International Women’s Alliance: U.S. Keep Your Hands Off Syria

http://internationalwomensalliance.wordpress.com/

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S ALLIANCE PRESS STATEMENT

September 5, 2013

Women speak out against US intervention in Syria:

US KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF SYRIA!

The International Women’s Alliance (IWA) joins the collective outcry against the impending interventionist war that the United States is planning to wage against the Syrian people.

 

The US Senate’s recent approval of a punitive missile strike on Syria constitutes a direct act of aggression masquerading as humanitarian action. Despite widespread opposition from the international community and lack of authorization from the UN, the US remains hell-bent on attacking Syria, even as reports show that Syrian rebels funded by the Saudi government—a close US ally—were the ones responsible for the March 19 simultaneous chemical assaults in Aleppo and Ataybah, which left approximately 26 people including 16 Syrian soldiers dead, with 86 more seriously injured.

 

Indeed, the Obama administration’s obstinacy in waging war on Syria is reminiscent of Iraq, where the supposed existence of weapons of mass destruction was used to justify gross violations of national sovereignty and the people’s right to self-determination. Contrary to their claims of protecting civilians and upholding democracy, history has unveiled the devastating consequences of US military aggression, including rampant human rights violations such as rape, torture, detention and murder of innocent civilians.

 

As thousands of Syrians continue to flee the capital in fear of foreign military airstrikes, the real motive of the US becomes clearer—to advance its own geopolitical and economic agenda in the region, particularly to gain control of the country’s massive oil reserves. Syria has one of the biggest conventional reserves of crude oil in the eastern Mediterranean, and exploration opportunities have largely been limited to Russia, making it especially vital to US interests.

 

Women, girls and children remain as the most vulnerable sectors in times of conflict and this most recent act of aggression by the US will undoubtedly cause untold suffering for thousands of Syrian women, girls and children who will be displaced, harassed, violated, deprived of basic necessities, injured or even killed as they are caught in the crossfire.

 

We call on women’s organizations, advocates and the entire global community to rise up and condemn this brazen warmongering of the US for oil. We are in solidarity with the Syrian people in upholding their national sovereignty and right to self-determination.

 

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US Palestinian Community Network-Chicago Statement: Stop U.S. Moves to Attack Syria!

http://tinyurl.com/m4qq2fp

…But in fact, the real threat to the world’s security is the U.S. itself, the country that wants to consolidate its control of Middle East oil and other natural and human resources for the 1% that dictates its foreign policy; the country that wants to divide Iraq and Libya and Syria and Lebanon into many pieces, to make conquering their people that much easier; the country that is directly responsible for the loss of millions of lives in the Middle East and beyond.

Our responsibility as citizens and residents of the U.S., as members of the anti-war movement here, is to oppose and stop all current and new U.S. wars. We do not want another U.S. war against an Arab or Muslim country, especially when an attack on Syria could explode into a regional bloodbath. We do not want to spend billions of dollars more on death and destruction abroad, when we have so many human needs here at home. A new Reuters/ Ipsos poll has found that only 9 percent of respondents want the U.S. to intervene militarily in Syria, and 60% oppose intervention. People here don’t want war, and people in Syria and the Arab World don’t want war. That is why we speak out and protest.

Larry Holmes: Open letter to the AFL-CIO leaders — Oppose war on Syria

Letter: http://tinyurl.com/n7zam35

PDF: http://tinyurl.com/lna2fkt

…The leadership of the organized labor movements has the responsibility to speak out against war. It must do this not only because it is in the interest of the U.S. working class, but also to prevent the millions of workers who oppose this war from following the right wing, tea party, racist demagogues who pretend to be against the war — but who in reality oppose everything Obama does for the most reactionary reasons.

The AFL-CIO is meeting at a time when labor unions and workers everywhere are under relentless attack. For labor leaders meeting in Los Angeles, summoning the resolve, the clarity and the independence to stand up against another war can only bode well for the struggle of workers at Walmart stores, at fast food restaurants, and everywhere workers are resisting capitalist greed and super-exploitation.

AFSCME Local 2858 Resolution Against U.S. Military Involvement in Syria

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees

Workers from the IL Dept. of Human Services

Resolution Against U.S. Military Involvement in Syria
September 4, 2013

Whereas, the overwhelming majority of the people of the United States and the overwhelming majority of the people of the world oppose any involvement by the United States in Syria and;

Whereas, the enormous financial costs of bombing and war could be better spent on public services such as healthcare, education, jobs, safety for our children or to feed the hungry and;

Whereas, military action in Syria by the United States government can only have a harmful effect on the people of Syria and can only lead to worsening of relations between the people of the United States and the people of the Middle East and;

Whereas, the death of innocents from bombings would come with no possible positive counter balance;

Therefore be it resolved, that AFSCME Local 2858 go on record opposing military intervention or bombing by the United States government in Syria;

Be it further resolved, that a copy of this resolution be faxed or sent to President Obama, Senator Kirk, Senator Durbin and all members of the House of Representatives from the Chicagoland area;

Be it further resolved that AFSCME Local 2858 endorse and encourage its members to attend the rally called for Saturday September 7, 2013 in Chicago’s Federal Plaza to “Tell Congress to Vote No on War with Syria.”

Black Left Unity Network Opposes Any U.S. War on Syria

http://blackleftunity.blogspot.com/

Sept. 7 statement: http://tinyurl.com/kbsqbz6

We in the Black Left Unity Network, vigorously opposed the decision to wage war on the people of Syria. We remind the supporters of this action of the consequences of U.S. and NATO attacks on the sovereign state of Libya supposedly to save lives, with the result being the death of over 50,000 people!

…That is why opposing the corporate/State war machine of U.S. imperialism is not only a moral necessity but a strategic imperative that unites all who can still see though the ideological fog of a false humanitarian that conceals the true enemies of humanity – The U.S., its white supremacist Western allies and the oppressive governments they support.

Historically the U.S. black left has always taken a stand against U.S. imperialism from Haiti and Cuba through to the Philippines, Vietnam, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Venezuela and all of the countries in between. Today we continue that principled stand with clarity and an unshakable commitment to our belief in the possibility of a new global order liberated from the savageries of U.S. and Western imperialism.

As we fight against the U.S. War on Black America and build the Black liberation movement to strengthen this fight, we must mobilize opposition to all U.S. imperialist wars!