This conflict began not on February 24, 2022, with Russia invading Ukraine, but in February 2014 during the U.S.-backed Euromaidan coup. That coup ousted the democratically elected, and geopolitically neutral Victor Yanukovych. The U.S. repeatedly escalates the conflict with Russia.

Up until recently, the Biden administration did what they could to escalate while maintaining a “gloves on” approach — the US has provided tens of billions of dollars in weapons, but never allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory, attempting to position Russia as the aggressor and Ukraine as fighting a purely defensive, honorable war for its territorial integrity.

The ATACMS, which stands for Army Tactical Missile System, are tactical ballistic missiles with a range of 300 to 400 kilometers, or 200 to 300 miles, and can be modified to fit a nuclear payload. These missiles cannot reach Moscow, but they can reach the Kursk region, a place where Russia has supposedly stationed 40,000 to 50,000 troops in response to the Ukrainian Kursk offensive which began in August 2024.

These missiles are also capable of reaching a number of civilian targets. Ukraine has shown little restraint when it comes to targeting civilian facilities and infrastructure such as the Crimean Bridge, bridges in Kursk, downtown shopping centers inside Russia, and the bombing of the Nord Stream II pipeline. However, the most dangerous possibility is that Ukraine could target the nuclear reactor in Kursk, a civilian infrastructure target which generates power for the area. This would be deadly for the civilians in Kursk and devastating for the entire region.

According to the New York Times, the U.S. has a low-volume surplus of these missiles currently, and military analysts have commented that U.S. production is not capable of manufacturing said missiles in any high capacity. While the exact number of missiles has not yet been confirmed, it should be understood that such a low number of missiles would be unlikely, if not impossible, to accomplish any military objective, leading to some kind of military victory. If that is true, then what is the overall U.S. objective in sending these missiles at all, so late in the conflict after two years of saying that doing so would be too dangerous an escalation?

If the objective is not military, then it is most likely purely political in nature. Many countries in NATO and the EU have concluded that the possibility of a Ukrainian victory at this point is non-existent. The conflict could continue for months or possibly even years, but the likelihood of Ukraine reconsolidating the four Russian-controlled oblasts — Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — is a logistical impossibility, let alone Kyiv’s objective of regime change in Moscow, which is a delusional fever dream.

Roughly one month ago President Zelensky offered a “peace plan,” which involved a request to President Biden for Tomahawk missiles. Tomahawk missiles have a range of 2400 kilometers, or 1500 miles, and have the capacity to be fitted with a nuclear payload — these could reach Moscow. Russia has stated that the delivery of these missiles would necessitate a major Russian response, as this would threaten the national survival of the country. Knowing this, Biden told Zelensky this was a non-starter.

Ukraine has already used the ATACMS, which demonstrates that this conflict was never “defensive” to begin with, but rather, as many analysts have stated, has always been a proxy war being waged by NATO and the U.S. against Russia, using Ukrainians as cannon fodder in their geopolitical games. The point was never to “defeat” Russia, but to hurt Russia and set them back militarily and economically, as evidenced by the massive sanctions campaign imposed on Russia beginning in 2022. The most likely reason for Biden to authorize the shipment of ATACMS to Ukraine is to create a situation where it is difficult if not impossible for incoming President Trump to de-escalate the conflict.

Why is this such a dangerous escalation? Up until this point, while it was well known that this is a U.S./ NATO proxy war against Russia, the U.S. was able to maintain a hands-off approach, allowing only Ukrainians and international volunteers to die for the U.S.’s geopolitical aspirations. Officially, this conflict was only between two parties, Ukraine and Russia. But Russian President Vladimir Putin stated shortly after the decision that now that the U.S. is authorizing missile strikes into pre-2014 Russian territory, that all parties involved are now considered to be parties to the conflict. Meaning Russia now officially recognizes the U.S. and NATO to be directly involved in the conflict. This is because successfully using the ATACMS requires U.S. satellite geo-tracking intelligence data, and U.S. personnel to operate the missile system.

The US has over 800 military bases across the world, including in Eastern Europe. Many former Warsaw Pact countries in Eastern Europe are now NATO countries, including those on Russia’s border like Latvia, Estonia and Turkey. Finland was also recently accepted into NATO. All these U.S. military assets, and all NATO countries, are now officially fair game for Russian attacks on NATO military assets. Russia President Putin also stated that Russia would be updating its nuclear doctrine to include the possibility of a nuclear attack against any country waging an attack on Russia that was backed by a nuclear superpower; this means Ukraine.

In conclusion, this is a very dangerous and reckless escalation by Biden that serves no military purpose. It is intended entirely only to serve petty domestic politics and throw a wrench in the spokes of peace for incoming President Trump. Rather than attempt de-escalation or peace negotiations of any kind, President Biden has decided instead to bring the world to the brink of total nuclear war and World War III.

#Opinion #AntiWarMovement #International #Russia #Ukraine

Minneapolis, MN – On Tuesday, October 3, more than 20 people gathered outside the office of Minnesota State Senator Amy Klobuchar to demand an end to U.S. involvement in the war in Ukraine. The event was a response to a national call by the Peace in Ukraine Coalition and the United National Antiwar Coalition for activists all across the country to unite in demanding an end to U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine and U.S. Interference in negotiations.

Protesters held a banner reading “No to NATO! No to war!” and waved signs with slogans of “U.S. hands off Ukraine” and “No war with Russia! No war with China!”

Drake Myers of the Anti-War Committee opened the rally by explaining why Klobuchar's office was chosen as a target. “Klobuchar has been a supporter of war in Ukraine as far back as 2014,” Myers stated, describing her trip to Ukraine in that year, where she stood in support of a violent U.S.-backed coup was in the process of unseating Ukraine's elected government. “When Russia invaded Ukraine, Klobuchar said, 'This is going to be a long war,'” Myers said. “Why does she get to decide that? The U.S. should not decide that!” Klobuchar has continued to be a voice for increased U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine, fueling the war and delaying negotiation.

Sarah Martin of Women Against Military Madness spoke about the role of NATO as a tool of imperialism, detailing how NATO, under leadership of the U.S., waged “so-called 'humanitarian wars'” in Yugoslavia, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan that have left these countries “dismembered and impoverished.” She drew attention to the role that NATO played in stoking the current war in Ukraine, saying “Even Jens Stoltenberg, military head of NATO and war hawk if there ever there was one, recently admitted at an EU Parliament meeting that Putin went to war to prevent NATO, more NATO, close to his borders.”

