San Jose demands hands off Iran, no money for war
San Jose, CA – On Saturday February 28, over 100 people gathered on the corner of Stevens Creek and Winchester in San Jose to protest the U.S.– Israeli war on Iran. The emergency protest occurred less than 24 hours after news first broke about Israeli strikes on Iran, with the U.S. joining the bombing campaign shortly thereafter.
Protesters filled the sidewalks in the heart of one of San Jose’s busiest shopping districts, waving Iranian flags and chanting, “Hands off Iran.” They held signs that read, “No war on Iran” and “Silicon Valley has blood on its hands,” referring to Silicon Valley corporations like Alphabet and Microsoft, which provide technology to the Israeli and U.S. militaries.
Philip Nguyen of San Jose Against War kicked off the program, saying, “The bombs being used to murder the men, women, and children of Iran are paid for by our tax dollars.”
Nguyen continued, “San Jose Against War and other organizations are pushing an ethical investment campaign, targeting the city of San Jose to divest and bar any further investments in companies complicit in genocide, companies enabling ICE, companies who profit from prisons, and more.”
Drusie Kazanova of Freedom Road Socialist Organization spoke about U.S. and Israeli retaliation against Iran for Iran’s support of Palestine, saying, “Iran is the strongest and largest member of the Axis of Resistance, providing logistical, military, and many other forms of support to the Palestinian Resistance.”
Kazanova continued, “Iran represents a real challenge to Israel’s genocidal apartheid regime and to U.S. imperialism in the Middle East. Iran thwarts U.S. imperialist control of the entire region by continuing to assert their sovereignty, despite U.S. attempts to control the region.”
Emer Martin of Vigil4Gaza stated, “The empire wants us to believe that Iran, Cuba and Venezuela are irrational, untrustworthy actors. But what these countries have in common is not extremism, it’s resistance.”
Martin continued, “Capitalism feeds on extraction, on domination, on endless war. The war industry is our enemy. The war industry has poisoned the earth and sacrificed our future for profit, and today it has littered a schoolyard with the bodies of 108 young girls.” Iranian media and officials reported that Israel bombed a girls’ elementary school in Minab.
Nassim Nouri, Iranian-American and Green Party member, spoke about U.S. sanctions, saying, “For 50 years, economic sanctions have crippled and have tortured the people of Iran. What other countries have been suffering from that? Cuba, Venezuela – there are many countries that are being persecuted through an economic war.”
“U.S. interventions, economic sanctions, manufactured coups have riddled the history of many countries,” Nouri continued.
Donna Wallach of San Jose Against War stated, “The United States has been an imperial power since the late 1800s, and the government has been stealing land and resources since the Europeans set foot on this continent.”
“We must stop this current illegal war,” Wallach continued. “People power is the answer. Our use of our money is the answer. It is time for us, the people, to realize our power, come together in our millions, come together as communities, and shut this system down!”
John Duroyan of Students for a Democratic Society at San Jose State University stated, “It’s important now more than ever to stand in solidarity with the people of Iran as its government fends off one of the cruelest, most nightmarish regimes in human history, the regime of Israel, backed by our taxpayer dollars, backed by war profiteers here in the United States, here in Silicon Valley.”
Duroyan voiced support for divestment both at the university level and at the municipal level, saying, “We are urging our local leaders, our elected officials to grow a damn spine and fight against these criminal, predatory wars that we the people want no part in.”
“We need to fight ceaselessly until each and every single one of these companies are divested from,” Duroyan continued.
San Jose Against War and their allies will be mobilizing to the San Jose City Council meeting on March 10 at 1:30 p.m. to demand that the city pass an ethical investment policy, banning investments in corporations with ties to Israel, ICE, and the prison system.