Anti-war & Black activists unite against Libya
war
A continuing mobilization against the U.S. war on Libya has taken place in
cities across the country. Packed, standing room only audiences at major
meetings have heard former Congressperson Cynthia
McKinney report on her June fact-finding trip to Libya with the
Dignity delegation. In every meeting the message rings out: Stop the U.S./NATO
bombing of Libya.
In the coming ten days Cynthia McKinney is scheduled to speak at meetings
in Boston on Saturday, August 6, in Los
Angeles on Sunday, August 7, in Vancouver on Tuesday,
August 9. McKinney will speak at the Millions March in
Harlem of August 13 along with Minister Farrakhan and other
opponents of war and sanctions on Libya and Zimbabwe. She is scheduled to speak
at 2 meeting in North Carolina on Sunday, August
14 hosted by the Black Workers for Justice in Rocky Mount and
later at a historic civil rights church in Durham.
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TOUR EXPENSES
The destructive bombing attacks on Libya by the Pentagon and NATO are highly
unpopular in the United States, although you wouldn’t know it from
corporate media coverage.
Proof of this can be seen in a speaking tour that has now grown
to 21 cities. The tour is coordinated by the International Action
Center, in coordination with a broad range of other organizations. It is this
unified approach of working with a whole range of other progressive political,
religious and community organizations that has defined meetings in every
city.
Mass meetings in St Louis MO, Pittsburgh PA, Baltimore MD, Detroit MI and
Denver CO are now on the upcoming agenda.
In New York City on July 30 McKinney spoke at historic Riverside
Church. An overflow crowd of more than 500 people packed
a room that seated more than 400.
The meeting was well attended by activists from various anti-war
organizations. It also attracted an equal number of community organizers and
leaders from nearby Harlem.
When she was in Congress, McKinney represented a largely African-American
district in Georgia. She and other speakers characterized the attack on Libya
as a “racist war” that is part of an imperialist strategy to
recolonize Africa.
In her talk, McKinney put the war against Libya in the context of the
continuing brutality in the U.S. against people of color, despite the election
of a Black president. She called out the names of half a dozen innocent young
Black men who have recently been gunned down by police, from San Francisco to
New York.
Sharing the podium with McKinney were prominent fighters for justice in the
New York metropolitan area, including Larry Hamm of
the People’s Organization for Progress and Saleem Muhammad Aktar of the
Muslim American Alliance and Muslim American Taskforce.
Minister Akbar Muhammed, International Representative of
the Nation of Islam, who visited Libya numerous times, stressed at the New York
meeting and at previous meetings, the importance of the developing alliance
among African-American forces, the anti-imperialist left and Muslims in
opposing U.S. aggression in Africa and the Middle East.
Ramsey Clark who spoke at several meetings, including
NYC and Atlanta, stressed the responsibility of anti-war forces in the United
States to stand up against the Pentagon and the corporate-military-industrial
complex, especially at a time when the public treasury is being looted to pay
for ever more frequent and costly aggression against poor countries.
Sara Flounders of the International Action Center the
coordinator of the tour, now to 19 cities, focused in her talks on the role of
corporate media and government propaganda to demonization the Libyan government
and justify war crimes and massive destruction.It is
an effort to create a racist Pentagon lynch mob mentality to recolonize Africa.
It must be resisted.
Khalifa Elderbak, a young Libyan studying in the U.S., told
the New York City and Northampton MA audiences he was astounded by the media
lies about what was happening in his country. He described how, seeing on the
news that the Gadhafi government of Libya had bombed his hometown, he called
dozens of relatives and friends back home, only to be told that the story was
totally false. But days later it was all too true that NATO jets were bombing
his hometown. Khalifa Elderbak will also speak in Boston on August 6.
The New York program also featured speakers who raised issues of
unemployment, hunger and homelessness, which are endemic in communities of
color. High school student Dinae Anderson spoke
eloquently about the hunger already gripping poor areas. She informed about a
campaign in New York to restore and expand food stamps under the slogan
“Feed the hungry, not the Pentagon.” CCNY student Sasha
Murphy of the ANSWER Coalition spoke in support of "Libya for
Libyans" and "money for education, not the bombing of
Libya."
