The progressive advocates for peace are not accomplices in imperialism.
They protest on international streets to organize themselves
around three tangible goals: global solidarity,
de-militarized society and the end of Western imperialism.
This is antiwar's resurgence. Take a closer look.
.png){kind=logo}
CONGRESS
Reps. Ilhan Omar and Barbara Lee's War Powers Resolution H.R. 2456 against AUMF (authorization of military force) awaits Senate's approval (House.gov). Rep. Lee has been a strong supporter of AUMF removal since the Iraq War.
Rep. Barbara Lee's 9/14/01 Speech/Vote VIDEO
"The issue of war and peace should be bipartisan, it should not be politicized. We have a constitutional responsibility to debate the costs and consequences of the use of force, and going to war."
Sen. Kaine introduced S.J. Res. 68 to block unauthorized military force against Iran, and it passed 55-45 (Jurist) on February 14th, 2020! This particular War Powers Resolution stresses the lack of constitutional basis for Trump's air strikes.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin's H.Con. Res. 83 passed the House with a 224-194 vote on January 9, 2020! (C-SPAN)
Rep. Ro Khanna and Sen. Bernie Sanders' No War with Iran Act was introduced to the House Foreign Affairs Committee with 98 co-sponsors altogether: Reps. Deb Haaland, Pramila Jayapal, Barbara Lee, Ayanna Pressley, Adam Schiff, etc.
But anti-war, anti-imperialist protests matter beyond the halls of government.
ANSWER COALITION
They are an intergenerational pro-union, economic and racial justice movement with chapters across the United States. This a monumentally powerful speech by activist Kerbie Joseph in New York City on January 25.
"We live in a system that likes to occupy out of greed than to let people live in their humanity. So what does that mean we have to do? That means that one, we have to be organized. That means that two, we have to be internationalists. What does that mean? That means that you are a citizen of the world, that means that workers of the world have to unite.
That means that my struggle in Brooklyn looks like a struggle of someone in Palestine. That means that my struggle in Brooklyn looks like the struggle of someone in Haiti when they get their money stolen. That means that my struggle in Brooklyn looks like the same struggle of people in Iran who are starving because they put sanctions when folks decided to resist.
One million people took the streets in the Middle East yesterday 'cause they are OVER it.
So it's time for us all over the world to be over it too. This is not Columbus Circle. This is NO WAR IN IRAN Circle. This is not Columbus Circle. This is the People's Circle. This is not Columbus Circle.
This is our ancestor's circle who have sat here and marched, and spoke and organized...and had their lives taken, so we could keep on the fight until capitalism and imperialism is gone."
Member Mike Prysner in California spoke from personal experience (Mint Press News) as a veteran activist.
"They will lie about why we need to go to war, just like they did then. They will lie to you. And guess what? When that war starts going bad for them, as it inevitably will, and a lot of us start dying, what are they going to do? They are going to keep lying and they are going to send more of you to die, because they don’t want to take responsibility."
No War In Iran Speech (The Empire Files) VIDEO
D.C. protests were extremely effective, and they tackled the same topics: classist oppression, anti-capitalist liberation.
Sean Blackmon, an Answer Coalition D.C. leader, said that "the interests of empire are not the interests of you or me. A war against Iran, the occupation of Iraq, is a war on each and every one of us." (Liberation News)
OFFICIAL SITE FACEBOOK YOUTUBE
BLACK ALLIANCE FOR PEACE
This Black liberation movement works for the freedom of all people, and that requires a specific plan to de-militarize oppressed communities from militaristic frameworks. BAP visited Venezuela to meet Indigenous peace defenders there. The upcoming trial for Embassy Protectors will feature Black Alliance for Peace because they face charges as well.
BAP also protests war with Iran and African nations. They came to the Global Day of Protest, January 25.
OFFICIAL SITE FACEBOOK YOUTUBE
BY THE PEOPLE
This grassroots group by Americans for All of Us encourages nonviolent assembly to dismantle U.S.' war economy. By the People have a plan. They occupied the Senate Building on January 16, 2020 to "impeach him [Trump] for abusing his power. Now we must remove him. We call on our senators to uphold our vote. This dangerous criminal, regardless of their party, is breaking their oath to the Constitution...remove Trump!" (act.tv)
Will representatives finally be anti-war with activist support?
"If we don’t act now to demand that Congress fulfill its duty, Trump and future presidents will be emboldened to carry out further abuses of power that trample on our rights, harm our families, and violate the Constitution.
