PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

A24: Official POG Call To Action Stop the War. Occupation does not equal liberation!
by pog Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2003 at 7:32 AM
pog@mutualaid.org (email address validated)

POG and allies are calling for a day of action against war and occupation on August 24th to take place at Flagstaff Hill in Oakland's Schenley Park. 1pm Picnic Potluck against Poverty - bring food, yum 2pm Rally - non-boring speakers we promise! 3pm MARCH...

POG Call to Action: August 24th: Stop the War. Occupation does not equal liberation! Bring the troops home now.

1pm Picnic Potluck against Poverty - bring food, yum
2pm Rally - non-boring speakers we promise!
3pm MARCH...

The war has come home.

Eight hundred thirty US troops have been injured and many of those will be disabled for life. At least 266 US soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq, tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians and soldiers are dead. The death toll rises and the destruction continues with numbing regularity. We are killing our way to another generation of disabled veterans, children growing up with one parent and homes where sorrow will not soon be forgotten. Iraq and Afghanistan are not free and will not be free. A war that was never about liberation hasn't brought liberation. The government's definition of "freedom" is to put in place a system committed to implementing our geopolitical/economic agenda without regard for what will surely be the continued suffering of the people.

A staggering 4 billion dollars a month of our money is being spent on the occupation. Another $10 billion was just given to Israel to support their continued occupation of Palestine. As President Eisenhower once said, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." That point is brought home every time we read the headlines. From cuts to public transportation, Medicaid, public libraries and education, we can't ignore the relationship between endless war and domestic issues. Moreover, recent talk of privatization of public services (e.g., garbage collection) suggests that we are beginning to experience the full weight of the domestic structural adjustment programs that have ravaged the Global South for decades. While the World Bank, IMF, WTO, and FTAA are the institutional instruments we most commonly associate with the spread of neo-liberalism, we cannot forget that local legislation is the primary enactor of those domestic policies. Whether your live in Pittsburgh or in Baghdad, the end goal of US militarism is clear: economic exploitation by huge transnational corporations.

Throughout the last year, Pittsburgh's resistance to war and injustice has been strong and vital in raising awareness of the death, destruction, and exploitative nature of the war, in the public consciousness. The peace movement forced the government to publicly provide reasons for the war that have now been discredited. We have forced those who would manipulate and lie to achieve their ends to pay a political price. More and more people are seeing the lies behind the smokescreen of government propaganda and corporate media acquiescence to power. We have created a local climate more open to dissent and less welcoming of the racist, sexist, classist and homophobic attacks that often occur in times of war. Those are a couple of the many victories in this struggle that should not be forgotten as we assess what role we can play in shaping future events.

The complicity of inaction was unacceptable then and it is unacceptable now. We must not allow ourselves to be ignored, we must return to the streets and we must do so in large numbers. Let us embark with renewed vigor and a determination to see this struggle through to the end. Let us organize for a show of strength and unity. Now is the time to show George W. Bush that America does not support killing in the name of profit: not in the war and not in the occupation. Join us on Sunday, August 24, 1pm at Flagstaff Hill and demand an end to U.S. military rule and freedom and self-governance for the Iraqi people. We invite everyone to take part in this day of action in whatever capacity they feel is most effective, as a diverse movement is imperative in bringing about positive social change.

Silence is complicity.
Keep on fighting,
POG

For more information contact pog@mutualaid.org or go to http://www.organizepittsburgh.org

www.organizepittsburgh.org

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