Minnesota Anti-War Committee representative Andrew Josefchak spoke at the close of the rally, focusing on how U.S. interference has prolonged the war in Ukraine and resulted in greater death and destruction. “All wars end in negotiation,” said Josefchak, “But the U.S. and NATO, of which it is the de facto head, have done everything they can to sabotage negotiations. Every time Ukraine and Russia have been ready to go to the negotiating table – which they have been a number of times, the idea that Russia refuses to negotiate is a lie spread by the media – the U.S. has stepped in with yet another mountain of weapons and yet another false promise of total victory for Ukraine. We are here to demand that the U.S. stop blocking peace talks, stop all weapons shipments, and that when negotiations do begin, the U.S. keeps its blood-soaked hands out of it.”

The rally was hosted by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC), joined by Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) and Veterans for Peace Local 27.

The event ended with chants of “Fuck you NATO and your war, we won’t take it anymore!” and “What’s the biggest threat to world today? NATO and the USA!”

#MinneapolisMN #Ukraine #NATO #AWC #WAMM #VFP #UNAC

Milwaukee, WI – The Milwaukee Anti-War Committee (MAC) held a rally on Sunday, October 1, in response to a call from the United National Antiwar Coalition to condemn the funding the U.S. continues to provide to pursue their policy of an endless war in Ukraine. The rally took part in a coordinated week of action called for by UNAC on the war in Ukraine held in many cities. Chants like “Biggest threat in the world today? NATO and the USA!” rang out as passersby honked in support.

The event began with emphasis on recent history in Ukraine, starting in 2014 with the U.S.-backed coup. As Western media continues to frame the war as an irrational attack by Russia on an innocent and peaceful Ukraine, MAC continues to stress that this is an inter-imperialist war between the U.S. and Russia, orchestrated and set off by the insatiable greed for power and resources of the U.S.

Stephanie Splatin of MAC spoke of the years of shelling of ethnic Russians living in eastern Ukraine leading up to the war, conveniently ignored in the mainstream narrative of the war. The weapons used then and now are supplied by the U.S. and swiftly end up in the hands of right-wing extremist groups so often used to further U.S. interests at the expense of innocent lives.

“Neither U.S. weapons nor U.S. sanctions have had their intended effect against Russia. No longer able to impose its will through brute force, declining U.S. imperialism foments instability and proxy conflicts, which it attempts to steer toward its interests” said Ryan Hamann of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), who spoke at the event. “The U.S. is trying to use the war in Ukraine to destabilize Russia, while bringing Ukraine into the orbit of U.S. monopoly capital. This means prolonging the war for as long as possible, no matter the human cost.”

The Milwaukee Anti-War Committee and United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC) plan to continue to hold events in the future protesting the U.S. and NATO involvement in Ukraine, and offering a principled analysis of the war instead of the constant pro-war and pro-Ukraine views parroted by western media.

No to NATO! No to war!

#MilwaukeeWI #AntiWar #MAC #UNAC #Ukraine

Milwaukee, WI – Over 20 people gathered at Zao MKE Church to attend the “No to NATO!” teach-in hosted by the Milwaukee Anti-War Committee on May 6. In response to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Milwaukee Anti-war Committee (MAC) held this event to challenge the pro-NATO narrative pushed in the U.S. Presented by MAC member Stephanie Spalatin and her mother Mira Spalatin, attendees learned about some of the crimes NATO has committed both in the present in Ukraine and in the past in places like the former Yugoslavia, as well as a general framing of NATO as an offensive and not defensive apparatus of U.S. and European Union. imperialism.

Stephanie Spalatin kicked the event off with a presentation covering the history of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, from its inception to its role in the present day. She detailed how despite its initial formation as a U.S. response to the perceived threat of the Soviet Union, NATO remained and in fact expanded after the Soviet Union fell, bent on maintaining U.S. unipolarity.

NATO went on to invade countries such as Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Syria and many others. Spalatin explained how the U.S. admitted to staging a coup in Ukraine in 2014, intensifying conflict in the area and emboldening nazi groups. Unfortunately, the threat of NATO and the U.S., and the insistence on integrating Ukraine into NATO, all but assured the inter imperialist war with Russia.

“Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine was illegal by international law – as were the bombings of Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and all the other countries over the last 30-plus years by NATO,” Stephanie said. “But an invasion was inevitable, as Russia was not going to sit back and allow NATO to assist in the genocide of the people of the Donbas.”

After hearing a summary of the history of NATO and the current events in Ukraine from Stephanie, her mother Mira Spalatin followed up by elaborating on the NATO campaign that destroyed Yugoslavia in the 1990s, which she was involved in resisting in Milwaukee as an American Serb. She described the effect that the campaign had on residents of Yugoslavia, where old ethnic and religious tensions were reignited, and Yugoslavia was split between the west, portrayed as modern and democratic and supported by NATO, and the east, portrayed as Byzantine, primitive and communist, supported by the Soviet Union.

She asserted that Yugoslavia did not need the U.S. and NATO coming in, and said of NATO’s meddling, “It’s like a formula” that never has the best interest of the people in mind. She strikingly remarked, “Democracy is not brought to you by someone else. You have to struggle for it, you have to die for it yourself. It is built through generations, and it is going to be your style, not American style or British style.”

Though the U.S. media propagates pro-NATO rhetoric daily, those residing in the U.S. do not have to go along with this story. It is imperative to study history, cut through the lies, and to resist propaganda that portrays NATO as harmless or a beneficial force in the world. As Stephanie Spalatin said in her concluding remarks, “These are not interventions. They are invasions.”

With many invasions in the past, the urgency of the present, and the likelihood of more invasions in the future as NATO and the U.S. try to maintain their hold, the Milwaukee Anti-war Committee is firmly stating, “No to NATO!”

#MilwaukeeWI #AntiwarMovement #Yugoslavia #NATO #Ukraine

Denver, CO – On February 25, Freedom Road Socialist Organization in Denver held a teach-in to mark the one year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the Hooked on Colfax coffee shop in downtown Denver.

Organizers talked about imperialism from the perspective of the U.S. as a waning global imperialist power and Russia as an emerging imperialist power. They applied these outlooks to the history of post-Soviet Ukraine, referring to economic shock therapy in the 1990s and subsequent U.S. intervention in the region.

Finally, the panelists offered what people in the United States can do to resist U.S./NATO intervention: demand U.S. hands off Ukraine; protest imperialist wars; oppose national legislation that grants U.S. aid, particularly in the form of arms; protesting warhawk politicians who are personally invested in U.S. intervention; and fighting against sanctions on sovereign countries.