This fight isn’t about Republicans vs. Democrats. It's about all of us, and the highest ideals of our country are at stake: democracy, equity, and freedom." (By the People)
CAMPAIGN FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT
CND UK is a key force for nuclear divestment in Western Europe and worldwide. They brought a lawsuit against the Prime Minister for using Resolution 1441 to authorize Iraq's war.
The latest military action in Iran was sharply condemned by General Secretary Kate Hudson early in January.
OFFICIAL SITE FACEBOOK TWITTER CALENDAR
CODEPINK
Women are the driving force of coalition CODEPINK. Gael Murphy, Madea Benjamin and Jodie Evans founded it with human rights policy experience. They have been on the ground since the war on Terror began (site). CODEPINK vocalizes opposition to American interference with international peace at every turn.
OFFICIAL SITE FACEBOOK TWITTER
DIVEST FROM THE WAR COALITION
World Beyond War and Black Alliance for Peace founded this Coalition with CODEPINK and other antiwar organizations. They are a large presence in the movement.
FOOD NOT BOMBS
.jpg)
The food recovery organization was borne out of the 1980 Boston anti-nuclear protests at Seabrook. Jo Swanson, Mira Brown, Susan Eaton, Brian Feigenbaum and four other central organizers founded Food Not Bombs.
Over 1,000 chapters save communities in need from Southeast Asia to Alaska and New Zealand. The volunteers distribute food and revolutionary literature at the same time, even relief in humanitarian disasters. It's a genius strategy against hunger.
"With fifty cents of every U.S. federal tax dollar going to the military and 40% of our food being discarded while so many people were struggling to feed their families that we could inspire the public to press for military spending to be redirected to human needs."
Food Not Bomb's global festival Soupstock will be May 24, 2020 for their 40th year commemoration. Volunteers will set up an information booth, a free market, meal support and community activities for all.
IRAQI CIVIL SOCIETY INITIATIVE
ICSI is an impactful advocacy campaign that hosts the Iraqi and Kurdistan Social Forums, and actions for multiple issues like Tigris river conservation, anti-war and resistance. Each project considers Iraqi autonomy, and solidarity with the rest of the world.
Iraq's latest popular movement has youth at the helm who manage revolutionary resources and ways to reach them. They erected tents for multi-purpose use: one for attorney assistance, another for food and logistical planning, and so on (site).
"We, the Iraqi people, who have had bitter experiences with wars and military interventions, stand with all humanity against war—ALL war. We stand in solidarity with our neighbor, the Iranian people, against the war and the advocates of war!
We stand together, firmly convinced that this war is only a means of political polarization, one intended to distract the public, driving them away from the reality of the revolutionary movement currently taking place in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and the rest of the world!
This present moment is crucial and we cannot lose sight of its force..." (site)
Iraqi Protesters Show Up in Million-Strong Resistance VIDEO
OFFICIAL SITE FACEBOOK TWITTER
IRISH ANTIWAR MOVEMENT
Chair Richard Boyd Barrett is an Irish socialist leader for the Solidarity-People Before Profit Party, and organized anti-Iraq War protests in 2003. Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn spoke at an Irish Antiwar Movement meeting on NATO (VIDEO).
The anti-war solidarity campaign held a protest in Dal Eireann to condemn U.S. attacks on Iran (site), January 2020. IAWM hosted the First Conference Against US/NATO Military Bases in 2018 with United Antiwar Coalition and PANA, with these objectives.
Source: PANA
U.S. Peace Council President Alfred Marder, World Beyond War Director David Swanson, Palestinian Knesset member Aida Touma-Sliman and several peace committee chairs attended this historic event.
No Nato Bases' Dublin Conference VIDEO
MOVIMIENTO ESTUDIANTIL CHICANO DE AZTLAN (MEChA)
MEChA has been an anti-war Chicano (Mexican-American) affiliation of students who used their political power to make change since 1974 (site). The Californian college collective expanded across the Southwestern States to promote cultural unity not only for Chicano students, but all marginalized groups on Earth.
MeChA denounces U.S. involvement in the Middle East and Latin America. De Stan State Co-Chair Julissa Ramirez led a 40-student march when drone strikes killed Iranian leader Soleimani.
"Regardless of what the executive says, the American people do not want war...because at the end of the day, we’re all oppressed peoples and we’re all fighting a monster that’s so much bigger than us.
