The images are searing. Helicopters ferrying diplomatic personnel from the U.S. Embassy while plumes of black smoke billow from the building. Taliban fighters with heavy artillery parade through the thoroughfares of provincial capitals. The International Airport, still under U.S. control, is in chaos as collaborators try storm planes to flee the country. In the space of a few weeks the puppet government collapsed, and its figureheads have vanished. The decades of occupation have come to an end. Those that fought to end it now sit at the former president’s desk.

The U.S.-led occupation of Afghanistan was never the right thing to do. The events of September 11, 2001 served as a pretext for the war on Afghanistan, a war that was cruel and unjust. Before the troops arrived, U.S. planes unleashed bombs on the country’s cities, destroying hospitals clearly marked with red crosses on the roofs. The invasion came with the brutality of a medieval crusade – marked by torture and summary executions. The U.S. and its accomplices always treated the Afghan people as the enemy. That is why we are seeing what we are seeing. The vast majority of the Afghan people welcome the expulsion of the foreign occupiers.

The occupation was never about helping people. It was about the domination of a strategic region of the world that is rich with resources. Nothing complicated about it. Empires doing what they always do – help themselves to land, labor and natural resources of others.

At the end of the day, and the end of the occupation, the Taliban are in fact a national liberation movement. A movement with real defects, largely lacking an agenda of social liberation that is product of a long historical process, which includes U.S. intervention to defeat the left in Afghanistan. That said, the people of Afghanistan have the right to determine their own destiny free of imperial arrogance.

The main way for assessing any movement for national liberation is by asking and answering the question, “does it weaken imperialism?” Undoubtably monopoly capitalism, or imperialism, was just handed a setback in Afghanistan. The rich and powerful who rule the U.S. rob people aboard and they rob us here at home. What is bad for them, is good for the rest of us. Their setbacks bring us closer to freedom.

President Biden heading out of Afghanistan is not a mistake – it is the recognition of reality. The U.S., along with the other Western powers, were defeated long ago, and we are witnessing the end of that process.

There is something fundamental going on here – U.S. imperialism is in a period of decline, and that decline is accelerating. In Latin America, Cuba and Venezuela are standing strong, and others are joining in. The Palestinian resistance is picking up steam, along with the other resistance movements across the Mideast. The revolutionary struggle in the Philippines is growing. Socialist China grows more powerful. The world is changing.

The outstanding Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong remarked, “Now U.S. imperialism is quite powerful, but in reality, it isn't. It is very weak politically because it is divorced from the masses of the people and is disliked by everybody and by the American people too. In appearance it is very powerful but in reality, it is nothing to be afraid of, it is a paper tiger.”

That is where we are at today. People everywhere, including here at home, are tired of the obnoxious elite that rules the U.S. The paper tiger, monopoly capitalism, can and will be defeated. It will take time, but time is on our side.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #Obama #Afghanistan #PeoplesStruggles #taliban #Bush #Trump #US #Biden #Asia

Fight Back News Service is circulating this Nov. 20 statement by the Legalization for All (L4A) network.

The Legalization for All (L4A) network welcomes President Obama expansion of deferred action as a positive step. His action, which will offer protection from deportation am ability to work legally to about four million undocumented who are parents of U.S. citizen or legal resident children. In addition Obama will expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program and will end the so-called “Secure Communities” program that tried to make local police enforcers for the Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE.

Obama’s action is the fruit of the struggle by immigrant rights forces for more than a year. In September of 2013, Legalization for All was among the first immigrant rights groups to raise the demand that President Obama expand his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA program. L4A raised this demand because the House of Representatives Republican leadership made it clear that they were not going to take up any votes on immigration reform. Their decision came despite intense lobbying by immigrant rights forces, including L4A, over the summer. The House Republican leadership not only refused to consider the Senate Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill passed in June of 2013, but would not even vote on Republican bills such as the so-called SAFE act that would have cancelled DACA, expanded on Arizona’s 1087 law to further criminalize the undocumented, and authorize the indefinite detention of the undocumented.

