrade Shahid,
Pakistan U.S.A. Freedom Forum; Charlotte Kates, New Jersey
Solidarity/Activists for the Liberation of Palestine; Ardeshir
Ommani, American-Iranian Friendship Committee; members of
FIST—Fight Imperialism, Stand Together—student and
youth group; Pam Africa, International Concerned Family and
Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal; former Pennsylvania death-row inmate
Harold Wilson; Mexican activist Brian Barraza; and a delegation
of Latino immigrant workers representing the Freeport, Long
Island Day Laborers. Elena Everett from Raleigh FIST spoke about
the inspiring two-day wildcat strike carried out by a majority of
Latin@ workers at the Smithfield, N.C., hog processing plant on
Nov. 17 and 18.
Following a delicious Senegalese buffet/lunch, the meeting
included opening and closing remarks from key activists, and then
broke into smaller discussion groups. Fallou Gueye from the Union
of African Workers-Senegal gave welcoming remarks. The four-hour
meeting was co-chaired by Larry Holmes and Sharon Black from TONC
and Sara Flounders from the International Action Center.
The group discussions on solidarity with liberation movements and
countries fighting the empire were summarized by Ellie Ommani; on
community, labor and anti-racist organizing by Philadelphia IAC
activist Betsey Piette; on students, youth and
counter-recruitment activism by Raleigh FIST organizer Dante
Strobino; and on immigrant workers’ rights by Teresa
Gutierrez.
The following are some of the major issues that were agreed upon
unanimously at the summit: The need to organize mass and militant
actions in the streets to stop the wars abroad and at home now
that the Nov. 7 elections are over. The importance of linking the
fight against racism and national oppression to the anti-war
struggle in order to build a strong, multi-national movement for
social change. And the urgency of forging unity between all the
anti-war formations to organize a national mobilization in
Washington, D.C., on March 17, the fourth anniversary of the Iraq
war.
In a preliminary report on the Nov. 18 meeting, a TONC statement
read, “Participants in the meeting felt very strongly that
notwithstanding important political differences within the
broader anti-war movement, including past difficulties in working
together, that it was most critical at this time when the mass
struggle in the streets against the war needs to be revived, that
all coalitions reject fragmentation, unnecessary divisiveness and
competition around protest dates and national protest, and
instead pull together so that the movement in the U.S. can do
what the world is waiting for it to do and shut down the war
machine.”
To help build for the March 17 mobilization, nationally
coordinated days of action linking the anti-war, anti-racist and
pro-worker movements will be called for Jan. 15—the Martin
Luther King, Jr., holiday. The follow-up TONC meeting will be
held in New York on Dec. 5 at Solidarity Center. For more
information, call 212-633-6646 or go to www.troopsoutnow.org
E-mail: [email protected]
Fallou Gueye
Hospitality is a big word in our culture. To have you in little
Senegal is very important because we feel that you are just like
us. We don’t have borders. We are fighting for the same
noble cause—to defeat imperialism which is the cause of
war. People who are living here are deeply, deeply victimized and
negatively impacted by that war. We are fighting against the
war, we are fighting against IMF, World Bank. International
corporations are dominating us daily and impacting negatively on
our lives.
Sara Flounders
What kind of a movement is being built? Connections must be made between Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, and North
Korea. We have to look at the struggle globally; we can’t
allow the imperialists to
criminalize and demonize the liberation movements. We must oppose
the massive raids and detentions of our immigrant sisters and
brothers and endless war and no money for education,
day care, healthcare, etc. We are stronger when
we are united, when we embrace these issues.
Teresa Gutierrez
May 1 Coalition
We have to recognize the power that each and every one of us in
the room represents because these are the same people who quickly
shifted to support the rise of one of the most oppressed sectors
of our class, immigrants, and came out on May 1 and supported
workers marching around the country; when you consider the
support that this sector of the anti-war movement has for one of
the most oppressed sectors, you have to know how extremely
powerful this support is. What TONC can do is everything possible
to bring out the anti-war movement for May Day. The workers know
what the heck they are doing like in Smithfield, No. Carolina.
