https://socialistaction.org/2020/03/14/unac-antiwar-conference-registers-gains/
UNAC antiwar conference registers gains
Socialist Action / 2 days ago
By ADAM BUSTILLOS
Some 300 antiwar and social justice activists from 27 states and four
nations attended the fifth national conference of the United National
Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) at the People’s Forum in New York City over the
weekend of February 21-23. Entitled, “Rise Against Militarism, Racism
and the Climate Crisis – Building Power Together,” the conference marked
UNAC’s 10th anniversary. It was live-streamed nationally attracting some
5,000 viewers. Another 10,000 followed the event via Facebook. To date
some 160 groups nationwide have affiliated with UNAC.
The conference featured a series of panel discussions and workshops
focused on UNAC’s perspectives aimed at mobilizing mass opposition to
all U.S. wars against working people at home and abroad.
UNAC reaffirmed its unconditional support to the right of
self-determination of all oppressed nations and peoples, from Syria,
Yemen, Libya and Palestine in the Middle East to Venezuela, Nicaragua
and Cuba in Latin America and to U.S. imperialism’s ever-deepening
military penetration of Africa.
U.S. imperialist wars in all their present day manifestations, including
the imposition of crippling economic blockades, embargoes and sanctions
imposed on 39 nations, have killed millions in the past years. The
conference condemned U.S. intervention in the internal affairs of other
countries through regime change agencies such as the CIA, the National
Endowment for Democracy, USAID and other U.S-sponsored agencies and
NGOs. A panel on “Identifying U.S. Regime Change Campaigns” included
speakers on Syria, Nicaragua, Bolivia and the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea.
A conference-opening panel, “Opposing Imperialist Wars, featured a
broad-ranging critique of U.S. policies from the Philippines to Latin
America, Africa and the Middle East. The “Militarism, Racism and Climate
Change” panel described these elements of U.S. policy as inherent in the
structure of a society that privileges the pursuit of capitalist profit
over the needs of all humanity. Jeff Mackler, Socialist Action’s 2020
candidate for the U.S. presidency and a UNAC founder, addressed this
subject stating, “UNAC’s focus in support of self-determination of all
poor and oppressed nations applies to all such nations regardless of our
differing opinions of the nature of their governments. Our focus is on
U.S. Out Now! Without the ever-present U.S. wars of regime change
intervention and exploitation the people of all poor nations will have
the best opportunities to fight for a socialist future.”
The Pentagon is world’s largest polluter
A workshop on “The Role of the United States in Exacerbating
Environmental Degradation” noted that the U.S. military is the world’s
largest institutional fossil fuel polluter, with a carbon footprint
exceeding all but eight countries. Yet, unlike all other nations, this
aspect of U.S. fossil fuel pollution is formally exempt from inclusion
in U.S. data. Additionally, with the offshoring of U.S. fossil fuel
pollution in the context of the globalized economy many U.S. commodities
are manufactured in other countries to take advantage of cheap labor,
poor environmental legislation, and lax labor laws. These commodities,
along with Pentagon pollution, are not counted in the U.S. carbon footprint.
“Defending our Movement,” a panel chaired by Margaret Flowers of the
Venezuelan Embassy Protectors discussed the government’s prosecution of
the four activists’ effort to keep the right-wing coup organizers from
Venezuela out of the Venezuelan Embassy. This panel also heard from
Clare Grady of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7, who are face up to 25 years
in prison for their nonviolent protest at a Trident nuclear submarine
base. Other speakers included Kevin Zeese of Popular Resistance and the
Venezuelan Embassy Protectors, Michael Smith an attorney/activist who
co- edited the new book “In Defense of Julian Assange.” Frank Chapman,
co-chair of the newly re-founded National Alliance Against Racist and
Political Repression rounded out the panel.
A lunchtime keynote address was presented by Glen Ford, Executive Editor
of the Black Agenda Report. Ford scored the twin parties of war and
racism and affirmed UNAC’s policy of non-support to the twin parties of
big business.
Principles of Unity and Action Proposal
A concluding plenary session, chaired by UNAC Administrative Committee
member Jeff Mackler, updated UNAC’s Principals of Unity and reaffirmed
UNAC commitment to building a democratically organized mass action
united front coalition to challenge U.S. wars at home and abroad. The
conference unanimously approved the Principles of Unity that included
opposition to all U.S. aid to the Zionist settler colonial state of
Israel, support to BDS and support of the Palestinian demand for a
democratic, secular Palestine and the right to return of all
dispossessed Palestinians.
The final conference Action Proposal session included UNAC support to
several antiwar and social justice actions in the coming months
including the March 13-15 nationally-coordinated “Sanctions Kill!
protests, the mass antiwar protests at the Democratic and Republican
Party conventions and the International Conference for the Normalization
of U.S.-Cuba Relations.
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March 14, 2020 in Uncategorized.
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UNAC Antiwar Conference: Rise Against Militarism, Racism and the Climate
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Neil deGrasse Tyson
“God is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance.”
― Neil DeGrasse Tyson
