St. Paul, MN – Over 20 people held banners and signs as part of a national day of action, February 18, on the Snelling Avenue bridge over Interstate 94. The national call was issued by the United National Antiwar Coalition’s youth committee, Youth Against Empire, to show of international solidarity by demanding “No war with Iran! End the sanctions now!”

Demonstrators stood in below freezing temperatures for over an hour waving and holding banners, signs and flags on the bridge, while those passing by and below on I-94 honked their horns in solidarity with the people of Iran.

Tom Chisholm of Veterans for Peace explained the importance of why they need to continue to come out and show opposition to the endless U.S. war mongering, “All these wars are endless lies. The U.S. has been interfering with Iran since 1953, and it's all been about money and oil interests.”

Despite being in office for almost a month, President Joe Biden has not yet taken action to return to the Iran Nuclear Deal which was abandoned by President Trump in 2018. Instead, Biden kept the sanctions that include a vast economic embargo implemented while Trump was in office. U.S. relations continue to fray with Iran, putting the further risk of war on the horizon.

Sarah Martin of Women Against Military Madness said, “Today is an important action because Biden is going after Iran. He is refusing to lift the sanctions, which are illegal, and since the U.S. opted out of the Iran agreement we have no right to be dictating the terms of rejoining the agreement. So that’s why I’m here. We have to hold Biden accountable!”

The protest was organized by the MN Anti-War Committee and endorsed by Women Against Military Madness, the MN Peace Action Coalition, and the Climate Justice Committee.

#SaintPaulMN #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #UnitedNationalAntiWarCoalition

Denver, CO – On Saturday, January 20, the Denver Peace Council and Students for a Democratic Society gathered at the Colorado state capitol for a roadside protest against U.S. sanctions on Iran. The protest was called for as part of a national day of action by the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)’s youth committee, Youth Against Empire.

The action was called due to continued U.S. aggression against Iran. Despite campaign promises to rejoin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Biden administration has opted to largely continue Trump’s policies. The Trump administration had withdrawn from the deal in 2018, stating that the agreement did not go far enough to limit Iran’s weapon production. Trump, furthermore, had placed new “maximum pressure” sanctions on Iran in 2018, which the Biden administration has only recently moved to lift.

Sanctions are a way to target the civilian population of a country, blocking food and medical supplies to countries in need. What makes this more significant is the presence of COVID-19. Since COVID first entered Iran, there have been a reported 1.54 million cases, leaving at least 60,000 dead. The sanctions against Iran have caused the country to go into an economic lockdown, worsening the effects of the pandemic. Lack of medical supplies and lab equipment continues to plague Iran, leading to the death of countless civilians. This makes it all the more important to demand that the Biden administration lift all sanctions on Iran, not just the ones implemented by the Trump administration.

#DenverCO #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #UnitedNationalAntiWarCoalition #IranSanctions #YouthAgainstEmpire

The coalition, comprising anti-war, peace, social justice and other groups, met in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 10.

The meeting agreed to hold a series of spring anti-war actions in Washington D.C. March 18-21. The March dates will mark 12 years since the start of the ‘shock and awe’ bombing of Iraq in 2003. The actions will culminate on Saturday, March 21 with a protest and march at the White House.

The actions, called Spring Rising: An Anti-War Intervention in D.C., will include educational forums, lobbying and as well as the protest at the White House.

A call issued for the events says in part, “A series of events will be held just as the ongoing U.S. war in Iraq – recently restarted in a new form – passes the 12-year mark since the March 2003 invasion.”

The call also says, “Spring Rising will comprise a number of events including a large rally and march, a teach-in, and lobbying. Its goal is to increase opposition to wars and militarism, and in particular to U.S. military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, as well as all U.S. drone attacks and surveillance worldwide.”

The schedule for events in Washington DC includes: Wednesday, March 18 – Peace gathering and fellowship. Thursday, March 19 – Lobbying on Capitol Hill, followed by a tour of the war machine: homes and offices of war criminals. Friday, March 20 – Afternoon and evening teach-in: Ending Current Wars, Ending the Institution of War. Saturday, March 21 – Protest at the White House, followed by a march.

Many of the endorsing groups have started to publicize the call for the March anti-war actions.

The ANSWER Coalition said in an e-mail announcement that it is “mobilizing its members, supporters and the larger movement to support these important activities that culminate in a rally and march on Saturday, March 21.”

The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) said in an e-mail announcement to its supporters, “On March 21, the anti-war movement will return to Washington, D.C. for a massive rally against U.S. wars.”

The UNAC e-mail statement went on to say, “On Jan. 10, UNAC joined many other major anti-war organizations at a meeting in Washington, D.C. where we planned for several days of action around the date of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. It is time that we are back in the streets in a big way. Please plan to join us, organize buses and car pools and save the date. For areas that are too far from Washington, D.C., plan your own action in your area.”

