The fifth anniversary of the war is fast approaching. That’s five years of senseless violence, torture, death and destruction initiated by our government. Trillions of dollars have been wasted, over 600,000 Iraqis killed and almost 4,000 American service people killed in a war based on the Bush administration’s lies.
When the war drums began beating in 2003, San Francisco’s anti-war community mobilized and acted when the bombs began to fall.
Author-activist David Solnit described it like this:
“In San Francisco, Direct Action to Stop the War (DASW) called for a next-day shutdown of the city’s financial district if the U.S. invaded Iraq. The well-publicized goals of the shutdown said in part, “We will impose real economic, social and political costs and stop business as usual until the war stops … with the express intention of deterring a war in Iraq and future wars.” A diverse San Francisco Bay Area anti-war movement united around this common framework. On March 19, 2003 the U.S. began its invasion. The next day, the San Francisco Chronicle quoted San Francisco police officer Drew Cohen as saying, “They succeeded this morning – they shut the city down. They’re highly organized but they are totally spontaneous. The protesters are always one step ahead of us. ”
Over the next ten weeks a series of mass actions imposed an economic, political and social cost on Bay Area corporate war profiteers. Actions disrupted and publicized the war profiteering at the headquarters of Chevron Texaco, Lockheed Martin and Bechtel. But, lacking a strategy, the actions became less frequent and the numbers smaller.”
On Jan. 6, 2008, Direct Action to Stop the War was reconvened, with the goal of organizing several direct actions in the San Francisco Bay Area to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War.
The organizing momentum is very much underway. DASW meetings are happening with great regularity (I’ve been to 3 in the past week).
DASW actions are:
–Feb. 5 the California primary,
–Mar. 15 Chevron direct action and rally
–Mar. 19 multiple targets in San Francisco’s Central Business District.
If you live in the Bay Area, the next meeting is Feb. 3rd from 4-6pm. Watch www.actagainstwar.net to see the location and all updates.
If you want to get involved in a workgroup, check this link out.
If you don’t live in the Bay Area, think about ways to plug in and organize your own local 5th anniversary actions. This might be a helpful site.
It’s time we ask ourselves, how serious are we about stopping the war in Iraq?
Watch www.actagainstwar.net to see all updates.