A Call for Unity - & Action!

All across the United States, people are rising up against the destructive policies of Donald Trump and the U.S. Congress.

Massive protests took place during Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. The next day, millions of women and their supporters turned out in some of the largest mobilizations seen in decades. From solidarity vigils to clashes in the streets, the people are defiantly saying we will not accept the ultra-reactionary policies spewing forth from the White House. No wall! No ban! No deportations! No more police murders! No attacks on reproductive freedom! No Dakota Pipeline! No oppression of lesbians, gays, bisexual and trans people! NO WARS!

But the reactionary policies keep coming, while the Democratic Party is trying to position itself as the only viable opposition - the same party that chose as its standard-bearer one of the most despised presidential candidates in recent years, leaving voters with a choice between a racist, misogynist, xenophobic, billionaire bully and a Wall Street-serving war criminal.

There must be an alternative to the neoliberalism of the Democrats and the nationalist-populism of Trump. We need an independent movement to address both the economic needs of poor and working people and the escalating attacks on the Black community, immigrants, women, unions, the LGBTQ community, refugees, Muslims, the physically and mentally challenged, youth, students, the elderly, Mother Earth - all of us. And we need to END THE WARS that are promoted by both major parties, from the ongoing wars in the Middle East and Northern Africa waged during the Obama years to the threats against Iran and North Korea coming from the new administration.

If we can build that united movement, we can unleash the power of the people in ways that can make a real difference.

But to accomplish this, we first have to know each other, across the lines of race, gender, geography, age, culture and issues. We have to sensitize ourselves to every form of oppression. We have to understand what the government, under both Democrats and Republicans, is doing in our name to our sisters and brothers in other countries and how that affects us here at home.

We need to come together in an Action-Oriented Conference where we can meet each other, learn from each other, support each other, strategize together and leave with a coherent plan for united, effective action.

That’s the purpose of the conference “Stop the Wars at Home & Abroad: Building a Movement Against Wars, Injustice & Repression,” to be hosted by the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) June 16-18 in Richmond, Virginia.

We can do this. The alternative is to keep protesting while the Democrats - funded by the same big banks and corporations as the Republicans - reposition themselves to co-opt our movement and smother it under another sorry choice between the lesser of two evils.

We don’t have to choose between cancer and a heart attack - we can decide to live. We don’t have to be divided - we can choose unity. We don’t have to accept defeat - we can resist and win!

Join us June 16-18 in Richmond, Virginia, as we help forge the broad united front that can mount a real resistance to wars, injustice and repression!