Johnnie Stevens, speaking for Workers World Party, got
a warm response as he urged participation in an Aug. 13 protest in Harlem
against imperialist intervention in Africa. He then recapitulated decades of
deadly U.S. imperialist intervention in Africa, from the assassination of
Congo’s independence leader, Patrice Lumumba, to today’s build-up
of U.S. forces on the continent. He compared the “rebels” in Libya
to the “rebels” in the U.S. Civil War who tried to perpetuate the
enslavement of African people.
Glen Ford, of the Black Is Back Coalition, analyzed the
role of President Barack Obama in carrying out the program of the financiers
and warmongers. He reminded the audience that Obama, even while campaigning on
the slogan of change, had said two weeks before his election that he would be a
compromiser, and he certainly has kept that promise.
Teresa Gutierrez of the May 1
Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights, Rocio
Silverio of the IAC and Professor Asha
Samad co-chaired the rally, which opened with a welcome from
the Rev. Robert B. Coleman of the Riverside Church
Prison and Imam Aiyub Abdul Baqi of the Islamic
Leadership Council of NY.
In Newark, N.J. two days earlier, McKinney had spoken to
another standing-room-only meeting in Newark at Abyssinian Baptist Churchorganized by the Peoples Organization for Progress. At the meeting the
Newark City Council gave McKinney an award for telling truth to power. Members
of the Newark City Council were part of the program along with the New Black
Panther Party and representatives of major African American churches in
Newark.
Large crowds in Atlanta, other cities
A week earlier, McKinney had spoken before another large crowd
of over 500 in Atlanta on Sunday, July 24 at the
Shrine of the Black Madonna in her home state. There, too, turnout was massive
from the Black community, whose youth are constantly besieged by recruiters for
the armed forces — often seen as the only alternative to nonexistent jobs
and education for those in the U.S. who suffer racist oppression. The Atlanta
meeting was organized by a broad coalition including the World African Diaspora
Union (Georgia), the Nation of Islam, All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party
(Georgia), the African Community Centers and the International Action
Center.
The current tour began in Houston TX on July 7. It included a meeting
organized by Veterans for Peace at the annual Peacestock in Hager City City WI
and by Women Against Military Madness and Stop FBI Repression and others in
Minneapolis MN on July 9. In Albany the Bethlehem
Neighbors for Peace, Women Against War, Veterans for Peace organized a large
meeting on July 10. A Meeting in Washington DC was organized by the American
Muslim Alliance and American Muslim Taskforce. It was followed by a standing
room only meeting on July
14, held at the historic Friends Meeting House in
Northampton MA organized by Western Mass IAC
and the Northampton Committee to Stop the War in Iraq.
The coalition of forces sponsoring the present tour of 19 cities and earlier
six meetings showed that the active anti-war movement, especially those groups
affiliated with the United National Antiwar Coalition and the Answer Coalition,
had recognized the imperialist, predatory character of a war that the Obama
administration claimed was to “protect civilians.”
A Full listing of the current tout is listed below
National tour now of 21 cities, organized by International Action
Center and others in coordination with many antiwar and community organizations
from July 7 to August 28, 2011.
July 7 Thursday- Houston, TX
July 9 Saturday - Peacestock, Hager City, WI & Minneapolis,
MN
July 10, Sunday – Albany, NY,
July 11, Monday –Washington DC,
July 14, Thursday – Northampton MA,
July 24, Sunday –Atlanta, GA
July 28, Thursday – Newark, NJ,
July 30, Saturday – New York City, NY
August 6, Saturday – Boston, MA
August 7, Sunday – Los Angeles, CA
August 9, Tuesday – Vancouver BC, Canada
August 13, Saturday - NYC with Millions March in Harlem
August 14, Sunday - Rocky Mount, NC
August 14, Sunday – Durham, NC
August 19, Friday – St Louis MO
August 21, Sunday - Pittsburg, PA
August 22, Monday - Cleveland, OH
August 25, Thursday - Baltimore, MD
August 26, Friday - Philadelphia, PA
August 27, Saturday – Detroit, MI
August 28, Sunday – Denver CO
- - - -- - - - - - - - -
HOUSTON, TX
July 7, 2011, 7:00 PM
Texas Southern University,
Public Affairs Building, Auditorium 114, Houston, TX
Sponsored by the Black Justice Coalition, the National Black United Front,
Houston 2011 Peace Camp, and the Harris County Green Party
PEACESTOCK, Wisconsin
Saturday, July 9, 2011 - 12 noon to 5pm
Organized by Veterans for Peace, Chapter 115
Bill Habedank, Executive Director 651-764-1866
C whabedank@yahoo.com
Peacestock address is N2934 750th St., Hager city WI 54014
www.peacestockvfp.org
MIINNEAPOLIS, MN
Saturday, July 9, 2011 at 7pm
Plymouth Congregational Church
1900 Nicollet Ave South Minneapolis, MN
Sponsored by: Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, Twin Cities Peace Campaign and
Women Against Military Madness.