We’re fighting a whole system that has orchestrated our continued oppression over generations, over hundreds of years...we must offer peaceful alternatives and provide resources to our people as a replacement for these military promises." (Modesto Bee)
NATIONAL IRANIAN-AMERICAN COUNCIL
They are a progressively minded non-profit organization with a clear devotion to peace between each nation. NIAC highlights the struggles of Iranians and Iranian-Americans through community building and educational research. This is President Jamal Abdi's statement about the administration's carelessness with Lt. General Soleimani's death.
"Iran is a nation of 80 million innocent people, most of whom do not want war and oppose the actions of their own government. Similarly, Iraq is a nation of 38 million who deserve peace after lives filled with war.
And the American people have seen enough of wars in the Middle East that have no end, only new beginnings. Yet many thousands of innocents in each country will be the victims of a conflict that will be difficult to confine within any one nation’s borders." (site)
National Iranian-American Council continues their protest (Common Dreams).
OFFICIAL SITE FACEBOOK TWITTER
NO TO NATO
The international No to Nato group has many sub-committees and adjacent groups that plan around NATO summits and de-militarization. They participated in the Global Day of Action (site). No to Nato rejects the Defender Europe 20 Maneuver: the biggest U.S. troop deployment to Europe since the Cold War, which potentially ships U.S. weapons equipment from six European nations and stage future bases on each continent.
OFFICIAL SITE FACEBOOK PEACE CALENDAR
PARTY FOR SOCIALISM AND LIBERATION
The radical Marxist party forges new anti-capitalist alliances and dismantles imperialism (site). They know what it takes.
"Imperialist war; deepening unemployment and poverty; deteriorating health care, housing and education; racism; discrimination and violence based on gender and sexual orientation; environmental destruction—all are inevitable products of the capitalist system itself."
PASHTUN TAHAFUZ
The Pashtun Protection Movement has confronted human rights abuse in Pashtun communities since 2016, and first formed to clear land mines along Afghan-Pakistani borders. They started to address extrajudicial killings and disappearings in 2018--the "Pashtun Spring" when Naqeebullah Mehsud's death had been justified as an anti-terrorism exercise.
Pashtun Tahafuz's leaders Manzoor Pashteen (BBC), plus Waziristan Parliamentarians Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir recently faced arrest. Pashteen was jailed for "hate speech".
Dawar and other PTM activists launched a non-violent rally in Islamabad. But government worked quickly to cover their tracks. Implicated magistrates amended the Criminal Procedure Code so public assembly could guarantee a sentence. Dawar was released after a day, but already had been imprisoned for four months in 2019. Wazir is still behind bars.
They are resilient in their autonomy and objectives for peace. Military-related death has dominated tribal politics for decades. Pashtun Tahafuz amplifies silenced voices. PTM head organizer Gulalai Ismail is a fellow Pashtun, Chair for Seeds of Peace Network, and a strong role model for women in Pakistan.
"Protests for the release of Manzoor can't be diffused by more arrests esp the arrest of leadership. The resistance will continue & grow." (Twitter)
Pakistan's military history and U.S. joint counter-terrorism efforts lent to regional chaos significantly. Overinvolvement trapped all parties in a gridlocked war cycle. The Afghan War left a power vacuum for both Taliban and national armies to assert influence. Withdrawal meant that even with proper peace negotiations, a resistance movement would have to reclaim hostile areas (i.e., YPG/PKK in Kurdistan).
Khyber-Pakhtunwa province is where Pashtun Tahafuz arose. U.S.-Pakistan military training will resume through $2 billion program IMET in 2020! (Reuters) Unnecessary violence will follow. Pretending ignorance is unacceptable.
Source:
Jamal Dawar, North Waziristan
Mistreatment for demanding accountability should not be ignored anywhere. Amnesty's 2019 review explains in depth.
PEACE FORUM IN FALLUJAH
Fallujah refuses a tragic narrative after three invasions. The Peace Forum melds art, social justice and political awareness. They team up with the Iraqi Civil Society Initiative and Un Ponte Per, an Italian pacifist anti-occupation network. PCF is supported by the annual Iraqi Social Forum that utilizes workshops and progressive programs in other cities like Nassiriyah, Ur and Babylon. Their internationalist, pro-union and environmentally friendly values are anti-war.
