[Marxism] Historic Peace Rally in Syracuse, NY

[Andy]

Yesterday in Syracuse, NY (see forwarded message from Joe below) -

This rally, initiated by active duty US Army soldiers stationed at Ft.  
Drum, had 3-4,000 participants from all of upstate New York and NYC  
(the latter including an SEIU busload.  Buffalo, Rochester, Geneseo,  
Cortland, Elmira, Binghamton, Ithaca, Potsdam, Massena, Albany,  
Schenectady, Troy, Saratoga, Kingston, Poughkeepsie and so on sent  
contingents.)  Participants included young radicals from many high  
schools and colleges and all ages including elderly pacificists and  
elementary school kids.  It seemed to me have noticeably more women  
than men, with Latinas and African Americans attending in significant  
numbers.  Literature tables were provided by numerous grassroots  
organizations, including Syracuse Cultural Workers, and Women Against  
War circulated a petition against an American attack on Iran.  The ISO  
and the Green Party helped organize the event and had speakers on the  
platform.  (In the crowd the People's Weekly World was available and  
the SWP set up a literature table.)  The Democratic Party was absent.   
Outrage Bush (and Cheney, including calls for impeachment) struck a  
recurrent chord.

Dr. Wasfi gave an impassioned, excellent speech.  She introduced the  
IVAW, bringing a wild ovation as the crowd of soldiers took the stage.   
The active duty Army soldier who spoke for IVAW gave a rousing speech  
that started by pointing out that IVAW is leading the GI resistance to  
the war and ended with a quotation from Eugene Debs' famous Canton,  
Ohio speech.  He brought down the house.

Begin forwarded message:

> From: jl
> Date: September 30, 2007 9:47:51 AM EDT
> To: AlbanyGreenParty at yahoogroups.com, spadiscussion at yahoogroups.com,  
> muslimdefensecommittee at googlegroups.com,  
> Bethlehem_Neighbors_for_Peace at yahoogroups.com, nysnet at yahoogroups.com,  
> nepaja at lists.riseup.net
> Subject: [Bethlehem_Neighbors_for_Peace] Historic Peace Rally in  
> Syracuse
> Reply-To: Bethlehem_Neighbors_for_Peace at yahoogroups.com
>
> The front page of the Syracuse Post-Standard today showed a large  
> crowd of IVAW members and their supporters marching through the  
> streets of  Syracuse under the title “Thousands raise their voices:  
> Stop the wars.”  The caption read, “In what organizers called one of  
> the largest local mobilizations since the Vietnam era, about 3,000  
> people took to the streets of Syracuse Saturday to call for an end to  
> the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan…”  See full article:

> http://blog.syracuse.com/news/2007/09/ 
> antiwar_march_concludes_with_r.html.
>  
> There was a second article on the evening panel:

> http://blog.syracuse.com/news/2007/09/ 
> panelists_plea_bring_american.html.
>  
> The panel, billed are a response to the Petraeus report, was seen by a  
> packed audience at the Hendrick Chapel on the Syracuse University  
> Campus.  Dahlia Wasfi, an Iraqi American, Jimmy Massey, an Iraq vet  
> and founding member of IVAW and Scott Ritter spoke. 
>  
> All the TV news in the area featured the rally.
>  
> Additionally, between the rally and panel, networking meetings were  
> held for veterans and soldiers, students, and regional groups.  The  
> Upstate New York Anti-War Network, formed to build the rally, will  
> continue as a network of upstate peace groups to continue the  
> coordination of our work.
>  
> Two thirds of the panel, Dahlia Wasfi and Jimmy Massey, will speak on  
> Monday in Albany at 7 pm at the Albany Public Library, 161 Washington  
> Ave., Albany.
>  
> The rally was truly historic.  It may be the first peace rally ever  
> called by active duty soldiers while a war is still on.  The entire  
> rally had that flavor.  IVAW members spoke as did the leader of the  
> IVAW chapter at Fort Drum as he was surrounded by other IVAW members.   
> Military Families Speak out (parents of active duty soldiers) spoke as  
> did Gold Star Families Speak Out (families who have lost loved ones in  
> the war).   There were also Veterans for Peace, students and a very  
> large contingent from the SEIU/1199 union who brought members from  
> Syracuse, Buffalo and 3 bus loads from New York City.  The crowd was  
> diverse, young and old, Black and white.
>  
> A bus and car caravan left Albany for the rally.  We met people from  
> Saratoga and Glens Falls as well as Military Families Speak out from  
> New Jersey at rest stops on the way
>  
> This large rally did not take place in New York City or Washington, DC  
> but in Syracuse, NY.
>  
> The model of this rally is one to follow.  We must seek to organize  
> vets and soldiers in our area by leafleting at National Guard meetings  
> and reaching out to veterans.  The Capital District needs a chapter of  
> IVAW.  Rallies must happen in small cities, towns and villages  
> throughout the country and the anti-war movement must be a presence  
> wherever politics is done and people live.
>  
> Politicians will not lead us to ending the war or to stopping the  
> march to a new war with Iran.  We must lead until these politicians  
> have no other option but to follow.
>  
> Joe Lombardo