The UNAC statement concluded, “End all wars at home and abroad! Join us!”

The plan for DC antiwar actions was originally proposed by Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox and the Soapbox People's Network. It has been endorsed by Amnesty International Charlottesville, ANSWER Coalition, Antiwar.com, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Baltimore Pledge of Resistance, , CND CYMRU, CODEPINK, Granny Peace Brigade of New York City, KnowDrones.com, Maryland United for Peace and Justice, Military Families Speak Out, National Association Against Police Brutality, National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, Network to Stop Drone Surveillance and Warfare, The No Fear Coalition, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, PAX Christi Phoenix, Peace Action Montgomery, Peace Fresno, Popular Resistance, United National Antiwar Coalition, Veterans For Peace, Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality, Voices for Creative Non-Violence, WarIsACrime.org, Washington Peace Center, Witness Against Torture, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, World Beyond War, and World Can't Wait.

For more information: http://SpringRising.org/

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #UnitedNationalAntiWarCoalition #SpringRising

According to the Pentagon, there are now four destroyers positioned near Syria – the Mahan, Barry, Gravely and Ramage. The Barry was used to fire cruise missiles during the U.S./NATO aggression against Libya in 2011.

The U.S. has produced no proof that Syria was involved is last week’s alleged chemical weapon attack near Damascus.

According to the Syrian Arab News Agency, on Aug. 27, Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem stated the Syrian Armed Forces did not use the chemical weapons against their own people.

“Syria has immediately agreed to the UN requests and there was no delay, and I say to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that we are not obstructing UN inspectors' work,” Minister al-Moalle added.

Anti-war groups across the U.S. are organizing to oppose an escalation of the war on Syria.

On Aug. 27, the United National Antiwar Coalition issued a statement that noted, “The issue of chemical weapons is the cover the U.S. and its allies use to justify their illegal and immoral acts of war, just as the specter of WMD’s were used as the rationale for attacking Iraq. Their real mission, as in Iraq, Libya, and elsewhere, is to force regime change in order to control energy resources and get compliant regimes in the region. The claim that a bloody military attack on a country that poses no threat to the U.S. is needed to offer humanitarian assistance is the height of hypocrisy. The result of the ‘humanitarian’ invasion and ten-year occupation of Iraq is over a million Iraqi deaths and a country in ruin.”

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Syria #USImperialism #UnitedNationalAntiwarCoalition #chemicalWeapons

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement on Syria from the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC).

The May 2-3 and 4-5 nighttime bombings of Syria’s International Airport, military installations in a Damascus suburb and a military supply depot reportedly killed 300 people. The bombings were initially denied but then confirmed by Israel and soon after given the stamp of approval by the Obama Administration.

The previous week President Obama and Secretary of Defense Charles Hagel threatened to escalate U.S. intervention in Syria based on the unsubstantiated charge that Syria had employed weapons of mass destruction, in this case the deadly sarin gas.

What is incontrovertible is that U.S. allies in the region – Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia – have supplied hundreds of millions of dollars in lethal military aid to destabilize the Syrian regime. The U.S. itself claims to have supplied some $400 million in “non-lethal aid.” The U.S., which funds Israel’s multi-billion dollar “Iron Dome” missile program, is the chief military force in the region.

No serious observers believe that Israel, the largest recipient of U.S. aid in the world, to the tune of $4 billion annually, acts without U.S. approval – the same is undeniable with regard to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. NATO ally, Turkey.

In the case of Qatar, a nation without an army, the U.S.-established and privatized Blackwater military installation is used daily as an operational base for the U.S. war in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

The U.S. Machiavellian strategy in Syria is first and foremost to advance its economic, military and regional “interests.” The latter includes deepening the isolation of Iran, whose oil wealth the U.S. corporate elite seeks to regain.

We recognize no rights among imperial nations to determine the future of any oppressed nation on earth, not to mention the modern day neo-colonial interveners. With regard to Syria, that right belongs to the Syrian people only.

The U.S. government is presently restrained by the mass antiwar sentiment expressed in repeated polls over the past two years. The most recent Pew Research poll indicates that 62 percent are opposed to any U.S. intervention in Syria. We must add to this the fact the U.S. bloody wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the decades long U.S. support to the Egyptian Mubarak dictatorship as well as the constant drone attacks on Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia have earned it the deep hatred of the peoples of the Middle East and beyond.

The Iraq “weapons of mass destruction” justification for this still-raging war, that has taken the lives of 1.5 million Iraqis so far, and the ongoing war in Afghanistan, wherein the U.S. puppet Hamid Karzai regime is discredited around the world, has convinced social justice activists everywhere that the U.S. imperial rulers fight for oil and military-geographic advantage and not for peace and justice.

