Open Letter to the U.S. Antiwar Movement

The following “Open letter to the U.S. Antiwar Movement” was adopted by the National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations on July13, 2008. We urge antiwar organizations around the country to endorse the letter. Please send notice of endorsements to natassembly@aol.com

Open Letter to the U.S. Antiwar Movement

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

In the coming months, there will be a number of major actions mobilizing opponents of U.S. wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan to demand “Bring the Troops Home Now!” These will include demonstrations at the Democratic and Republican Party conventions, pre-election mobilizations in a number of cities and states, and the December 9-14 protest activities. All of these can and should be springboards for very large bi-coastal demonstrations in the spring.

Our movement faces this challenge: Will the spring actions be unified with all sections of the movement joining together to mobilize the largest possible outpouring on a given date? Or will different antiwar coalitions set different dates for actions that would be inherently competitive, the result being smaller and less powerful expressions of support for the movement’s “Out Now!” demand?

We appeal to all sections of the movement to speak up now and be heard on this critical question. We must not replicate the experience of recent years during which the divisions in the movement severely weakened it to the benefit of the warmakers and the detriment of the millions of victims of U.S. aggressions, interventions and occupations.

Send a message. Urge – the times demand it! – united action in the spring to ensure a turnout which will reflect the majority’s sentiments for peace. Ideally, all major forces in the antiwar movement would announce jointly, or at least on the same day, an agreed upon date for the spring demonstrations.

The National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations will be glad to participate in the process of selecting a date for spring actions that the entire movement can unite around. One way or another, let us make sure that comes spring we will march in the streets together, demanding that the occupations be ended, that all the troops and contractors be withdrawn immediately, and that all U.S. military bases be closed.

In solidarity and peace,

National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations

FRIDAY vigil, SUNDAY walk for lake superior

This Friday [July 18] will be the 11th Iraq Moratorium day. We'll be commemorating it here in the Twin Ports with a one anti-war vigil from 4:30-5:30pm on the corner of London Road and 21st Ave. E. in Duluth. Our vigil has the theme of "100 More Years? Not One More Day! Bring the Troops Home Now!" Join us in holding signs and handing out leaflets opposing the ongoing U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Then on Sunday [July 22], the Northland Anti-War Coalition is encouraging folks to participate in the "Walk for Lake Superior" that is being organized by Nukewatch and others. The walk is to protest the dumping of toxic barrels in Lake Superior. Folks are asked to gather at 10am at Brighton Beach in east Duluth. At 11am a march will be leaving Brighton Beach, and heading to Leif Erickson Park, where at 2pm there'll be a rally with speakers and music.

Among the speakers and singers will be:

-Rick Defoe, Duluth American Indian Commission
-Sharla Gardner, Duluth City Council
-Wisc. State Rep. Frank Boyle
-Moderator Jan Conley, Lake Superior Greens
-Invited: Red Cliff Environmental Program
-Former Mayor Herb Bergson
-Singer/Songwriters Rachel Kilgour and David Rovics

For more info on the Iraq Moratorium vigil you can call or email (715) 394-6660 or wainosunrise@yahoo.com. For more info on the Walk for Lake Superior you can call or email (218) 728-0629 or nukewatch@lakeland.ws

Report on the July 13 NAWC meeting

Northland Anti War Coalition meeting minutes from 7/13/08

Meeting was held @ Andy & Kathy Anderson's home as our new meeting place was not available. The next meeting will be at 1406 E 2nd St on Sunday 7/27 @ 2PM. Attendance - Scot B; Andy & Kathy A; Adam R & Peter K.

There are many events & projects being worked on both by NAWC affiliates & by NAWC in association with affiliate groups. Please consider participating & helping out with any that fit for you.

1) The Duluth Air Show will be flying into town this week-end (7/19 & 7/20). Greg S from Loaves & Fishes will be the contact person for anyone who would like to help with being at a greeting station to share food & dialogue with Air Show attendees. Contact Greg at 724-2054 for more info or to become involved.

2) Iraq Moratorium Vigil which is held the 3rd Friday of each month will be at London Road & 21st Ave East this Friday, 7/18 from 4:30 to 5:30. Signs will be available or bring your own.

