Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement by the World Federation of Trade Unions.
The World Federation of Trade Unions, representing more than 105 million workers who work live, and struggle in 133 countries all over the world, strongly condemns the continuation of military interventions and wars, the accelerated militarization of international relations and confrontational rhetoric, the soaring of the military expenditures, as well as the NATO plans amid the escalating intra-imperialist confrontation. The 2024 ΝΑΤΟ summit which will take place in Washington D.C. on 9-10-11 July 2024, constitutes one more step toward the intensification of NATO’s aggressive imperialist plans, interventions, and wars.
Chicago, IL – When the people of Ferguson rose up last August, an act of international solidarity took place that the world is still talking about. Less than one week after the killing of Mike Brown, Palestinian activists resisting the Israeli war on Gaza tweeted advice on dealing with tear gas to Black protesters in the suburb of Saint Louis.
Gainesville, FL – Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of Florida marched through campus on Dec. 3. Students are demanding that the University Police Department opt out of the Department of Defense 1033 Program that provides assault rifles and armored vehicles to local police. The 1033 Program came under close scrutiny after protests against the police murder of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Photos of protesters and residents being confronted by local police armed with assault weapons and tank-type vehicles shocked the world.
Gainesville, FL – On Nov. 5, Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Florida (UF SDS) conducted a workshop on history and growing militarization of police in the U.S., titled “The War at Home.” 25 students participated in the workshop. The University of Florida is where graduate student Kofi Adu-Brempong was shot by campus police with an assault rifle on March 2, 2010. Adu-Brempong, from Ghana in Africa, was in his apartment when police broke down the door and Officer Keith Smith shot him in the face. The university eventually fired Lt. Stacey Ettel who was in charge at the scene.
Nearly all the recent immigration proposals from within the U.S. political establishment have called for an increase in the use of soldiers to guard the U.S. Mexico border. People concerned with immigration reform should understand clearly the reasons that a further militarization of the U.S. border is unacceptable.