Then in a last straw, the House of Representatives Comprehensive Immigration Reform effort collapsed as most of the Republican members of the so-called “Group of Seven” withdrew from the effort on Friday, September 20th, 2013. Following this Legalization for All came out with a call for Obama to expand Deferred Action to all the undocumented. Many other immigrant rights forces also joined the campaign for Deferred Action, which along with its twin demand to stop the deportations. Two important steps were taken by United We Dream, which launched their “We Can’t Wait” campaign in March of 2014, and the letter sent by the National Immigrant Law Center in April signed by more than 60 immigrant rights, community, religious and labor organizations.

While Obama’s expanded Deferred Action is a positive step, it still leaves the majority of undocumented targets of deportations. In particular, Obama’s order will not protect the parents of the Dreamers who came as children, unless the parents also have citizen or legal resident children. Legalization 4 All will continue to support the Dreamers and their parents, including organization such as Dreamers Moms in their struggle to win Deferred Action.

With the total number of deportations closing in on two and a half million under Obama, the struggle against deportations needs to continue on both a national and local level. Legalization for All is committed to participating in this campaign with other national organizations such as PUENTE and local groups like the Minneapolis-Saint Paul MIRAC (Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee).

We are committed to continuing the struggle for Deferred Action For All, so that the millions of undocumented, most of whom have been living and working in this country for many years, can also get relief from the threat of deportations. We also support efforts of groups like the National Immigrant Youth Alliance to bring deportees back to the United States.

While welcoming Obama’s action to expand Deferred Action as a step forward, Legalization for All opposes his action to even further militarize the border. This part of his executive order will only increase deaths among those trying to cross the border and does nothing to address the real reasons that people come: to flee the poverty and violence caused by U.S. economic and military interventions in Mexico and Central America.

State and local campaigns to expand the rights of the undocumented will continue to be an important area of struggle. For example, in the last two years the number of states granting drivers licenses to the undocumented has gone from three to ten. Local organization such as RAICES in Florida and other that are fighting for drivers licenses, Youth Empowered in Struggle (YES) fighting in Wisconsin along with others for in-state tuition for undocumented college students, will be waging important fights to expand the rights of the undocumented at the state and local levels. This fight will be especially intense in many so-called Red States where Republican will try to obstruct the expanded Deferred Action program by trying to deny drivers licenses to those getting Deferred Action.

Republicans are now trying to blame Obama and Deferred Action for their lack of action. But in the last four years that the Republicans have controlled the House of Representatives, they HAVE NOT BROUGHT ONE SINGLE IMMIGRATION BILL TO A VOTE BY THE ENTIRE HOUSE. It is the struggle of the people, not politicians, who continue the fight to legalize the undocumented.

Continue the fight for Drivers Licenses and Tuition Equity for Deferred Action and All Undocumented!

Expand Deferred Action to Cover Parents of Dreamers and All the Undocumented!

Fight for Legalization for All!

#UnitedStates #Obama #LegalizationForAllNetwork #DACA #DeferredActionForChildhoodArrivalsDACA #DAPA

Tampa, FL – A rally by immigrant rights activists on Sept. 25 stopped the planned next-day deportation of David Sanchez. Sanchez, who moved to the U.S. from Mexico when he was 14, was fighting to stay in Florida where he works and has a family. The community rallied outside of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) office in Tampa.

Sanchez was ordered to wear an ankle monitor so that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could track his every move. He filed for an extension of his work visa, but was denied.

Local groups called for action against ICE and DHS to stop Sanchez's deportation. Over 200 people from around the country called the local Tampa ICE office demanding a stop to the deportation. Later that day, 70 people rallied outside the DHS office with Sanchez's family, chanting “Not one more!”

