Minneapolis, MN – Public disapproval is growing fast against US-backed UN sanctions against Iraq. October 1-14, peace and justice groups nationwide protested the sanctions. Student organizations in the Twin Cities and Chicago areas educated hundreds about the devastation in Iraq.“We wanted to start the school year by getting the word out and putting on pressure to stop the genocidal sanctions!” said Jackson Potter, student activist at the University of Illinois – Chicago. Grassroots pressure won a letter from Congresspeople urging President Clinton to end economic sanctions against Iraq.
New York City, New York – Some 75 protestors held a spirited demonstration in Manhattan, May 11, demanding Senator Chuck Schumer vote against the $1.7 billion Colombia military aid bill. Schumer, a Democrat, had indicated his support for the Clinton Administration's military aid package, which would dramatically increase the U.S. role in the Colombian civil war. Protesters chanted, “Schumer, don't be a death squad democrat!”
After months of delays and debates, on Thursday, June 22, the Senate voted 95-4 to send another $1.3 billion in military aid to Colombia. Activists around the country responded with an outcry of protest.
People across the country marked the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war by taking to the streets in protest. Students turned out in full force. Members of Students for a Democratic Society, whose call for a week of action against the war brought together over 90 SDS chapters and other progressive organizations committed to rallying, marching and walking out to protest the war. This week of actions was the largest student-organized anti-war protests since the war on Iraq began.
San José, CA – Hotel worker Ana Diaz, whose son is in the military in Iraq, speaks out against the war at a rally here, March 19, marking the 5th anniversary of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. The rally was sponsored by the South Bay Peace and Justice Center. Speakers included an Iraq war veteran, the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and South Bay Mobilization. After the rally there was a march to a nearby mosque where there was an interfaith program.
St. Paul, MN – Standing in front of city hall, organizers of the massive anti-war march planned for the opening day of the Republican National Convention, and their attorneys responded to the permit issued by Saint Paul city authorities, March 3.
Asheville, NC – Members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of North Carolina Asheville and the Asheville chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) staged an exciting counter-recruitment action here, Feb. 5, that brought the war home to students at UNCA.
St. Paul, MN – About 300 people demonstrated here, March 1, as part of the continuing fight to get permits for the massive anti-war protest scheduled for the opening day of the Republican National Convention. Organized by the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, protesters marched from the State Capitol to the Xcel Center.
Tuscaloosa, AL – Four protesters from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) were arrested here, Feb. 29, at the University of Alabama for performing a mock raid meant to demonstrate the effects of the U.S. occupation on Iraqi civilians.
Across the United States, on campuses from Los Alamos High School to Harvard University and at all points in between, students are getting organized to commemorate the fifth year of the U.S. occupation of Iraq with rallies, marches, die-ins and civil disobedience. More than 80 student and youth organizations have endorsed a call from chapters of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) for campus-based protests from March 17-21.
![Students march carrying since, including "Occupation is a Crime"](https://i.snap.as/HDs1k87M.jpg "Students march carrying since, including \\"Occupation is a Crime\\" Student protest against US war in Iraq at UNC-Chapel Hill. \(Fight Back! News/Staff\)")
