santacruz coalition

As the winter deepens, the United States moves closer and closer to war. As the January 27 report from UN weapons inspectors approaches, the Defense Department is positioning troops in the Middle East for an immediate military campaign. Pentagon sources state that there will be possibily as many as 250,000 troops fighting in Iraq.

The protests were called to coincide with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, invoking his legacy to mobilize people from all walks of life to take action. People are planning to turn out to march in across the world on January 18.

Massive demonstrations and walkouts are planned for the day the bombs “officially” start falling. Human shield missions for peace are also getting underway, with dozens of Westerners going to civilian locations throughout Iraq. All across the US, from coast to coast, from churches to campuses to union halls, a movement is uniting in action against war on Iraq. Moreover, opposition to Bush’s war on the poor in this country, as well as on the rest of the globe, is growing, connecting the links between poverty and war enunciated by Dr. King.

In Washington DC, hundreds of thousands of marchers are expected on Saturday, January 18 in the largest US anti-war demonstration since the Vietnam War. A concurrent protest in San Francisco the same day is expected to draw crowds not seen in the city in a generation.

Further coverage is available from a SF IMC webcast on Saturday, and a documentary from Paper Tiger TV.

Two Iraqi labor leaders are featured speakers at a program offering local residents the chance to hear from workers who are struggling to end the occupation, sectarian violence, and the repression of women and working people in Iraq. Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, the first woman to head a national Iraqi labor union, is President of the Electrical Utility Workers Union, and Faleh Abood Umara is General Secretary of the Southern Oil Company Union.
They will explain why unions oppose the proposed privatization law favored by the Bush administration and oil corporations. They will also address the role of unions in rebuilding Iraq, and the prospects for a stable, democratic, non-sectarian future.
The event is part of a national tour sponsored by U.S. Labor Against the War, United for Peace and Justice, and the American Friends Service Committee. Local sponsors include Central Coast Workers Against War, Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, Resource Center for Nonviolence, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Santa Cruz Peace Coalition, Families Against War, UC-AFT 2199, UPTE CWA-9119, and the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers. The event is endorsed by the Santa Cruz Green Party.
A sliding scale donation is requested—no one turned away.