After the lecture portion of the event, panelists Kyle Burroughs and Jonce Palmer took questions from the audience. One difficult question came from an educator who often works with Ukrainian immigrant students. The guest asked the panelists what they would say to a young Ukrainian person who saw the U.S. as a savior for providing the Ukrainian military with weapons, vehicles, technology and more to fight against Russian troops.

Jonce Palmer offered one potential response, “If the U.S. hadn’t gotten involved as it has since 2004 [in the Orange Revolution] and so on, we wouldn't be in this mess. The U.S. has put people in power who made decisions that led to the situation that they’re in now.”

Kyle Burroughs added, “I want to make it very clear that no aid from the United States comes from the kindness of the monopoly capitalists. There’s a narrative and then there’s a motive. U.S. assistance makes up 90% of Ukraine’s foreign military aid, and that statistic is taken from before 2022. The U.S. obviously has interests in that area. That’s why it's so important to examine the history.”

#DenverCO #AntiwarMovement #Ukraine

The elections are over, and fortunately, the worst right-wing candidates did not prevail in most races. However, the Anti-War Committee remains concerned with the lack of meaningful debate over the Biden administration’s policies that are fueling the war in Ukraine, with no end in sight and a growing risk of escalation. In the weeks leading up to Election Day, the Congressional Progressive Caucus issued a letter calling for a negotiated ceasefire in Ukraine. The letter was a small step, but in the right direction. Facing repercussions from Democratic Party leaders, caucus members quickly retracted it and reaffirmed their support for funding and supplying the war indefinitely.

The anti-war movement is progressive. We march in the streets, not only against imperialist US foreign policy, but also against racist killer cops, anti-union employers, the destruction of the climate, discrimination against LGBTQ people, cruel immigration policies, attacks on reproductive rights, and more. Progressives in Congress did a disservice to the movement they claim to represent by uniting in support of Biden’s Ukraine war policies. We’ve even seen some of our representatives try to imply that the anti-war position is aligned with Trump and his bigoted followers.

In reality, we know that Trump and his supporters have no credibility to claim to be anti-war. During his presidency, Trump violated the Iran nuclear deal in order to impose cruel “maximum pressure” sanctions that caused humanitarian shortages during the worst phase of the pandemic. Trump attempted regime change in Venezuela and Bolivia, and kidnapped Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab. Trump gave speeches about pulling US troops out of Syria and Afghanistan, but ultimately never did so, instead increasing airstrikes in both countries and declaring a “keep the oil” policy of blatant theft. For Palestine, Trump didn’t even pretend to be anti-intervention; his administration provided unprecedented support for Israel, moving the US embassy to occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and cutting aid to Palestinians. He also presided over the Israeli annexation of Syria’s Golan Heights region.

Sadly, Biden’s administration has followed in Trump’s footsteps and exacerbated US military intervention abroad. Biden has kept sanctions in place around the world, continued to imprison Alex Saab, and pivoted even further away from diplomacy with Iran. Biden withdrew from Afghanistan, but in the most disgraceful way imaginable, seizing billions in the country’s sovereign assets despite a looming humanitarian crisis. Biden has kept the troops in place illegally occupying Syria’s oil fields. In occupied Palestine, Biden has re-pledged absolute US support for Israel’s oppressive “military edge” over Palestinians and other regional targets.

This year, after helping provoke the war in Ukraine with brinkmanship and NATO expansionism, the Biden administration has settled on a policy of open-ended, indefinite military aid to Ukraine, which, coupled with a lack of diplomacy, has solidified exactly the type of “forever war” that Biden once campaigned on stopping. Prolonging this conflict creates more refugees and costs more Ukrainian lives. It floods an already unstable region with more and more weapons, empowers right-wing extremist groups, and continues to risk escalation into a potentially nuclear world war.

Our progressive supporters want to see the billions in US military aid end now, along with the imperialist institutions like NATO that helped spark the war in the first place. We see our responsibility as standing up to our government’s role in the violence. We know from the wars the US helped wage in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere, that US interventions are systemically incapable of bringing freedom or peace. It’s time for Congressional progressives to stand firm for real anti-war values.

Money for human needs, not for war! No proxy war with Russia in Ukraine! Disband NATO!

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #Ukraine #AntiWarCommitteeAWC

We, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, hold the United States and NATO squarely responsible for the conflict in Ukraine. Since the disintegration of the socialist bloc in Europe, NATO has pursued a policy of expansion and military aggression that has brought instability to the region and beyond. In Ukraine, NATO and its de facto leader, the United States, created the conditions for the war that is now unfolding between the Russian Federation and the Ukrainian state.

The U.S. has encouraged a reactionary, ultranationalist tendency in Ukraine since during the Cold War when it sought to cultivate an anticommunist fifth column within the Soviet Union. In 2014, organized ultranationalists embedded in the Euromaidan movement executed a coup with U.S. support and afterwards were quickly integrated into the Ukrainian national guard and police. When ethnic Russians in the Donbas region demanded autonomy, these newly empowered forces initiated a brutal eight-year war against them. We stand in solidarity with the peoples of Donbas, along with communists and other progressive forces in Ukraine who have faced state repression and violence under the regime installed by the Euromaidan coup.

U.S. meddling in Ukraine has been military, political, and economic in nature, and bears a strong resemblance to U.S. meddling in Latin America. The 2014 Euromaidan coup was sparked by then-president Viktor Yanukovich’s refusal of International Monetary Fund loan terms in 2013. Only a few months after Yanukovich rejected the IMF’s terms and pursued friendly trade relations with the Russian Federation, he was overthrown by U.S.-backed ultra-nationalists and neo-nazis and forced to flee the country. The new post-coup government immediately re-initiated IMF negotiations and acceded to the loan deal. The resulting neoliberal reforms further opened Ukraine to penetration by Western capital and resulted in the mass privatization of Ukrainian industry, the elimination of state subsidies of consumer utilities, and the imposition of widespread austerity measures. It also led to the repeal of land protection laws that had prevented Ukrainian farmland from being gobbled up by the big bourgeoisie. This U.S.-installed government wrote a new constitution that enshrines the pursuit of NATO membership in the foundational document of the Ukrainian state, making it difficult for Ukraine to back away from direct confrontation with Russia.

We believe it’s vital that the U.S./NATO designs for Ukraine are defeated. This is a matter of importance not only for Ukrainians themselves but for all nations around the world who seek to uphold their independence. The U.S. has stated openly that its goal in the Ukraine conflict is to “weaken Russia” – Ukrainians are mere proxies to this end – and has used the conflict as an excuse to escalate sanctions and attacks against the progressive nations of Latin America and non-aligned countries like Pakistan and India. It’s also using the conflict to ram through massive new military expenditures, and implement an unprecedented domestic regime of censorship and propaganda. These actions ultimately lay groundwork for a confrontation with Russia’s southern neighbor, socialist China, which the U.S. sees as the main threat to the imperialist status quo.

