Raed Jarrar: Getting Things Straight on Iraq
Submitted by ujpadmin1 on Tue, 01/17/2012 - 10:52am.Raed Jarrar is an Iraqi-Palestinian architect, blogger and political analyst who was in Iraq during the U.S. invasion in 2003 and has recently returned from another trip. He is a former AFSC and Peace Action staff person who provided constant briefings to peace activists throughout the war as well as working with Congressman Delahunt's office to develop opposition to the war in Congress. He collected his and his family's blog posts into The Iraq War Blog, An Iraqi Family's Inside View of the First Year of the Occupation, published as a book in 2008.
Jarrar spoke at Encuentro 5 on Sunday, January 14, 2012. The event was organized by Occupy Boston - Free School University.
Military Spending vs. Jobs, Health, Education & Environment
Submitted by ujpadmin1 on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 3:19pm.Massachusetts Peace Action Annual Meeting
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| Neta Crawford |
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| Judith LeBlanc |
Together we've accomplished a lot this year: U.S. troops out of Iraq, the military budget on the table for real, new alliances. But we have much to do in 2012, with Afghanistan, Korea, Iran, Senate and House elections, and the urgent need to move the money from military to domestic spending.
Each and all of us, together, can make a difference. Join two inspiring women, a scholar and an activist, to learn how.
Neta Crawford, co-director of Brown University’s Cost of War Project, will talk about the tragedy of American militarism and the cost in lives and dollars of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Judith LeBlanc, National Organizer for Peace Action, will update us on Peace Action’s national campaign to Move the Money from the military to human needs and discuss building coalitions with human service, labor, and community groups.
Join Massachusetts Peace Action as we review our progress in 2011 and chart the path for our work in 2012. We’ll elect new board members, discuss plans for work towards a nuclear-free world, and learn organizing skills in workshops. See the detailed agenda.
Workshop topics (more details):
• Bringing Peace issues into the 2012 Elections and Bird Dog Training
• Organizing Your Community to Move the Money
• What’s Behind the US-Iran War Scare?
• Making the Media Work for You
Now That You Have Destroyed Our Country, Withdrawing Is Not Enough
Submitted by ujpadmin2 on Tue, 12/20/2011 - 2:59pm.An Open Letter from the President of the Federation of Workers' Councils and Unions in Iraq
To the American President Barak Obama
Nine years ago your military invaded Iraq claiming two justifications: the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the goal of spreading democracy. The first pretext was proved absolutely false, which even former-president George Bush has admitted. This was shameful. But in the name of spreading democracy, what Iraqis have witnessed instead it that the US spreads killing, looting, sectarian strife, militias, and terrorism. You imposed reactionary ideas, especially about women, so that sexual trafficking and prostitution are now increasing here. Our schools and universities have been destroyed and education has deteriorated. The US authorities you put in power over us, and later the government the US imposed upon us through the elections you administered have devastated our communities’ resources.
Report on the UJP Strategy Meeting: “Getting It Straight on Iraq”
Submitted by dmcfarland on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 3:24pm.
UJP devoted its Jan. 14 strategy meeting to understanding what is happening in Iraq at this important yet confusing juncture. At the time of the runup to the Iraq War starting in Summer 2002 there was a huge expansion of the national peace movement; UFPJ was organized as the umbrella coalition. On Feb. 15 2003 antiwar demonstrations were organized in New York City and in many countries, the largest global protest in history. During the course of the next several years, Iraq was the major focus of countless events organized by UJP and UFPJ nationally. Is the Iraq War truly ending?
You Have the Right to Revolution
Submitted by Mel King on Tue, 01/17/2012 - 10:53am.In this impromptu talk, veteran organizer and movement thinker, Mel King outlines his thoughts about the significance of the #Occupy movement, its potential for radical social change and its methods. Although an enthusiastic supporter of the movement, Mel suggests that in time the movement will have to choose targets (once it is ready) and also consider moments where the consensus process may be less effective. Mel goes on to applaud the movement for engaging in the battle of ideas, "You are occupying minds!"
A few things?! I've asked to say a few things? I first want to say that nobody does anything on their own. I may stand here as one but it is a one that is the compilation of hundreds and thousands of folks who have been involved in various... various struggles. In a way, that is some of the strength of what has been happening in the #Occupy movement.
I stand here as someone who is thrilled at what the movement is accomplishing! I have no questions or doubts about what the long-range impacts are going to be.
People talk about the tent city that we put together [in 1968]...[inaudible] it was about making that land [in the South End] directly available for housing and about the people who were making the decisions about the other land that was in that neighborhood...
This [#Occupy] movement is the best thing that has happened since the students [helped] stop the war in Vietnam. I think that it is important to put it in that perspective. When I see that [inaudible] [of] hundreds cities and towns are across this country are involved in some form of the #occupation movement, that huge. One of the things that I was just saying to my friend here was that you need to lift it up, you know, lift it up! You're in fact doing what I asked your next headline to say [holding Boston Occupier in hand]: occupy minds! Okay? You are occupying minds! You're stretching folks... And if you continue to do that, there's no telling how far you can go.
Bonn, Germany, December 5, 2011 - As Hamid Karzai, Hillary Clinton and a host of diplomats gathered here in Bonn to bless 10 more years of U.S.-NATO war and permanent U.S. military bases in Afghanistan, nearly 5,000 activists and political figures – including many from Afghanistan, held protest rallies and march here in Germany’s formal capital.
Read UJP's
