Anti-War / War + Peace

4pm today at federal building
(Thurs. 12/31)

On December 1, President Barack Obama officially announced a massive escalation of the U.S. war on Afghanistan, tripling the number of American military personnel there since Obama took office. This move marks a decision by Washington to continue the colonial occupation of Afghanistan indefinitely, and with it the bloody slaughter of the Afghan people. Obama’s claim that he would “begin the transfer” of U.S. forces by mid-2011 was just sucker bait for gullible liberals. “Afghanistan Is Now Obama’s War,” proclaimed the media from New York to London to Mumbai. But Afghanistan has been the Democrats’ war since the moment it was launched, in September 2001, and together with the war on Iraq, it is a bipartisan imperialist war. No one in Washington thinks the Afghan puppet army will be able to handle the Taliban. The actual U.S. strategy is not to defeat the Taliban but to weaken it enough so that elements of the Islamists can be brought into a political deal. It is striking that in the United States, a majority of the population is turning against the war even though there hasn’t been a major national antiwar march in more than two years – ever since the start of the last presidential election campaign. At protests following Obama’s announcement of more troops to Afghanistan, organizers carefully avoided any signs mentioning the president by name. Our Internationalist contingent, in contrast, carried signs including, “Hey Obama, How Many Kids Did You Kill Today? Defeat Imperialist Slaughter in Afghanistan, Iraq.”

There is indeed something interesting about the relationship between the winner of the Noble Prize for Peace accepting the award by speaking about “a just war” and using our military presence i.e. our military “occupation” in Afghanistan as an example of that “just war.”

Antiwar activists numbering over 200 once again took to the streets of Rochester, NY to voice their disapproval of continued US involvement in Mideast wars. The march was called in response to President Barack Obama's announcement on December 1 that he was sending 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan.

Agent Orange's lethal legacy Poisonous defoliants still exact a toll in U.S., Vietnam

Friday, December 11 at 7:00 pm

At Rochester Community TV
21 Gorham Street, off of St. Paul St.

(Plenty of free parking.)

Admission is FREE

Thursday December 17, 7:00 - 9:00 PM

First Unitarian Church, 220 S. Winton Rd, Rochester

FREE and open to the public.

On December 4, Rochester Students for a Democratic Society and friends will return to the streets of Rochester in protest of the United States' military escalation in Afghanistan. Obama plans to march another 40,000 troops into the streets of Kabul (without a permit) to escalate an illegal unjust and morally reprehensible war - spreading terrorism throughout Central Asia and diverting much-needed resources away from our own community. When confronted with more war and violence we will dance for peace.

On December 4, Rochester Students for a Democratic Society and friends will return to the streets of Rochester in protest of the United States' military escalation in Afghanistan. Obama plans to march another 40,000 troops into the streets of Kabul (without a permit) to escalate an illegal unjust and morally reprehensible war - spreading terrorism throughout Central Asia and diverting much-needed resources away from our own community. When confronted with more war and violence we will dance for peace.