US

Anti-war protests - Thousands of peace demonstrations

www.socialistworld.net, 28/09/2001
website of the committee for a workers' international, CWI

Even at this early stage, the anti-war movement is gathering pace across the US. Thousands have been involved in peace demonstrations. Over 2,000 marched in Berkeley. 500 demonstrated in Oberlin College, Ohio, where, as The Guardian reported (24 Sept), Socialist Alternative - the Socialist Party’s sister organisation in the US - was to the fore. A national anti-war network has been formed, covering at least 150 university campuses. A march on Washington is planned for 29 September when the IMF/World Bank were supposed to have met. Below we print extracts from a statement by the executive of United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE). 

This article first appeared in The Socialist

"Like all Americans, the members of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) are devastated by the mind-numbing loss of life caused by the terrorist attacks of 11 September...Many of the slain were union members, murdered at their place of work and on the job... We condemn unreservedly the hidden, unseen, faceless killers who are responsible for this crime against humanity... We continue with plans for our convention - the highest expression of our union democracy - with renewed commitment to freedom and solidarity... Today’s war against the terrorism of an evil few must not be confused with attacks on an ethnicity or religion. Verbal slurs and physical assaults against our Arab-American and Islamic neighbours and co-workers must be countered, condemned and stopped. As we mourn and as we rage, we also declare our resistance to efforts to use this tragedy to curtail our civil liberties or to engage in military adventures that can lead only to more carnage and senseless loss of life. Our greatest memorial to our fallen brothers and sisters will be a world of peace, tolerance and understanding, underscored by the solidarity of working people."

28 September 2001

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