Yadalis Sanchez, David Sanchez’s daughter, said, “It is not fair that ICE can tear apart a family.”

Marisol Marquez, spokesperson for immigrant rights group Raices en Tampa, said, “Today, we've had enough. Tampa won't forget. No politician was here to help David Sanchez and his family. The people who are here today are the ones really supporting people like David Sanchez. We know the immigration system is doing exactly what it is meant to do – to separate us and hold us down.”

David Sanchez announced during the protest that ICE had sent him an e-mail regarding his deportation. It stated that ICE was giving him a three to six month extension on his visa.

Isabel Sousa-Rodriguez of the Florida Immigrant Coalition said, “Even with an extension, we don't want another deportation tomorrow. We don't want one next week, next month, or next year! No more!”

Protesters continued to rally, chanting, “When we fight, we win!” and “El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido!” or “The people united can never be defeated!”

Groups that helped organized efforts to support Sanchez included Raices En Tampa, Florida Immigrant Coalition, Young American Dreamers, and United We Dream.

The actions on Sept. 25 temporarily stopped Sanchez from being deported. The struggle continues against other deportations, and the people understand that this fight is not over.

Marisol Marquez explained, “Obama deports 1100 people like David Sanchez each day. That's why we're planning on protesting him and his 'Deportation Party' on Election Day, to demand a stop to all deportations. We need Deferred Action for All and legalization for all 11 million undocumented in the U.S.”

#TampaFl #TampaFL #Obama #PeoplesStruggles #deportations #Florida #Immigration #RaicesEnTampa #DavidSanchez #Rights

Tampa, FL – Activists from the Tampa Bay area organized a protest on June 27 in response to a U.S. intervention in Iraq. It was an emergency action in response to President Obama’s sending military advisors to Iraq, and the flying of U.S. drones over Baghdad.

Speakers addressed an array of issues, from President Obama’s continuation of U.S. wars,to the oppression of nations by imperialism, as well as anti-war activists facing political repression by the FBI—for speaking out against US wars.

“The US has no interest in the wellbeing of the Iraqi people, and the millions of dead Iraqis from the past 94 years of US and British domination are a testament to that,” said Gage Lacharite from Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society.

Jesse Nevel of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement facilitated the rally and stated, “Up with Iraqi liberation. Down with war and occupation” and described the US government’s foreign policy as “parasitic”, connecting current US imperialism to the history of enslaving and murdering African people.

Jessica Schwartz from Stop FBI – Tampa Bay talked about the U.S. government persecution of Arab Americans and Muslims for their political activity, as well as the Antiwar 23 who were raided by the FBI in 2010. “People fighting against the system and opposing U.S. wars, occupations, and military interventions like the one in Iraq are attacked by the US government, which prides itself on so-called ‘freedom of speech’”.

Marisol Marquez from Raices en Tampa linked the US meddling in the Middle East with the history of oppression in the US. “With its history of seizing Mexican land, committing genocide against Native Americans and enslaving Africans, how can this country possibly know what another country needs? Invading another country was not okay back then, and it sure as hell is not okay now.”

Jared Hamil from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization explained about the current situation in Iraq: “Sometimes there are many forces and groups at play. It can be confusing. And we ask ourselves where do we stand. We must always stand on the side of the people, not with those who attempt to build the US Empire. History shows that those two are never on the same side. We must stand with those who oppose imperialism, with those who fight imperialism”.

Organizations included in the protest were St. Pete for Peace, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, the Uhuru Solidarity Movement, Stop FBI Repression – Tampa Bay, Raices en Tampa, Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society, and Tampa Dream Defenders.

#TampaFL #AntiwarMovement #Obama #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #SDS #Iraq #Imperialism #Bush #DreamDefenders #Intervention #RaicesEnTampa #USF #War #2001 #ISIS #MiddleEast

Minneapolis, MN — At a packed press conference here Dec. 1, leaders of the Twin Cities peace movement responded to President Obama’s announcement that 30,000 more troops are being dispatched to Afghanistan. Representatives of a spectrum of peace groups came together to watch President Obama’s national televised speech and responded by demanding that U.S. troops get out of Afghanistan now.

