A significant anti-war summit meeting took place Nov. 18 in the heart of “Little Senegal” in Harlem. The Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC) sponsored the event at the spacious Africa Kine Restaurant located on 116th Street near Frederick Douglass Blvd.
 Anti-war, community, labor activists meet in ‘Little Senegal' in Harlem, New York Nov.18. |
The turnout was standing room only. An estimated 150 organizers and activists—representing more than 50 different antiwar, community, immigrant and labor organizations from around the region—were in attendance.
Some of the key activists at the summit included Comrade Shahid, Pakistan U.S.A. Freedom Forum; Charlotte Kates, New Jersey Solidarity/Activists for the Liberation of Palestine; Ardeshir Ommani, American-Iranian Friendship Committee; members of FIST—Fight Imperialism, Stand Together—student and youth group; Pam Africa, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal; former Pennsylvania death-row inmate Harold Wilson; Mexican activist Brian Barraza; and a delegation of Latino immigrant workers representing the Freeport, Long Island Day Laborers. Elena Everett from Raleigh FIST spoke about the inspiring two-day wildcat strike carried out by a majority of Latin@ workers at the Smithfield, N.C., hog processing plant on Nov. 17 and 18.
Following a delicious Senegalese buffet/lunch, the meeting included opening and closing remarks from key activists, and then broke into smaller discussion groups. Fallou Gueye from the Union of African Workers-Senegal gave welcoming remarks. The four-hour meeting was co-chaired by Larry Holmes and Sharon Black from TONC and Sara Flounders from the International Action Center.
The group discussions on solidarity with liberation movements and countries fighting the empire were summarized by Ellie Ommani; on community, labor and anti-racist organizing by Philadelphia IAC activist Betsey Piette; on students, youth and counter-recruitment activism by Raleigh FIST organizer Dante Strobino; and on immigrant workers' rights by Teresa Gutierrez.
The following are some of the major issues that were agreed upon unanimously at the summit: The need to organize mass and militant actions in the streets to stop the wars abroad and at home now that the Nov. 7 elections are over. The importance of linking the fight against racism and national oppression to the anti-war struggle in order to build a strong, multi-national movement for social change. And the urgency of forging unity between all the anti-war formations to organize a national mobilization in Washington, D.C ., on March 17, the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war.
The proposal that was greeted with the most enthusiasm was the idea of launching an encampment in Washington DC to stop Congressional approval of mar war funding, sometime in the early spring of 2007.
In a preliminary report on the Nov. 18 meeting, a TONC statement read, “Participants in the meeting felt very strongly that notwithstanding important political differences within the broader anti-war movement, including past difficulties in working together, that it was most critical at this time when the mass struggle in the streets against the war needs to be revived, that all coalitions reject fragmentation, unnecessary divisiveness and competition around protest dates and national protest, and instead pull together so that the movement in the U.S. can do what the world is waiting for it to do and shut down the war machine.”
To help build for the March 17 mobilization, nationally coordinated days of action linking the anti-war, anti-racist and pro-worker movements will be called for Jan. 15—the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday. The follow-up TONC meeting will be held in New York on Dec. 5 at Solidarity Center. For more information, call 212-633-6646 or go to www.troopsoutnow.org
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Fallou Gueye
Hospitality is a big word in our culture. To have you in little Senegal is very important because we feel that you are just like us. We don't have borders. We are fighting for the same noble cause—to defeat imperialism which is the cause of war. People who are living here are deeply, deeply victimized and negatively impacted by that war. We are fighting against the war, we are fighting against IMF, World Bank. International corporations are dominating us daily and impacting negatively on our lives.
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Sara Flounders
What kind of a movement is being built? Connections must be made between Iraq , Palestine, Lebanon , Syria , Sudan , and North Korea . We have to look at the struggle globally; we can't allow the imperialists to criminalize and demonize the liberation movements. We must oppose the massive raids and detentions of our immigrant sisters and brothers and endless war and no money for education, day care, healthcare, etc. We are stronger when we are united, when we embrace these issues.
