Minneapolis, MN – Over 50 people protested on Aug. 6 to mark the 71st anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasak. The call was to stop to the endless series of U.S. wars and military interventions. The protest came five days after the start of what appears to be a new campaign of U.S. airstrikes in Libya. The protest was in the West Bank neighborhood of Minneapolis in front of May Day Bookstore and was well received by many African members of the community who joined in the protest or rolled down their car windows to wave and give peace signs to protesters.

The protest was organized under the call of ‘Say No to Endless War!’

Meredith Aby-Keirstead, a member of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee, was one of the main speakers. She addressed the recent attack on Libya: “We have been given the excuse that the reason for these new Libyan airstrikes is because the U.S. has to take out the increasing danger of ISIS in Libya. We have been given this excuse as the justification for intervening and expanding Syria’s civil war and for a third intervention in Iraq. However, it critical to understand why Libya is a failed state and why ISIS has gotten stronger in Syria and Iraq. And it is not due to the lack of U.S. bombs but rather because of them! In Iraq, in Syria and in Libya the U.S. has taken out or destabilized governments that are independent of U.S. corporate interests and has tried to replace them with puppets. The U.S. has created the very instability it is claiming to save the people of the region from. But, after years of U.S. bombs, troops, weapons and meddling, does anyone believe more of the same will make things better for the people of the region? No!”

Aby-Keirstead continued, “As a movement we need to be more vocal about challenging the U.S. war on terror – especially when we are in an election cycle where neither major party candidate to be the next commander-in-chief is even attempting to promise to drop less bombs or bring the troops home. Please use today as a springboard for more action. We need to chant louder, we need to ask tough questions at campaign events, we need to call and pester members of Congress, we need to talk about this issue even when the media doesn’t – we need to make the issue of the War on Terror an issue of discussion and not cede the debate to the other side who uses fear of Islamic extremism to justify mass bombing campaigns in our name.”

After the protest there was program at Mayday Books with Sami Rasouli, an Iraqi-American peace activist who works in Iraq with the Muslim Peacemaker Teams where he gave a firsthand account on the affects of U.S. intervention.

The protest was organized by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by a range of Twin Cities area peace and justice groups.

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St Paul, MN – 30 people in the Minneapolis- Saint Paul area joined a weekly peace vigil on April 27 after organizers issued a call for people to join the event as a way to give an anti-war response to the announcement by the Obama administration that additional U.S. troops are being sent to Syria.

A steady light rain fell on participants during the event.

One participant said, “Rain or not, we want to make a statement against this new escalation of U.S. intervention.”

Many people driving by during the very busy rush hour traffic honked and waved in support of the anti-war message.

The Obama administration announced on April 25 that 250 U.S. Special Forces soldiers will be sent to Syria. This announcement follows the decision last week to send additional U.S. troops to Iraq.

The U.S. war has been steadily escalating as U.S. forces carry out daily bombing missions in both Iraq and Syria.

The weekly vigil is sponsored by the End War Committee of Women Against Military Madness and Twin Cities Peace Campaign. Organizers often issue calls for people who do not normally attend to come out to use the event as a way of responding to events.

The call for the April 27 vigil response was “No Boots on the Ground – Say No to Endless War – Out of Iraq and Syria.”

A statement issued by organizers says, “A new chapter of U.S. war in the Middle East has been opened with the announcement by President Obama that the U.S. will send 250 additional Special Forces to Syria.”

The statement goes on to say, “U.S. intervention in Syria will not bring peace, justice or stability to that country; years of U.S. bombs, wars, occupation and sanctions in the Middle East has not produced peace, only more war, more devastation and more refugees. Congress is allowing this new round of war to unfold without opposition; only the people can stop this continued escalation of U.S. intervention in the Middle East.”

Other peace and anti-war groups, including Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, Anti-War Committee and others sent out notices for the event.

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