More than 300 activists registered for the “Stop the Wars at Home & Abroad!” conference hosted June 16-18 by the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. They came from 29 states, the District of Columbia and 11 other countries. The conference brought together leaders in domestic struggles like Fight for $15; defense of immigrants, Muslims and LGBTQ rights; and opposition to the Atlantic Coastal Pipeline along with longtime opponents of U.S. wars abroad. Many people said the gathering also had the largest number of Black leaders at any anti-war conference in memory. On the final day, more than 100 people marched from the convention center to Richmond’s African Burial Ground to declare their support for the Community Proposal for a nine-acre Shockoe Bottom Memorial Park. All plenary sessions, some workshops and the gathering at the African Burial Ground were videoed and can be viewed on the conference website: www.unacconference2017.org. UNAC’s report on the conference can be read HERE. UNAC was founded in 2010 on the basic principles of opposition to all U.S. wars and interventions, support for the right of oppressed peoples to self-determination and independence from the two major capitalist parties. The Richmond gathering was UNAC’s fourth national conference and the first to be held in the South. The organizing was coordinated by the Defenders, a founding member of UNAC.
Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement 