Texas Labor Against the War » antiwar

“Escalate the Peace” at Texas State (from the University Star)

Leslie — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 03:33:36 +0000

San Marcos, 02/10/10

http://star.txstate.edu/content/rally-promotes-antiwar-movement

Rally promotes antiwar movement

Feb 11 2010 – 1:22 am | Allen Reed

Activists and onlookers at an antiwar demonstration braved harsh weather Wednesday at the LBJ Amphitheatre — two weeks after the event rescheduled because of rain.

The rally, Escalate the Peace, included students, teachers, activists, veterans, reverends and poets. Speeches ranged from anti-capitalist sentiments to the conflict in Palestine. Two newly-formed organizations, the Campus Antiwar Movement to End Occupations and the Progressive Bobcats Union co-sponsored the event.

“In the Bible it says they asked Jesus what the most important commandment was,” said John Marion, anti-war activist. “You know how you hear about the Ten Commandments — thou shall not kill, honor thy father and thy mother? But he said the most important commandment is love — love your neighbors as thyself. Love your enemies and forgive those who persecute you.”

Marion said the message comes from stories of his brother and friends who have been affected by war.

“One of my friends from New Mexico was in the infantry in Iraq,” Marion said. “He said the biggest problem he had when he came back was how quiet it was. He got used to the sounds of bombs, mortars and guns, and when there were no explosions, he was scared the most.”
Marion said his friend came back changed.

“Now he comes home, and he’s screwed up,” Marion said. “He doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life. He doesn’t know what his life means anymore.”

Bobby Whittenberg, veteran and former Texas State student, shared similar stories of the return to civilian life.

“There’s a lot of issues you have after coming back like dealing with the death of friends and feeling betrayed by the military,” said Whittenberg, who was awarded a Purple Heart. “After I got injured, they started saying I was a coward because I couldn’t keep up with the physical training.”

Whittenberg said the cost of war is more than money.

“The cost of war so far is over a million people who we have attacked who are dead,” Whittenberg said. “There are over 5,000 American troops who are dead and those who come back wounded have to fight to receive the healthcare we deserve — the mental healthcare we deserve…Eighteen veterans kill themselves every day. That’s not a result of a healthy society. That’s not a result of integrating people back — that’s absolute neglect.”

Leslie Moya, education senior, stood in the pouring sleet to listen to the talk about middle-eastern conflicts.

“I understand where the whole Palestine issue is coming from — I’m Jewish,” Moya said. “I think (the speaker) was a little one sided. I don’t know if he’s Palestinian or what the deal is but I think there is a lot more that goes into it. Not everything is black and white. He tried to make Israel the bad people, but Palestine hasn’t done everything right.”

Luke Stewart, electronic engineering sophomore, watched from a distance out of the downfall. He is worried about his cousin in the Navy who is about to deploy to Afghanistan.

“I think what they are saying is true, but I think that we’re kind of running in circles right now,” Stewart said. “It seems like it’s getting worse. A lot of these kids join the military so they can get the financial benefit so they can maybe go to college after they’re done but how much is your life worth? It’s crazy.”

Elizabeth Welch, literature graduate student and CAMEO president, said the recent escalation of troops in Afghanistan helped inspire the timing of the event.

“The Democrats have majorities in both houses and we have a president that is a Democrat but where are we at?” Welch asked. “We have a spending freeze not on war, but programs that help people.”

Welch said the event went well despite the weather.

“It’s always really encouraging to see a crowd, no matter how small, come out in these conditions,” Welch said. “It starts small, everything does. The bad weather is kind of inspiring — you see people with rain pellets hitting their heads and it shows how much they care.”

Under the Hood 2009 highlights–excerpts from Under the Hood Update

Leslie — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:12:51 +0000

Under The Hood
5-10 p.m., everyday
17 S. College Street
Killeen, Texas
(254) 449-8811, http://www.underthehoodcafe.org/

In the spirit of the Oleo Strut, Under The Hood is a place for soldiers to gather, relax and speak freely about the wars and the military. Support services for soldiers include referrals for counseling, legal advice and information on GI rights.

Under The Hood needs your donations and support!

Our community was deeply affected by the November 5th tragedy.

Our heartfelt condolences go to the families of those who lost their lives and to the wounded. In the aftermath of the November 5th tragedy at Fort Hood, the coffeehouse was besieged with media attention. Under the Hood provided an independent voice on the inadequate care of soldiers under stress and gave an antiwar perspective to U.S. and foreign media – both print and television. Under the Hood was featured on NBC Nightly News, The New York Times, Al Jazeera, The Observer (UK), The Washington Post, and other local and national media outlets.

Our resolve was strengthened to provide a space for GIs, veterans and military families. Through this year’s successful fundraising efforts Under the Hood was able to raise enough funds to extend our lease and just signed a lease for another year of operation. . . .

Here are just a few 2009 highlights:

This Spring, two University of Texas film students produced a short documentary on the coffeehouse.
On Memorial Day, active duty GIs led the first peace march in Killeen since the Vietnam era.
In July, Christians for Peace and other area peace activists held a silent march and vigil to the gates of Fort Hood.
In August, Victor Agosto and Travis Bishop, faced courts martial for resisting deployment to Afghanistan. Under the Hood provided a critical support system for these soldiers. Victor is now out of the Army and has joined the Fort Hood Support Network Board that operates Under the Hood. The other soldier, Travis Bishop, was sentenced to a year and is serving that time in Fort Lewis. On July 29, 2009, the day of Victor Agosto’s release from the Bell County Jail, Under the Hood hosted Col. Ann Wright (retired).
A GI and veterans writing workshop was held at Under the Hood on Veteran’s Day, followed by a candlelight vigil at the gates of Fort Hood. . . .

But we need your continued support to keep our doors open. The Fort Hood Support Network (FHSN) operates Under the Hood Cafe in Killeen, Texas. FHSN is a Texas non-profit corporation with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. Donations may be treated as tax-deductible.

We are especially grateful to our donors who make monthly contributions. . . . We want to acknowledge the help we have received from Veterans for Peace chapters, the Houston Peace and Justice Center, the Dallas Peace and Justice Center and CodePink.

U.S. Labor Against the War Third National Assembly

Leslie — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:18:41 +0000

Call to the Third USLAW National Assembly

December 4-6, 2009 – Wyndham O’Hare Hotel, Chicago, IL

6810 North Mannheim Road, Rosemont, IL 60018

An International Call to Labor for

World Wide Peace with Economic and Social Justice

in a Time of War and Economic Crisis

Featuring:

Iraqi Oil Worker Union Leaders

Pakistani Women, Youth & Labor leaders

Scholars and Policy Experts on Afghanistan

Antiwar Trade Unionists from Across the US

Iraq & Afghan War Veterans

We are at a turning point in US History. In 2008 the labor movement had a moment of triumph, playing a critical role in electing Barack Obama and a majority Democratic Congress. In 2009 we find ourselves still in the middle of a devastating economic crisis with wars and militarism standing between working people and the peaceful just world we seek and deserve.

This is a moment of both peril and promise. USLAW is challenged to develop a program and organizing strategy that will expand and deepen the influence and effectiveness of antiwar forces within the labor movement, while continuing to play a leading role within the broader antiwar movement.

This is the context in which USLAW will convene its third National Assembly in Chicago, December 4-6^th.

The Assembly is open to delegates from USLAW affiliates as well as individual associate members. It is the highest decision-making body of USLAW where we debate and adopt resolutions on a range of issues that establish USLAW policy and strategic direction for the next three years. The Assembly will elect the leadership that will guide the organization, and has the authority to make changes in the By-Laws that govern USLAW.

In October 2003 at the historic founding Assembly of USLAW, the delegates adopted a visionary Mission Statement that calls for:

A just foreign policy
An end to U.S. occupation of foreign countries,
Redirecting the nation’s resources from inflated military spending to meeting the needs of working families
Supporting our troops and their families by bringing the troops home now
Protecting workers’ rights, civil rights, civil liberties and the rights of immigrants
Solidarity with workers and their organizations around the world

In the Fall of 2009, the need to organize based on these principles is greater than ever.

IRAQ

Despite hundreds of billions of dollars, more than 4300 US fatalities and an unknown number of Iraqi deaths and personal trauma, the people of Iraq and the US have little to show for it. Violence and economic devastation abound. More than 130,000 US troops and an even greater number of private contractors remain on Iraqi soil. Iraqi workers still have no right to union representation, as the US supported government clings to Saddam’s 1987 anti-union labor law. Global corporations hover over Iraq like vultures waiting for the opportunity to seize control of Iraqi resources

AFGHANISTAN

In Afghanistan, after 8 years of war the US faces another quagmire of death, dollars and destruction, with the added elements of drug lords, massive corruption and untold human dislocation and suffering. This is now President Obama’s war – a war that threatens to undermine both Obama’s and labor’s domestic agenda, much as Vietnam did to LBJ’s.

PAKISTAN

Meanwhile Pakistan, a country with 173 million people ruled by a corrupt regime with a nuclear arsenal, is threatened with dangerous destabilization as the US has turned it into part of a military battlefield in what is now a regional war.

MILITARISM

The giant sucking sound you hear is the US military budget of 2/3 of a trillion dollars that consumes 58 cents of every tax dollar as it drains away precious resources from meeting human needs.

Labor can never have a sustainable full employment economy, healthcare for all, an environmentally responsible energy policy, and humane immigration policy while billions of dollars and countless lives are squandered on unwinnable and unnecessary wars that make us no safer but make a small elite very rich. The Iraq and Afghan wars will distract from and overwhelm any possibility of implementing a progressive agenda.

USLAW has had a powerful effect in the labor movement since its formation in 2003, helping to alter how organized labor views foreign policy. But our mission is far from over. USLAW is the only voice of workers that brings them to the forefront in linking the struggle for a just society to the struggle for a just foreign policy.

U.S. labor needs a larger, more powerful and influential USLAW.

Our challenge is to refocus and re-energize our movement, to more clearly make the connection between the economic crisis, a national economy that operates in service to the military-industrial complex and a militarized foreign policy that puts our country at odds with most of the people of the world. We need to figure out how to make foreign policy a legitimate subject of discussion and an important concern to be addressed by our labor movement – in much the same way concern for the environment and a sustainable economy is now understood to be a legitimate focus for organized labor.

Our task is to expand the vision of the labor movement so that unions serve as more than instruments for reshaping our workplaces. They must become instruments for reshaping our world.

Come to Chicago to help

US Labor Against the War

Chart a Path to Peace with Justice

For registration and hotel reservation information,

Visit www.uslaboragainstwar.org/09Assembly

Cindy Sheehan in Austin, June 10 – June 12

Leslie — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 05:16:46 +0000

Wednesday, June 10 – Friday, June 12

Cindy Sheehan Book Tour Events

Antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan will be in Austin as part of a tour for her book, Myth America: 10 Greatest Myths of the Robber Class and the Case for Revolution. On Wednesday, June 10, Camp Casey Alumni will host her at the First Unitarian Universalist Church, 4700 Grover. At 6:30 pm, Thom the World Poet will join fiddler Rich Bowden and percussionist Kathy Rowell and other musicians on stage, and then Sheehan will speak and sign books. Then on Thursday, June 11, Sheehan will speak at 7 pm at Brave New Books, 1904-B Guadalupe, in the auditorium downstairs. Finally, on Friday, June 12, Book Woman, 5501 No. Lamar #A-105, will host a reception and talk by Sheehan from 5 to 6:30.

TSEU General Assembly passes antiwar resolution Oct. 5

Leslie — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:54:42 +0000

Austin, October 5, 2008. The biennial statewide general assembly of the 12,000 member Texas State Employees Union (CWA Local 6186) passed an antiwar resolution Sunday morning, Oct. 5. TxLAW members and other TSEU activists promoted the resolution, which passed by a voice vote, though not without considerable opposition. We publicized the resolution prior to the Assembly and got a number of folks to enthusiastically sign on. More signed on when they arrived at the Assembly and learned about the resolution. We tried to talk to a lot of delegates during the weekend and we passed out numerous copies of the resolution. Our union has a large and diverse membership, so opposition was to be expected. It was mostly along three lines: people who argued the resolution was unnecessary and divisive; veterans (especially those who have served in Iraq) and family of deployed military members, who believe in the wars; people who oppose the war in Iraq but believe the Afghanistan war needs to be fought. Of course, many veterans supported the resolution. We believed it was appropriate for our union to consider an antiwar resolution at this time. The human and financial toll of these wars has a direct effect on members of our union and on the people we serve.

Below is the text of our resolution. You can read the national resolution on a previous news post on this website. Our resolution has been posted on the national US Labor Against the War website. We appreciate the attention! See it at http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?list=type&type=52

Resolution adopted by Texas State Employees Union 2008 General Assembly, October 5, 2008

Whereas: TSEU members, family, and friends are among those who’ve been killed and wounded, who are veterans, or who are now in harm’s way.

