UNAC

October 15 was a global Day of Action and also a day of protest called by UNAC on the 10th Anniversary of war in Afghanistan . This convergence of events helped to inject rage at imperialist wars into the tens of thousands of people in motion in cities across the country.


The connection between the 1% who profit from government bailouts and from endless wars could not be clearer.
On Oct 14 new threats against Iran and wild charges of an Iranian assassination attempt were front-page news along with President Obama announcement to send U.S. Special Forces into Uganda . Opposition to these newest wars was reflected in signs of “Occupy Wall Street NOT Iran ” and “U.S. Troops Out of Africa” that were carried by antiwar protesters across the country. Other signs raised opposition to U.S. wars in Iraq , Afghanistan , and Libya and Drone Wars on Pakistan , Sudan , Somalia and Yemen , along with demands for “Jobs NOT Wars” and “Stop Attacks on Muslims and Immigrant Workers”, “End U.S. Aid to Israel ” and “Free Palestine”.

New York

The New York demonstration against U.S. wars called months ago by United National Antiwar Coalition – UNAC, was rescheduled to Wall Street and Broadway, the center of the Financial District and three blocks from Zuccotti Plaza’s month long encampment. Hundreds packed the narrow street and as police pushed to clear the street and sidewalks the march led by a banner “Wall Street = War Street” and Aya Abdelaziz and other youth on drums swept north and encircled Zuccotti Park with antiwar signs, banners and drumming. Hundreds of youth joined in the march, which gathered more forces as it moved up Broadway.
Police lines again tried to prevent the antiwar march from marching through a street fare on Broadway between Canal and Houston . But the drummers and banners along with militant Philippine youth from BAYAN USA with their

NYC - UNAC March begins
UNAC March begins in NYC 10/15/2011

many flags helped hold the growing protest together. The cheers and applause through this packed street fare confirmed the deep support for Occupy Wall Street
Marches and actions converged and separated as demonstrations against banks, a commemoration at the African burial ground and several union contingents all came together, many thousands strong at Washington Square Park and then reformed into all different contingents headed to Times Square . Tens of thousands gathered at Times Square, blocking streets in all directions. The many hundreds of antiwar signs carried in the march earlier in the day continued to be carried by youth into militant confrontations with police later at night
This exciting demonstration took place a day after thousands of people gathered, to stop a late night or early morning NYPD raid against t
he occupier in Zuccotti Park . They stood through the night in the pouring rain at Zuccotti Park to defend it against the clearing, announced by billionaire Mayor Bloomberg for early Friday morning. The Occupy Wall Street residents were clearing, bagging and doing their own cleaning. As dawn broke people were arriving in droves. In an unprecedented action the AFL-CIO National sent out a late night email ALERT, and texts calling on people to go to the park immediately to defend it. Other major unions sent messages and rallied forces. Major antiwar and social justice organizations were furiously sending messages, making calls and gathering activists.
By early morning when the announcement was made that Mayor Bloomberg and the park management had backed down, the park and the surrounding streets confirmed that they had no choice.
Carlos Montes Meeting followed the demonstration
In the midst of tens of thousands of people in the streets of NYC as part of the Saturday Day of Rage there was a packed meeting at Judson Church on Saturday at 4pm with Carlos Montes, Victor Toro Defense Committee, NY Committee to Stop FBI Repression, BAYAN, DRUM and May 1 Immigrant and Workers Rights Committee. Many people at the meeting on the edge of Washington Square Park had just come from the UNAC antiwar march and other actions from Wall Street.(from a New York UNAC supporter).


Boston

Several thousand marched against U.S. wars in Boston on Oct.15, the largest antiwar protest in Boston in years. This demonstration, initiated nationally by the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) and endorsed by a local coalition of peace and justice organizations from Mass. and R.I., united with Occupy Boston. At least 2/3 of the demonstrators were young people and students, many participating in their first antiwar protest. In addition to the standard antiwar chants, popular chants were “How Do You End A Deficit? End the Wars and Tax the Rich!” and “Banks Got Bailed Out; People Got Sold Out”.
 
The march started with a rally at Park St. and ended at Dewey Sq., the site of Occupy Boston, for a final rally. The route weaved through the major shopping areas of downtown Boston and included stops at the military recruiters, the Hyatt Hotel (where they fired union workers), a Verizon store, and the Bank of America. The rallies were chaired by Marilyn Levin, national Co-Coordinator of UNAC, and Safia Albaiti, from Boston UNAC and the International Socialist Organization, both of whom addressed the marchers as well (from a Boston UNAC supporter).
 