Representatives of Military Families Speak Out, Iraq Peace Action Coalition, Anti-War Committee, Twin Cities Peace Campaign-Focus on Iraq and Women Against Military Madness were among those planning to attend the press conference.

Meredith Aby of the Anti-War Committee stated, “Widespread anti-war sentiment helped Barack Obama win the 2008 presidential election. Since taking office, he has acted to escalate the war in Afghanistan. In February 2009, he ordered the deployment of an additional 17,000 combat troops. Now he’s announced an even greater new deployment of 34,000 troops. Ironically, the first troop increases will be heading to Afghanistan just as Obama receives his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. We call on President Obama and Congress to listen to the wishes of the American and Afghan people and end the U.S. war and occupation in Afghanistan now.”

Aby continued, “Americans and Afghans want the war to end. Americans don’t support this war. A recent USA TODAY/Gallup Poll found that 55% of Americans disapprove of Obama’s handling of Afghanistan and the biggest number want Obama to reduce the number of troops fighting in Afghanistan. ABC New polls in Afghanistan show the same sentiments. Most oppose the western occupation forces and 82% oppose U.S. and NATO troop increases.”

Marie Braun, of the Twin Cities Peace Campaign stated, “We have now been at war in Afghanistan for eight years and it is long past time to heed the call of Martin Luther King, who said during another unnecessary war in 1967, ‘Come home America,’ urging Americans to take on their own issues of racism, economic exploitation and militarism.”

Across the U.S., protests are planned to demand an end to the U.S. war in Afghanistan.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Obama #Occupation #Afghanistan #AntiWarCommittee

This is the end of an era, the end of Republican rule. For more than 25 years the racist, reactionary, anti-working class agenda of the Republicans dominated the political life of this country. Since Reagan, everything progressive and good was under attack – from women’s right to choose, to public education, to social security. The social movements were very much on the defensive and fighting off attacks. We will need to continue to invest ourselves in movements for social change, but the political atmosphere will be different.

The big shift for the Republicans came not at home, but over in Iraq. The Iraqi resistance fought with their lives to defeat the Bush/Cheney plans for domination and oil profits. This stopped Bush and the Republican agenda dead in its tracks on the home front too. There were no more big attempts to roll back the reforms like social security, which working people won decades ago. For people at home and abroad, the defeat of McCain represents the American people’s rejection of the ‘Bush doctrine’ and the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Across America, African American people and others are noisily celebrating the victory of Barack Obama, the first Black president. Did you see the victory celebration in Chicago? A great pride is bursting forth from African American communities and throughout the Black Belt South. African Americans are not alone in their joy either; all types of people are doing fist bumps and feeling good. Other oppressed nationalities that suffer racism and discrimination – Chicanos and Mexicanos, Puerto Ricans, Native-Americans and Asian- Americans are sharing the moment. Obama’s election represents a blow against racism and white chauvinism.

Obama’s victory is stunning and it also brings tremendous benefit to the Democratic party. It builds on elections two years ago when the Republicans suffered defeat and lost congressional majorities to the Democrats. The Democrats swept this election too, making their majorities stronger. Democrats will truly rule – hardly needing to consult with the Republicans to pass legislation.

There is a problem however, and it is not that one party is too strong. The problem is that the Democrats are the other party of big business. The Democrats are favored at this time by the billionaires and millionaires who actually rule the U.S. The wealthy elite rules the U.S. through the two-party system. It is true there is competition, but elections are largely predicted by who has the most money from the rich people. The defeat of the Republicans certainly marks a big shift, but it does not fundamentally alter the system or challenge the rule of the rich. The Democrats are the party of the $700 billion bailout that will tax working people to save bankers. The Democrats are the party that could have cut war funding and brought the troops home already. A million Iraqis are dead and the Democrats continue to fund the occupation.