We denounce the hypocrisy of the U.S. and its allies’ repeated accusations that Russia has weakened “international norms” and/or the “European security architecture.” It was NATO itself that first opened the Pandora’s box of unending inter-ethnic violence and lawless intervention when it waged a war of aggression on Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

We stand in solidarity with the masses in the former socialist republics who have faced political instability and a devastating decline in living conditions since the fall of socialism. We support the masses of the Russian Federation who have borne witness to the barbarity and ruthlessness of the imperialist destruction of their country, reject the neoliberal plunder of their economy, and wish to see the defeat of NATO’s plots and the destruction of its reactionary proxies such as the Azov Battalion.

We find it notable that many of those who show support for Russia’s actions in Ukraine do so by flying not the Russian flag but the Victory Flag of the Soviet Union. Since the disintegration of the USSR and the privatization of the Soviet economy, the Russian Federation has vied to dominate the regional economies of the former Soviet republics. Lacking the proletarian internationalist basis of the USSR, and with a monopoly capitalist economy rather than a socialist one, the Russian Federation is emerging as an imperialist power; the conflict in Ukraine is an inter-imperialist conflict between the U.S. and Russia.

However, the U.S.-led imperialist order is the main enemy of working-class and oppressed people everywhere, and its power is declining and has been for decades. This is a good thing. We uphold the right of nations to self-determination and welcome the advent of a so-called “multipolar” world order. However, we also recognize that these shifts in the global balance of power will change the nature of existing contradictions and introduce new ones. As socialist revolutionaries, we know that multipolarity is not the end goal of the struggle, but a necessary stop on the road toward a bright future of a world united by socialism.

We call on anti-war activists to organize protests demanding an end to U.S. and NATO material support to Ukraine, the lifting of sanctions and unilateral coercive measures imposed on the Russian population, and the immediate dissolution of NATO.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #NATO #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #Ukraine

Minneapolis, MN – Over 70 people joined an anti-war protest on May 7 to say no to U.S. wars. The action had a particular focus on calling for the U.S. to stop sending weapons and military aid to Ukraine and to stop escalating the conflict.

Wyatt Miller, an organizer with the MN Anti-War Committee, started off the program: “The list of escalatory actions the U.S. and NATO have taken toward Russia is too long to list in its entirety. Biden wants $33 billion more for Ukraine. U.S. and other Western mercenaries are showing up in Ukraine. Weapons are pouring into Ukraine. NATO has doubled its troop presence in Eastern Europe. They’re even talking about deploying NATO troops to non-NATO countries like Sweden to ‘protect’ them. The U.S. is pressuring and sanctioning countries all over the world merely for their non-alignment with either side in the Ukraine conflict. Censorship of independent media is taking place under the auspices of ‘fighting disinformation.’ Nearly everything that the anti-war movement has warned of is coming to pass. Powerful political forces are lobbying for direct NATO involvement in the war in Ukraine.”

Other speakers included Kristin Dooley, the director of Women Against Military Madness, Brad Griffith, a representative of Saint Paul Neighbors for Peace, and Anne Supplee with the MN War Tax Resistance.

The Minneapolis protest was initiated by Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by Anti-War Committee, Climate Justice Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Mayday Books, Minnesota War Tax Resistance, Movement for People’s Democracy, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Socialist Action, St. Paul Eastside Neighbors for Peace, Veterans for Peace Chapter 27, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness and more.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Ukraine #MNAntiWarCommittee

The struggle for peace and for the democratic demands of the workers and others oppressed by imperialism is the necessary condition for preventing aggressive imperialist wars and fascism. Since the end of World War II and the advent of the nuclear arms race, the fight for peace and democracy must be one united struggle.

As a freedom fighter in the U.S. I’m opposed to my government claiming that it is a defender of democracy in Europe while it fails to muster up the courage and fortitude to defend democracy in Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, or New York. Our government has failed to save the lives of hundreds of thousands during this pandemic, is not building back better, is not addressing the insidious attacks against democracy organized by Trump and his fascist hyenas.

People can shamelessly utter the words of Dr. King, saying “I have a dream” and equate that with a clarion call for war but this is merely indicative of the fact that the U.S. is ready to wage war in the name of defending democracy.

We must reject this blatant hypocrisy that war prosecuted by imperialists can bring peace and democracy. War carried out by the imperialists can only bring an end to democracy, can only bring death and destruction to the peoples of the world.

Frank Chapman

Executive Director

National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #Ukraine #Russia #Europe

Dallas, Texas – On March 6, over 30 anti-war protesters showed up at the Grassy Knoll in downtown Dallas to condemn NATO's involvement in Ukraine, its hostility to Russia, and to call for the disbanding of NATO. The protest was called by the Dallas Anti-War Committee, CODEPINK Dallas, Dallas Peace and Justice Center, Communist Party USA, Democratic Socialist of America, and Party for Socialism and Liberation. Signs present at the protest included “Peace in Ukraine! No to NATO!” “No to NATO expansion” and “Abolish NATO!”

“Over the past couple of weeks, a war has broken out between Russia and Ukraine. The American media and government tend to ascribe Russian aggression as to the reason for this war. This war, however tragic it may be, however is not the result of Russia simply deciding to invade and annex Ukraine. The causes for this war can be traced several decades ago with the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and its subsequent expansion decades later,” stated Cassandra Swart of the Dallas Anti-War Committee.

#DallasTexas #DallasTX #International #AntiwarMovement #Europe #PeoplesStruggles #NATO #NoToNatoNoToWar #Ukraine #NoWarWithRussia

Seattle, WA – Braving the freezing cold and rain, around 70 to 80 people gathered at Westlake Park, February 26, to demand no more U.S. wars. The rally, hosted by Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) Seattle alongside several endorsing organizations, featured speakers calling for an end to U.S. intervention and military action in Ukraine as events in the region unfold at a breakneck pace.

The rally was endorsed Party for Socialism and Liberation, About Face Veterans, Serve the People Tacoma, Anakbayan Seattle, Cascadian Workers Association and Party of Communists USA. Along with FRSO, these organizations came out to voice strong opposition to U.S. imperialism. They also drew attention to the role that the U.S. and NATO have played in setting the stage for the current war in Ukraine. They called for an end to NATO and the dismantling of U.S. empire abroad.

“We are here to push back against calls for the U.S. to get involved in conflicts across the world. Not because we are isolationists, but because we are internationalists. We know what the number one threat globally is, it’s the USA,” said a member of FRSO Seattle.

