WCBS Radio & ANSWER Coalition – 2011-04-10 00:48:12
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/04/09/thousands-gather-at-union-square-to-voice-concerns-against-wars
Thousands Gather At Union Square
To Voice Concerns Against Wars
WCBS Radio
NEW YORK (April 9, 2011) — Thousands attended an anti-war rally at Union Square on Saturday. One woman had tears in her eyes as she talked about her nephews who are in the military and how she believed she may never see them again. Another man drove more than nine hours from Ohio so that his voice could be heard.
Tom Murphy from Brooklyn said instead of shutting down the government, they need to shut down the wars. “It’s costing $100 million a day. In the meantime, we are being told that there is no money for badly needed social programs. We don’t want war. We want more jobs,” Murphy said. Protesters also carried signs denouncing Islamophobia.
Carol Kennedy came from Pennsylvania and said that the killing of innocent people needs to stop. “Anytime you have drones and other bombs — they kill people even if your intentions are to kill people like Ghaddafi,” Kennedy said.
One man said President Obama needs to act and not deliver just words. “It’s not enough for President Obama to say in his election ‘Yes, we can.’ We need to see action. We just see words. We should stop this corruption. We should stop these wars,” he said.
Times Square Protesters Rally Against Iraq War, Involvement In Libya
CBS Radio / Associated Press
NEW YORK (March 19, 2011) — An anti-war demonstration in Times Square that was meant to mark the eighth anniversary of the Iraq invasion quickly became a protest against the military strikes on Libya Saturday.
About 80 protesters gathered near the US military recruiting center in Times Square, chanting “No to war!” and carrying banners that read, “I am not paying for war” and “Butter not guns.” A quartet of women in flowered hats who called themselves the Raging Grannies sang: “No more war, we really mean it!” Other protesters carried placards showing pictures of women with bleeding children in their arms.
US Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., joined the protesters, saying he was angry that Congress was not consulted before the military strikes. He said he was undecided on whether the military action against Libya was justified, but felt lawmakers and their constituents should have had time to weigh in.
“Our presidents seem to believe that all we have to do is go to the UN and we go to war,” Rangel said as a large television behind him at the recruiting station showed an advertisement for the Air Force with crews loading missiles onto fighter jets. “Going to war is not a decision that presidents should make,” he told reporters including WCBS 880′s Sophia Hall.
More than 100 cruise missiles were launched Saturday from US and UK ships and subs against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s military as it waged a bloody battle against rebels, the Pentagon said. Twenty targets were hit. President Barack Obama authorized limited military action against the country in concert with allies in Europe and the Arab world.
Gary Maveal, 57, a law professor from Detroit who was visiting the city for a conference, said he feared the Libyan attacks would become a “quagmire.” “We don’t have a good record of getting out of anywhere in a hurry,” he said. “We certainly don’t have the money for this.”
Joan Davis, 79, of Manhattan carried a sign that said, “War is stupid.” She said she felt Obama had rushed to attack Libya, and that the US action would breed more contempt for the United States in other parts of the Middle East. “This should have been a last resort,” she said. “This is going to make people who want to do us harm in Afghanistan and Iraq dig in their heels and say, ‘See, we told you so.’ ”
Richard Machado, 20, a physics college student from Queens, was carrying a sign that read: “We will not be silent.”
“It doesn’t matter what we say to the government, they always want to bring us into war,” he said. “I haven’t seen any bit of progress in Iraq or Afghanistan, and now we’re going off on another tangent.”
Passers-by, meanwhile, said they had mixed emotions about the attacks on forces backing the Libyan leader. “If you make yourself a dictator, you’d better expect these things,” said Josue Rivera, 37, a tourist from Boston. “I don’t like to see people die, but sometimes war is a necessary evil.”
Similar protests were planned Saturday to mark the start of the Iraq war in Chicago, San Francisco and elsewhere. Over 100 anti-war protesters were arrested outside the White House during one of the demonstrations.
Among those arrested was Daniel Ellsberg, the former military analyst who in 1971 leaked the Pentagon’s secret history of the Vietnam War.
TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
Sat, April 9 in NYC & Sun, April 10 in SF
March Against the Wars!
US Out of Iraq and Afghanistan! Stop the War on Libya!
Sat, April 9 in New York City
Rally at Union Square at 12 Noon
ANSWER contingent gathering at
Union Square West (Broadway) between 16th St. and 17th St.
Call for the ANSWER Coalition Contingent:
On March 19th of this year, the eighth anniversary of the criminal invasion of Iraq, the U.S. government initiated the bombing of another oil-rich nation: Libya. The U.S. government always states that each Pentagon invasion or bombing attack is for humanitarian rather than imperial objectives, but this one, like those in the past, is all about profit and political control.
With the war in Afghanistan continuing to rage on, now nearing a decade in duration, and 50,000 troops continuing to occupy Iraq, the anti-war movement must be in the streets and in full force.
Three weeks ago, marches around the country brought thousands into the streets. Let’s keep that energy going! Join us this Saturday, April 9, for a mass rally and march that begins at Union Square. The march has been called under the slogans, “Money for Jobs and Education, Not War–Bring the Troops Home Now!” and is raising the vital connections between the wars abroad and the attacks on working people and oppressed communities here in the United States.
As the government claims to be flat broke, attacking labor unions and vital social services, they find limitless funds for their endless military adventures and Wall Street friends. The movements from Tunisia to Egypt, Bahrain to Yemen, have sent a clear message: the people have the power once they are mobilized and in the streets. That is the same spirit that was reflected in the heroic Capitol building occupation in Madison, Wisconsin.
Come out this Saturday and help revitalize the anti-war movement that is needed as much as ever before.
The march has been called by the United National Antiwar Committee and has been endorsed by a wide variety of organizations across the progressive movement.
To contact ANSWER, call 212-694-8720 or email us at nyc@answercoalition.org.
Sunday, April 10 in San Francisco
Rally Against the Wars at Home and Abroad
Dolores Park, San Francisco
11am: Assemble, 12noon: Rally, 1:30pm: March
Sponsored by: United National Antiwar Committee, endorsed by many organizations including the ANSWER Coalition.
