Troops Out Now Coalition blog: Strategy Meeting

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Strategy Meeting

Troops Out Now Coalition

Strategy Meeting
Tuesday Dec. 5
7:00 - 9:00 pm

at the
Solidarity Center
55 W. 17th St. #5C
btw 5th & 6th Aves. in Manhattan

The Election is over -- but only the people will stop the war

It has been three weeks since voters in the U.S., angry over the disaster unfolding in Iraq, a decline in workers’ living standards and the Bush administration’s anti-worker policies, handed a significant setback to the Republican Party in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, resulting in Republican loss of the Senate and the House.

But the battle to end the war has only begun. The challenge for all progressives in the U.S. and for the anti-war movement in particular is how to take this setback for Bush and turn it into a consistent struggle in the factories, schools, offices and streets to really challenge both the new Congress and the old White House.

Many politicians claimed to be waiting on the Baker-Hamilton report before taking a position on the war, despite the fact that the people of the U.S. overwhelmingly want the war to end. Leaks from the report indicate that it will not call for the end of the occupation; under cover of talking about some vague "pullback" without any dates or timetables, it really just gives political cover to the continuing occupation.

It is clear, even now, that the politicians in Washington will not end the war unless the people force them to do so by taking to the streets. It is also clear that the corporate politicians have no intention of taking up the issues that really affect working people here: the lack of health care and the closing of hospitals; increased racist police brutality; the decline in real wages; rebuilding the Gulf Coast; and so many others.

This meeting will be a follow-up to the standing-room only Antiwar Summit Meeting in Harlem, where more than 250 activists, representing more than 50 organizations, began to discuss the next steps in the struggle against the war.

Join us Tuesday, December 5 to continue the discussion of:

* How can we merge the antiwar movement with movements against racism and police brutality, for the rights of immigrant workers, hurricane Katrina/Rita survivors, and for economic and social justice in a way that goes beyond symbolism?
* How can the movement here in the U.S. show solidarity and build stronger relationships with liberation and resistance movements around the world, from Palestine to Haiti, and across the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Asia?
* How can we mobilize to make the fourth anniversary of the war and occupation of Iraq in March 2007 helpful to our goal of ending the war, and unifying the movements that need to be working together?

Let's come together to analyze, strategize and plan the next phase of the struggle.

***Counter-recruiting and anti-draft planning meeting - Those wanting to work on these issues are invited to join us for a strategy meeting, to begin one hour before the Troops Out Now meeting--Tuesday, Dec. 5 at 6:00 pm at 55 W. 17th St. #5C.

For more information, call 212-633-6646

Labels: iran, iraq, troops out now