"Fallujah, City of Peace" Final Part of Conference VIDEO
POPULAR RESISTANCE
This is a multi-national umbrella under which dozens of justice campaigns take place. Popular Resistance provides nuanced analysis on various liberation movements from the past to today, so we all learn how they inform current crises and solution-making.
World Beyond War, No to Nato, and United Antiwar Coalition are a few allies. Popular Resistance regularly schedules disruptive actions or events to end war. Their calendar is easily found on the main website, and linked here.
OFFICIAL SITE FACEBOOK CALENDAR
SUNRISE MOVEMENT
.png)
The youth-led Sunrise Movement understands that climate change is tied to imperialism. They engage holistic resistance like the Green New Deal, a 10-year comprehensive action plan that can prepare American society for a better future. Learn more about this clean energy transition and dedication to a healthy environment here.
Sunrise Movement does not back down from criticizing foreign policy's ecological effect either. Aircraft transportation and troops' military operations cause undeniable damage to health, to future generations' survival. Diverting armed forces saves the American economy AND a planet.
A Sunrise Movement member in Boston rightly called it out on the Global Day of Protest, January 25: "War is a climate change issue and the U.S. military is the biggest polluter in the world."
UNITED ANTIWAR COALITION
UNAC maintains working relations with hundreds of anti-war groups nationally and worldwide. 2020's "Rise Against Militarism, Racism and the Climate Crisis—Building Power Together" Conference will occur at the People's Forum in New York City, February 21-23.
Black Alliance for Peace National Organizer Ajamu Baraka, U.S. Peace Council Organizational Secretary Bahman Azad, author Sara Flounders and more invaluable voices are speaking there.
"Only a massive, united, inclusive and independent movement has the power to bring it into being.
WE DEMAND Bring U.S. Troops, Mercenaries and War Contractors Home Now: Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan! End the sanctions and stop the threats of war against the people of Iran, North Korea and Yemen."
U.S. PEACE COUNCIL
The USPC has dealt with disarmament since 1979, and is a member of the World Peace Council.
VETERANS FOR PEACE
Veterans for Peace gathers international soldiers to the anti-war cause, and organizes with the unique perspective of those who participated in frontline militarism. They were founded in 1985-the height of United States' Cold War with Russia. You can find them on nearly every continent.
VFP's projects are Korea Peace Campaign and the Korea Peace Network, who will demonstrate against the Korean War on March 15-17; Homeless Veterans Working Group; People Over Pentagon and much more. U.S.' recent attack has infuriated veterans.
"We experienced people chanting ‘Death to America,’ but those same people showed us so much love and solidarity, even as Americans. They knew that our rogue government was speaking and acting in our name without our consent," VFP President Fred Ptucha said (Liberation News).
Read their statement on U.S.-Iran military aggression. You can follow Veterans For Peace on social media, or in person.
WIN WITHOUT WAR
The impactful Center for International Policy project doesn't accept excuses or back down. National organizations under Win Without War state necessary steps to progressive policy. They facilitate contact with your representatives if they voted correctly or not, draft safe foreign security recommendations, issue cost analyses and demonstrate. Take action here.
OFFICIAL SITE FACEBOOK TWITTER
WORLD BEYOND WAR
This peace activist network has resisted military-industrial imperialism through a radical content database and demonstrations. Their expansive toolkits explain divestment from weapon production, to redirecting funds elsewhere. University students can research endowments for U.S. defense contracts here.
Their volunteer Board of Directors's committee campaigns internationally. World Beyond War's annual global 'NoWar2019 Pathways to Peace’ conference had been in October with six agenda points: divestment, youth activism in schools, creating a celebratory culture of peace, ending Afghan's war with activism, base closure and activism through music. Veterans for Peace Ireland, International Peace Bureau and more were co-organizers.
Leah Bolger is National President after retiring from 27-year military service as a Naval Commander. Her accomplishments include a peace delegation between Pakistan's drone strike survivors, work with Veterans For Peace, CODEPINK, said peace conferences and webinars to remove active duty stations.
World Beyond War's co-founders David Hartsough, and Executive Director David Swanson are instrumental to peace action and education. Swanson's lecture 'Demilitarising Security: Closing Bases, Outlawing the Arms Trade' was presented in Dublin.
Pat Elder started the DC Antiwar Network, and writes critical reviews about military recruitment on campuses. Organizing Director's Greta Zarro just released an unflinching dissection of military influence.