So we need to continue the motion that defeated McCain and delivered the White House for Barack Obama. We need to build an understanding that a vocal, independent and active anti-war movement will be needed to bring ALL the troops home now. We need to bring the immigrants’ rights movement into the streets again, defeating both fear and the dreaded deportations that are breaking apart families. We need to prepare to rally and march and protest so workers can win legislation to make forming unions a simple democratic process without intimidation from bosses. And we need to fight every attempt on the part of the rich to shift the burden of the economic crisis on to the backs of poor and working people.

Who gets elected is important, but it is the masses that make history. We cannot just return to our living rooms to watch the History Channel. We must build every movement that demands peace, justice, equality and liberation.

#UnitedStates #CapitalismAndEconomy #Editorial #Obama #EconomicCrisis #Editorials #PeoplesStruggles #2008Election

With these words, Mullen has condemned the people of Afghanistan to suffer more misery, oppression, and poverty – as if eight long years of occupation were not enough.

The implications are serious. Focusing U.S. guns and military power squarely on Afghanistan means thousands of more needless deaths and untold misery for millions of impoverished Afghans. It means the people of Pakistan will face more violations of their sovereignty and more deaths due to U.S. air strikes. And it means that many more daughters and sons of the U.S. working class will lose their lives, limbs or mental health in a war for empire.

Debate is heating up over what course the U.S. should follow in Afghanistan. Democrats and Republicans argue over how many troops to send. But who will take a stand and say the U.S. has no right to be there in the first place? Politicians from the two parties of big business will not take this position. It will take a massive anti-war movement in the streets here, combined with relentless resistance in Afghanistan, to force them to change their thinking.

Today we don’t have a mass movement against the occupation of Afghanistan. The truth is that far too many Americans are silent on this question. While just about every thinking American says the U.S. should get out of Iraq, fewer are willing to say the same about Afghanistan. The way to change this is to educate, organize and build a visible pole of opposition to the occupation.

What the U.S. military is doing in Afghanistan is unjust. U.S. occupying forces have killed or wounded tens of thousands and left millions homeless and hungry. Dozens die every week from U.S. bombs and bullets. Thousands are tortured in U.S.-run dungeons in Bagram Airbase. Afghans are subjugated and oppressed. Rotten to the core with corruption, the puppet government run by Hamid Karzai is little more than a collection of drug-trafficking warlords.

But where there is oppression, there is resistance. Resistance to occupation is the natural and legitimate response of any people. In Afghanistan a powerful resistance movement has developed in the countryside. Military analysts estimate that the resistance now controls 70% of the country.

In response, President Obama is rushing 17,000 troops to prop up the failing occupation and prevent major cities from falling to the insurgency. But this is a hopeless effort. The Afghan people have a proud history of defeating every past invader. There is no reason to think things will be different this time around. In any case, it is their country, and sooner or later the U.S. must leave.

Afghans have the right to organize their resistance as they see fit. We should be clear that the real obstacle to social liberation is not the Taliban, it is the U.S. occupation with its narco-mafia state led by Hamid Karzai. Only when the occupiers are overthrown and driven out can Afghan society develop freely.

In the same May 5 press conference, Admiral Mullen said the advances of the Afghan resistance “directly threaten our national interests in the region and our safety here at home.” In fact, workers and oppressed peoples in the U.S. have no ‘national interests’ in Afghanistan or anywhere else in Central Asia.

Our interests are for liberation and justice here in the United States. We understand that we have much more in common with the millions of Afghans who struggle for national liberation than we do with Admiral Mullen and the ‘interests’ of U.S. imperialism.

Imperialism’s ‘interest’ is for a foothold in Central Asia to project power and secure natural gas resources in the region.

