The resolution urges union members and their families to join the protest. The vote to endorse the rally was taken at July meeting of the Saint Paul Regional Labor Federation, which represents more than 30,000 union members in the East Metro area of the Twin Cities.

Phyllis Walker, President of AFSCME Local 3800, was at the meeting that passed the resolution of endorsement. Walker said, “On Labor Day, all union members and their families have an excellent opportunity to come together with a broad range of community groups and movements to call for an end to the war in Iraq, for the troops to be brought home now and for the funds used for this war to instead be used to meet human needs.”

The September 1st march, organized by the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, brings citizens together on these issues: “U.S. Out of Iraq Now! · Money for human needs, not for war · Say no to the Republican Agenda · Demand peace, justice and equality.”

Plans call for a rally at the State Capitol building at 11:00 am, followed by a march past the Xcel Energy Center, site of the Republican Convention. The march will return to the State Capitol.

Walker said, “The coalition urges union members, their families and friends to join the Labor Day march. Bring your union signs and banners and help send a message for peace and justice on the opening day of the RNC.”

#StPaulMN #AntiwarMovement #Labor #News #Iraq #RepublicanNationalConvention2008 #bringTheTroopsHome #warInIraq #LaborDay #moneyForHumanNeedsNotWar

The open house was held at the just-opened office at 1313 SE 5th Street, #112C in the UTech Building in the Dinkytown neighborhood of Minneapolis.

“The opening of our public office is another step in building for the largest possible anti-war protest on Sept. 1, the opening day of the Republican National Convention,” said the coalition’s Jess Sundin.

Sundin went on to say, “Volunteers will be using the office every day from now until Sept. 1 to get out the word that if you are against the war and want U.S. troops brought home, the place to be on Sept. 1 is on the streets of Saint Paul. This office will be a hub of activity, with people coming in to make phone calls, make signs and banners and carry out the huge number of tasks needed to make a clear anti-war statement on the streets of Saint Paul on Sept. 1.”

Organizers say that the coalition organizing the Sept. 1 protest is continuing efforts to get a permit for the march from the city of Saint Paul.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #News #Iraq #RepublicanNationalConvention2008 #bringTheTroopsHome #officeOpening

Shuler visited University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNC-Asheville) to hold a town hall meeting, but he was met with protest as members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Hispanic Outreach for Learning Awareness (HOLA) interrupted his talk to demand a stop to repression against immigrants and an immediate end to the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq.

Shuler took office in the 2006 congressional elections. The elections resulted in the Democratic Party taking the majority in Congress. The November 2006 election was understood to be a referendum on the war and the backward Republican agenda. People voted this way because they are sick of the war spearheaded by Bush and the Republicans, which is bringing so much misery to the people of Iraq and working people in the United States.

Many people in western North Carolina had high hopes for Shuler, but since his election he has done nothing to bring the troops home from Iraq. In fact, he has refused to vote against cutting funding for Bush’s war, which has been the main demand from the anti-war movement on congress since the election.

In addition he has introduced a bill that would persecute undocumented workers: the ‘SAVE act.’ This act would further militarize the borders by obtaining idle equipment from the Department of Defense including, Humvees, armaments and surveillance equipment. The SAVE act would also require employers to investigate the immigration status of employees through the E-Verify mechanism. Everybody knows that this would further enable greedy bosses to squeeze their employees through the threat of blackmail.

Rep. Heath Shuler has failed to oppose the illegal occupation of Iraq. He has now actively taken it upon himself to make life harder for immigrants. The people of western North Carolina elected Heath Shuler expecting at least some relief, but instead got inaction on the war and attacks on immigrants. And that’s why UNCA Students for a Democratic Society and the Hispanic Outreach for Learning Awareness organized a demonstration at Shuler’s town hall meeting at UNCA.

Members of UNCA SDS sat in the audience through Shuler’s talk. Shuler talked a lot about the day-to-day life of a congressperson and how committees work. Later he began to speak about Iraq and how he wouldn’t vote to stop funding the war because he didn’t want to abandon the troops. No one in the audience was buying this A woman’s voice could be heard from the back of the room saying, “It’s a war crime!” And it was clear that most in the room agreed with her statement. During the following question and answer period, where softball questions were selected by Shuler’s aides, HOLA entered the room carrying signs denouncing Shuler’s SAVE act, and the members of UNCA SDS in the audience stood up and revealed the t-shirts they had been wearing that said, “No war on immigrants. No war on Iraq.”

The crowd was surprised at first, but then the protesters began getting thumbs up from the remaining audience. When the demonstration spilled out into the lobby, HOLA and SDS were joined by a great many community members who were also fed up with Shuler’s behavior.

#AshevilleNC #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #News #Iraq #StudentsForADemocraticSocietySDS #referendumOnTheWar #bringTheTroopsHome #undocumentedWorkers