"At World BEYOND War, we’re organizing divestment campaigns around the world to give people the tools to divest their retirement savings, their school’s university endowments, their city’s public pension funds, and more, from weapons and war. Divestment is our way of bucking the system by saying that we won’t fund endless wars with our private or public dollars anymore. We led the successful campaign to divest Charlottesville from weapons last year. Is your town next?" (World Beyond War)
Marc Eliot Stein also shared progressive viewpoints with WBW Tehran allies: "artivist"/human rights lawyer Shahrzad Khayatian and Dr. Foad Izadi, Board of Directors and an American foreign policy professor at the University of Tehran, on their monthly podcast. Dr. Izadi educated the 2019 conferencee about eco-refugees, environmental warfare and anti-war activism. This special discussion shows sanctions' effects on an already tense atmosphere,and Iranian peace (World Beyond War).
Khayatian is hopeful. "I work with Tehran Peace Museum and I have seen many people who are working for peace. I don't say the definitiion of peace is the same for all of them...For me, peace is not only the absence of war. For me, peace is way more than that. And when I see people like that, it makes me feel great." (Soundcloud, 20:50).
Grassroots efforts are essential to sustaining World Beyond War, so consider local action if interested.
FREE WEBINAR: How to Shut Down a Military Base VIDEO
"Examine what strategies and tactics have been used successfully to close bases, and how you can replicate this success in your community!"
OFFICIAL SITE FACEBOOK TWITTER YOUTUBE
YPG (یەکینەکانی پاراستنی گەل/PEOPLE'S DEFENSE UNITS)
Yekîneyên Parastina Gel defends Rojava (western Kurdistan) and northern Syria well ever since the Civil War's onset in 2011. The faction is multi-ethnic through the Syriac Military Council's SDF [Syrian Democratic Forces]: Yazidis, Assyrians, Arabs and foreigners alike.
YPG's missions are crucial to stop indefinite Daesh/ISIS and Turkish military occupation! Civilian casualties occur drastically across the land. Journalist abductions occur by Asayish itself, Iraq's Kurdish security organization. Life is hell for the average citizen in Kurdistan (VIDEO). Endless war is their reality. But it does not have to be anymore.
Yekîneyên Parastina Gel freed Kobanê (VIDEO) five years ago. Now they attend events with their community to raise spirits and share resources (YPG) in 2020. YPG alliances include Assyrian Nattoreh, and Khabour Guards who resisted Turkish offensives alongside SDF.
"We, as the Khabour Protection Forces, are spread across the Assyrian villages and are ready to defend our citizens from any attack, together with the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Syrian army," Carlos Ashuri, an Assyrian with Nattoreh, revealed in November (Rudaw).
This solidarity has a gruesome past. Peripheral Arab extremism uprooted local residents since 1974. Frightened informants boosted an intelligence network against vulnerable minorities like the Yazidis, Armenians and Shi'a.
The Mount Sinjar, Iraq massacre was a culminative, crude plan to strengthen Arabization throughout Nineveh. ISIS invaded Mosul, Raqqa, then Sinjar. YPG units consolidated their infantry and ad hoc engineer team for Sinjar's rescue. YPG members climbed the mountain to find refugees, and engaged ISIS in combat. Sinjar roads re-opened in 2014 so 50,000 Yazidi people no longer faced starvation (link). Soup kitchens and medical assistance dot YPG-held areas today.
Now a Yazidi force
HPE exists, trained by their
liberators.
A counter-invasion succeeded in January when the forces stole ISIS munitions and illegal documentation (link). Kurdish women warriors, YPG's peace defenders are revolution in action.
Morgan Mansfield attested to women's willpower in Rojava's socialist change. Their sacrifice is enormous, but progress is undeniable.
"Women put huge effort into the social aspect of the revolution. They didn’t want to belong to be in the camp of the rebels or to be in the pro-regime camp either. They wanted something new, very pluralistic, very egalitarian, very pro-women...
You’re dealing with a force [YPG] who are very dedicated, who swear to the movement for life. They don’t marry. There’s a hugely supportive population." (The Irish Times)
OFFICIAL SITE FACEBOOK KURDISH RED CRESCENT
ADDITIONAL ANTI-WAR RESOURCES
Antiwar.com - Top News for International Anti-War Initiatives and Movements
Important Anti-War Films You Can Watch Online (World Beyond War)
Policy Resources (Win Without War)
Networking Potential for Activists
The Cost of War (World Future Fund) (Official Website)
