Middle East

HANDS OFF SYRIA ACTIONS MOMENTUM GROWS

syria090113-2A collective fierce voice demanding, “Not another war” is resounding across the country and around the world.
Now is the moment to make our voices heard.

Join unified actions this Sat. Sept. 7, in
NEW YORK’s TIMES SQUARE,
*42ND STREET AND SEVENTH AVENUE
AT 1 PM*

& in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and on
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9,
IN FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE with Syrian American Forum from 10 to 12. Marching to Congress – Upper Senate Park

Join in to stop the attack on Syria.

The coming days provide the last chance to mobilize popular resistance to the military strike. The people fear both the political and economic consequences of another costly war. Millions believe the pretext for the war is another Big Lie like the lies used before the Vietnam, Iraq and Libya wars. We need to join together to loudly oppose this new war.

Poised to launch weapons of mass death on the Syrian people, the administration has called time out to try to win over the population and Congress with a “full-court press” assault of war propaganda. We must meet this with a “full-court press” response.

Along with the dozens of protests held last week in the U.S. and hundreds worldwide, the anti-attack forces have called major actions in the next week and a full week of lobbying and local actions.

Under the slogans of “Hands off Syria! Not another war!” the International Action Center initiated a call for a united regional action of all antiwar forces for September 7 at Times Square at 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue, NYC at 1 p.m.

Other actions on Saturday, September 7 include a protest called by the Answer Coalition in front of the White House at noon. There are also regional coalitions organizing demonstrations in Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, among other cities.

Many groups are also organizing delegations to congressional offices in the coming week before congressional members head back to DC on Sept 9. The delegations range from polite visits to demonstrations to plans for encampments on the doorstep.

Full listings of endorsing organizations and cities where actions are planned can be found at iacenter.org. Click HERE to view an endorsers list. Click HERE to endorse, support or list a local action. Click HERE to find an action near you. Or see unacpeace.org

Broad support is also growing for an initiative by the Syrian American Forum to hold its “Hands Off Syria, Don’t bomb Syria” March on Washington on Sept. 9, when Congress is due to reconvene. The group is organizing buses from the Midwest, South New York and other areas for a Monday rally in front of the White House.

Already 50 organizations have endorsed and are mobilizing for these and other actions, including the United National Antiwar Coalition. Among them is “coordinated day of varied actions directed at Congress” on Friday, Sept. 6, from 4-6 p.m. Click HERE to view a full listing of actions. Click HERE to view an endorsers list.
________________________________________
Statement of the International Action Center:
The people have made it crystal clear: We don’t want another war!
Last week there were demonstrations and rallies against bombing Syria in at least 48 U.S. cities. This Saturday, the 1:00 PM Times Square demonstration will be one of dozens across the country. On Monday, September 9, as Congress goes back into session, the Syrian American Forum and others will protest in front of the White House, then march to the U.S. Congress.
The cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan exceeds $4 trillion dollars.

The cruise missiles the US is planning to fire at Syria cost $1.5 million apiece. The profits of the missile’s maker, Raytheon, is soaring — but our cities are crumbling. People are hurting from joblessness, foreclosures, sequester cuts and furloughs. Hospitals and schools are closing.

We need funds for job programs, healthcare and education, NOT billions wasted on war and destruction.
War propaganda always accompanies war. In 2003 before the massive attack on Iraq, it was the lie of “weapons of mass destruction.”
In 1991 in the first US war on Iraq it was wild claim that Iraqi soldiers were killing “incubator babies.”
In the Vietnam War it was the testimony that U.S. ships were being fired on in the Gulf of Tonkin.
It is ludicrous to think that the Assad regime used chemical weapons on the same day that UN weapons inspectors arrived in Syria. The inspectors were less than ten miles away from the attack and had been invited by the Syrian government.

The U.S. is the last country on earth that should start a war on the basis of combatting war crimes.
The Pentagon’s 2004 assault on the city of Fallujah, Iraq alone left the residents there with staggering rates of cancer, birth defects and infant mortality due to the U.S. military’s use of depleted uranium and white phosphorus.

Just last month the recipient of $1.5 billion in annual military aid, the Egyptian government, brutally cleared the streets, killing many hundreds at protest encampments that included men, women and children.

