October will mark 8 years of war and occupation inflicted on Afghanistan and seven years since Congress passed the “Iraq War Resolution” granting the Bush administration authorization to invade Iraq.  In addition, October commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Vietnam Moratorium that brought hundreds of thousands into the streets to protest the Vietnam War.

From coast to coast preparations are underway in over 40 cities and localities for anti-war actions on Saturday, October 17 as part of a national day of local and regional protest.  Please check the listings on our home page regularly for updates.  Each coalition or group planning a protest event on October 17 will set their own demands, slogans, themes, messaging, and activities.  If you are planning an action or vigil please contact us at:   info@october17.org

The new administration has escalated the war on Afghanistan by sending 21,000 additional troops, bringing the total to over 60,000 with an even greater number of “contractors”.  And plans are being made to send thousands of troops more.  Instead of leaving Iraq, over 120,000 U.S. troops still remain along with over 100,000 “contractors”.  U.S. troops have conducted attacks in Pakistan and increased U.S. Predator drone strikes have already killed over 350 people since President Obama took office.  Military spending has increased to $707 billion allocated for 2010.

The administration with the support of Congress is carrying out a protracted counter-insurgency war in which human development aid and negotiations serve only as window dressing on a war policy aimed at dominating Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Central Asia region.  “We don’t want their so-called liberation and democracy…. Freedom, democracy and justice cannot be enforced at gunpoint by a foreign country; they are the values that can be achieved only by our people….” – Zoya, foreign committee of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), July 2008.  The so called “good war” in Afghanistan/Pakistan is yet another empire building project, the same as in Iraq.

When ever greater numbers of people are losing their homes and sinking into poverty, the government claims it lacks the resources to meet our needs!  The choice of “Guns or Butter!” is not empty rhetoric but stark reality.  Military recruiters have virtually unrestricted access to our schools — and the Pentagon unrestricted access to our tax dollars!  Enough is enough!  Sufficient money could be allocated to provide Jobs for All, Health Care, Education, Housing, Pensions, and Environmental Protection.  We are tired of excuses.  Not one cent should be spent on military interventions, unjust wars and occupations, wall street bailouts, racist detentions and deportations, renditions, torture, and attacks on our civil and human rights!

Billions of our tax dollars are being spent to force Palestinians to live under brutal conditions of occupation.  Last January, the world saw the slaughter and devastation inflicted on the Gaza strip and mass protest erupted worldwide.  Ripped from their land, Palestinians in Gaza are crowded into what is now the most densely populated 360 square kilometers in the world.  Their homes have been bulldozed, their crops and livelihoods destroyed, food and fuel severely restricted, their borders and sea access closed, and their water pilfered by settlers.  The blockade of Gaza must end!

The escalating assault on Afghanistan and Pakistan points to an imperative for action, a united response, and an independent voice from the peace and justice movement.  With this in mind grass roots forces from around the country gathered in July for the National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations in Pittsburgh, PA.  At the conference an action plan for the months ahead was discussed and approved in a democratic vote.  As part of this plan, October 17 was adopted unanimously as a national day of action for mass rallies, marches, coordinated local and regional demonstrations and other forms of protest. Please join us in a National Day of Action against the wars and occupations on October 17, 2009.  We are making a difference!

 No war is a good war! 1 p.m.  

Janesvillle, Wisconsin

Bill Christofferson (Vietnam veteran and co-chair of Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice) will give a pep talk in the parking lot at the NEW Basics (1711 Lodge Drive .) We will march from Basics Cooperative to the corner of Milton Ave and Black Bridge Rd. Rides will be available for those not able to make the walk. Bring a chair if that would help. We will be at site for about 40 minutes then return to Basics/cars to go home. Coffee and  cheese & crackers after the March inside at the Basic’s community room.  Please come!  We need Rock County to see activity for peace!  Questions? snelson@habiba.org

On the eighth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, we speak to Democratic Congress member Barbara Lee, the only lawmaker in either chamber of Congress to vote against the 2001 resolution authorizing the initial use of force; Zoya, a member of the radical underground organization RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan; independent journalist Rick Rowley of Big Noise Films and David Swanson, who was among sixty-one people arrested Monday at a protest outside the White House.