As the night grew dark, chants of “No to NATO! No to NATO,” and “Money for jobs and education, not for wars and occupation!” rang out in the courtyard of Westlake Park.

Also speaking were representatives from Cascadian Workers Association, About Face Veterans, International League of Peoples Struggles, and Party for Socialism and Liberation. Each speaker related their group’s experiences fighting against imperialism and called for solidarity among anti-war and anti-imperialist comrades.

FRSO Seattle plans to continue fighting alongside allied organizations against U.S. war and aggression.

#SeattleWA #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #Ukraine

It is important for Americans to understand that the current crisis in Ukraine did not begin with Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine; rather, it has been a crisis in the making for decades, as the United States has expanded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance well beyond original post-Cold War agreements, throughout Eastern Europe and up to Russia’s doorstep.

NATO is a major military alliance that was created in 1949 and was originally composed of the United States and its key Cold War allies in western Europe. The United States helped form this dangerous military alliance in an overtly aggressive move meant to intimidate the Soviet Union and prevent the spread of socialism in post-WWII Europe. In response, the Soviet Union eventually created the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance of its own.

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, the United States has gone back on its word to the Russians to maintain NATO’s Cold War borders. Instead, NATO has expanded to include much of Eastern Europe, surrounding Russia with military bases and weapons, all meant to protect American political and economic dominance.

The United States and NATO have been the biggest purveyors of death and violence in the world since the Cold War began, from Korea to Vietnam, Yemen to Iraq, Yugoslavia to Libya.

And in 2014, with specific reference to the current situation in Ukraine, the United States backed an illegal coup against the democratically elected government of Ukraine. The United States armed and supported fascist, neo-Nazi movements, and militias (like the Azov Battalion) in Ukraine, groups that are responsible for killing thousands of ethnic Russians throughout Ukraine in a war that was never ended.

Since 2014, the end goal of the United States in Ukraine has been to incorporate the country into the ranks of the European Union and NATO. Russia made it clear that absorbing Ukraine into NATO would be unacceptable and would be taken as a military threat. But rather than negotiate in good faith, for seven years the United States resorted to sanctions, more arms to Ukraine, and anti-Russia chest-pounding.

So, when it comes to war, especially in Ukraine, the United States has no room to point fingers, serve as a moral compass, or pass judgement on Russia or any other countries. It is laughable to hear U.S. officials denounce this war, when it did everything it could to instigate it.

And it is even more ridiculous to think that the talking heads in the corporate media care about the people of Ukraine, when they have ignored the NATO-backed starvation and murder of millions of Yemenis for seven years now. Besides, why would anyone believe a word the mainstream media has to say about wars abroad, when these are the same fools who tried to sell the American people Saddam Hussein’s imaginary weapons of mass destruction as justification for the U.S. war in Iraq that would for kill 1 million Iraqis?

As American anti-war activists, it is our responsibility to the global peace movement to first and foremost to demand an end to this country's imperialist expansion and aggression, in Ukraine and around the world. It’s our responsibility to pressure our government to stop using Ukraine as a proxy-war with Russia, and to end NATO expansion. As peace activists in the most powerful imperialist country in the world, we must work ensure that the United States does not continue to escalate through unilateral or NATO military action or any form of warfare, including sanctions.

Those of us who truly want peace must demand:

No War with Russia! No to NATO Expansion! No to Sanctions!

#MiamiFL #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #NATO #Ukraine #Russia

Minneapolis, MN – Fight Back! News interviewed Meredith Aby-Keirstead, a founding member of the MN Anti-War Committee, on February 27 for her anti-war perspective on the crisis in the Ukraine and the proxy war developing between the U.S./NATO and Russia.

Fight Back!: Why should Americans join with the anti-war movement right now?

Meredith Aby-Keirstead: This is a critical time to stop the U.S. as it fans the flames of war. Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress want to send more weapons and more military support to Ukraine, which would be like pouring gasoline on this fire. Not only would it kill any diplomatic solutions, U.S. weapons would end up in the hands of right-wing Nazi militias who will use them to attack ethnic Russians. This would also further inflame tensions.

New polling from the Associated Press shows that Americans don’t want the U.S. to play a major role in this conflict, so we need to make sure that politicians understand this is not what the American people want. Biden in fact just approved $350 million in military aid for Ukraine yesterday. But what we really want and need is money spent on human needs not war.

In the Twin Cities right now teachers in Minneapolis and Saint Paul are about to go on strike to demand resources for our public schools. They are being told at the negotiating table that there are no funds for schools. But there are! Think about what we could do with the $350 million Biden just signed off on yesterday. The U.S. spends billions on war when we should instead be spending those same resources on educating kids, fighting COVID and stopping climate change.

Fight Back!: What do you think of the anti-war protests that have taken place worldwide?

Aby-Keirstead: I’m happy to see an upsurge in the anti-war movement around the world. Peace-loving people everywhere want to see diplomacy from all parties to prevent the conflict from spiraling even further out of control, and to create the conditions for a long-term peace in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Sanctions will only hurt the most vulnerable on all sides and must be firmly opposed. Here in the U.S., we’re focused on opposing the escalatory and aggressive actions of our government, and call for the immediate disbandment of NATO, which has never brought the international stability or human rights that it pretends to stand for.

Some people ask us, in the anti-war movement, why we don’t focus our criticisms on Russia and Putin. But we are living in the U.S. so it is our responsibility to hold our own leaders accountable to the will of the people, and we need to be aware of the U.S. role as an imperialist power. As the anti-war movement it is also important for us to all “out” the selective outrage about the events in Ukraine when Israel, funded by the U.S., commits war crimes in occupied Palestine on a daily basis, and Saudi Arabia continues to bomb Yemen. We need to denounce all wars and acts of aggression, even and especially, those of our so-called allies and the U.S..

Fight Back!: How has the Biden administration been intervening in the Ukraine?

Aby-Keirstead: Even though the U.S. and NATO agreed to stop expanding NATO in the 1990s, they have been courting Ukraine’s membership, and, with the U.S. involvement in the 2014 Ukrainian coup, the Obama administration set in motion events that only brought Ukraine closer to the U.S. and further from Russia.

The U.S. already has 90,000 troops in Europe and Biden has been moving U.S. troops and equipment into Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Similarly, NATO has been moving troops, strike fighters and helicopters to the Baltic states. Since 2014, the U.S. has sent over $2.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine which included CIA trainers, defensive systems and Javelin anti-tank missiles and, as I already said, Biden is sending hundreds of millions more.