What a contribution the anti-war movement is making to the people
of Iraq, Palestine and everywhere by making this kind of this
connection.
Larry Holmes
The top Democratic Party politicians were not against the war in
principle. They are not against wars of colonial conquests; they
want to recolonize the Middle East. Their problem against the
[Iraq] war is that it was done badly, incompetently. Their
program now is how to fix it. They don’t have an
anti-colonial difference, or anti-exploitation difference or
anti-racist difference [with Republicans]. It’s just a
tactical difference of people who have the same interests. The
[Nov. 7] anti-war referendum took place because the Iraqi people
are refusing to be occupied. The Iraqi people are doing what is
expected of them. The question is what the hell are we doing? We
have to challenge ourselves to carry out more militant tactics;
campuses must be shut down. We are not speaking to just one
racial demographic grouping. We have to reach out to immigrant
communities. The Palestinian liberation movement is central to
Arab liberation. The Israeli Army acts as if it is a detachment
of the U.S. armed forces. All wars are connected. It isn’t
just an issue of having a bad president—wars are systemic.
The road to unity is to adopt an
anti-imperialist world view.
Brenda Stokely
Labor, community leader
Regarding Katrina survivors, the same forces that dismantled
people and their lives are still alive and well. Demonstrations
took place on Nov. 18 in New Orleans and Baton Rouge confronting
Gov. Kathleen Blanco who has set up a blue ribbon commission
stacked with wealthy people, developers, financiers, real estate
barons to solidify control in that region including Mississippi.
Who is missing are people of color; those adversely affected
particularly African Americans, people who work and people who
were not homeowners. Fifty-seven percent of the people before the
hurricane were renters. Blanco’s proposal has nothing to
do with renters. Public housing folks are not being allowed to go
back home and nothing is wrong with the housing. The people are
not being welcomed back; inner displaced persons have been
created in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana which is a
violation of UN Human Rights Charter for Displaced Persons; the
U.S. does not carry about human rights.
Lourdes Vela
Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle
Please help us educate the immigrant communities about [Hugo]
Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution because we have not
been allowed in that door in spite a lot of the work you all have
done. Chávez is someone that we need not only in the U.S.
but all over the world.
Chuck Mohan
Guyanese Workers Association
The immigrant movement is not about one group of people but about
everyone. We need to come together as one. I have no illusions
about the new Congress. We can’t struggle in a vacuum.
Our struggle is linked to other struggles that were here before we
came—Native American, African American, Latin@, women and
other struggles present in the U.S.
NY City Councilperson
Charles Barron
What should Bush’s sentencing be after so many Iraqis
and soldiers are dead? If you have some elected officials who
have problems with Hugo Chávez saying that Bush is a devil,
well, if you act devilish, it makes you a devil. You can’t
murder people all over the world and not be the devil incarnated;
you can’t be playing golf, while people are dying in New
Orleans and not be the devil. Right on to Chávez; I think he
did the right thing and is doing the right thing in our
communities. I don’t know if this is something that you
want to brag about but you are the reason why the Democrats are
in office now because it is the anti-war movement that is the
only movement in this country that was against the Iraqi war; the
Democrats voted for war. We have one party, the Republicrats.
The Democrats voted for Bush to have the right to go to war;
Democrats voted for him to finance the war and when [John] Murtha
said you have a way out, I want to put forth a resolution for a
phased withdrawal, none of the Democrats voted for it. Now you
have to keep marching so that the shift in positions means a
shift in policy. We have to continue to go forward to
revolutionize this country; America needs a revolution; we need a
radical change in America and I believe it can happen; we
shouldn’t compromise our principles, compromise our
position. Free Mumia, free all political prisoners, and pay us
our reparations. Forward ever, backward never.