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Teresa Gutierrez
May 1 Coalition
We have to recognize the power that each and every one of us in the room represents because these are the same people who quickly shifted to support the rise of one of the most oppressed sectors of our class, immigrants, and came out on May 1 and supported workers marching around the country; when you consider the support that this sector of the anti-war movement has for one of the most oppressed sectors, you have to know how extremely powerful this support is. What TONC can do is everything possible to bring out the anti-war movement for May Day. The workers know what the heck they are doing like in Smithfield, No. Carolina. What a contribution the anti-war movement is making to the people of Iraq , Palestine and everywhere by making this kind of this connection.
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Larry Holmes
The top Democratic Party politicians were not against the war in principle. They are not against wars of colonial conquests; they want to recolonize the Middle East . Their problem against the [Iraq] war is that it was done badly, incompetently. Their program now is how to fix it. They don't have an anti-colonial difference, or anti-exploitation difference or anti-racist difference [with Republicans]. It's just a tactical difference of people who have the same interests. The [Nov. 7] anti-war referendum took place because the Iraqi people are refusing to be occupied. The Iraqi people are doing what is expected of them. The question is what the hell are we doing? We have to challenge ourselves to carry out more militant tactics; campuses must be shut down. We are not speaking to just one racial demographic grouping. We have to reach out to immigrant communities. The Palestinian liberation movement is central to Arab liberation. The Israeli Army acts as if it is a detachment of the U.S. armed forces. All wars are connected. It isn't just an issue of having a bad president—wars are systemic. The road to unity is to adopt an anti-imperialist world view.
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Brenda Stokely
Labor, community leader
Regarding Katrina survivors, the same forces that dismantled people and their lives are still alive and well. Demonstrations took place on Nov. 18 in New Orleans and Baton Rouge confronting Gov. Kathleen Blanco who has set up a blue ribbon commission stacked with wealthy people, developers, financiers, real estate barons to solidify control in that region including Mississippi . Who is missing are people of color; those adversely affected particularly African Americans, people who work and people who were not homeowners. Fifty-seven percent of the people before the hurricane were renters. Blanco's proposal has nothing to do with renters. Public housing folks are not being allowed to go back home and nothing is wrong with the housing. The people are not being welcomed back; inner displaced persons have been created in Mississippi , Alabama and Louisiana which is a violation of UN Human Rights Charter for Displaced Persons; the U.S. does not carry about human rights.
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Lourdes Vela
Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle
Please help us educate the immigrant communities about [Hugo] Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution because we have not been allowed in that door in spite a lot of the work you all have done. Chávez is someone that we need not only in the U.S. but all over the world.
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Chuck Mohan
Guyanese Workers Association
The immigrant movement is not about one group of people but about everyone. We need to come together as one. I have no illusions about the new Congress. We can't struggle in a vacuum. Our struggle is linked to other struggles that were here before we came—Native American, African American, Latin@, women and other struggles present in the U.S.
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NY City Councilperson
Charles Barron
What should Bush's sentencing be after so many Iraqis and soldiers are dead? If you have some elected officials who have problems with Hugo Chávez saying that Bush is a devil, well, if you act devilish, it makes you a devil. You can't murder people all over the world and not be the devil incarnated; you can't be playing golf, while people are dying in New Orleans and not be the devil. Right on to Chávez; I think he did the right thing and is doing the right thing in our communities. I don't know if this is something that you want to brag about but you are the reason why the Democrats are in office now because it is the anti-war movement that is the only movement in this country that was against the Iraqi war; the Democrats voted for war. We have one party, the Republicrats. The Democrats voted for Bush to have the right to go to war; Democrats voted for him to finance the war and when [John] Murtha said you have a way out, I want to put forth a resolution for a phased withdrawal, none of the Democrats voted for it. Now you have to keep marching so that the shift in positions means a shift in policy. We have to continue to go forward to revolutionize this country; America needs a revolution; we need a radical change in America and I believe it can happen; we shouldn't compromise our principles, compromise our position. Free Mumia, free all political prisoners, and pay us our reparations. Forward ever, backward never.
