A New Year's Message from IAC founder Ramsey Clark: 2008
International
Action Center
55 West 17th Street, Fifth Floor
New York, NY 10011
212-633-6646
www.IACenter.org
A New Year's Message
from IAC founder Ramsey Clark
We are at a crucial
historic juncture.
We cannot sit
back and expect that change will just happen now. In order to make real
change, people must be mobilized and organized. Otherwise, all of the
hopes for a new direction can be quickly diverted.
The International
Action Center (IAC) is unique. Its role is recognized worldwide and here
in the U.S. This is because the IAC provides—for activists and
political movements—a bold, independent voice that is so needed
today.
Flouting the mandate
of the people of the U.S. who want the troops withdrawn and this horrific war
ended, the U.S. government has just imposed a new "Status of
Forces" Agreement on Iraq which would keep tens of thousands of U.S.
troops and mercenaries there for the next three years (at the cost of $12
billion a month)!
While the entire Bush
program has been repudiated, the atrocities and illegal imprisonment continue
at Guantanamo. U.S. missiles rain down on villages in Pakistan, killing
civilians, and they, together with NATO weapons, increasingly hit children,
women and men in Afghanistan--where tens of thousands of U.S. troops could
likely be sent. Bellicosity continues towards Iran and other nations in
the Middle East. NATO is expanding which raises the danger of new
confrontations with Russia in Georgia, the Ukraine, the Balkans, Eastern Europe
and elsewhere.
The military budget
continues to grow at a gargantuan rate, far surpassing that of any in U.S.
history, diverting massive funds and depriving millions here of
needed health care, housing, and education, while infrastructures
deteriorate, and thousands hard-hit by hurricane disasters have
been abandoned by the government.
The spiraling economic
meltdown means millions of people are losing their jobs and homes while states
implement massive and harsh cutbacks in vital social programs. Yet
trillions of dollars in "bailouts" are handed over to the banks,
insurance companies and other financial institutions of wealth.
But there
is reason for hope--there is opposition to the wars abroad, to the
violations of civil liberties and basic rights abroad and at home, including
the terrible witch hunt on immigrants, and to the sweeping economic
attacks on poor and working people as the policy-driven greater concentration
of wealth and growth of poverty intensifies. And millions of people feel
hope because of the historic election of an African-American man.
It is critical
that organizing grows on every front. In order to make real
change, it takes mobilizing and strong, independent and decisive
actions.
The
International Action Center (IAC) is well-situated and long-experienced to be a
major organizing force in this
period. The IAC has
been a consistent, determined and independent voice and major
mobilizing center against U.S. wars, sanctions and military interventions for
17 years, since the first Gulf War. This principled organization of
activists has courageously held protests, meetings and forums across the
country, opposing U.S. aggression against Iraq, Iran, Cuba, Haiti,
Venezuela, Palestine, Somalia, Pakistan, Lebanon, Sudan, Bolivia, Panama and
Korea.
IAC organizers
have produced many books--translated into several languages—for the
public, scholars, and anti-war protesters here and worldwide, while providing a
center and resources for a new generation of activists. The People's
Video Network has produced many politically-educational videos, while building
an alternative media network.
The IAC has taken on
struggles against racism, bigotry, injustice and more--from standing with
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita survivors in their still unmet quest for justice,
to supporting immigrants' rights, opposing the death penalty and
challenging military recruitment.
And now, in this
crucial time of economic crisis and hardship, the IAC, which is fiercely
committed to a Peoples' Agenda, has helped launch and
organize campaigns against home foreclosures and evictions, utility
shut-offs, mass transit rate increases, and for healthcare.
The IAC looks forward
to a new year of struggle against war and political, social and economic
injustice!
Our New Year's
Resolution for 2009 must be to organize together tirelessly to end the
occupation of Iraq, to stop a new war against Iran or any nation, and to stop
incessant provocations against Islam, Venezuela, Russia, Bolivia, Cuba and
others. We must work to promote international friendship and
respect for humankind and to oppose the policies of domination, globalization
and war.
We invite you to join in the new year of activism with the IAC and to support its vital work.
You can make a
difference!
Donate to help the International Action Center organize
in 2009
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