Dr. Asha Samad-Matias
SAFRAD-Somali Association
Repression is continuing; City College is not what it is not what
it use to be; we have to bring the struggle to the students who
are workers; that refugees, whether they are so-called refugees
from New Orleans or those seeking political asylum who are
struggling, imprisoned, having their homes raided, having their
homes washed away purposely, just like Harlem is being
re-gentrified for Black and Latin@s, all of this should show that this
is one struggle.
Larry Hamm
People’s Organization for Progress
African Americans, from the beginning, have consistently opposed
the war in Iraq and oppose the policies of the Bush
administration but a lot of times when we go to the peace
activities we really don’t see the numbers of African
Americans that reflect that opposition to the war. Every time
there is a poll, 95 percent of the African American community is
opposed to the war but this opposition has not been made manifest
in the streets; and it’s in the streets where it really
counts. On the wave of anti-war sentiment, the Democrats got
control of the House and Senate; Democrats are backpedaling on
the issue of the war; troops are hostages of the Bush
administration. Veterans Administration had funds cut. There are
a bunch of liars at the White House. We need to take many buses
to the White House to make a citizens’ arrest of Bush for
crimes against humanity, for war crimes; impeachment is just a
process, it’s not a conviction. It is pressure from the
masses of people who will end this war, not electing politicians.
The people’s movement ended the Vietnam War. POP is calling
for a People’s Peace Conference at Rutgers Law School on
Jan.20. We are going after groups who have not come out against
the war—ministers, unions, street gangs, politicians. This
conference has a particular objective—when white folks come
to the conference, bring some Black folks with you; we
don’t want the conference to be another conference of the
left; we want the conference to be dominated by masses of the
people. We want to get people who may not be politically active.
A millions for peace march in New Jersey is needed.
Pam Africa
These monsters have been trying to pull every trick to divide us
off but we have to be strong; it is nothing new; we know the
game, we know the tricks; we must continue to teach and bring
unity. This government is at war with every form of life and we
must unite with every movement to bring this monster down.
Onamove!
Gary Labao
BAYAN USA
We stand here in solidarity with immigrants, the workers’
struggle and the anti-war movement. Whether it is the struggle
for liberation in the Philippines, Iran, Iraq, North Korea;
whether it’s the workers, the immigrants or the soldiers in
Iraq right now, our common enemy is U.S. imperialism. Down with
U.S. imperialism.
Panama Vicente Alba
Puerto Rican activist,
immigrant rights organizer
We need to think globally and act globally. We need to take
responsibility for what goes on in this country because it
affects the rest of the world. This is the empire and this empire
is out of control. The environmentalist movement has been telling
us for the past 30 years that the world is on the way to
destruction; now you got Chomsky, Chavez saying it; we are not
listening, we don’t act; we need to take every step against
the empire and globalization; we must engage in the Katrina
front, anti-war front; immigrant rights movement; we are going to
win not because the Democratic Congress is anything different
from the Republican Congress. We’re gonna win because we
take it to the streets. We need to learn to collectively transfer
the power of the people into the streets into legislation that
gives all of the legalization necessary for 12 million human
beings; not only the workers but their children, their
grandmothers, grandfathers; we don’t have the time or the
luxury not to come together in a principled way.
Sharon Black
The energy at the anti-war summit in Harlem was incredible. Not
only was there a resounding call for unity of the anti-war
movement to descend on Washington on March 17. The gathering
itself was an expression of unity. To bring representatives of
both the class struggle at home against racism and for immigrant
rights, and the anti-war and anti-imperialist movements abroad,
points in the direction that the anti-war movement must
go—this fact, along with many others including the
political content of the meeting, made the Troops Out Now
Coalition summit unique and important.
Photos : G. Dunkel, John Catalinotto, Deirdre Griswold,
Lal Roohk, People’s Video Network
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
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