Dear Friends and Supporters,
We are writing this at a critical time in the struggle for justice and peace,
but one in which there is also great potential. The war in Iraq drags on
towards a fifth year, despite a clear mandate from the people to bring the
troops home now. The Bush Administration is still threatening the people of
Iran with ominous sanctions and a new war.
An estimated two million people will lose their homes from the foreclosure
crisis. Racist attacks are on the rise, from the injustice in Jena , Louisiana
, to CNN’s Lou Dobb’s virulent anti-immigrant crusade.
Millions of people, one-fourth of them children, have no health insurance,
while affordable housing and access to education soars out of the reach of
many.
On every front, we face new challenges–and new opportunities to reach out
to more people and build the movement for peace and social justice.
It
is vitally important that we mobilize from an independent grassroots
perspective. To do this, we need to maintain and strengthen
independent organizing centers like the International Action Center .
You can help by donating at http://www.iacenter.org/iacdonate.shtml
The IAC’s most important contribution in its 16-year history is in
creatively linking opposition to U.S. wars abroad and support for the struggles
here at home. We are an ongoing force for unity and solidarity.
The IAC is a home and an essential meeting space for youth
groups, such as Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST); emergency efforts
opposing racist attacks, police brutality and immigrant round-ups; as well as
groups organizing against the imprisonment of political prisoners Mumia
Abu-Jamal, noted African-American journalist on Pennsylvania’s death row;
Native American leader Leonard Peltier; and the Cuban 5, jailed for opposing
attacks on their country, and many others.
Solidarity committees for struggles in the Philippines , Palestine , Pakistan ,
Haiti , Zimbabwe, Korea , and Cuba and immigrant rights’ organizations
rely on our support and active assistance. There are daily requests for help in
making banners and signs, designing web sites, laying-out posters and leaflets,
and circulating
petitions. Our computers, phones, fax machines, copier, sound and video
equipment are in constant demand.
It is time to step up the pressure--
In 2006, voters by the millions showed that they wanted an end to the brutal
and illegal U.S. occupation of Iraq .
Many thought that the newly elected representatives would end the war and bring
the troops home. But in the last year, the war budget has soared, the war is
still raging and it is clear that that voting alone will not stop the war. It
is time to step up the pressure. The leading Democratic presidential candidates
say they can’t commit to withdrawing troops before 2013. This means years
of war, tens of thousands of Iraqis dead and injured, many more U.S.
casualties, with soldiers returning to inadequate medical care and disability
benefits.
It means billions of dollars more that are desperately needed here for
healthcare, housing, education, food programs, and to rebuild New Orleans and
the Gulf Coast , will be spent on war and occupation.
"Stop the war" protestors camp-out on East and West
Coasts
The past year has been an active period of grassroots organizing against war
and occupation abroad. In March, IAC activists, working with the Troops Out Now
Coalition, staged a week-long, vibrant Encampment to Stop the War. We erected
tents, canopies, and billboards in Washington , D.C. On giant banners, visible
to thousands of people, we demanded an end to the war and war funding, and
called for
“Money for Jobs, Education and Healthcare, not
War.”
 |
Youth
organizers at the Encampment in Washington
|
In late September, the Encampment returned to Washington, with support and
participation from the Iraq Veterans for Peace; Green Party; Common Ground
Collective from New Orleans; New York Solidarity Committee for Katrina/Rita
Survivors; Artists and Activists Against the War; BAYAN-USA; May 1st Immigrant
Rights Coalition; International Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal;
People’s Organization for Progress; and many other national and local
organizations.
Lively workshops, cultural events, press conferences, and protests went on all
week, followed by a mass march of many thousands, then a sit-in by youth
activists on Constitution Avenue for several hours. Activists traveled from
across the U.S. to join in; one family bicycled from Washington State to
participate.
On the West Coast, scores of anti-war and social justice organizations
organized teach-ins and actions at a one-week tent city in Los Angeles
culminating in a march on September 29.