Fight Back!: What has triggered Russia into sending troops into Ukraine?

Aby-Keirstead: Russia feels threatened by these U.S. and NATO moves to encircle Russia. Additionally, since 2014, Ukrainian nationalists and fascists have violently attacked ethnic Russians in the Ukraine, particularly in Donbass, and Russia is under pressure to defend them. Many people have asked me, “How can you as a queer woman defend Putin?” But saying no to more U.S. imperialism is not the same as supporting Putin. And I think it’s important to note that this is an inter-imperialist conflict between the U.S. and Russia. However, that doesn’t mean that the U.S. didn’t provoke it or that the U.S. doesn’t see an advantage in starting a proxy war next door to Russia that drains Russia’s resources and prevents it from further challenging U.S. imperialism around the world.

Fight Back!: Tell us more about what has been going on in Donbass.

Aby-Keirstead: More than 14,000 people have died in the conflict in Donbas since 2014. What most Americans don’t understand is that there has been fighting between ethnic Russians and Ukrainian military and right-wing nationalist forces since the U.S.-sponsored coup in 2014. Similarly, the U.S. media hasn’t been reporting on the treatment of ethnic Russians in Donbass leading up to this conflict which makes the conflict hard for people here to understand at all. Granted we also have the issue that some Americans still think Russia is a socialist country, which it’s not, and [that they] imagine that NATO is the same as the UN.

Fight Back!: What are the U.S. incentives for intervening in Ukraine?

Aby-Keirstead: In 2019, the RAND Corporation, a pro-war organization of the U.S. military-industrial complex, sent a report to the U.S. Army Chief of Staff in which it stated that the ideal U.S. strategy would be to use sanctions, propaganda and other measures to push Russia towards war with Ukraine in order to make it overextend itself militarily.

Additionally, this conflict is about whether Russia or the U.S. gets to have influence over Ukraine. Both see it as a country rich with natural resources, including large deposits of coal, oil, natural gas, iron, manganese, titanium-zirconium ores and other non-metallic raw materials. The BBC reports that Russia is the second-biggest exporter of crude oil, the world's largest natural gas exporter and that the EU sources nearly half of its gas from Russia. Russia was developing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to deliver natural gas to Germany and the EU under the Baltic Sea. By destabilizing Ukraine, Russia isn’t able to complete their pipeline, which prevents them from being able to keep challenging the U.S. economically. This intervention is a part of a long list of U.S.-sponsored conflicts for fossil fuels. The U.S. sees Russia, like China, as a key hurdle to their imperialistic vision.

Fight Back!: What can we do to pressure the U.S. to stop escalating the conflict?

Aby-Keirstead: Well in Minnesota we should be protesting Senator Amy Klobuchar, and we just held a protest in front of her office in Minneapolis on the 24th. She is definitely a mouthpiece for the Biden administration’s Russia policy. Nationally, we need for there to be protests across the country to say “no” to more U.S. weapons and military aid to Ukraine. We need to be demanding that the U.S. stop promoting NATO expansion and to even be challenging why the U.S. is propping up NATO. We see from Yugoslavia to Libya to Afghanistan the damage that NATO can do. This conflict has the potential to kill a lot of people – especially Ukrainians – so we need to be challenging the Biden administration’s idealistic message that it is “helping Ukraine” when in fact they are making it more likely that this conflict will be bigger and longer while lining the pockets of U.S. weapons manufacturers.

In Minnesota, the Anti-War Committee is building for the Women Against Military Madness protest on Wednesday, March 2 which is a part of the International Week of Actions to Stop War with Russia. We encourage folks around the country to organize anti-war actions between March 1-7!

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #Ukraine #Russia

Minneapolis, MN – On February 24, around 30 people demonstrated outside U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office in downtown Minneapolis with signs and banners calling for no war with Russia and an end to U.S. intervention in Ukraine. Held less than 24 hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine, the protest came amidst a jingoistic frenzy of calls by Western governments and media for actions against Russia.

Protesters emphasized the role that the U.S. and NATO played for years in escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia. In 2014, the elected Ukrainian government was overthrown by reactionary protesters with U.S. backing. In the ensuing crisis, Russia annexed the ethnic Russian-majority Crimean peninsula, while the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk with significant Russian populations – collectively known as the Donbass region – declared their independence from the government in Kiev.

“Today could have been avoided if the United States had not orchestrated a coup in Ukraine in 2014,” said Mike Madden of Veterans for Peace and the newly-formed Assange Defense Committee. “It could have been avoided if the post-coup regime had not initiated hostilities in April of 2014 by sending military, and Nazi paramilitary, forces to violently reclaim the breakaway provinces.”

The Kiev government’s initial attempts to retake the Donbass by force relied heavily on far-right ultranationalist militias, including the openly neo-Nazi Azov Detachment, which in late 2014 was incorporated into the official Ukrainian National Guard. Despite this, the U.S. has sent $2.7 billion worth of “lethal aid” to the Ukrainian military since 2014.

Ceasefire agreements known as Minsk I and Minsk II were subsequently negotiated between Kiev and the breakaway provinces. Both failed to stop the violence in the Donbass, with Kiev notably refusing to implement Minsk II’s provisions of autonomy for Donetsk and Luhansk. From 2014 through the end of 2021, the war in the Donbass had killed over 10,000 people, including many civilians.

Andrew Josefchak of the Anti-War Committee provided additional context for Russia’s tensions with the West. “In the 1990s, the U.S. promised Russia that NATO would expand ‘not one inch east,’ but apparently the U.S. would like to take not just an inch but a mile, in fact 600 miles, expanding NATO all the way up to Russia’s doorstep,” he said. “The U.S. has imposed deadly sanctions on Russia and has moved nuclear weapons within spitting distance of its borders.”

Much of the current conflict revolves around the Kiev government’s stated ambition of joining the NATO military alliance. Despite Russia’s concerns that Ukraine’s instability could inadvertently draw NATO into a nuclear war with Russia, NATO has refused to rule out admitting Ukraine, instead sending military advisors to coordinate with the junta in Kiev.

Josefchak explained, “The idea that the U.S. has deliberately pushed Russia toward war is not just speculation on my part; in 2019 the RAND Corporation, a pro-war organization of the U.S. military-industrial complex, sent a report to the U.S. Army Chief of Staff in which it stated that the ideal U.S. strategy would be to use sanctions, propaganda and other measures to push Russia towards war with Ukraine in order to make it overextend itself militarily.”

Other protesters decried continued increases to the U.S. military budget while domestic social programs languish.

