Peace

The anti-war movement in the U.S., revitalized by the threats and bluster of George W. Bush, is already developing at a much faster pace than did the anti-Vietnam War movement.

LOS ANGELES – Twenty thousand people of every race and nationality filled the streets of downtown Los Angeles on Jan. 11 in what many are calling the largest city protest against the war in Iraq in our nation so far.

Warning that war with Iraq will cost thousands of Iraqi and U.S. lives and waste billions of tax dollars needed for education and health care, the city council of Gary, Ind., unanimously approved a resolution Jan.7 opposing war on the oil-rich nation.

Advirtiendo que guerra con Irak costará miles de vidas iraquíes y norteamericanas y gastará miles de millones de dólares necesitados para la educación y la salud, el Concejo Municipal de Gary, Indiana, unánimemente aprobó una resolución el 7 de enero oponiéndose a una guerra con ese país rico en petróleo.

CHICAGO – U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW) was founded Jan. 12 at a meeting repeatedly described as “historic” by the participants. The 100 delegates were representatives of local unions, central labor councils and labor peace groupings, as well as individual labor leaders from across the country.

CLEVELAND – “No war for oil,” thundered the Rev. Marvin McMickle at Antioch Baptist Church, Jan. 12, before a crowd of more than 600.

PHILADELPHIA – At its Jan. 8 meeting the Philadelphia AFL-CIO Central Labor Council passed a resolution against the war in Iraq. The Phila. Labor Council wanted to go on record as strongly opposing the Bush administration’s march toward war with Iraq and urging the administration to abide by and work through the United Nations Security Council resolution.

Exactly one year before his death, on April 4, 1967, Dr. King spoke out against the war in Vietnam at Riverside Church in New York City. Though this speech is not the first time his views against the war were expressed, King scholars indicate it is the first time he linked the struggle against war abroad with the struggle for equality at home.

Opinion


Last week, a friend who was recruited on his high school campus was sent off to the Persian Gulf region leaving behind his wife and newborn daughter. When he joined the army reserves he never figured he’d be going off to war and, with no other way to pay for college, signed up as a way to fund his education.

CHICAGO – A spirited crowd of 300 demonstrators braved the bitter cold here to protest President Bush’s drive toward war with Iraq.