Texas Labor Against the War

The CAMEOs of UT and Texas State are proud to present:

Iraq Veterans Against the War speak out
Monday, Nov. 10, 7:00 PM
UT Campus, ART 1.110 (http://www.utexas. edu/maps/ main/buildings/ art.html)

Hear first-hand accounts from servicemen whose time in Iraq turned them against the war. Speakers: Michael Nordstrom, a Marine who served two tours in Iraq. Mike has been recalled by the Marine Corps.”In the enlistment oath I swore to defend and protect the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic. I’ve been to Iraq twice and I promise you we don’t need to protect the Constitution from them.“ Hart Viges, former U.S. Army airborne infantryman. Hart fought in Fallujah and left the Army as a conscientious objector. “From my time in Iraq I can personally attest to what can happen when a group of highly motivated people work together. We started a violent revolution and overthrew a government. Now we must start a peaceful revolution and change our government.” Greg Foster, Army veteran, antiwar activist and student at Texas State:”Over the last few years I have realized that the most patriotic thing I can do, as a Veteran, is talk to Americans about why the war in Iraq was wrong from the beginning and what we can do to end it.“ Ronn Cantu, SSG, 1st Cavalry, active duty at Ft. Hood:”After two tours in Iraq, the only thing we were ‘fighting’ for was to live for one more day until we came home and it’s been the families of the dead, both American and Iraqi, who have suffered as a result of this nightmare political stunt.“

On Facebook: http://www.facebook .com/event. php?eid=32846961 542
email antiwarcampus@ yahoo.com for more info.

The Art building is on San Jacinto, in between 26th and 23rd St. There are parking spaces all along San Jacinto; on a Monday night, many of them should be open.

We are also looking for someone to video this event (for future YouTube posting). If you can help us with this, please email me (kelly b) at birdonawire03@ hotmail.com. thanks!

(CAMEO = Campus Antiwar Movement to End Occupations)

The regular meeting of Texas Labor Against the War will NOT be held Sunday, November 9.

Some of our folks will be out of town on that date.

Our original announcement gave the wrong building for the John Pilger event Tuesday, Oct. 28.

It is W. C. Hogg (WCH) 1.120 (map)

The event is “Journalism and the War on Terror,” an onstage interview with Professor Bob Jensen.

We gave Welch (WEL) which is wrong.  Sorry for the error.

Jeremy Scahill in Austin!

Sunday, November 2nd, 6:30 p.m.

Location: UT Campus, FAC 21

(map to FAC: http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/fac.html)

The U.S. occupation of Iraq won’t end with the election. Even when regular troop withdrawal begins, America’s highly paid mercenaries will remain– killing civilians, accountable to no one, and lining their pockets with our tax dollars. Find out why corporations like Blackwater Worldwide couldn’t be happier that we didn’t heed Eisenhower’s warning about expanding the U.S. military-industrial complex.

Jeremy Scahill is a Democracy Now! correspondent, writing fellow for The Nation Institute, award-winning investigative journalist and best-selling author of the ground-breaking exposé Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army.

Scahill is one of the world’s leading experts on privatized warfare. He will explain the dangers of outsourcing military and intelligence functions. Scahill also provides historical and political context for this disturbing trend: what it means to our democracy, the way it undermines our troops, and how it affects citizens in this country and around the world.

Sponsored by CAMEO, with special thanks to Nation Books, Monkeywrench Books and the Travis County Green Party.

On Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=27675462613

Check out this interview with Jeremy as he speaks about Blackwater mercenaries in post-Katrina New Orleans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnVbulr2Pvw

World-renowned journalist, author and documentary filmmaker John Pilger will discuss the “war on terror,” focusing on the gap between the rhetoric in the air and reality on the ground in order to help citizens understand the methods of, and the motivations behind, that war. Pilger began his career in 1958 in his native Australia before moving to London in the 1960s.  Beginning in Vietnam in 1967, he has covered the wars and economic policies that have defined the foreign policy of Western governments in the past decades.  His most recent film is “The War on Democracy” and his most recent book is Freedom Next Time.

Describing Pilger’s work as “a beacon of light in often dark times,” Noam Chomsky has said, “The realities he has brought to light have been a revelation, over and over again, and his courage and insight a constant inspiration.”