Healthcare not Warfare--
IAC activists, working with cast members from Michael Moore’s movie
SiCKO, organized the Healthcare Not Warfare Campaign, demanding that the
billions in war funding instead be used to provide care for the 47 million
people here who lack health coverage and the 17 million who are underinsured
for catastrophic illnesses. During the September protests, we held a
candlelight vigil with the SiCKO cast to remember all those who have lost their
lives due to lack of adequate medical care.
Stop War On Iran--
Two years ago, the IAC launched StopWarOnIran.org, a global
campaign to expose and speak out against increasing U.S. threats against Iran .
Initial signers included Howard Zinn; Bishop Thomas Gumbleton; George Galloway,
MP; Michael Parenti; Margarita Papandreou, the former First Lady of Greece;
Tony Benn, MP; Denis J. Halliday, former UN Assistant Secretary-General; Harold
Pinter, 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature; and Ardeshir Ommani,
American-Iranian Friendship Committee co-founder.
The Stop War on Iran campaign has collected tens of thousands of signatures on
the online petition. It has held public speak-outs and teach-ins in many cities
to educate and oppose U.S. threats on Iran .
Placards protesting U.S. intervention in Iran have been a significant presence
at anti-war marches.
Meanwhile, the standard of living here is falling, layoffs continue, medical
benefits and pensions are in jeopardy. With the humongous war budget, directly
taking money from human needs, many families go without healthcare.
Students face high tuitions and cuts in student loans. Millions face losing
their homes due to the sub-prime mortgage crisis.
Housing is a right from Detroit to New Orleans--
IAC activists in Detroit , one of the areas hardest hit by the foreclosure
crisis, initiated an exciting new campaign calling upon Michigan’s
governor to declare a state of emergency and freeze all foreclosures
immediately.
Since the Hurricane Katrina disaster, the federal government has done almost
nothing to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast areas where poor and working
people, mostly African-American, lived.
Public housing is now being threatened with demolition in New Orleans .
The IAC endorsed an International Tribunal on Katrina and Rita in New Orleans
last August and sent a national delegation there to help present its important
findings. Hurricane survivors and experts testified for 30 hours on government
neglect in 15 areas. The international panel of jurists from eight countries
and the U.S. found that the U.S. Government“committed crimes against
humanity” by failing to “maintain functional levees” that
should have protected New Orleans from flooding and that it was their
“reckless disregard” and “negligence” that
“created the devastation” we see today.
The IAC maintains that those forced out of New Orleans have a right to return
with housing and jobs.
NO to U.S. intervention abroad--
The IAC has been involved in countless activities protesting U.S. intervention
abroad, including in Afghanistan, and U.S. support for Israel ’s
aggression against the Palestinian and Lebanese people. We oppose interference
in Latin America, Africa, the Caribbean, Middle East, Asia and the Balkans.
We are in solidarity with peoples worldwide struggling against militarism,
globalization, and poverty.
We oppose threats against the Venezuelan government led by President Hugo
Chavez which is building better lives for their people while it says NO to U.S.
globalization, free trade policies and military intervention on their
continent. We solidarize ourselves with the Cuban people who are building a
better society in spite of a decades-long U.S. blockade and U.S. base on their
soil. We support the Haitian people in the aftermath of a U.S.-backed coup
while we oppose U.S. military presence in the Philippines and Korea.
Stop racist attacks--
The IAC firmly opposes all discrimination against immigrants, including
the growing racist attacks by the corporate media.
We protest their detentions and deportations, denial of legal rights, jobs,
medical care, education, and separation of their families by government
agencies. The IAC was one of the initiating organizations in the May 1
Coalition for Immigrant Rights, and in the March 25th Coalition in Los Angeles
. This is an important priority for us.
The IAC protests racist injustice from coast-to-coast, from racial profiling to
unfairness in the criminal justice system. Our activists joined the massive
protests for justice for the Jena 6 in Jena , LA on Sept. 20th. The Jena 6 are
young Black men wrongfully arrested and prosecuted in Louisiana for defending
themselves against racist attacks.
