Report on the UNAC 2017 Conference
As activists met in Richmond, VA for the UNAC conference
entitled “Stop the Wars at Home and Abroad: Building a Movement Against War,
Injustice & Repression,” the US military was shooting down another Syrian
plane from the skies over Syria, and the cop who murdered Philando Castile was
being acquitted. Despite these
realities, the conference and the movement took a huge step forward, as over
300 people registered for the conference, bringing together people from 31
states as well as nine foreign countries: Canada, Columbia, Hungary,
Philippines, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine and Venezuela. The conference was the most diverse by age,
race and geography of any antiwar conference or meeting in recent history.
Hosted in Richmond by the UNAC-affiliated Virginia Defenders
for Freedom, Justice and Equality, the Friday night through Sunday conference
presented a number of panels and workshops on the wars abroad and the wars at
home on people of color, workers, immigrants, Muslims and others. The entire
conference was professionally live-streamed and recorded by Other Voices, Other
Choices, with producer Wilton Vought.
The recordings can be seen and heard here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLatnOpu3eZimt5YieDM5MFzDPGe0ZQgzI.
This was the first time that UNAC attempted a conference in
the South and away from the major East Coast metropolitan areas. This was due to the number of groups from the
South that have recently joined UNAC and an increased pace of struggle in that
area of the country.
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Conference panel
Speakers at the conference recognized that we are at an
extremely dangerous time with current expanding, unending wars, millions of
displaced refugees, more than 800 foreign U.S. military bases, the
threat of nuclear annihilation, and climate destruction. At the same time, at home, the social safety
net is being ravaged, repression of dissent is rising, mass incarceration
accelerates, wages and standard of living stagnates and the obscenely wealthy
are raking it in. Now, more than ever,
we need a strong unified coalition of antiwar and justice movements to
fightback against the imperialist war system and win!
We
are at the eve of a new movement in this country…I believe that this
conference, this coalition will be able to lead and build the kind of anti-war,
anti-Imperialist movement that we have to build in this country…As part of that
process we have embarked on a new endeavor.
We are attempting to build the Black Alliance for Peace, which is a new
formation that is committed to reviving the traditional antiwar position of the
Black community…which is critical if we are going to build an antiwar movement
in this country…but make no mistake, while we are a peaceful people, we believe
in peace, we understand that there cannot be peace without justice. – Ajamu Baraka, Black Alliance for Peace,
former VP Candidate of the Green Party
A number of panels and workshops were held at the
conference, which included speakers from UNAC affiliated groups and
friends. Each panel focused on
international or domestic issues, but all contained speakers who addressed both
to draw the connection between the wars abroad and the wars at home.
In
2003… I was a member of an international delegation that traveled to Baghdad to
meet with Iraqi workers…[they told] us how things were worse under the
Coalition Provisional Authority than under Saddam Hussein…I came back and I
began to organize in my own union, and four years later we were able to shut
down all 29 ports on the West Coast. – Clarence
Thomas, past Secretary-Treasurer ILWU local 10, San Francisco
One
of the key space technologies being used today is so-called “missile defense,”
which is actually a key element in US Pentagon first-strike planning. The idea is that the “missile defense” would
serve as the shield after a US first strike attack... “Missile defense” used to
be illegal under the US/Russia ABM Treaty, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
that George Bush withdrew the US from.
- Bruce Gagnon, Global Network
Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.
Two sessions of workshops were also held and included topics
on NATO expansion, building the antiwar movement, drone warfare, environmental
justice, the “color revolutions,” the peace process in Columbia, youth
activism, the Black Alliance for Peace and more.
US
troops are still conducting military games on our lands. American facilities are now being constructed
because of the Asia pivot and the New Deal in 2014, and right now the US is
mysteriously undertaking anti-terror, anti-ISIS activities in Mindanao. Meanwhile, a war is raging in our homeland;
there is a vibrant mass movement resisting US military intervention. - Raymond Palatino, Chair, Metro-Manila
chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Manila, Philippines.
North Korea has repeatedly offered to freeze its
nuclear weapons development in exchange for an assurance from the United States
that it will not attack. There is a double standard that the US employs
in relation to North Korea. While it condemns North Korea for its missile
tests, the United States continuously tests ballistic missiles. - Hyun Lee, Managing Editor, ZoominKorea
The final panel of the weekend, held on Sunday morning, was
called “Building a More Powerful Movement for Justice and Peace.” The panel can be seen and heard here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vyvAkBLPMI&index=10&list=PLatnOpu3eZimt5YieDM5MFzDPGe0ZQgzI. On this panel, leaders of several
organizations with different experiences brought their ideas to the conference
in the hope of building a stronger movement.
This panel was followed by the presentation of an action proposal and an
open mic to discuss the proposal and how we could best move forward. Based on the discussion, the unanimously
adopted proposal was modified. The final version can be found here: http://nepajac.org/actionproposal2017.htm. .
I’m
so glad to be here once again for the UNAC conference. The people’s Organization for Progress
considers itself a member of UNAC, and we are encouraging other organizations
at the local level to join UNAC because today, more than ever before, we need a
peace movement…but the peace movement will not rise to the level that it needs to
rise unless it is closely and directly connected with the Black Liberation
struggle … and let me say this, the Black Liberation movement will not be able
to achieve its goals unless we are connected with the peace movement and the
other movements that exist here in the United States of America.
- Lawrence Hamm, Peoples Organization for Progress.
UNAC has demanded an end to the
wars abroad and at home for a number of years now. I’m well acquainted with the leadership and,
of course, Margaret (Kimberley), and I know that the leadership is not talking
about these wars at home in just the metaphorical sense but they are talking
about a real war… Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report.
This
[Shockoe Bottom] was the first and only…burial ground where Black people were
permitted to be buried in the city of Richmond…Gabriel, who along with hundreds
of others, attempted to lead a rebellion on August 30 of 1800 and gave his life
on the gallows on this spot…Gabriel’s son and every generation of that family
appointed a historian to carry that story forward. Ana Edwards, Chair, Defenders’ Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation
Project.
The conference represented
the rapidly changing consciousness of the people of the US. It represented the coming together of the antiwar movement
with a significant section of Black leaders and international guests who have a
clear understand of what is needed for our movement today and how all the
issues discussed are interconnected. There was a consensus that the wars
abroad and at home stem from the same source – the integrated corporate,
financial, military, political machine at the top. The importance of having a
broad coalition and building UNAC was stressed by speakers and attendees
throughout the conference. Given the state of the US and the world today, it is
essential that we build on this conference by strengthening our movements and
our collaborative efforts. We urge all to go to the UNAC web site (http://UNACpeace.org)
to join our email list and have your organizations join our coalition
End the Wars at Home and Abroad!
View the videos of the entire conference here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLatnOpu3eZimt5YieDM5MFzDPGe0ZQgzI
Read the action proposal from the conference: http://nepajac.org/actionproposal2017.htm
View the conference web site: http://www.unacconference2017.org/p/participants.html
Read a report on the conference in Black Agenda Report by Margaret Kimberley: https://www.blackagendareport.com/unac_brings_powr_to_the_people
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