FFI: 612-379-3899 or 612-827-5364.
description: "Cynthia McKinney & Sara Flounders on Libya (part 2)"
Former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, back from a recent
investigative fact-finding mission to Libya, with International Action
Center Director Sara Flounders.
Greatly differing from the corporate media's dominant narrative, McKinney
and Flounders put the NATO attacks on Libya in the context of European and
US interests. (July, 2011)
plus: highlights from 2010-11 Palestine Day celebrations in Robbinsdale.
_________________
MTN 17 viewers:
"Our World In Depth" cablecasts on Minneapolis Television Network (MTN)
Channel 17 on Saturdays at 9pm and Tuesdays at 8am, after DemocracyNow!
Households with basic cable may watch.
** TODAY, Sat, 8/6, 9pm and Tues, 8/9, 8am
"Cynthia McKinney & Sara Flounders on Libya (part 2)"
_________________
SPNN 15 viewers:
"Our World In Depth" cablecasts on St. Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN)
Channel 15 on Tuesdays at 5pm, midnight and Wednesday mornings at 10am,
after DemocracyNow! Households with basic cable may watch.
** Tues, 8/9, @ 5pm & midnight + Wed, 8/10, 10am
"Cynthia McKinney & Sara Flounders on Libya (part 2)"
______________________________________
"Our World In Depth" features analysis of public affairs with
consideration of and participation from Twin Cities area activists. "Our
World In Depth" is locally produced and not corporately influenced. Order
a dvd copy or contact us at ourworldindepth@gmail.com.
ALBANY, NY
Sunday, July 10, 3:00 - 5:00 pm
First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany, Channing Hall 405
Washington Avenue, Albany, NY
Sponsored by Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace, Tom Paine Chapter of Veterans for
Peace, Women Against War, Upper Hudson Peace Action, The Solidarity Committee
of the Capital District, Guilderland Neighbors for Peace. Donation of $10
requested, $5 unemployed and students, no one turned away. for
information: 518-439-1968 BethlehemNeighborsforPeace@yahoo.com
WASHINGTON DC
Monday, July 11 from 5:30 to 8:30pm
LIBYA: Contemplating Long-Term Consequences of the NATO Invasion
At: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW Washington, DC 20036.
Sponsored by: American Muslim Alliance, AMA Policy Forum,
National Director,AMA Foundation (AMA-F) Muhammad Salim Akhtar
Cell: 773-507-5335 Direct: 202-280-7466
NORTHAMPTON, MA.
Thursday, July 14th, 7:00 pm,
The historic Friends Meeting House,
43 Center Street, Suite 202, 2nd floor, Northampton, MA, 01060.
Organized by Western Mass IAC and the Northampton Committee to Stop the War in
Iraq. Co-sponsored by: Alliance for Peace and Justice, Pioneer Valley Code Pink
and the Pioneer Valley Green/Rainbow Local Party
Contact: Nicholas Camerota, (413) 896-5219, or email: cadonaghy@yahoo.com
ATLANTA, GA
Sun, July 24 at 4:00 p.m.
