Report From the Nov. 6 UNAC Conference In NYC; Meeting Held Against Repression

Palestinian-American representative addressing the United National Antiwar Committee regional conference held in New York at the St. Mark's Church on Nov. 6, 2010. (Photo: Abayomi Azikiwe)
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

United National Antiwar Committee

UNACpeace@gmail.com or UNAC
P.O. Box 123, Delmar, NY 12054
518-227-6947
www.nationalpeaceconference.org

Dear UNAC supporter,

On November 6, UNAC held a very successful meeting at St. Mark’s Church in New York City attended by well over 300 people. The gathering helped establish our presence in the city in a big way and launched a number of action campaigns that will culminate in mass mobilizations New York City and San Francisco next April 9th, as voted on at UNAC’s initiating conference held last July in Albany. Unlike most antiwar meetings held in recent years, this one was attended by a very youthful and diverse group. Although most people came from the New York City area, others attended from Upstate, NY, New England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and other areas of the East Coast.

The UNAC meeting was followed by the first national meeting of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, which was formed to defend the antiwar activists whose homes were raided by the FBI and who were given subpoenas to appear before a federal grand jury. It is very important that we support this committee, as the attack on these activists is an attack on all of us. A report on the Stop FBI Repression meeting follows this report.

Also following this report are the closing remarks at the meeting given by Marilyn Levin, UNAC co-coordinator and a link to an article by Brian Jones, a New York City teacher, based upon his remarks at the UNAC meeting.

Defending our movement was a major theme of the day. There were statements from the Lynne Stewart and Mumia Abu-Jamal defense committees, the antiwar activists who were targets of FBI raids and Grand Jury subpoenas, and Muslim defense organizations like Project SALAM that addressed the pre-emptive prosecutions and escalating detentions of thousands of Muslims in recent years.

There were many people from the newly formed Muslim Peace Coalition, USA, in attendance, whose founder, Malik Mujahid, gave an inspiring keynote talk. He spoke of Muslims wanting to play a central role in rebuilding the antiwar movement. He recounted how Muslims had been reticent to join the protests against the wars and even standing up for themselves when targeted. It is time, he said, that Muslims recognized the necessity to join the antiwar movement and to follow in the footsteps of Martin Luther Kind, Jr. in recognizing that we are all part of the same struggle. At one point, he asked the Muslims in the room to stand, and a large number of people stood up.

A second keynote was given by Shaheena Parveen of DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving), the mother of Siraj Matin, one of the hundreds of Muslims who have been entrapped and imprisoned in the US.

There were three panels reflecting UNAC’s major themes: “Building an Antiwar Movement that Integrates Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan & Iran,” “Defending Our Movement: Fighting the Attacks on Muslim Americans & Immigrants,” and “Bringing the War Dollars Home: Impact of the Wars on Black & Working Class Communities.” Over 30 speakers from diverse organizations and movements participated in the panels.

Others who spoke on panels or gave greetings included representatives from the Defenders of Freedom, Justice, and Equality from Virginia, the International Action Center, Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Wespac, NY, Al-Awda NY, Palestine Right to Return Coalition, Action for Progressive Pakistan, Fellowship of Reconciliation, UNAC Palestine Solidarity Caucus, Thomas Merton Center, the May 1st Coalition, Vamos Unidos, Project SALAM, Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice from Michigan, Connecticut United for Peace, New England United, Raging Grannies, Center for Constitutional Rights, Bail Out the People, the National Committee to Stop FBI Repression, Marvin Holland of the Transport Workers Union, NYC, the Black Agenda Report, Bring the War Dollars Home Campaign, Biofuel Watch, Energy Justice Network, Brian Jones, a public school teacher in NYC, Peoples Organization for Progress from Newark, World Can’t Wait, International Support Haiti Network, Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities, Maine BOW$$H Campaign, Students for Justice in Palestine from Columbia University, SDS, Campaign Against Sanctions & Military Intervention in Iran, Witness against Torture, NY Labor Against the War, Immigrant Communities in Action, Harlem Men of Color Group, Veterans for Peace, Coalition for Public Education, NYC and Honduras US Resistencia. In addition, many local peace and justice groups from throughout the New York City area were present. Also, seven members of a high school activist group called Build On spoke and pledged to build April 9th throughout the city.

The panels were followed by an organizing session. During the session, we presented the program of activity that was voted on at UNAC’s founding conference in Albany, which was attended by 800 people last July. Seven campaigns were described and formed committees. They were Organizing Teach-Ins and Speaking Tours, Environmental Outreach, Bring Our War $$ Home, Islamophobia & Pre-Emptive Attacks on Muslims, Palestine Solidarity, Defending Iran, and End Torture. These activities will lead to massive demonstrations on April 9th in New York and San Francisco. New York and San Francisco organizing committees have been formed and people have started working on march routes and rally sites and have initiated the permit process with the city.

Malik Mujahid of the Muslim Peace Coalition, USA led the fundraising effort, which resulted in a last collection to help UNAC efforts in the coming months.

