Antiwar Actions Planned for this Week
Monday 19 March @ 10:54:05 |
 BY ALAN DALE
On the weekend of March 17–18, the four-year anniversary of the U.S. war in Iraq, thousands of people will join antiwar actions in cities across the U.S. and around the world to call for an end to the war.
 In Minneapolis a demonstration will be held on Sunday, March 18. The protest will gather at 1 p.m. at Lagoon and Hennepin avenues in the Uptown neighborhood. At 1:30 p.m. there will be a march that will conclude near Loring Park. The event is being organized under the call of:
Out of Iraq Now! Stop the War! Bring the Troops Home Now! No Escalation! Stop U.S. Threats Against Iran! Funds for Housing, Schools, Healthcare, Veterans Benefits and other Human Needs, Not War!
Speakers will include U.S. Representative Keith Ellison, who represents the 5th District. Ellison said, "I am speaking at the rally and march on March 18 because peace is important. We need a world in which we relate based on cooperation, not domination."
The fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq occurs as the U.S. military death toll is over 3,000, with tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers wounded, reports of up to 600,000 Iraqi dead and millions of Iraqi people displaced--either inside Iraq or having fled their country.
The escalation that the Bush administration announced in January, the so-called "surge" of troops keeps getting bigger. It was announced the weekend of March 10 that an additional 4,400 troops will be going to Iraq, on top of the 21,000 announced earlier.
The three major U.S. antiwar coalitions, United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), the ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition and Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC) have initiated calls for actions nationwide on March 17–19.
The ANSWER Coalition has also called for a mass antiwar protest in Washington, D.C., on March 17 that will include a march on the Pentagon. In the Twin Cities, the Anti-War Committee has organized a bus to go to the national protest in Washington.
Planning for the Minneapolis March 18 protest was initiated by Iraq Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by a wide range of organizations, including the Anti-War Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Twin Cities Peace Campaign--Focus on Iraq, Military Families Speak Out, AFSCME Local 3800, Basilica of St. Mary Peace and Justice Council, St. Joan of Arc Community, Veterans for Peace, Youth Against War and Racism and many others. For information, call 612-827-5364 or 612-522-1861.
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