More than ever the U.S. and the worldwide antiwar and social justice movement must demand:

• U.S./Israel Hands Off Syria!

• Bring All U.S. Troops and Mercenaries Home Now!

• Self-determination for the Syrian People!

• No to U.S. Sanctions Anywhere!

• End All U.S. Aid to Israel!

• U.S. Out of the Middle East Now!

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #Israel #Syria #USImperialism #UnitedNationalAntiwarCoalition

The statement addresses what is behind U.S. intervention in Mali saying, “It has long been suspected that the northeastern region of Mali that borders Algeria potentially holds vast oil and gas reserves. The recent confirmation of oil reserves near Tessalit, a small Malian oasis town about 40 miles from the Algerian border, has fed Western hunger for control of that area.”

The statement also notes, “The second reason for the intensifying U.S. interest is that Mali borders no less than seven West and North African countries, including Algeria, Niger, Senegal and Mauritania. Controlling Mali would give the U.S. an important hub from which to influence regional developments. This has been Washington's strategy for the Continent as a whole: to use economic aid and military training to develop close relationships with key governments and their militaries – such as Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda – so the U.S. can use them as a network of regional proxies to control all of Africa. This was the strategy that England and France used to control the Middle East after World War I, as well as the one England used with such success in India during that country's colonial period.”

The statement concludes by saying, “The U.S. anti-war movement, which has fought so hard to oppose U.S. intervention in the Middle East and other regions of the world, must take up the long-overdue struggle to oppose U.S. intervention in Africa. We must demand the dismantling of AFRICOM. We must oppose any U.S. or European-led intervention in Mali. We must call for the withdrawal of all Western troops from the Continent. We must demand Western reparations for the unimaginable damage wrought on Africa and Africans by centuries of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonialism and neocolonialism.”

The entire statement can be read here: http://nepajac.org/unac_africa.html

#Mali #AntiwarMovement #Africa #USImperialism #UnitedNationalAntiwarCoalition

Hands off Syria and Iran! End the Drone Wars!

We Need Jobs, Education and Healthcare, Not Endless War!

The ominous signs of impending war with Syria escalate. NATO is massing troops and military equipment on Syria's borders, and preparing to install missiles aimed at Syria. U.S. warships are stationed off Syria’s coast. ‘Special operation’ units are readied. The U.S. government has been supplying arms and logistical support to a few selected Syrian paramilitary groups favored by the U.S. as “replacements” for Assad. The media bombards us with arguments that support foreign intervention, supposedly for “humanitarian reasons”. Like WMD’s in Iraq, alarms are sounded, with no credible evidence, that Assad may unleash chemical weapons, thus establishing a pretext for invasion.

These are the facts that impel us to oppose any military, economic, diplomatic, or covert intervention aimed at controlling the internal affairs of Syria or any other country:

• The Syrian people in their majority, regardless of their political positions re: the current government, have rejected calling for foreign intervention, such as occurred in Libya.

• Sanctions harm the people of Syria by causing food shortages, power outages, and blocking the distribution of goods.

• The U.S. is directly involved in arming and training a few selected Syrian militias favorable to the U.S., contributing to the escalation of violence, direct foreign military intervention, and total destabilization. The people who always suffer the most are the people not engaged in the armed struggle.

• We see the results of ‘humanitarian’ U.S. wars and occupations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya today, where the people, especially women and children, are worse off than before, with millions dead, injured, and/or displaced, an infrastructure and economy in shambles, and where there is no peace. A country that has a river of Iraqi, Afghan, and Libyan blood on its hands has no right to tell other countries what to do.

• The U.S. government’s goals in Syria are to gain dominance in a part of the world that holds the vast majority of the known oil reserves and to gain strategic advantage as it seeks to isolate and contain competitors like Russia and China. The U.S. has no interest in democracy or the humanitarian well-being of a country’s peoples anywhere in the world, especially in areas where the U.S. has economic or strategic interests.

• The U.S. has a long history of thwarting the emerging economies and progressive initiatives of the third world while supporting repressive regimes.

While activists may hold different views of Syria’s internal political system, we must all agree that the U.S. government has no right to impose its will on other countries, especially those formerly colonized and exploited by the West. In all cases, we must support the right of nations to self- determination – that is to be able to decide on and resolve internal conflicts free from any foreign intervention.

The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) demands:

No U.S. or NATO intervention in the internal affairs of Syria!

No War! No Sanctions! No Intervention!

Self-determination for the Syrian people!

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #Iran #Syria #NATO #USImperialism #UnitedNationalAntiwarCoalition