Minneapolis, MN – 40 protesters braved the first snow of the season at the busy intersection of Lake Street and Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis on October 12 to say no to U.S. endless wars. The protest was called by the MN Peace Action Coalition in conjunction with the Rage Against the War Machine organized by the Women's March on the Pentagon the same weekend in Washington DC.

Autumn Lake, an organizer with the MN Anti-War Committee, started off the program, “Our protest today comes a day after the Pentagon announced that nearly 2000 additional U.S. troops are being sent to Saudi Arabia in preparation for possible confrontation with Iran. The dispatch of more troops and equipment to Saudi Arabia increases the danger of a new U.S. war, this time with Iran. The U.S. is at war in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and is carrying out military interventions in Somalia, Libya and elsewhere. There are constant threats of new military interventions in other countries, including Iran and Venezuela.”

Lake concluded, “U.S. wars will only end when the vast majority who are against these wars take action to demand peace. The Pentagon and politicians won't end the wars unless they are forced to do so by people demanding peace. It’s important not to let Trump’s occasional isolationist rhetoric confuse us. Although yesterday President Trump said he wanted to end U.S. wars, this morning the Pentagon announced more troops being sent to Saudi Arabia.”

Tracy Molm, also from the Anti-War Committee, also spoke. She traveled to Venezuela in May and witnessed one of the U.S.-sponsored coup attempts. She addressed one of the U.S.’s main methods of war on Venezuela and Iran, “As of April 2019 the Center for Economic and Policy Research estimated that as many as 40,000 people had died from U.S. Sanctions in Venezuela. That’s before the U.S. added a blockade and additional sanctions. Sanctions disproportionately affect the elderly and young and need to be considered a tactic of war. We need to stand up and speak out against sanctions on both Iran and Venezuela!”

The protest was organized by the MN Peace Coalition with the support of the MN Anti-War Committee, Every Church a Peace Church, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Mayday Books, Minnesota Cuba Committee, Minnesota War Tax Resistance, National Iranian-American Council, St. Joan of Arc Peacemakers, Socialist Action, Twin Cities Peace Campaign, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness, and Veterans for Peace.

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