Whether it’s affirmative action, the death penalty, curtailment
of civil liberties, women’s rights, student, youth, and worker
organizing, or opposing bigotry against the lesbian, gay, bi and trans
communities, the IAC is there.
Clearly, the Bush Administration continues to try to squash political
opposition and actions, and to subvert civil liberties. In protest, IAC
activists have worked with attorneys to bring lawsuits against Washington D.C.
and New York City agencies and Republican National Convention officials over
illegal arrests, surveillance, and other government misconduct.
NO to military recruitment--
IAC activist youth and military veterans boldly challenge the lies of military
recruiters. They speak out in high schools, on college campuses, and protest at
recruiting centers. Thousands of our book, “We Won’t Go: a
Guide to Counter-Recruiting and the Draft,” are used on U.S.
campuses. But we must do more—our young people deserve a better future
than the one the military offers.
NO to chemical weapons--
For 12 years the IAC has operated The Depleted Uranium Education
Project to expose the radioactive and toxic long-term effects of U.S.
weapons. Now, the DU Educators Packet, our highly effective teacher’s
curriculum, accompanies our widely-distributed film, “Poison DUst,”
produced by the People’s Video Network. The DU Educators Packet has been
used in high school classes, community colleges and in many meetings and
forums. We’re proud to say that it is used at The Different Drummer, a
coffee house and G.I. gathering place, run by Citizen Soldier, near Ft. Drum ,
NY .
Our focus on the impact of U.S. wars long after the bombs fall means ongoing
support for Vietnamese victims of the herbicide Agent Orange. We’ve
energetically worked on speaking tours and film showings about Vietnamese Agent
Orange survivors. The massive U.S. spraying of these chemicals during the
Vietnam War caused widespread deforestation. The damage to human life was
horrific, with terrible birth defects continuing to this day.
In June, the IAC helped organize for the U.S. Social Forum, where more than
15,000 activists from every state gathered with delegations from more than 60
countries. During this electrifying five-day conference, IAC activists held
workshops, participated in panels and helped to link issues while meeting and
networking with many young activists and new organizers.
We need an independent movement to raise these issues...
We ask you to help us!
Donate online at http://www.iacenter.org/iacdonate.shtml
Looking forward to 2008, we see great challenges and great opportunities. The
majority of the population here oppose the Bush agenda of endless war abroad,
attacks on civil liberties, cuts in the standard of living, medical care, and
other social programs at home.
But we know from history that it is only when people boldly mobilize
opposition to these policies that social and political change is
possible.
The year of struggle will begin with major actions on
January 21—Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday
holiday, against growing racism and attacks on immigrant
workers.
IAC activists will help to organize major demonstrations in March of
2008, the fifth anniversary of the brutal U.S. occupation of Iraq. And
we will be on the streets organizing at both the Republican National Convention
in Minneapolis and the Democratic National Convention in Denver next
summer.
We need to mobilize and organize like never before. The
majority of the people are with us—against endless war and racism, and
for healthcare, housing, and education for all. It’s time to put the
pressure on the government to get out of Iraq NOW, bring the troops home, and
put the funding into human needs. It’s time to stand in solidarity with
immigrants and against all racist attacks.
We need an independent organizing center to keep fighting on these fronts and
so many others, and with your continued help, the International Action Center
will keep up the struggle.
Your generous support and encouragement has been essential in helping
all of the IAC’s campaigns against war and injustice. None of
our work for the past 16 years could have been done without the concern,
involvement, and assistance of our friends and supporters. For that we are very
appreciative. It has made our organizing, outreach, and actions stronger.
Thanks for all of your help over the many years. Now, we need
your backing for the coming year to meet its challenges fully.
In solidarity and with our best wishes in the new year from our national
volunteer staff,
Sharon Black
Tyneisha Bowens
Miya Campbell