Whereas: The U.S. continues to spend billions of dollars on these wars that we need at home for public services, veterans services, infrastructure rebuilding, and public worker pay and benefits.

Whereas: U.S. and Iraqi government attacks on the Iraqi labor movement are an affront to labor unions everywhere.

Whereas: The national convention of our parent union, the Communications Workers of America, adopted a strong resolution opposing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, supporting our troops and veterans, and supporting our union brothers and sisters in Iraq.

RESOLVED: TSEU/CWA Local 6186 adopts the national CWA resolution.

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.

TSEU General Assembly will consider antiwar resolution

Leslie — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:34:37 +0000

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

Working for Peace and Labor Rights in Iraq and Afghanistan: In support of resolution passed at 2008 CWA national convention

Whereas: Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been a disaster for the U.S. people, U.S. military members, and the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Whereas: TSEU members, family, and friends are among those who’ve been killed and wounded, who are veterans, or who are now in harm’s way.

Whereas: The U.S. continues to spend billions of dollars on these wars that we need at home for public services, veterans services, infrastructure rebuilding, and public worker pay and benefits.

Whereas: U.S. and Iraqi government attacks on the Iraqi labor movement are an affront to labor unions everywhere.

Whereas: The national convention of our parent union, the Communications Workers of America, adopted a strong resolution opposing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, supporting our troops and veterans, and supporting our union brothers and sisters in Iraq.

RESOLVED: TSEU/CWA Local 6186 adopts the national CWA resolution.

Antiwar resolution to be presented at TSEU general assembly

Leslie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:40:23 +0000

Activists will present a resolution opposing the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at the general assembly of the Texas State Employees Union/CWA Local 6186, to be held Oct. 3 – 5 in Austin. The resolution will be an endorsement of the antiwar resolution passed in June at the national convention of the Communication Workers of America, TSEU’s parent union.

Here’s the CWA resolution. We will publish the proposed TSEU resolution when its wording is finalized.

2008 CWA Convention Resolution: Working for Peace and Labor Rights in Iraq
Communications Workers of America
June 28th, 2008
Resolution 70A-08-9

The military actions of the Bush administration in the Middle East have reached a critical point, one which may commit future administrations to an expanded war. The costs of that war are now running over $341 million per day and total more than $531 billion to date. These costs will be borne by generations to come.

The money spent on this war could be spent to repair our nation’s infrastructure and restore social programs that have been devastated by years of Republican neglect. But the cost in human Iives is even more important, with 4,104 of our young men and women killed to date, over 30,000 wounded, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children killed.

The Iraqi labor movement also has been devastated. It is increasingly dangerous to be a union leader in Iraq. The Iraqi labor movement reports that union property has been seized and destroyed, bank accounts have been frozen, and leaders have been abducted, arrested and assassinated. With their lives in danger, many labor leaders have been forced to leave the country.

Following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Coalition Provisional Authority kept intact a 1987 decree by Saddam Hussein outlawing unions in the public sector and in public enterprises. This ban has been continued by the current government of Nouri Al-Maliki. In place of free union elections, the government is imposing an elections process. This is an affront to the principles of free trade unionism and counter to the Iraqi government’s 2004 pledge to create a law that would comply with International Labor Organization (ILO) standards and guarantee workers the right to form their own trade unions.

A coalition of international labor rights organizations, including the AFL-CIO, is calling for the lraqi government to cease its interference with lraqi unions and to respect workers’ rights to form unions. In the United States, local unions, state and regional labor organizations and others have built a solidarity network – U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW). USLAW has sponsored two visits by lraqi trade unionists to the United States and continues to provide a key link between U.S. workers and our brothers and sisters in the Iraqi labor movement.

RESOLVED: CWA continues to support our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and believes that the best support is to bring them home and give them all medical treatment, care and benefits they need and deserve.

RESOLVED: CWA encourages all Locals to unite with labor unions here and internationally in the growing movement against the war and to deepen their active solidarity with the Iraqi trade unionists.

RESOLVED: CWA Joins with the AFL-CIO and other labor organizations to call on the lraqi government to take immediate steps to bring Iraq into compliance with International Labor Organization core labor standards.