Salt Lake City, UT – On Labor Day, September 7, dozens of community members gathered at the Utah Worker’s Center for a labor organizing and community activism discussion and a film screening. Attendees heard firsthand reports from the frontlines of the people’s movements in Salt Lake City.

Bryn Dayton, a rank-and-file Teamster and UPS worker, recounted difficult working conditions in warehouses amid automation and other challenges, and stressed the need for UPS workers in Utah to join the union and become involved.

Alondra Marquez, a campus worker and secretary of Communication Workers of America Local 7765, advocated getting organized and building the labor movement in Utah.

Local community organizers also invited attendees to get involved. Amber Grace of the Utah Anti-War Committee called out Trump’s war on Iran, pointing out that the aggression had led to heightened gas and grocery prices for working people.

“I think it's important to highlight the ways in which the labor struggle is intrinsically connected to the anti-imperialist struggle against wars which are currently terrorizing working people abroad while simultaneously making everyday needs like gas and groceries unaffordable at home,” said Grace.

Nova Morra of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization stressed the need to connect the many attacks that the American government directs at countries abroad and against its own people, encouraging attendees to get involved in activism.

“Back in 2010, our organization was raided by the FBI for fighting back and standing up to bad government policies and their wars,” said Morra. “Today, I want you to join and continue that same fight with me!”

After the discussion, organizers dimmed the lights for a screening of Salt of The Earth (1954), a film recounting the real-life struggle of Mexican American miners in the 1951 Empire Zinc Company Strike. After a long and difficult strike, the workers prevailed; their consistent resolve and strong unity won a decent contract.

The event was organized by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, CWA-7765, and the Utah Anti-War Committee.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #Labor #FRSO #UAWC #CWA

Salt Lake City, UT – On Saturday, August 29, Salt Lake City community members gathered at the Day-Riverside Branch library for a teach-in and letter-writing campaign for Venezuela. Organized by the Utah Anti-War Committee, attendees wrote letters to their senators demanding an end to U.S. sanctions of Venezuela, the unfreezing of Venezuelan assets in Western hands, and the release of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.

“Engaging in sanctions is a form of economic warfare, a crime against humanity,” said Amber Grace, a UAWC leader.

The need to drop the sanctions and return Venezuela’s leadership was made all the more pressing by the devastating June earthquakes, which killed over 6000 people. American sanctions hinder the normal conduct of business and government operations during the relief effort.

“Ending the U.S. sanctions, unfreezing Venezuela’s assets, frees up billions in funds to recover from the damage and recover on their own terms,” continued Grace.

The national Anti-War Action Network, of which the UAWC is the Salt Lake City member, called for the letter writing campaign. Attendees wrote letters to Utah Senators Mike Lee and John Curtis demanding true earthquake relief in the form of an end to U.S. intervention in the country.

The event was successful, with over 15 physical letters written and those who could not attend instructed on how to submit electronic correspondence to Lee and Curtis’s offices. Additionally, activists raised over $200 in grassroots earthquake relief.

Nevertheless, the organizers stated that there would be adequate Venezuelan financial and political capacity to address the disaster if the U.S. ceased its interventions

“These senators hold power, they probably hold the most power in our legislature to enact change for Venezuela,” said Grace. “Lift every sanction and every coercive measure imposed on Venezuela!”

Utah constituents can join the UAWC’s letter writing campaign for Venezuela by addressing letters demanding an end to U.S. intervention to these addresses:

Senator John Curtis, SH-502 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510

Senator Mike Lee, 363 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #AntiWarMovement #International #Venezuela #UAWC #AWAN

Salt Lake City, UT – On Tuesday, August 25, members of the Utah Anti-War Committee met with Salt Lake District 1 Councilor Jiro Johnson. Johnson’s county council district covers a Raytheon facility, which the UAWC has been campaigning against since May. The anti-war activists demanded that Johnson publicly condemn the Raytheon facility in his district.

The meeting was secured after activists packed Salt Lake County Council earlier in August, calling on Johnson to introduce legislation against the facility. At the meeting, Johnson at first did not commit to issuing a written and public condemnation of Raytheon, citing concerns around Republican backlash to his policy agenda.

Activists continued to push for a firm anti-Raytheon, anti-war stance at the meeting. They gave the deadline of September 16, marking 200 days since the start of Trump’s war against Iran, in which a Raytheon Tomahawk missile killed over 100 schoolchildren at an Iranian girls’ school.