Click here for video of the Boston march and rally
 
Philadelphia
 
The Philadelphia Oct. 15 march was sponsored by the Philly Against War (PAW) coalition, the local UNAC affiliate. The action was a great success.  It was bolstered by the enthusiasm and militancy accompanying the nationwide Occupy movement. The rally took place on Independence Mall (near the Liberty Bell), and the march that followed went to Occupy Philly at City Hall. The action was built upon the themes: "No to the War Abroad! No to the War at Home!" Two rock bands played for the first hour of the event. The rally that followed contained a number of speakers who spoke on a broad range of social issues related to the themes of the rally (the attacks on health care, attacks on Black youth, etc. as well as Afghanistan, Palestine, etc.).
 
About midway through the rally, a feeder 
march from Occupy Philly arrived. At the close of the rally, PAW / UNAC led the united, pre-arranged march up Market Street , one of the main shopping streets of Philadelphia , to the Occupation encampment in the plaza in front of City Hall. There were 500 at the rally the march swelled to around 1000 (From a Philly UNAC supporter). 
 
Minneapolis
 
More than 500 people marched here, Oct. 15, to mark the tenth year of the U.S. war in Afghanistan with a call for an end to the occupation and for U.S. troops to be brought home now.
The event was organized under the slogan of “Bring the Troops & War Dollars Home Now – Get Out of Afghanistan!” The Minnesota Peace Action Coalition (MPAC) initiated planning for the event.
Activists participating in OccupyMN in downtown Minneapolis issued a leaflet urging occupiers to join the Oct. 15 anti-war protest. The leaflet, headlined, "Hop on the Peace Train,” urged participants to gather and take the light rail train to join the rally and march. Around 100 people from the OccupyMN joined the anti-war protest.
After rallying near the busy intersection of Lake Street and Hiawatha Avenue , the crowd marched on Lake Street before turning to go to South High School for a closing rally in the auditorium.
A statement issued by MPAC says, in part, “We call for an end to the U.S. war in Afghanistan which has now been going on for ten years; the longest war in U.S. history. The conflict has taken the lives of thousands of Afghan civilians and over 1700 U.S. military personnel and has cost hundreds of billions in U.S. tax dollars. It is estimated that it costs $1 million a year to keep one U.S. soldier in Afghanistan .”
Anti-war actions had been planned in cities across the U.S. this weekend to mark the milestone anniversary and to call for an end to the war. The call for the Oct. 15 local anti-war actions was initiated by the United National Antiwar Committee and other organizations.
The MPAC statement goes on to say, “Polls show that most Afghans want the U.S. to leave - and most Americans agree. Billions of dollars go to the war in Afghanistan while millions of people in the U.S. are unemployed and losing their housing.”
A range of speakers addressed the anti-war protest, including Wayne Wittman, representing the Minnesota State AFL-CIO.
Meredith Aby, of the Anti-War Committee urged crowd to join the massive protests scheduled for the G8/NATO summit, stating "While Pr
esident Bush started the war in Afghanistan , President Obama has escalated it. He has sent in more troops and has expanded the conflict to Pakistan . Both Bush and Obama have repeatedly used the cover of multi-lateralism and international support as justifications for the war. In reality though, NATO is used as a fig leaf. This is a U.S. led military intervention and occupation.”
Aby continued, “Normally Minnesotans have to drive 24 hours to get to D.C. to say no to the warmakers in person. However, this May we will only have to drive seven. NATO and the G8 are holding a joint summit which highlights that U.S. military policy is an extension of U.S. economic policy. We have the opportunity to go to Chicago to say no to the warmakers in person while they are in the Midwest and I hope you'll come with us to demand an end to the war on Afghanistan !"
Cherrene Horazuk, the chief steward of AFSCME Local 3800, one of the day’s many endorsing organizations, said, “It is always the sons and daughters of working people who are sent off to kill and be killed in wars that do not represent the interests of themselves or their families. These wars are not fought to stop terrorism, or for democracy but in the interests of the large corporations who rely on U.S. military power around the world to maintain their interests.”

Twin Cities
Twin Cities Anti-war protest group marching from Lake Street taken by Kim DeFranco 10/15/2011


Other groups supportin
g the Oct. 15 action included Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Women Against Military Madness, Anti-War Committee, Twin Cities Peace Campaign, Freedom Road Socialist Organization and many others (from FightBack News).






Chicago
The Chicago march and rally was held on October 8.  It was joined by people who were participating in the Occupy Chicago movement and attended by 1500 people.  The Chicago demonstration was the largest held in that city in a number of years. Below is a video of the Chicago rally

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhPpG5YdEyU
Toronto
Occupy Toronto, Canada 10/15/2011


Toronto
Seventy people rallied in downtown Toronto against the Wars in response to UNAC call for action and then marched to the site of the Occupation of Toronto.  UNAC leader, Joe Lombard
o spoke at the rally. The march grew to as many as 150 people and was cheered as it entered the occupation site.  The Toronto occupation started on October 15.  At the occupation site the rally continued and was joined by the large crowd of occupiers




.

