On October 7th, War Resisters League joined with a number of our partner organizations in the anti-war movement to host War Voices,* a dialogue on these past ten years of U.S.-led war and occupation and their connections to the militarization of life here in the U.S. and globally.
The evening's discussions among community leaders and social justice organizers were brilliant and started the long process of relationship building between occupied people living in Afghanistan, Afghans living in the North American Diaspora, and members of U.S. movements for peace and justice.
Members from Afghans for Peace engaged in a dialogue with a former U.S. servicemember who participated in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and a military familty member of another OEF solider about the costs of the occupation and the path to ending it. Community organizers working on economic justice struggles made the connections between the war on poor and immigrant communities in the U.S. and the wars and occupations the U.S. is waging and supporting in countries all over the world.
Below are quotes from two of our featured War Voices participants:
"I want to say something right now because I think it isn't heard enough (thank you mainstream media). I speak for so many in my own community who aren't able to speak out, so I want to make it very clear, and I think it's appropriate to clarify this on the 10 year anniversary of the war: I am an Afghan. I am part of the Afghan-led peace movement. I do not support the U.S.-led occupation and war in Afghanistan. I never supported the U.S.-led occupation and war in Afghanistan. And what I want is a withdrawal of all foreign combat and military troops from Afghanistan. If that quote didn't exist before, it does now." –-Suraia Sahar, Afghans for Peace
"We're challenged today, those of us who are awakened to what's going on today, and we sense things are getting worse. We're challenged to develop our understanding of really what we're dealing with. Because if our estimate of the situation is inaccurate, then our tactics is going to be inaccurate. If you think that what's coming at us is a teddy bear...sometimes in moments of insecurity I like to hug my teddy bear...that's how I respond to a teddy bear. But if the teddy bear is a grizzly bear, then I'm in trouble, right?...So your estimate of the situation as leaders, as people are trying to understand the interconnections and the causes is so critical in this process. Martin Luther King's point about the inseparableness of the evils of racism, of war, and of economic exploitation and poverty, and how those things are inextricably bound is very important for us to talk in terms of what kind of solution we're going to make to the situation that we face today." –-Willie Baptist, The Poverty Initiative
WRL looks forward to continuing this important work of building with occupied peoples and connecting local and global struggles and movements in the weeks and months ahead.
*War Voices Forum is a coalition effort of the following groups: Afghans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans For Peace, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, War Resisters League, Civilian Soldier Alliance, Just Seeds Artists’ Cooperative, United for Peace and Justice, Peace Action, Washington Peace Center, South Asia Solidarity Initiative, National Priorities Project, U.S. Labor Against the War, Defending Dissent, CodePink, Institute for Policy Studies, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Split This Rock Poetry Festival, 10 Years and Counting, Women's Voices Now, and Community Supported Film.
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