Tuesday, October 28, 2008, 7 pm
Location: University of Texas at Austin, Welch 1.120 (map)

This month’s Iraq Moratorium event is tomorrow (Friday) on 11th St. in front of the Capitol in Austin, 5 - 6pm.
Emphasis is THE COST OF WAR.
CODEPINK will bring the “$3 trillion” sign.

Bring yourself, bring your own signs . . .

Thursday October 16, 7:00 PM University of Texas at Austin,
Garrison 0.102

CAMILO MEJÍA
Iraq War Veteran and Author of Road from Ar Ramadi: An Iraq War
Memoir

Camilo Mejía grew up in Nicaragua and Costa Rica before moving
to the United States in 1994. He joined the military at the age
of nineteen, serving as an infantryman in the active-duty army
for three years before transferring to the Florida National
Guard.

After fighting in Iraq for five months, Mejía became the first
known Iraq veteran to refuse to fight the war in Iraq, citing
moral concerns about the war and occupation. He was eventually
convicted of desertion by a military court and sentenced to a
year in prison.
Mejía currently serves as the chair of the board of Iraq
Veterans Against the War, and is the author of Road from ar
Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia: An Iraq
War Memoir (new edition, Haymarket Books 2008).
In Road from ar Ramadi, Mejía tells his own story, from his
upbringing in Central America and his experience as a
working-class immigrant in the United States to his service in
Iraq - where he witnessed prisoner abuse and was deployed in the
Sunni triangle - and time in prison. In this stirring book, he
argues passionately for human rights and the end to an unjust
war.

“The truth as I see it now is that in a war, the bad is often
measured against what’s worse, and that, in turn, makes a lot of
deplorable things seem permissible. When that happens, the
imaginary line between right and wrong starts to vanish in a
heavy fog, until it disappears completely and decisions are
weighed on a scale of values that is profoundly corrupt.”
–Camilo Mejía, Road from ar Ramadi
PRAISE FOR ROAD FROM AR RAMADI:

“This is the extraordinary journey — geographical, intellectual,
moral — of a U.S. soldier, from the front lines of Iraq to a
military prison. Camilo Mejía, the first Iraq veteran to
refuse to return to Iraq, gives us a close look at the day-to-day
brutality of the war. We learn what happens when a young man
decides to challenge the entire military establishment in order
to follow his conscience. It is an inspiring memoir.” –Howard
Zinn

“A very moving, beautifully written book.” –Amy Goodman

Camilo Mejía is speaking around the country as part of
Haymarket Books’ Resisting Empire authors tour. UT event is
co-sponsored by Campus Antiwar Movement to End the Occupation,
International Socialist Organization, Palestine Solidarity
Committee, Iranians for Peace, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o
de Aztlan, and Campus Progress. Special thanks to Iraq Veterans
Against the War and CodePink-Austin. More info:
camiloinaustin@ yahoo.com or http://resistingemp ire.org

Some of us will be attending the Naomi Klein event Sunday evening, Oct. 12, so the regular second Sunday TxLAW MEETING IS CANCELED.

Naomi Klein — a 38-year-old Canadian journalist, author, film-maker, and regular columnist for The Nation and The Guardian – came to international attention in 2000 when No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies became an international bestseller by examining the effects of corporate-led globalization on communities, workers, the culture and economy.

The biennial statewide General Assembly of the Texas State Employees Union/CWA Local 6186, to be held Oct. 3 - Oct. 5 in Austin, will be presented with an antiwar resolution originated by Texas Labor Against the War activists.  The resolution is co-signed by over 30 TSEU delegates and members from Austin and Dallas.  Here is the resolution, which endorses the resolution passed at the Communications Workers of America national convention in June.  The CWA resolution was printed in an earlier TxLAW news item on this website.

Resolution to be presented at the Texas State Employees Union 2008 General Assembly

RESOLVED:  TSEU/CWA Local 6186 will actively work to implement this resolution by adding our voice to those demanding that resources spent on these wars be redirected to our needs at home; by demanding of our government that our troops, veterans, and their families get the medical care and benefits they deserve; and by exploring affiliation with U.S. Labor Against the War and other groups which support international labor standards.

September Iraq Moratorium, Friday, Sept. 19, 5:00 pm
“Recruiting for Peace”
Outside of Dobie Mall near the UT campus, Guadalupe & 21st St., Austin

This antiwar action will also call attention to the dishonest recruitment practices by the US military and the recruitment office inside the Dobie.

For more information, contact info@codepinkaustin.com