3) Walk & Rally for the Lake - clean up & protect Lake Superior ie: get the barrels out. This Sunday 7/20 10AM gather at Brighton Beach for a walk at 11AM to Lief Erickson Park, arriving there at 2:00 for a rally & music. Contact Nukewatch @ 715-472-4185 or Loaves & Fishes at 728-0629.

4) Sister City of Duluth program has been approached by Michelle N-O and a working group is being formed to look into establishing a relationship with the city of Rania, Iraq.

5) Days of Remembrance 8/6 to 8/9 Understanding the Costs of War. Is an event that is being planned by a working group of NAWC members, affiliates & community members. The next planning meeting for this will be Monday 7/21 @ 7PM @ Chester Creek Cafe.

The tentative plan calls for:
-8/5 a news conference announcing & outling the following events;
-8/6 A Day of Silence - various groups to carry out individual acts to commemorate the bombing of Hiroshima on that day in 1945;
-8/7 A Community Conversation on War - Panelists & small group discussion at Unitarian Universalist Congregation Bldg;
-8/8 Film and discussion "Why We Fight";
-8/9 Day of prayer & remembrance to commemorate the bombing of Nagasaki on that day in 1945.

6) Bus to the Republican National Convention on Monday, Sept 1 to participate in the peaceful protest that is being organized by The Coalition to Stop the War and March on the RNC. A bus has been reserved and with the current march schedule of 12 to 2 we will gather at Peace Church @ 8AM where day long parking will be available. The bus will leave at 8:30 AM and return that same day. The cost of the bus will be $30 to $35. We need to have people sign up for the bus as soon as possible so we can know that it can be filled. Contact Andy Anderson or Peter Krause babylon2911@yahoo.com Contact has been made with the Coalition planning this march and assurance has been made that this march will be peaceful and in accord with the principles of non-violence. And that there is a formal agreement that there will be a clear separation geographically from other groups with other possible plans. Internal dialogue will continue on this matter to address any further & ongoing concerns. For further info on the march see marchonrnc.org

7) The "National Assembly to End the Iraq & Afghanistan Wars & Occupations" was reported on by Adam who attended with some other members & Steve C of Peace North. This conference was held in Cleveland on 6/28 & 6/29 for the purpose of bringing together local & national anti-war groups from across the country to coordinate planning and reduce turf defensiveness. A future schedule of events was suggested by this body for local groups to plug into & NAWC will consider organizing in concert with them. This schedule will include:

-10/11 Pre-election time period & recognition of the invasion anniversary of Congressional approval for the war.

-12/9 to 12/14 A week of nationally coordinated - locally planned actions.

-Building toward a large bi-coastal (& inland) event in the Spring of 2009.

*) Obviously there are lots of plans in the works & we could sure use more help in bringing them about. There will be a variety of opportunities to welcome your unique gifts & desires. The next NAWC meeting will be Sunday 7/27 @ 2PM at 1406 E 2nd St. And please read carefully for events & planning meetings to be occurring in the next few days (such as Monday 7/21 @ Chester Creek Cafe planning for the August event).

Respectfully submitted, Peter Krause 728-9395

Report on the June 28-29 National Assembly conference in Cleveland

by Jerry Gordon, Marilyn Levin and Jeff Mackler

Our overall assessment is that the conference was an overwhelming success. Over 400 people from many parts of the country and Canada attended, including a bus of 44 – mostly youth – from Connecticut (see breakdown by states below). The conference met its main objective, which was to urge united and massive mobilizations in the spring to "Bring the Troops Home Now," as well as supporting actions that build towards that date. It also provided a prototype for how an antiwar movement can function effectively and democratically. The one person-one vote voting formula made everyone feel involved, able to have a voice, and capable of influencing decisions on critical issues. People left the conference sky high, and with renewed energy and determination to build the movement.