Mira Altobell-Resendez is a member of Students for Democratic Society at the University of Minnesota (SDS-UMN). “I don’t know about you, but my country having the capacity to bomb anyone they want to hell and back doesn’t make me feel secure,” they said. “What would make me feel secure is knowing that my fellow students and I won’t be paying back federal loans for the rest of our lives, knowing that we will never have to worry about being able to afford adequate housing or a visit to the doctor, and having proper infrastructure in place to eradicate health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic without losing millions of unexpendable lives due to the incompetence of our government.”

The protest was initiated by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by the Anti-War Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Climate Justice Committee, Veterans for Peace, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, SDS-UMN, and other local groups. Organizers chose Senator Klobuchar’s office for the location after the hawkish congresswoman told National Public Radio that morning that she doesn’t “rule anything out” and called for more weapons transfers to Ukraine.

With the conflict continuing to worsen, organizers announced that on March 2 there will be another protest on the Lake Street/Marshall Avenue bridge over the Mississippi at 4 p.m. to demand an end to U.S. escalations and weapons transfers, the dissolution of NATO, and diplomacy to create the conditions for long-term peace in Ukraine.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #Russia #Ukraine

Dallas, TX – On February 5, a crowd gathered at the Grassy Knoll in downtown Dallas to protest threats of war by the United States and NATO against Russia. The protest was organized by the Dallas Anti-War Committee, CODEPINK Greater Dallas, Dallas Peace and Justice Center, Party for Socialism and Liberation Dallas-Fort Worth, and Veterans for Peace North Texas. The rally was a part of a national day of action in which over 50 cities participated.

The protest called for total withdrawal of U.S. troops from Europe, an end to weapons sales to the reactionary government of Ukraine, and for the disbandment of NATO.

Cassandra Swart of the Dallas Anti-War Committee gave a speech criticizing the expansion of NATO to Eastern Europe as blatant aggression against Russia.

Swart condemned the U.S. support to Ukraine through arms shipments and sending American troops, and demanded an end to U.S. military presence in Europe. “The U.S. sent weapons to the Ukrainian military to commit massacres against Russians, Roma, Jews, trade unionists, and LGBT rights activists,” stated Swart, “We must say no to NATO's aggression against Russia and call for a withdrawal of all American troops in Europe!”

#DallasTX #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #Russia #Ukraine #DallasAntiWarCommittee

New York, NY – Dozens upon dozens of organizers and anti-war activists gathered at two different rallies to protest the U.S. military threats against Russia.

The first event began at 2 p.m. in Columbus Circle and was organized by Struggle-La Lucha. Organizers gathered near the USS Maine National Monument – the Maine warship exploded due to an accident and became a pretext for the 1898 Spanish-American War. Bill Doares of Struggle-La Lucha explained the important symbolism of the moment and likened it to a false flag operation, similarly to what’s happening in Ukraine now.

Speakers denounced spending money on a new war that neither Russia nor Ukraine are looking to enter.

Michela Martinazzi from the New York Community Action Project and the International League of Peoples Struggle gave a short speech about where the money could be spent instead, pointing out that $700 billion could easily be spent on community resources rather than funding war.

Once that rally was over, the protesters marched and gathered in Times Square for the 3 p.m. rally called by a coalition of antiwar and progressive organizations, such as: Answer Coalition, Black Alliance for Peace, CODE Pink, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, International Action Center, Massachusetts Peace Action, Popular Resistance, Task Force on the Americas, United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), U.S. Peace Council, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom–US, and World BEYOND War.

Speeches and chants filled the crowd as they all were energized despite the incredibly cold and windy weather. The rally ended on a high note of promising further organizing and with a performance by the Raging Grannies, an anti-war singing group.

#NewYorkNY #AntiwarMovement #Russia #Ukraine #NewYorkCommunityActionProject

Minneapolis, MN – On February 5, 100 protesters gathered at Mayday plaza on the West Bank in Minneapolis to oppose U.S. war with Russia and further intervention in the Ukraine. Protesters held signs that read “No war with Russia,” “Fight COVID not Russia” and “Money for housing, not for war.”

The protest’s program began with a speech from Susan Banaszewski, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee, who focused on the role of U.S. intervention and the role of the media in beating the drums for war, “So U.S. meddling has made everyday life worse for Ukrainians by making sure they have less money in their pockets and fewer social supports, armed the fascist elements in their country, created panic and destabilized the economy with this warmongering. The U.S. has escalated conflict with their neighbors and essentially caused a civil war, in which arms from the U.S. are used against fellow Ukrainians. All this fuels our war machine profits. and the U.S. wants the world's thanks for making the world safer?”

Sarah Martin, a longtime member of Women Against Military Madness, spoke and compared the situation to previous actions of U.S. intervention, “We have been down this all too familiar road of build up as the administration and compliant corporate media beat the drums of war with all the lies, demonization of the leader of the country in the crosshairs and false justifications like ‘honoring treaty obligations, our national interest, and security, human rights, women’s rights,’ and of course ‘democracy’. A prototype for these U.S. wars of the last 30 years is the U.S./NATO war on Yugoslavia which broke up that country. It also began the Western move of the U.S. and NATO toward Russia, and manufactured NATO’s continued existence.”

Martin, like Banaszewski, argued this conflict is being manufactured by the U.S., “But despite the incessant and relentless propaganda of the state and mainstream media, fewer than one in eight U.S. citizens want this war or want the U.S. anywhere near the Ukraine. People are war weary and life is hard for most especially in this time of COVID. People are struggling and need help.”

Other anti-war speakers included Dave Logsdon from Veterans for Peace and Mike Madden from the newly founded Twin Cities Julian Assange Defense Committee. Closing out the speakers was Tracy Molm, a founder of the Climate Justice Committee, who connected U.S. imperialism to the struggle against Line 3 in Minnesota, “As we stand here to oppose the current saber rattling around Russia – and China – all of this assumed need for military might obscures that the U.S. military is the number one institutional polluter in the world. The U.S. military has consistently been left out of pollution goals put into climate agreements. Real and lasting fixes to climate change need to start with ending U.S. military aggression and posturing – but also end fossil fuel infrastructure that helps enable and continue U.S. military endeavors. The Climate Justice Committee is focused on fighting Line 3 oil pipeline and will continue to stand with our friend in the anti-war movement making connections between the constant drumbeat of wars abroad that necessitate fossil fuel infrastructure.”

A repeated theme of the protest was to denounce in chants and speeches both U.S. intervention in Ukraine and the recent murder of Amir Locke by Minneapolis police. Originally the protest was scheduled to march to U.S. Senator Klobuchar’s office but after over an hour of protesting participants were encouraged to warm up and go to the Hennepin County Government Center to protest Amir Locke’s execution by police, and to demand the resignations of both Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey and the interim police chief.