The interest of the working class is for an end to occupation and for the Afghan people to be victorious in their struggle for liberation – just as we support the Iraqi people, the Palestinian people and all occupied peoples in their just struggles to be free from imperialism.

The tide of history is with the oppressed. The time to support Afghanistan’s liberation struggle is now. Recognizing that, we should do everything in our power to end the occupation.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #Editorial #Obama #Afghanistan #Imperialism #Editorials #USOccupation

Minneapolis, MN – More than 40 anti-war protesters gathered here July 23 to express their opposition to President Obama’s surge of 21,000 troops in Afghanistan. Protesters held banners, chanted and handed out flyers to encourage other Minnesotans to speak out against the war and occupation in Afghanistan.

President Obama’s strategy in Afghanistan is to increase the amount of U.S. military troops and military operations. However, this course of action has also caused an increase in causalities. The surge has led to what the media has called an extremely bloody summer and to July being one of the deadliest months. 32 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan this month alone. Three Minnesotans have died in Afghanistan in since last weekend.

This week the Pentagon confirmed that the U.S. death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan has reached 5000. Over 700 of those deaths were in Afghanistan.

Meredith Aby, Anti-War Committee member, explained the purpose of the protest, “Obama has dramatically increased troops and is considering sending an additional 10,000 more. This war is too costly and bloody to both the Afghan and American people. We need to send Obama a clear message that we want the troops brought home now.”

Katrina Plotz, a spokesperson for the Anti-War Committee said, “The U.S. has no more right to invade Afghanistan than it does to attack Iraq. The Afghan people deserve to determine the future of their country themselves. The U.S. has no business spending billions to occupy another nation when so many people are struggling to meet their basic human needs at home.”

The protest was organized by the Anti-War Committee ( antiwarcommittee.org), which is a local grassroots peace organization.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #News #Obama #AntiwarCommittee #Afghanistan #Surge

President Obama ordered 17,000 troops to deploy to Afghanistan on Feb. 17, marking a significant escalation of the war. “This reinforcement will contribute to the security of the Afghan people and to stability in Afghanistan,” said President Obama in his remarks to the press.

The facts, however, contradict this optimistic assessment. A survey released by the United Nations on Feb. 16 shows a 40% rise in civilian casualties in 2008, compared to 2007. A minimum of 2118 civilian deaths were recorded by the United Nations in 2008. Of these, 828 deaths are directly attributed to U.S. and NATO occupation forces. The remaining deaths are blamed on the insurgency. Many commentators miss the basic point that there would be no more fighting, and no civilian casualties, if the occupiers simply left Afghanistan to the Afghan people.

Even the commanding general of the occupation forces in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, recognizes that more troops will lead to increased violence against civilians. “When we do put additional security forces, I would expect to see a temporary time where the level of violence might go up,” General McKiernan stated earlier this week. McKiernan further warned that an additional 10,000 troops were needed beyond what President Obama authorized.

Praising the increase of U.S. troops for the war in Afghanistan, General McKiernan said, “The vast majority of the people that live in Afghanistan reject the Taliban or other militant insurgent groups…the insurgency will not win in Afghanistan.” General McKiernan's statement is at odds with the facts of the situation. A BBC News poll from February 2009 shows that only 11% of Afghans view the Taliban as a problem – hardly a majority, as General McKiernan would have us believe. The U.S. occupation and exploitation of Afghanistan's resources is the biggest problem facing the Afghan people, not the insurgency that works to liberate the country from foreign domination.

The increase in troops reflects a desperate bid by the occupation forces to defeat the growing insurgency, which controls 72% of the country and carries out attacks against the occupiers in 93% of Afghanistan's territory. Like other attempts at a military solution to a political conflict, it is destined to failure. The only realistic solution is for U.S. and NATO troops to leave Afghanistan and recognize the Afghan people's right to self-determination.

#Afghanistan #AntiwarMovement #News #Obama #Occupation