Conference highlights included the following:

1. Ensured that it was action oriented by urging support for demonstrations at the Republican and Democratic Party conventions (September 1-4, 2008 and August 25-28, 2008 respectively), other actions preceding the elections -- especially those called for October 11 -- and proposing December 9-14 as dates for local actions across the country demanding the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. These December actions provide the best potential for uniting the entire movement in the months ahead. ANSWER and the Troops Out Now Coalition have endorsed them and the hope is that UFPJ will do the same. The need now is to take these proposed dates to local antiwar coalitions; labor groups, especially U.S. Labor Against the War; veterans and military families organizations: the faith community; Black, Hispanic, Asian, Arab, Muslim and other nationalities, racial and ethnic groups; students; women's peace organizations; the Moratorium; and all other social forces that can be drawn into antiwar activities. All actions are viewed as springboards for building massive, united, independent and bi-coastal Spring 2009 demonstrations against the war.

2. Expressed its strong opposition to attacks against Iran, as well as sanctions and other forms of intervention into that country's internal affairs; registered determination to join other antiwar forces in massive united, protest actions in the event that the U.S. or its proxy, Israel, bombs Iran; and urged that if this occurs an emergency meeting of all the major antiwar forces be called to plan such actions.

3. Added Afghanistan to the name of the Assembly because the U.S. is fighting two unjust, illegal and brutal wars simultaneously and both must be opposed. We are now the National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations.

4. Voted to integrate the issue of Palestine into the broader antiwar struggle and to challenge U.S. support for the Israeli occupation.

5. Included in the conference program and agenda a number of workshops of interest to attendees, with the workshops designed to show the interconnection between the wars and occupations and other issues of concern. Here is the list of workshops: The Cost of the War and the Deepening Economic Crisis; War Rages While Racism, Anti-Immigrant Attacks and the War at Home Escalate; Building the Antiwar Movement in Labor Organizations: International Solidarity and the Common Needs of U.S. and Iraqi Workers; Lessons From the Vietnam Antiwar Movement; Students, the Economic Draft and Military Recruitment in Our Schools; Confronting the Assault on Civil Liberties and the U.S. Constitution: the War on Terror – Today's Justification for Washington's Wars at Home and Abroad; Palestine, the Middle East and Iraq: Drawing the Connections; The Critical Role of Veterans and Military Families Opposed to the War; Latin America and the Caribbean: the Next U.S. War of Intervention?; The Next Oil Wars: Africa Command (AFRICOM) and the Expansion of U.S. Military Intervention in Africa; This is What Democracy Looks Like: Effective Lobbying to End the Occupation; Local Organizing and the Iraq Moratorium; Nonviolent Direct Action: Is It Effective? Outsourcing Our Sovereignty: Blackwater and the Privatization of War with Public Money; War, Militarism, Violence Against Women, and Women's Resistance; The St. Paul Republican National Convention Protest; and the Movement and the Media.

6. Attracted a broad range of movement activists as well as the leadership of the nation's most prominent antiwar coalitions – UFPJ, ANSWER and TONC – as well as leaders and representatives of U.S. Labor Against the War, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace, and Military Families Speak Out.

7. Featured an impressive array of speakers representing critical constituencies, several of whom pledged future collaboration. These included: Donna Dewitt, President of the South Carolina AFL-CIO and Co-Chair, South Carolina Progressive Network; Fred Mason, President, Maryland AFL-CIO and Co-Convenor, U.S. Labor Against the War; Cindy Sheehan, Gold Star Families for Peace (by video tape); Jonathon Hutto, Navy Petty Officer, Author of Anti-War Soldier and Co-Founder of Appeal for Redress; Elliott Adams, President, Veterans for Peace; Beth Lerman, Coordinator of Military Families Speak Out in Ohio; Leslie Cagan, National Coordinator, United for Peace and Justice; Jesse Diaz, Organizer of the May 1, 2006 immigrant rights boycott; Marilyn Levin, Boston United for Justice with Peace, New England United, and Middle East Crisis Coalition; Brian Becker, National Coordinator, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition; Colia Lafayette Clark, Richard Wright Centennial Committee; Jorge Mujica, Chicago March 10 Coalition; Jeremy Scahill, Author, of "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army;" Clarence Thomas, Executive Board Member, ILWU Local 10, the trade union that initiated the May 1 one-day antiwar strike that closed all U.S. West Coast ports from Canada to Mexico; Riham Barghouti, Adalah, New York City; Lynne Stewart, attorney and 30-year veteran of civil liberties and civil rights defense work; Josh Davidson, Shaker Heights High School Students for a Democratic Society (SDS); Larry Holmes, Coordinator, Troops Out Now Coalition; Jeff Mackler, Coordinating Committee, National Assembly to End the Iraq War and Occupation; and Jerry Gordon, Steering Committee, U.S. Labor Against the War and Co-Coordinator of the Vietnam-era National Peace Action Coalition. Saturday Night Performer: Son of Nun.