The protest was initiated by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by the Anti-War Committee, Veterans for Peace, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and others.

The protest was organized as a part of the United National Antiwar Coalition’s national day of action. Protests took place across the country including Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Portland OR, Asheville NC, New Orleans, and many more cities.

#Minneapolis #AntiwarMovement #NATO #Ukraine #MNAntiWarCommittee #FightCOVIDNotRussia

Minneapolis, MN – On February 5, 100 protesters gathered at Mayday plaza on the West Bank in Minneapolis to oppose U.S. war with Russia and further intervention in the Ukraine. Protesters held signs that read “No war with Russia,” “Fight COVID not Russia” and “Money for housing, not for war.”

The protest’s program began with a speech from Susan Banaszewski, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee, who focused on the role of U.S. intervention and the role of the media in beating the drums for war, “So U.S. meddling has made everyday life worse for Ukrainians by making sure they have less money in their pockets and fewer social supports, armed the fascist elements in their country, created panic and destabilized the economy with this warmongering. The U.S. has escalated conflict with their neighbors and essentially caused a civil war, in which arms from the U.S. are used against fellow Ukrainians. All this fuels our war machine profits. and the U.S. wants the world's thanks for making the world safer?”

Sarah Martin, a longtime member of Women Against Military Madness, spoke and compared the situation to previous actions of U.S. intervention, “We have been down this all too familiar road of build up as the administration and compliant corporate media beat the drums of war with all the lies, demonization of the leader of the country in the crosshairs and false justifications like ‘honoring treaty obligations, our national interest, and security, human rights, women’s rights,’ and of course ‘democracy’. A prototype for these U.S. wars of the last 30 years is the U.S./NATO war on Yugoslavia which broke up that country. It also began the Western move of the U.S. and NATO toward Russia, and manufactured NATO’s continued existence.”

Martin, like Banaszewski, argued this conflict is being manufactured by the U.S., “But despite the incessant and relentless propaganda of the state and mainstream media, fewer than one in eight U.S. citizens want this war or want the U.S. anywhere near the Ukraine. People are war weary and life is hard for most especially in this time of COVID. People are struggling and need help.”

Other anti-war speakers included Dave Logsdon from Veterans for Peace and Mike Madden from the newly founded Twin Cities Julian Assange Defense Committee. Closing out the speakers was Tracy Molm, a founder of the Climate Justice Committee, who connected U.S. imperialism to the struggle against Line 3 in Minnesota, “As we stand here to oppose the current saber rattling around Russia – and China – all of this assumed need for military might obscures that the U.S. military is the number one institutional polluter in the world. The U.S. military has consistently been left out of pollution goals put into climate agreements. Real and lasting fixes to climate change need to start with ending U.S. military aggression and posturing – but also end fossil fuel infrastructure that helps enable and continue U.S. military endeavors. The Climate Justice Committee is focused on fighting Line 3 oil pipeline and will continue to stand with our friend in the anti-war movement making connections between the constant drumbeat of wars abroad that necessitate fossil fuel infrastructure.”

A repeated theme of the protest was to denounce in chants and speeches both U.S. intervention in Ukraine and the recent murder of Amir Locke by Minneapolis police. Originally the protest was scheduled to march to U.S. Senator Klobuchar’s office but after over an hour of protesting participants were encouraged to warm up and go to the Hennepin County Government Center to protest Amir Locke’s execution by police, and to demand the resignations of both Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey and the interim police chief.

The protest was initiated by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by the Anti-War Committee, Veterans for Peace, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and others.

The protest was organized as a part of the United National Antiwar Coalition’s national day of action. Protests took place across the country including Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Portland OR, Asheville NC, New Orleans, and many more cities.

#Minneapolis #AntiwarMovement #NATO #Ukraine #MNAntiWarCommittee #FightCOVIDNotRussia

A statement issued by organizers says in part, “Following the Biden administration’s announcement that 3000 U.S. troops are being moved to Eastern Europe, people will be taking to the streets in the U.S. and around the world to raise the alarm about the dangers of a U.S.-Russia war.”

“Saturday, February 5 will be a global day of protest because the only sane course of actions the U.S. can take is a commitment to diplomacy with serious negotiations, not military escalation – which could easily spiral out of control to the point of pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war,” the statement continues.

The statement continues, “The roots of this crisis start with the failure of the U.S. government to live up to its promise made in 1990 by then-Secretary of State James Baker that NATO would expand not ‘one inch to the East.’ Since 1999, NATO has expanded to include numerous countries, including some that border Russia.”

“For the last 20 years the U.S. has been in a series of endless wars, interventions, drone strikes and bombings, the U.S. has occupied or bombed Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. The real threat to peace is the U.S. war machine. The people of the U.S. need an end to the endless war threats, people need housing, COVID relief, a real struggle against inequality and racism, not new wars and war threats,” the statement continues.

The Minneapolis protest was initiated by Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by: Anti-War Committee, Veterans for Peace, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and others.

Protests are taking place during this weekend in cities such as Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Portland OR, Minneapolis, Asheville NC, New Orleans and many more.

#Minneapolis #AntiwarMovement #NATO #Ukraine #Biden #NoWarWithRussia

A statement issued by organizers says in part, “Following the Biden administration’s announcement that 3000 U.S. troops are being moved to Eastern Europe, people will be taking to the streets in the U.S. and around the world to raise the alarm about the dangers of a U.S.-Russia war.”

“Saturday, February 5 will be a global day of protest because the only sane course of actions the U.S. can take is a commitment to diplomacy with serious negotiations, not military escalation – which could easily spiral out of control to the point of pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war,” the statement continues.

The statement continues, “The roots of this crisis start with the failure of the U.S. government to live up to its promise made in 1990 by then-Secretary of State James Baker that NATO would expand not ‘one inch to the East.’ Since 1999, NATO has expanded to include numerous countries, including some that border Russia.”

“For the last 20 years the U.S. has been in a series of endless wars, interventions, drone strikes and bombings, the U.S. has occupied or bombed Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. The real threat to peace is the U.S. war machine. The people of the U.S. need an end to the endless war threats, people need housing, COVID relief, a real struggle against inequality and racism, not new wars and war threats,” the statement continues.

The Minneapolis protest was initiated by Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by: Anti-War Committee, Veterans for Peace, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and others.

Protests are taking place during this weekend in cities such as Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Portland OR, Minneapolis, Asheville NC, New Orleans and many more.

#Minneapolis #AntiwarMovement #NATO #Ukraine #Biden #NoWarWithRussia