NOT ANOTHER WAR!

Dear friends,

Across the U.S., anti-war activists, low-wage workers and community members are beginning to mobilize to counter the latest U.S. war moves against Russia and express outrage at the campaign of disinformation emanating from Washington and corporate media outlets about recent events in Ukraine.

In response to a call to action from the International Action Center, actions are planned in more than a dozen cities, and we are learning about new events every day (see list below).

Many of these actions will also oppose the dangerous U.S. support and funding for extreme right-wing attacks and economic destabilization against elected governments in Venezuela and Syria. These are violations of international law and crimes against peace.

But more is urgently needed – informational picket lines, leafleting, visits to congressional offices, protests at media centers against war propaganda, vigils and challenges to government officials. Let's make our voices heard!

As the 15th anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and occupation of Kosovo approaches, there is growing anger that the U.S. government is giving $10 billion in loans to an unelected, right-wing regime in Kiev, while hungry children and families here are being told to get by with $8.9 billion in cuts to SNAP food assistance.

The provocative U.S. war moves against the people of Eastern Ukraine, Crimea and Russia include sanctions, sending warships with guided missiles to the Black Sea, and war games with F15 fighters on Russia's border. This, too, will cost billions of dollars that should be spent to bail out the city of Detroit, create jobs and fund schools.

Corporate media outlets such as CNN, Fox News and the New York Times have colluded with leaders in Washington to whip up a new Cold War sentiment against Russia, while covering up the U.S. role in the recent violent events in Ukraine.

Unmentioned by corporate media are the enormous U.S. financial and military interests at stake – from control of Ukraine's oil and gas pipelines connecting Russia with Western Europe, to the prospect of NATO military bases on Russia's western border.

The U.S. hand is clear in the opposition protests that unseated the elected government of Ukraine. Washington has trained, funded and given political support to an undemocratic movement rooted in the wealthy oligarchy, just as it is doing today in Venezuela. State Department officials were caught on tape plotting the February coup and bragging that the U.S. had already spent $5 billion to make it happen

Also censored from mainstream media coverage is the real character of the junta in Kiev, which is dominated by outright neo-Nazi movements such as the Svoboda party and Right Sector. Today these fascists are carrying out violent repression against leftists and other opponents of the coup. Their continued rule not only endangers Jewish, immigrant, LGBTQ and minority-language communities throughout Ukraine, but threatens to plunge the world into war.

WE NEED YOU! Join one of the protests below. If there's no activity yet in your area, call one and send the details to iacenter@iacenter.org. It can be as simple as distributing informational leaflets in your neighborhood or having a soapbox speak-out with a few friends on a busy street corner.

Join us! Educate, organize and protest.
Let's stop the next U.S. war before it starts.

posted by Jalil Doostkhah @ 4:43 PM