By far, the world’s largest stockpile of chemical, nuclear and every other kind of weapon belongs to the United States — the only country to have used nuclear weapons on civilians.
No, President Barack Obama and Sec. of State John Kerry don’t care about the people of Syria one bit. What they care about is removing a government that gives aid to the Palestinian resistance, Hezbollah and other victims of the Israeli brutality. The repressive regimes in Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf kingdoms beat down the people of the region so that U.S. oil companies can have unfettered access to oil profits.
We don’t want another war for the 1%. The rich will win and the people in the U.S., Syria and the entire Middle East region will lose.
Hands off Syria!

Some of the organizations, coalitions and community groups endorsing Sat. Sept 7 demonstrations:

Syrian American Forum

United National Antiwar Coalition-UNAC

ANSWER Coalition

Code Pink

May 1st Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights

International Action Center

Islamic Leadership Council/Majlis Ash-Shura of Metro NY

Harlem Tenants Council
La Peña del Bronx

U.S. Peace Council
Veterans For Peace / Chapter 021, NJ
People’s Power Movement

World Can’t Wait

International League for People’s Struggles/US
People’s Organization for Progress
BAYAN USA
Jersey City Peace Movement
Occupy Harlem
Red Youth
Fight Imperialism Stand Together – FIST
Pakistan USA Freedom Forum
Honduras USA Resistencia
Frente Libre-Honduras
Antiwar Committee
Al Quds Committee
Islamic Leadership Council/Majlis Ash-Shura of Metro NY
Grannies for Peace

Black Waxx, NY
Interoccupy.net, NYC

Guyanese American Workers United, New York, NY

Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement

Advocates For Peace And Social Justice, West New York, NJ

SI Solidarity Iran

People’s Video Network

 

Originally posted by International Action Center

Cuban Revolution, The Cuban Five

It is just a journey SAUL, The other is not true

originally posted by International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5

Gerardo Hernandez Sends a Heartfelt Letter to his Friend Saul Landau: “It is just a Journey Saul, the other is not true”

saul_gerardo

(For Saúl Landau, with admiration and affection)

It is not true Saul, do not repeat it. I know, others are also saying it, but it is not true. There is a pain in the voice of Carmen when she answers my call, but it cannot be true.
You may say that Yes, old friends have called you and others have come from afar to see you, and the tributes have already begun. Even your own body loudly says it is true. But that does not matter, I know that it is not true. How could it be true, with so many people who admire you and love you? Adriana, whenever we talk, asks me to call you again. (And if that does not mean much to you it’s because you don’t know how she defends and fights for each and every minute of my phone time). Everyone asks for you Saul from all around the world, and like me they all know that it is just a journey, that the other is not true.

A trip where? I do not know with certainty. It is like a close play in a baseball game where no one can agree on the outcome. It is a journey that many do not return, but you’re one of the privileged ones. You’ll be here whenever Danny visits me, and in Cuba when the Five are reunited. You will return whenever someone reads one of your books, or see one of your documentaries. How could you not be there when someone asks who filmed those images of Fidel pushing the jeep stuck in the mud on that road? Or so many other images you captured while traveling half of Cuba with him in 1968? Do you think that you will not be there when someone sees “Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up” and will get to understand the case of the Five? Don’t even mention that my friend! You will always be there when people see the interview with Salvador Allende, perhaps the only or at least the most important written in English, as well as when someone discovers those still unpublished images of Fidel talking at home with Harry Belafonte.

It is just a journey Saul, the other is not true. You’ll come when someone wants to know everything about the bomb that killed Letelier and Moffit in the heart of Washington DC. When someone wants to understand Chiapas or the maquiladoras. When they read your poems, or your always accurate articles. When people mention your Medal of Friendship of Cuba, your Bernardo O’Higgins of Chile, your Emmy, and so many other awards and decorations. You will come whenever I tell someone that I had the privilege to meet you, learn from you, enjoy your sense of humor, and when they ask me to whom do I owe my brotherhood with Danny Glover. You’ll always be with your family, with your friends, with your students.

Of course it is not true Saul, I know that it is only a journey. What I don’t know is if we will be able to communicate, so I don’t want to wait for your departure to tell you; thank you for everything, my brother, it was an honor to share with you. On behalf of the Five, our families, and so many good Cubans, thank you!

I will not deny that we are sad, but at the same time we are happy to know that in your case, when it happens, it will only be a trip, because you knew how to earn that privilege.
Very soon I’ll be calling you again, but you know, do not repeat it, because it is not true Saul. It is not true that you are going to die.

Gerardo Hernández Nordelo
United States Penitentiary, Victorville, California.
August10, 2013.

Saul Landau is courageously fighting a life threatening illness.
Gerardo’s letter was read to Saul Landau by one of his children.