As a result of the November 6th meeting, UNAC has established a strong presence in the New York City area. Next, we need to build a strong ongoing organization in the city with a democratic process that will allow everyone to participate. UNAC is now in a position to play an important role in revitalizing the antiwar movement and rebuilding it on a new foundation that includes solidarity with the domestic victims of the phony “war on terror,” that sees Palestinian solidarity as central to our work, understands the relationship between the wars and the attacks on working people and the poor at home, and seeks to stop any future wars with Iran, Yemen, or any other country that the US government has set its sights on.

The New York meeting was a great step forward for building the antiwar movement in the US.

Peace,
Marilyn Levin and Joe Lombardo
UNAC co-coordinators


Report from the First National Meeting of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression

The first national meeting of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression (CSFR) was a great success. There was standing room only in the hall, with over 150 anti-war and international solidarity organizers. Here are the important points, followed by notes for people who are working to build the movement against FBI repression and Grand Jury intimidation.

A. We are asking people to prepare to take action upon the coming re-activation of three subpoenas in Minneapolis. We are calling for emergency protests. Please see section 6.b. of the notes.

B. Join the nationwide Committee to Stop FBI Repression—we will be meeting on phone conferences every two weeks or as needed. We also want to encourage you to form a committee in your city or on your campus.

C. Continue with education and fund raising events. Please host one of the 14 subpoenaed activists to speak in your city at events. There is a new CSFR office in Minneapolis and a speakers’ bureau.

D. Please turn some efforts towards fund raising. When indictments are handed down, the legal costs will rise quickly. Please make checks to the CSFR at:

Committee to Stop FBI Repression
PO Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55414

For larger tax deductable donations going to the legal defense fund, please make them out to the “National Lawyers’ Guild” and write CSFR in the message line.

On behalf of the CSFR, Tom Burke, 773-844-3612

P.S. Great thanks to Maureen Murphy for her excellent notes and editing.

CLOSING REMARKS AT UNAC CONFERENCE NOV 6, NYC BY MARILYN LEVIN, CO-Coordinator UNAC

Elections now, like war, are never-ending. There used to be a break between elections where activists trying to build united front independent mass movements had some time to build alliances and take to the streets. That no longer exists. Now we see constant hype and fear mongering about the next election before the newcomers even take office. The narrative on the left was that Bush and the Bush agenda had to be defeated at all costs. The movement stopped marching and got lost in the elections. A savior was elected who promised hope and change and instead he was another capitalist politician and we got the same and even worse.

The Democrats lost the House, not because they went too far, but because, even with a mandate and a majority, they delivered to Wall Street, but not to the American people. Rather than ending the wars, they expanded them. They sold us down the river. Now the demon Republicans and the Tea Partyers are making a comeback and rather than learning from the past, we will be facing intense pressure to drop everything to make sure that Obama stays in office. We cannot get caught in the same trap again.

Within the past month, in addition to the election, there were two rallies in Washington that were very instructive. The first was the One Nation gathering on Oct. 2nd. Over 100,000 union members and civil rights activists gathered. Although the peace movement was involved in building it, the leaders of the Peace Table were shunted aside. The wars were not in the literature. Only two speakers addressed the wars. There was no militancy, no marching, no demands, no outlet for the growing frustration and anger of people who are losing everything. We were told that voting is the major weapon we have to turn the tide.

Our message of Jobs, Not Wars! Bring the Troops, Mercenaries and War Dollars Home Now! and our demands to end racist attacks on Muslims, immigrants and people of color, and to end US aid to Israel were met with widespread approval. That is what the crowds wanted to hear but instead, they were encouraged to not rock the boat.

Then we had Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert’s entertainment rally in defense of moderation. Again, you would never know the country has been engaged in wars and occupations for nine long years or that jobs and homes and living standards are disappearing. Moderation in their eyes means acquiescence. It means depending on the ballot box to bring democracy and peace and prosperity. They don’t want us to be extreme, or heaven forbid, take to the streets and make demands. If things go too far in this direction, we might even look French! But this is precisely what we need. Social change is not made by telling jokes and being nice. We make social change when massive numbers of people wake up, realize they’ve been had, and start to resist.

Well, we were given a mandate as well at the Albany conference. We saw the movement stirring again and wanting action. We passed an action program with 28 points, a number of which you heard today, that culminated in mass demonstrations next spring. For the first time, the antiwar movement brought Palestine to the fore. We’re truly integrating war, the economy, climate change, and social justice issues. The coalition that UNAC is developing is more diverse than we’ve ever seen in this period with alliances that represent the forces most oppressed by the Empire and thus, by necessity, in motion.

I want to address the importance of mass action. To paraphrase a great source of inspiration – Howard Zinn – It’s not who’s sitting in the White House that’s important; it’s who’s sitting in. Some take the position that mass demonstrations are not effective unless we can pull hundreds of thousands of protestors into the streets. This is short-sighted and does not address how we get from small to large. Any successful movement for change doesn’t start with 100,000 people and there has never been significant social change without mass actions. Think of the civil rights movement and the anti-Vietnam War movement. All of the building actions and the sit-ins and the boycotts are important but ultimately, the power of the masses making demands have to be visible and united in the streets in order to shake the powers in Washington and ultimately to stop their ability to wage war.

We are building a new movement – inclusive, independent, multi-issue, diverse, democratic, unified and organized in action. UNAC is the coalition committed to fighting back and winning. Join us; endorse the action programs; and On to April 9th in New York and San Francisco.