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Dr. Asha Samad-Matias
SAFRAD-Somali Association
Repression is continuing; City College is not what it is not what it use to be; we have to bring the struggle to the students who are workers; that refugees, whether they are so-called refugees from New Orleans or those seeking political asylum who are struggling, imprisoned, having their homes raided, having their homes washed away purposely, just like Harlem is being re-gentrified for Black and Latin@s, all of this should show that this is one struggle.
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Larry Hamm
People's Organization for Progress
African Americans, from the beginning, have consistently opposed the war in Iraq and oppose the policies of the Bush administration but a lot of times when we go to the peace activities we really don't see the numbers of African Americans that reflect that opposition to the war. Every time there is a poll, 95 percent of the African American community is opposed to the war but this opposition has not been made manifest in the streets; and it's in the streets where it really counts. On the wave of anti-war sentiment, the Democrats got control of the House and Senate; Democrats are backpedaling on the issue of the war; troops are hostages of the Bush administration. Veterans Administration had funds cut. There are a bunch of liars at the White House . We need to take many buses to the White House to make a citizens' arrest of Bush for crimes against humanity, for war crimes; impeachment is just a process, it's not a conviction. It is pressure from the masses of people who will end this war, not electing politicians. The people's movement ended the Vietnam War. POP is calling for a People's Peace Conference at Rutgers Law School on Jan.20. We are going after groups who have not come out against the war—ministers, unions, street gangs, politicians. This conference has a particular objective—when white folks come to the conference, bring some Black folks with you; we don't want the conference to be another conference of the left; we want the conference to be dominated by masses of the people. We want to get people who may not be politically active. A millions for peace march in New Jersey is needed.
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Pam Africa
These monsters have been trying to pull every trick to divide us off but we have to be strong; it is nothing new; we know the game, we know the tricks; we must continue to teach and bring unity. This government is at war with every form of life and we must unite with every movement to bring this monster down. Onamove!
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Gary Labao
BAYAN USA
We stand here in solidarity with immigrants, the workers' struggle and the anti-war movement. Whether it is the struggle for liberation in the Philippines , Iran , Iraq , North Korea ; whether it's the workers, the immigrants or the soldiers in Iraq right now, our common enemy is U.S. imperialism. Down with U.S. imperialism.
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Panama Vicente Alba
Puerto Rican activist,
immigrant rights organizer
We need to think globally and act globally. We need to take responsibility for what goes on in this country because it affects the rest of the world. This is the empire and this empire is out of control. The environmentalist movement has been telling us for the past 30 years that the world is on the way to destruction; now you got Chomsky, Chavez saying it; we are not listening, we don't act; we need to take every step against the empire and globalization; we must engage in the Katrina front, anti-war front; immigrant rights movement; we are going to win not because the Democratic Congress is anything different from the Republican Congress. We're gonna win because we take it to the streets. We need to learn to collectively transfer the power of the people into the streets into legislation that gives all of the legalization necessary for 12 million human beings; not only the workers but their children, their grandmothers, grandfathers; we don't have the time or the luxury not to come together in a principled way.
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Sharon Black
The energy at the anti-war summit in Harlem was incredible. Not only was there a resounding call for unity of the anti-war movement to descend on Washington on March 17. The gathering itself was an expression of unity. To bring representatives of both the class struggle at home against racism and for immigrant rights, and the anti-war and anti-imperialist movements abroad, points in the direction that the anti-war movement must go—this fact, along with many others including the political content of the meeting, made the Troops Out Now Coalition summit unique and important.
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