At the historic Shrine of the Black Madonna Culture Center,
West End Neighborhood
946 Ralph David Abernathy, Atlanta, GA 30310
Donate $ at iacenter.org/africa/donatemckinneylibyatour
Sponsored by: Africa Ascension, World African Diaspora Union (WADU)-ATL, The
Nation of Islam, All African Peoples Revolutionary Party (AAPRP)-ATL, the
Religious Heritage of the African World – Pan African Ministers, the
African Community Centers, UNIA/ACL, The Georgia Green Party, International
Action Center, African Association of Georgia, the New Black Panther Party, The
Dignity Delegation, Sankofa United Church of Christ, Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC), The Shrine of the Black Madonna, First African
Church, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, The Congo Coalition…
Contacts: Min. Menelik at 404-527-7756 or Bro. Sobukwe at 404-456-7962.
http://www.wadupam.org
NEWARK, NJ
Thursday, July 28 6:30 pm
Abyssinian Baptist Church
224 West Kinney St, Newark, NJ
Between Broad St & Irving Turner Blvd.
#5 Bus from Newark Penn Station
Organized by POP – Peoples Organization for Progress
(come prepared to contribute)
Contact Lawrence Hamm 973-801-0001
peacejusticecoalition@gmail.com
NEW YORK CITY, NY
JULY 30 • SAT • 5 pm
AT THE RIVERSIDE CHURCH
Assembly Hall, 122nd St & Riverside Dr, NY, NY (Enter at 91 Claremont Ave
entrance) Light refreshments served
NYC Program is in coordination with:
The Riverside Church Prison Ministries and Stop the War on Libya Coalition:
(List in formation) AMA American Muslim Alliance, American Muslim Task Force,
Nation of Islam, Freedom Party, Answer Coalition, Black Is Back Coalition
December 12 Movement, The Dignity Delegation, International Action Center.
With support from:
Bail Out the People Movement ,BAYAN-USA, Colia Clark, Green Party Candidate
U.S. Senate 2012, December 12 Movement, FIST • Fight Imperialism Stand
Together, Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC), Haiti Liberté, Harlem
Fightback Against War at Home & Abroad, Harlem Tenants Council, Honduras
Resistencia USA, International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia
Abu-Jamal, Jersey City Peace Movement, Manhattan Local of the Green Party, May
1 Workers and Immigrants Rights Coalition, Pakistan USA Freedom Forum, Peoples
Organization for Progress, SI • Solidarity Iran, Committee to Stop FBI
Repression, UNAC • United National Antiwar Coalition, Washington Heights
Counter - Recruitment Group, Workers World Party, World Can’t Wait,
212-633-6646 www.IACenter.org
BOSTON, MA
SATURDAY AUGUST 6 - 4 p.m.
St. Katherine Drexel Church, 175 Ruggles St., Roxbury, MA
Cosponsored by International Action Center • Fanmi Lavalas Boston •
Boston United National Antiwar Committee • Minister Don Mohammad, Temple
11, Nation of Islam* • Veterans for Peace, Chapter 9, Smedley Butler
Brigade • Chelsea Uniting Against the War • Women’s Fightback
Network • Bishop Filipe Teixeira, OFSJC, Diocese of St Francis of Assisi,
CCA • Steve Gillis, VP, USW 8751 Boston School Bus Union* • Ed
Childs, Chief Shop Steward, UNITE-HERE local 26* • N’COBRA
(Reparations), Manchester, NH (list in formation)* for id only
For information in Boston call: 617-522-6626 or go to www.iacboston.org
LOS ANGELES, CA
SUNDAY, August 7th at 2pm
SEIU Local 721 Auditorium, 500 S Virgil Ave, L.A.
Cosponsored by: All African Peoples Revolutionary Party-S, International Action
Center, UNIA, BAYAN-USA, ALBA-USA, KPFK Unpaid Staff Union, Black August
Organizing Committee, Southern California Immigration Coalition, Latino Caucus
of SEIU Local 721,
For more information call 323 306-6240
VANCOUVER BC, CANADA
Tuesday, AUGUST 9 7pm
Vancouver Heritage Hall
3102 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada
Organized by Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO) - For more information 604-322-1764, info@mawovancouver.org
www.mawovancouver.org.
Sat. Aug 13 NYC Speaking at the Millions March in
Harlem ALL OUT Sat, Aug 13 -- Millions March in Harlem against
Libyan war
Join the International Action Center at the August 13 Millions
March in Harlem!Protest the war in Libya, the overall U.S./NATO
attack on Africa, and the attack on Black communities in the U.S.
