In bitter cold St. Paul, MN rallies to oppose U.S. bombing of Yemen
St. Paul, MN – On January 19, despite frigid 6-degree temperatures, 60 activists rallied at a busy intersection at the weekly Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) Free Palestine event.
This week it focused on the U.S. bombing attacks on Yemen. Motorists responded positively to the signs which said, “U.S. hands off Yemen” and the chants, “Yemen, Yemen make us proud, turn another ship around” and “Yemen, Yemen stand your ground turn another ship around.”
After chanting for a half hour, protesters listened to speakers representing several Twin Cities anti-war organizations.
Sorcha Lona, a member of the MN Anti War Committee, spoke of the heroic resistance of Yemen to the genocidal Zionist bombing of Gaza, “The Yemeni Armed Forces, the military of one of the most economically oppressed nations in the world, has brought global trade to its knees. They see the ships sailing in their backyards carrying weapons and supplies to the butchers occupying Palestine and have said ‘no more.’ They’ve stopped these ships and made it clear they will not end their blockade of Israeli ports until the genocide and occupation has been defeated.”
In response to Yemen’s Ansarallah being put to the terrorist list, Lona said, “The people of Yemen standing for the lives and rights of their Palestinian siblings are not terrorists; the United States are the real terrorists, the Zionist Israelis are the real terrorists. The people of Yemen are being killed for standing on the right side of history despite the consequences. There is no possible justification for a second front of aggression, and we must demand U.S. hands off Yemen.”
Molly Wilbur-Cohen, a member of WAMM, spoke as well, “How absurd that Biden hopes that Ansarallah will be nice and stop its activities in the Red Sea. Yesterday Biden was asked by reporters if the U.S. strikes on Yemen are doing anything. He said no, not yet, but we’ll continue until the Houthis stop their attacks on cargo ships. Then, unbelievably, Biden said the U.S. is acting in self-defense and doesn’t want a regional war. Number one, the U.S. is not under attack. Number two, the U.S. would rather bomb the people in Yemen than stop Israel’s genocide.”
The program concluded with a powerful and moving speech by Emily Chu, a member of the U of MN chapter of Students for a Democratic Society . She said, “My mom was raised in Long An, a province in rural southwest Vietnam. The Vietnam war, or the American war as it’s called in Vietnam, was marked by indiscriminate carpet bombing campaigns and deliberate targeting of civilians, primarily affecting the Vietnamese countryside. SDS was also started during the war.”
Chu added, “A popular tactic during the war was to bomb hospitals and afterwards claim that they were housing Viet Cong. The parallels between what happened then in Vietnam and what is happening now in Gaza are impossible to unsee. Just as Agent Orange once denuded the Vietnamese jungles and disabled generations of civilians, white phosphorus now scorches the children of Gaza with impunity.”
Next week, the Minneapolis city council will debate a resolution calling for a ceasefire for Gaza. Demonstrators vowed to do all they can to make sure a strong veto-proof resolution is passed.