On Feb. 21, the MN Anti-War Committee (AWC) held Rock for Rasmea, a multimedia benefit show, to raise money for the legal defense of Palestinian activist Rasmea Odeh.

Minneapolis, MN – Sabry Wazwaz reported back to over 100 people, Feb. 7, at Karmel West from his month long trip to Palestine this winter, where he did interviews for his upcoming documentary. Wazwaz is an outspoken leader in both the Palestinian American community and the Anti-War Committee. He is an advocate for a free Palestine and against U.S.-backed Israeli apartheid. Wazwaz explained his motivation for his trip as a desire to “wake people up about what’s really going on” in Palestine and to counter the lies of U.S. mainstream media.

Minneapolis, MN – On Oct. 27 a coalition of Minnesota community organizations working to raise awareness about injustices against the Palestinian people protested outside of Senator Al Franken’s campaign office. As Senator Franken prepares for reelection, the anti-war movement condemns Franken’s unconditional support for Israel’s human rights violations, including his introducing legislation to extend U.S. military aid to Israel. Protesters called on Franken’s supporters to express their disapproval of his stance towards Israel.

Minneapolis, MN – About 150 people gathered, Aug. 21 on Minneapolis’s West Bank, carrying signs and banners demanding an end the U.S.-backed Israeli siege of Gaza. The demonstration also called for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel and a halt to state sponsored violence “from Ferguson to Palestine.” The rally was organized by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee.

Minneapolis, MN – About 40 progressive Jews and others gathered outside the offices of the Minneapolis Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), Aug. 5, to challenge JCRC’s conflation of Zionism and Judaism.

Minneapolis, MN – President Obama announced May 27, that by 2015 the U.S. will have 9,800 troops in Afghanistan and that by the end of 2016 the U.S. will leave troops to guard the U.S. embassy in Kabul. The next day when Secretary of State John Kerry was interviewed by Chuck Todd on MSNBC, Todd pointed out that “there’s eight more years of that agreement, and the next president, without the authorization of Congress, without seeking new permission from Afghanistan, could end up sending more troops back in” and Kerry agreed that it is possible that the U.S. could send in more troops. He was quick to point out that that decision would be made under a different administration though.

Minneapolis, MN – This has been a hard week to listen to the news – especially as a mother. I have had trouble sleeping all week thinking about the girls and mothers living in hell in Nigeria.

Minneapolis, MN – On Feb. 15, a panel called, “Victories in Resistance, Solidarity Against Injustice” was organized by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC) to celebrate newly-won freedom and to reflect on how to do political prisoner solidarity which builds our movements.

Minneapolis, MN – Activists from the MN Anti-War Committee, Students for a Democratic Society at the U of MN, Women Against Military Madness, Veterans for Peace, and the Coalition for Palestinian Rights protested the impact of the U.S. use of drones around the world, Feb.11, at the University of Minnesota Law School. Inside the Law School, Oren Gross, a former senior officer in the Israeli Defense Force's JAG Corps, the legal branch of the Israeli military, gave a presentation titled, “The New Way of War: Is There a Duty to Use Drones?” as a part of the Law School’s spring lecture series.

Minneapolis, MN – The anti-war movement sees Chelsea Manning as a hero for exposing the truth of the brutality of U.S. warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a result of her bravery in releasing classified documents that exposed U.S. war crimes to WikiLeaks, on Aug. 21 Manning was sentenced to military prison for 35 years.

In a whirlwind news week the public has become aware that the majority, if not all, of U.S. telephone calls are monitored by the NSA (National Security Agency) and have been for seven years, that the U.S. government is monitoring emails through a secret NSA program called PRISM, and that Edward Snowden is the whistleblower that made these revelations possible. On June 9, Snowden told The Guardian to publish that he was the leak even though it puts him in the crosshairs of the U.S. government. “I'm willing to sacrifice all…because I can't in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building.”

On May 23, President Barrack Obama gave a major counterterrorism speech at the National Defense University about U.S. drone warfare and the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Obama’s speech was billed as a major policy speech with new reforms.

St. Paul, MN – Forty people gathered at Cahoots Coffee Shop here May 9, to hear from anti-war speakers at a program entitled “Syria: The Myth of Humanitarian Intervention” organized by the Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) Mideast Committee.

Albany, NY – The National Conference to Bring the Troops Home Now met in Albany, New York, July 23-25. Around 700 activists from across the country came together to discuss and debate how to build the anti-war movement and to plan for coordinated days of protest.

Minneapolis, MN – About 100 anti-war activists protested outside of the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) annual meeting at the University of Minnesota on June 30 to oppose the U.S. unconditional support for Israel. The Coalition for Palestinian Rights organized the protest. This protest was a part of a series of protests organized in response to the massacre of the Gaza flotilla Memorial Day weekend.

Minneapolis, MN – Anti-war activists from across the Twin Cities gathered at Rosemary Williams’s house, Aug. 27, to say “Foreclose the wars! Not people’s homes!”

Segunda parte

Dos miembras de la red Colombia Action Network (CAN, Red de Acción por Colombia), Thistle Parker-Hartog y Meredith Aby, entrevistaron al líder campesino Miguel Cifuente, secretario ejecutivo de la Asociación de Campesinos del Valle del Río Cimitarra. Debido a la duración de la entrevista, la publicamos en dos partes. La primera parte de la entrevista está en la edición de octubre / noviembre 2004 de ¡Lucha y Resiste!.

Primera parte

Este verano, una delegación de estudiantes y dirigentes contra la Guerra fueron a Colombia con Colombia Action Network (CAN, Red de Acción por Colombia) para investigar los efectos del ayuda militar estadounidense. Los tres millones de dólares de ayuda militar estadounidense que se envían a Colombia se caen directamente en las manos de las fuerzas armadas colombianas y los paramilitares colombianos. Los paramilitares sirven como escuadrones de muerte derechistas quienes asesinan, torturan, y desaparecen sindicalistas, dirigentes estudiantiles y campesinos, y trabajadores de derechos humanos. La evidencia presentada a la delegación muestra que los paramilitares coordinan sus actividades con las fuerzas armadas de Colombia.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community has had an important victory! On May 17, Massachusetts performed the first legal civil marriages of same-sex couples in the country. In November 2003, the Massachusetts State Supreme Court ruled that the state’s ban on same sex marriages was illegal. It ordered that such marriages be legalized within six months. As queers and allies celebrate the victory in Massachusetts, it is important to reflect on where the movement has been and where it should go.

Opposition to Bush’s war plans is growing. Momentum has continued to build since Oct. 26, when 200,000 people demonstrated in Washington D.C. against the war threats on Iraq. Up to mid-October, there were at least 400 major demonstrations. Since then, the anti-war movement has been expanding and actions are taking place on a daily basis.