Minneapolis, MN – More than 100 people took to the streets, October 15, to protest U.S. military interventions, from Ukraine to Syria, Palestine and Somalia. The marchers shut down streets in the Minneapolis Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, where they were cheered by passing cars and pedestrians who came out of their homes to chant “Money for human needs, not for war!” with the protesters.

The protest was initiated by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition (MPAC), which spearheaded a national call for a week of militant anti-war street protests circulated by the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) with a slogan of “Back to the streets! Say no to U.S. wars!” More than 70 cities, both in the U.S. and internationally, have registered protests for the week of October 15-22.

The march was preceded by a rally at which several speakers passionately denounced U.S. imperialism.

Autumn Lake of the Anti-War Committee (AWC) spoke on the decades-long effort led by the United States to isolate and undermine the People’s Republic of China. The U.S. has long spread anti-Chinese propaganda, accusing the People’s Republic of China of human rights violations, of suppressing right-wing “pro-democracy” protests, and even outright genocide. Lake spoke about how accusations of genocide of ethnic minority Uyghur Muslims in China, spread by the U.S. government and corporate media propaganda machine, are part of a long-term project of manufacturing consent for a “humanitarian intervention” in China.

Lake drew attention to the hypocrisy of “known racists Donald Trump and his imperialist-in-chief Mike Pompeo making claims of solidarity with Muslim people facing repression in China.” She went on to say, “This is the same U.S. government that has been conducting drone strikes in Somalia, the same U.S. government that rained hellfire on Syria, the same U.S. government whose federal police force regularly investigates and harasses Muslim community members in its own borders. People who know better than to trust the U.S.’s own record on the treatment of Muslims have found themselves siding with the U.S. against China after waves of propaganda.”

All of this U.S. interference has come to a head in its open attempts to start a war with China, using Taiwan as a vehicle for the conflict.

Mike Madden of Veterans for Peace and the Assange Defense Committee spoke about the history of NATO intervention in Ukraine and the rest of Eastern Europe, and about how critical it is for anti-imperialists to continue to fight back against the efforts of the U.S. to escalate the war in Ukraine and lead the world into another World War.

Madden commented on the language that U.S. corporate media has used to describe the war in Ukraine, saying, “Perhaps the most common adjective used to describe the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been ‘unprovoked.’ It is anything but. In fact, it was deliberately provoked.” He pointed out the fact that U.S. officials have themselves stated, for decades, that NATO’s expansion further and further east toward Russia has been a dangerous game of brinksmanship.

Brad Sigal of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) stated, “To be clear, MIRAC supports the right of people to migrate and fights for legalization and full equality for immigrants who come here. But we also support the right of people to not be forced to migrate. And it is U.S. imperialism that is forcing millions of people to migrate all over the world.”

Sigal detailed MIRAC’s current campaign to defend Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a U.S. immigration policy which protects the rights of immigrant youth. DACA is currently under attack by the reactionary court system that has already succeeded in repealing the hard-won right to abortion, and which is systematically reducing voting rights. If DACA is repealed, Sigal said, “This will throw nearly a million young immigrants into undocumented status, at risk of deportation. This is happening right now, under a Democratic president and Congress who could legalize people with DACA today — but so far they haven’t done it, and time is running out.”

MIRAC is responding to the attacks on DACA with an action at Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office at 1200 S Washington Avenue in Minneapolis, on Friday, October 21, at 4 p.m.

The protest was endorsed by the Antiwar Advocates of Minnesota CD2, the Anti-War Committee, Bikers Riding Against Police Brutality, the Climate Justice Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Mayday Books, Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Minnesota War Tax Resistance, Minnesota Workers United, Movement for a People’s Democracy — Midwest, the Party for Socialism and Liberation — Minneapolis, Socialist Action, Socialist Party USA — Twin Cities Local, St. Paul Eastside Neighbors for Peace, Twin Cities Assange Defense, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar Clark, Twin Cities CPUSA (Communist Party), Twin Cities Nonviolent, Veterans for Peace Chapter 27, Welfare Rights Committee, and Women Against Military Madness.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #AntiWarCommittee #AntiIntervention