Hartford

Hartford
Hartford City Hall Rally

Thirty-one Connecticut organizations endorsed the Bring Our War Dollars Home! march and rallies, in Hartford on Sunday, Oct. 16. About 250 people came out to a rally at City Hall, followed by a march to the State Capitol, and a second rally. Earlier in the week Occupy Hartford voted to endorse the action and organize a solidarity march to the occupation site following the demonstration, where a potluck dinner was served.

The crowd was very diverse, made up of the stalwart peace activists and many new people, especially youth that have been inspired and involved in the occupations. People from all over the state came out including the greater Hartford area, New Haven, and even the furthest corners of the state. For many, this was their first experience at an anti-war demonstration.

The program consisted of a variety of speakers including, Trinity College professor, Vijay Prashad, and President of the CT AFL-CIO, John Olsen and others.


San Diego

We had one of the most successful demonstrations since the early days of the anti-Iraq movement in 2003, attracting about 1000 people.  This was due in large part to our close work with Occupy San Diego and other groups.

The October 15 march and rally involved the coordinated activity of not only San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice (SDCPJ) but also Occupy San Diego (OSD), and Education for All (EFA), based at San Diego City College.  It also included Vets for Peace, and several union locals, including community college teachers (AFT), nurses (NNU), university employees (UPTE CWA), as well as the San Diego Imperial Counties Central Labor Council.  Some of the union support was possible largely because of the popularity of Occupy. 

The day started at 11 am with a feeder march of about 150 people from the OSD site at Civic Center Plaza through downtown to a nearby park.  Adjacent to the park site, Vets for Peace and the SDCPJ had hung signs over a freeway bridge ("freeway bannering") opposing the wars.  At the park, we had an open mike, followed by a program with speakers from participating organizations, including some great music from a local (and much appreciated) acoustic duo, the Proles, who sing songs of labor and protest.

By the time we left the park for the return march through downtown, the group had swelled to about 1000 demonstrators.

This was a large event for San Diego, though not as large as marches in January/February 2003, or the immigrant's rights marches of 2006.  Nevertheless, just comparing 2011 to 2003 and 2006 should give a sense of the significance of 10/15. (based on a report from a UNAC supporter)


Norther California UNAC tour in Defense of Civil Liberties Marking the 10th  year of the U.S. war against the people of Afghanistan

Northern California UNAC held a 13-meeting, 8-day tour of Jess Sundin of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression and Stephen Downs of Project Salam (Support and Legal Advocacy of Muslims).  The tour started on October 15 and ended on October 22.
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Jess Sundin of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression is one of 24 antiwar and solidarity activists who had their homes raided by the FBI and were given subpoenas to appear before a federal grand jury.  Each meeting also had a UNAC speaker who helped tie the civil liberties issues to the so called “War on Terror” and the wars.

The final day of the tour saw the largest meeting as 250 people came together to celebrate the freedom of the last of the San Francisco 8 to be released.  The mostly Black crowed cheered Jess as she recounted her case and solidarized with the victory that was celebrated that night at the African American Art and Culture Center in San Francisco.
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Most of the other meetings were modest in size ranging from 20 – 55 people.  All told, we spoke to audiences totaling approximately 550 people.  

Two interviews on KPFA were also held and KPFA repeatedly announced the tour on several shows.
 
The tour helped bring UNAC to several cities in Northern California where we had not had organization in the past.
 
Audiences would often continue the discussion long after the meetings formally ended.. Most people were shocked at the depth of the political repression suffered by Muslim Communities and the potential imprisonment of the 24 FBI raid victims. They were pleased that UNAC continues to organize against U.S. wars and relates its work to the broad range of social issues that are now the common property of an ever broadening movement. (based on a report from a San Francisco UNAC supporter)

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Other areas

Demonstrations where also held in Manchester, NH, Albany, NY, Trenton, NJ, Portland, OR, Santa Cruz, CA, Augusta, ME, Pittsburgh and other cities. 


Madrid
Occupy Madrid 10/15/2011
Berlin
Occupy Berlin, Germany 10/15/2011


Also, Northern California UNAC is organizing an “Antiwar week of solidarity and in defense of civil liberties marking the 10th anniversary of the U.S. war against the people of Afghanistan .”  
For more information on that on-going tour, click here.   

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Click here for the Facebook UNAC group.



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