After the meeting, UAWC took to social media to urge the community to call on Johnson to take a side against Raytheon. In comment sections and Instagram stories, more community members began to call on Johnson to condemn the war-profiteering facility in his district.

Soon, Johnson relented, posting on August 28 the public, written condemnation of war and Raytheon, which activists had demanded, on his official social media page.

“It's despicable that corporations like Raytheon and other members of the military-industrial complex are getting rich off this violence,” Johnson’s statement read.

In their own statement, the UAWC said, “This condemnation was demanded by activists and did not come from nowhere, and it was not easy to win. It was the result of deliberate and sustained anti-Raytheon activism by the community since May of this year.”

“A statement from the councilor where Raytheon operates is a good step. We count it as a win. But clearly, much more is needed to stop the U.S. war machine,” continued UAWC.

Those wanting to join the anti-war movement and build on this victory should attend the next Utah Anti-War Committee meeting on Saturday, September 5, 3 p.m. at the Salt Lake City Main Library Level 3 Conference Room.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #AntiWarMovement #UAWC #BDS #Raytheon

Salt Lake City, UT – On Tuesday, August 4, members of the Utah Anti-War Committee packed the public comment held by the Salt Lake County Council. Activists demanded the county use eminent domain to remove the Raytheon Applied Signal Technologies weapons facility and build public housing in place of the existing building.

As a result of packing the council meeting, the Raytheon Out campaign won an official response from Salt Lake County Council Member Jiro Johnson, and a tentative meeting on opposing the facility. Activists held signs reading “Raytheon out of Salt Lake! Use eminent domain now!”

Sebastian Miscenich of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization told council members, “Raytheon weapons have been used in war crimes worldwide, including recently in Iran. Salt Lake County is part of that supply chain. We say that we’re a state that cares about family values, but how does that say family values if we have a weapons facility that’s involved in making software for Tomahawk missiles that killed 123 kids for Trump’s unpopular war against Iran?”

Next to speak was Nova Morra of the UAWC, “It goes against my family values and my Christian upbringing to allow any of my neighbors to participate in the killing of children abroad, regardless of boundaries.”

A local pro-Palestine activist, Janna Clyne, delivered a poem during public comment, in addition to condemning war profiteers, “We wake up and breath the smoggy air, and this world is owned by billionaires. I’m supposed to walk around and pretend like everything is fine, but in the back of my mind, all I think about is Palestine.”

The last speaker for the UAWC, Amber Grace, said, “We have fallen into antidemocratic corruption by the military industrial complex, which lobbies our elected officials, bypasses the consent of our people, and invents new wars and propaganda so they can launch missiles and drop bombs using technology developed here in Utah and profit off of it.”

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #AntiWarMovement #UAWC

Salt Lake City, UT – On Saturday, June 20, at an event organized by the Utah Anti War Committee, dozens of community members gathered at an overpass to demand hands off Cuba.

This protest was called after recent escalations in the decades-long effort by the U.S. to destabilize the nation of Cuba through economic strangulation and covert means. The Trump administration recently indicted beloved Cuban leader Raul Castro and has made threats of more direct military confrontation. Other organizations quickly signed on to the protest, including the National Network on Cuba, Armed Queers SLC, The 71% Coalition, and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Protesters held a large banner sporting the Cuban flag, reading “Hands off Cuba!” and received overwhelmingly positive reactions to their message from the vehicles passing by.

“The overall general trend in regard to U.S. imperial power is one of decline,” said Adam Koritz of the FRSO of the aggression on Cuba and the ongoing U.S. war on Iran. “However, we know a wounded beast is dangerous and prone to lashing out in its death throes.”

Mustafa Khader of the 71% Coalition condemned attempts to restore a U.S. backed dictatorship in Cuba saying, “You don’t care about the Cubans; you care about your pockets!”

Protesters chanted, “No boots on the ground, no bombs in the air! U.S. out of everywhere!”

An activist with Armed Queers stated, “By being an unknowing accessory to an empire, we are forcefully kept from becoming fully human. This will continue to happen until we stand up, destroy the shackles of capitalism, and prove that we can build a system that does not rely on the subjugation of people based on race, gender, sexuality, or nation, the destruction of the environment, or the impoverishment of workers.”

Nova Morra of the Utah Anti-War Committee then called the crowd to join their July 4 protest at a local Raytheon Applied Signal Technology facility in West Valley City as part of their campaign to shut down the facility and protest Raytheon’s involvement in war crimes carried out by the U.S.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #AntiWarMovement #International #UAWC #AWC #Cuba