8. Projected an atmosphere where spirited and sometimes sharp debate could take place in a civil manner on substantive issues. The few attempts to deprecate groups or individuals encountered a strong negative response.

9. Voted to maintain the Assembly as a network with its mission intact and continuing: to be a catalyst and unifier, striving always to unite the movement in the streets. Our abiding conviction is that a united movement is a stronger movement and one better able to reach out to and involve the broader forces that must be won if we are to put an end to the wars and occupations.

10. Elected a 13-member Administrative Body (AB), composed of Zaineb Alani, Colia Clark, Greg Coleridge, Donna Dewitt, Jamilla El-Shafei, Mike Ferner, Jerry Gordon, Jonathan Hutto, Marilyn Levin, Jeff Mackler, Fred Mason, Mary Nichols-Rhodes and Lynne Stewart.

11. Raised enough money to pay all the bills for what was a very expensive undertaking, with the total cost being an estimated $23,500.

Hitches Along the Way

Of course, there were flaws in the planning and preparation for the conference and, in retrospect, there were things we would have done differently. The most serious problem was not making it clear beforehand what was meant by an action proposal as differentiated from requests for endorsements of events, minor word changes, and proposals outside the realistic scope of the conference. This resulted in an avalanche of proposals and later of amendments to the action proposal the conference voted to focus on. Because all of these amendments could not be taken up in the allotted time, many were referred to the incoming Administrative Body.

Then, too, the Saturday night program lasted too long and the concluding speakers, as well as Son of Nun, who performed magnificently at the end, were heard by dwindling numbers. We also underestimated the turnout and although we prepared 400 kits going into the conference at a time when registrations totaled about 300, there were not enough kits to go around (especially since a number of people took more than one so they could pass them along to activists back home).

We will learn from all this and make the necessary changes the next time around. After all, this was the Assembly's founding conference. We are confident the next one will be bigger and better.

Where Does the Assembly Go From Here?

As we see it, the immediate priorities are completing work on the action and structure proposals and posting them on the Assembly website; circulating them widely throughout the movement; securing endorsements for the December 9-14 actions and acting as a clearinghouse for listing and promoting the December actions; encouraging groups which are in agreement with the five points that unite us – "Out Now!" as the movement's unifying demand, mass action as the central strategy, unity of the movement, democratic decision making, and independence from all political parties – to elect representatives to the Assembly's Continuations Body and help guide us as we move forward; and preparing a DVD featuring highlights of the conference for distribution and sale.

Was the conference a success? This will be determined less by what we discussed and voted upon there and more by what conference attendees do in the aftermath. If those who went through the experience of the conference are vocal and assertive in not only pressing for united actions in the future but demanding them and if, as a result, our fractured antiwar movement at last comes together in the streets, and stays there until the U.S. stops waging war on the peoples of the Middle East, as well as Afghanistan, then it may truly be said that the June 28-29 conference held in Cleveland, Ohio was, indeed, an historic event.

*Conference attendance: 417 people registered, 12 who did register did not come, so the total attendance was 405. One person came from Arizona, 29 from California, one from Colorado, 41 from Connecticut, 7 from Washington, D.C., 2 from Florida, 27 from Illinois, one from Indiana, 16 from Massachusetts, 5 from Maryland, 17 from Michigan, 14 from Minnesota, 6 from Missouri, 1 from North Carolina, 10 from New Jersey, 39 from New York, 140 from Ohio, 1 from Oregon, 21 from Pennsylvania, 6 from Rhode Island, 2 from South Carolina, 1 from Texas, 1 from Utah, 4 from Virginia, 3 from Washington State, 6 from Wisconsin, 4 from Ontario, Canada

Jeremy Scahill on Blackwater, McCain and Obama

Below is Jeremy Scahill speaking in Cleveland, OH at the National Assembly to End the Iraq War & Occupation.