The IAC contingent will be meeting at thesubway entrance for the
2/3 trains at 112th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard at 10 a.m.
According to the event's website (http://www.millionsmarchharlem.com/): "The Millions March in
Harlem buzz is in the streets around the country. Posters and flyers are
everywhere and people are excitedly talking about the need for unified action
and change.
"The Millions March in Harlem … will focus on the attack on
African people on the continent and in the United States. The heinous bombing
of Libya by the U.S. and NATO, illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe by the West,
and the Bloomberg administration's destruction of housing, jobs, education,
health care and police abuse, are all a systematic assault on African
communities."
For more information on the IAC contingent call212-633-6646. We hope to see you
there!
ROCKY MOUNT, NC
Sunday, August 14 at 3pm
Imperial Centre for Arts & Sciences, 270 Gaye St., Rocky Mount, NC
Event co-sponsored by Workers World Party Durham branch, Black Workers for Justice, In the Name of Humanity and Raleigh-Durham FIST.
http://raleighfist.wordpress.com
Contact number is 919-539-2051 or 252-442-8123
DURHAM, NC
Sunday, August 14 at 7pm
St. Joseph's AME Church, 2521 Fayetteville St, Durham, NC
Event co-sponsored by Workers World Party Durham branch, Black Workers for Justice, In the Name of Humanity and Raleigh-Durham FIST.
http://raleighfist.wordpress.com
Contact number is 919-539-2051 or 252-442-8123
St Louis MO
Friday, August 19
Busch Student Center, Wool Room at 7pm
St Louis University Campus
20 North Grand St.
St Louis, MO
Sponsored by: Universal African Peoples Organization and Black Student Law Association of St Louis University
314-454-9005 or 314-477-4629
Pittsburgh PA Sunday, August 21st at 2pm
Monumental Baptist Church (2240 Wylie Avenue) Download
flyers
Baltimore, MD
Thursday, August 25, 7 P.M
Baltimore Welcomes Cynthia McKinney
at Union Baptist Church, 1219 Druid Hill Ave. Balto. Md. 21217
Eyewitness Report from Libya - Impact of the U.S. War in Africa
Baltimore Needs - Jobs, not War!
For more info. on activities throughout the day and sponsors of the rally
Call: 410-218-4835 or email apcbaltimore@pipeline.com
Philadelphia, PA August 26, Friday - 6:30pm Report from Libya: Impact of U.S. war in Africa<
AT CALVARY CHURCH
48 & BALTIMORE AVE., PHILADELPHIA, PA
Hear former U.S. Congressperson Cynthia McKinney, who recently
returned from leading a delegation to Libya in opposition to the U.S. criminal
destruction of Libya.
For more information & a complete list of cities or to help donate for the
tour expenses:
IACenter.org • PhillyIAC@peoplesmail.net • 267.257.7742 • 610.931.2615 •International Concerned Fam. & Friends of Mumia Abu Jamal •
Askia Coalition • Del. Valley Veterans for America • Workers World
Party Philly • Innocence Project • International Action Center
• Brandywine Peace Community • Philly ANSWER • Philly Party
for Socialism & Liberation Download pdf flyer
DETROIT, MI
Saturday, August 27 - 4 PM to 7 PM
University of Michigan Detroit Center
Ann Arbor Conference Room, 3662 Woodward Avenue, at M.L King Blvd
Detroit, MI 48201.
Sponsored by: MECAWI - Michigan Emergency Committee Against War &
Injustice, , the National Conference of Black Lawyers Michigan Chapter, the
Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop
Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shut-offs, Freedom Road Socialist
Organization, Workers World Party, Green Party of Michigan, Detroit Greens and the Pan-African News Wire.
For More info: www.mecawi.org or
http://panafricannews.blogspot.com313-671-3715
Denver CO
Sunday, August 28
(Details to follow)
Cynthia McKinney At Riverside Church: Complete streaming of reportback from Libya
International Action Center • Solidarity Center • 147 W. 24th St., FL 2 • New York, NY 10011 Phone 212.633.6646 • E-mail: iacenter@iacenter.org • En Español: iac-cai@iacenter.org
